Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-12
CITY is FACING
FAMINE IN HOUSES
Many Families Are Going Else
where Because of Want of
Accommodations.
RUSH OF APPLICATIONS
Need of Hundreds of Homes Renting
at From S12 to $50 Per Mouth
Flat Buildings Also.

Rock Island is passing through a
house famine that is costing the city
dearly, according to real estate agents.
Families coming from other localities
here to settle are daily turned away
through lack of home accommodations
and are forced to go either to Daven-
port or Moline to find houses.
cit Is easy to understand the gravity
of the situation when it is known that
only last Saturday we were unable
to meet single request out of 21 that
came to our Office for houses" J. E.
Reidy of the firm Of Reidy Bros, said
today. up to noon today we had
seven additional calls. and were COM
PEELED to disappoint every one of them.
we have never known a time in
the years that we have been in bust
ness when there was such a scarcity
of houses renting at from sig to $40
per month as there is at the present
We have listed a house in the central
part of the city for which there have
been IS applicants the past few days.
This house even is without modern
appointments, and brings a good fig
ure, but people are growing desperate.
One man called this morning. and said
he had been tramping the streets since
Friday. He said he had a family and
his household goods were lying at one
of the railroad stations. He was ready
to accept most anything that had a
roof. but we are helpless TO accommo-
date him
What Moline f. Doing.
THE city of Moline has decided OF.
a $4,000 advertising campaign to at
tract outside capital in furnishing
needed dwelling houses. This plan
has been followed successfully by
other communities similarly situated.
Rock Island must get move or suffer
the consequences in seeing newcomers
having a preference for this city of
the three as a place to live or go else
where.
TT is unexplainable that home CAPT
tai should be so ttmid in investment
in homes to rent. There is an abund
ance of vacant property in the south
and east portions OF the city that can
be had at $500 per lot A comfortable
cottage can be built for $1,000, and
can be readily rented at a figure that
will net per cent. Hundreds of such
houses are demanded right now.
Need of Flat Buildings.
"In addition we have room for at
least five modern fat buildings, the
apartments to rent from SIS to $50
per month. A fact that we should not
lose sight of is that Rock Island is the
center of the tri-city group, and the
movement is in our direction. If we
expect our population to increase, we
must have accommodations for the
new arrivals, else see them go to our
neighboring cities. Not that We envy
the growth of either Davenport and
Moline, but the least We can do is to
supply houses for those that wish to
settle among us.
ct is really a serious matter and
there ought something be done with
out delay. Our city is growing in
dustrially; that means more workmen.
Many of these men are coming from
other communities. They are unset
tied and cannot be expected to buy a
home the first day they arrive. They
want to first find that they are salts
fed in their new surroundings, and
if they like the city, the people and
their work, they may become home
owners. But in the meantime we
must accommodate them Rock Island
today is overlooking one of the most
vital questions bearing on its future
growth