Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-14
RENT PROBLEM IS
FACED IN HUNGARY
Premier Wekerle Provides for Work.
inqmen at the Outskirts OF
kispest

BUDAPEST, Jan. 13.-In Hungary
one of the most serious social prop
lens is the housing of the working
classes. In Budapest rents have risen
in the last ten years 90, and In some
cases 60 per cent, and the poorer people
have been forced either to quit thei"
homes in the town or to live packed
like sardines in unwholesome cellar
tenements.
1t was with a view to remedying
this evil that the Hungarian premier
DIR. Alexander Wekerle, decided to pur-
chase a large plot of land on the out
skirts of the city, at kispest, ana TO
erect there a large number of work
mems dwellings, fitted with all the
modern conveniences. The area of the
plot is 472000 square "klafters' conc
square "lSlafter' equals 4.301 square
yards). Altogether. some $50 houses
will be built, containing from one to
three rooms, and the number of flats
will be 1890. so that the population OF
"Wekerle town. when completed, Will
consist of, roughly, $4,000 souls.
OF course. this is only drop in the
ocean" of Budapest, with its 100000 in
habitants, but it is a drop that Will
make its influence very effectually felt
in COunterbalancing the eXccsses OF
the Landlord -usurers' trust. The col
ony will be completed in four years.
In ALL 123 FLATS" have been handed
over to their lucky tenants The rents
of these flats are: ca } One-room
dwellings,, including kitchen and offices,
$340S per annum; tb) two-room dwell
ings. with same appurtenances, $45.0S
per annum; (c) three-room dwellings,
with same appurtenances, $66.66 per
annum These rents represent about
80 per cent of those demanded by the
Landlord usurers' today.
Provisions of Town
The new town has it's own water sup
ply; the pipes have already been laid,
and the water tower being erected at
Kobanya will have a reservoir of 1000
cubic meters capacity. There will be
day shelters for workmen, with pop
ular kitchens, elementary schools (siX
in all, with eighty classrooms), and
infant schools. A special stipendiary
magistrate, with the full legal appar-
atus, will be stationed in the town.
which will also have it's own police
force, hospital, baths, recreation
market halls, etc. The whole is
free adaptation of the English garden
city" system.
All the houses are being built of
sand bricks made by a special factory
producing 10000 bricks a day. The
bricks are conveyed f. ON the factory
to the colony by a narrow gauge light
railway fifteen kilometers long. The
price of these bricks ranges from %
to % crowns a thousand, and as that
of ordinary bricks is from 40 to 4S
crowns, there is a saving of about 50
per cent. And that is why ground
floor house containing four dwellings
costs no more than $2500.
An1rora no wing a visit tO this colony.
on the western confines of
Kispest, and in direct communication
with all parts of the city, will be re-
warded by a most interesting sight.
lines intersect the land in
all directions. The streets, running in
lines and all meeting in the
central square, which is to be con-
verted into a children's park, are al
ready laid out, and the part of the
colony nearest Kispest is covered with
snug dwelling houses, with characters
tic Hungarian fronts, quaint roofs,
airy rooms and neat little gardens.
The men engaged in the construction
of the houses have done their work
we'll, and visitors seem to be wander
ing among villas put up by the wealth.
Ter citizens as summer resorts. rather
than among the dwellings of $7.5O-a-
WeekerS The air is pure and inVigor-
ating and the lot of the inhabitants is
really enviable. In spring the gardens
will be planted with young trees and
pretty flower beds laid out, and the
mother who has hitherto seen her chill
dren at play in a dismal court yard
will have the happiness of watching
them running and rolling on the grass
of her own garden.
Socialists Are Outdone