New-York tribune., 1910-08-12

pist, died at his home here tonight.
IT was the opinion of Robert Treat Paine
that civilization meant the advancement OF
the masses rather than the classes. In an
endeavor to emphasize his theory he de-
voted forty years of his life to charitable
and philanthropic work. paying special at
tenton to the needs of the workingmen in
his native city of Boston. In this long
period he made a thorough study of every
problem confronting the poor of the great
cities. as we'll as of the best methods TO be
pursued by municipalities and persons in
terested in alleviat!ng existing conditions
among them.
In speaking of mis- early philanthropic
work he once said: THE first thing that
impressed itself upon my mind was that.
in order to improve the conditions of the
poor, their rooms and living apartments
must be improved. You cannot expect to
find in squalor and filth the germs OF edu-
cation and refinement: neither can insult
ficient ventilation and a total absence of
sanitation produce that fine flower OF cult
TIRE and astheticism which has marked the
Boston known to the outside world to-
day"
His first experiment according to Mr.
Paine was in connection with the old
rookery In Lincoln street. Boston, known
as the Crystal Palace. This section was
between Essex and Beach streets and was
the most notorious abode OF thieves and
Vagabonds within the city limits. The
remedies he introduced here are best de-
scribed by himself
We built shafts for air and light he
said. from the roof of the old building
into the interior, papered the rooms, re-
paired the windows, put in new sanitary
arrangements. and, in fact, put the place
INTO some kind Of shape for the abode or
human beings. At one time there were
as many as fifty poor families occupying
the Crystal Palace. After the building had
been torn down and removed TO make room
for the business block which now occupies
the site made some effort 10 trace
Where the tenants went to. and in almost
every instance we found that they had re-
moved to better neighborhood. My Crys-
tai Palace experiment first convinced me
that cheap tenements are a delusion and
a snare. They are a heresy and should not
be cOuntenanced."
Mr.. Paines solution of the tenement
problem was. own your own home "A
man with a home of his own he said,
''is a different being from the one who
to a cheerless, dismal tenement, occupied
in common with others, and, like all build
inss occupied in common. neglected by all
In the course of my experience l have
never seen a man who under his own vine
and fig tree was not different being from
his unfortunate brother of the tenements."
Furthermore, Mr. Paine held that it was
entirely practicable for man or woman to
own home He said that with the build
ers aid associations, the cooperative banks
and other institutions of similar nature
any deserving person might obtain the
necessary aid if he went about it the right
way.
In carrying out this idea Mr.. Paine
founded the Workingmen's Building AssO-
citation. which erected hundreds of small
dwellings in various parts of Boston. One
tract of land purchased by the association
covered 10000 square feet, and on It 122
houses were built They were far above
the average in point of construction and
were sold for $3.50 each. There no
effort to make any great profit on the
houses and by far the greater number
were sold on monthly instaIments. the rent
being applied toward paying off the prin-
cipaI.
Mr. Paine was emphatic regarding the
necessity for cheaper transportation to the
suburbs OF cities. This, he thought, would
help to relieve the tendency OF the poor
to gather in the city slums.
There is only one method he said. I
whereby this grievance can be abated. |
This is cheap transportation into the
suburbs, and the quickest possible running |
time between terminals. / am afraid that |
the city of New York. situated as it is be |
tween two Eivers, with no means Of ex-
pansion to the east or west, will prove a |
problem to our keenest thinkers and poiti- /
cal economists"
Mr.. Paine was born in Boston on OCTOBER /
% 1885 His great-grandfather. Robert !
Treat Paine was one OF the signers OF the 1
Declaration of Independence. and the lat
ter's great-grandfather served as Governor |
and Lieutenant of Rhode Island /
from 1876 to 1706. Mr.. Paine's father was
Charles Cushing Paine, and his mother /
Fanny cabot Jackson Paine The was /
graduated from Harvard in 1S55. but re-
mained in that institution another year
to study law He then spent two years
abroad and on his return 10 Boston en-
tered the law offices of Richard n. Dana
and Francis F. Parker. In 1870 he retired
from active practice of his profession and !
engaged i'm various charitable enterprises.
This he could well afford TO do. as the
money he had made in the law he had in
vested iudiciousIy in real estate and min
ing and railroad properties. In 1862 he /
married Lydia Williams Lyman, daughter
of George Williams Lyman
In 1884 Mr. Paine represented Waltham /
in the lower branch of the state legislature
as a Republican and the following year
ran unsuccessfully for Congress on the |
Democratic ticket.
Mr. Paine organized the Wells Memorial |
Workingmen's Institute, was president of |
the Workingmens Cooperative Bank for /
nearly thirty years. and in 1907 was made 1
president of the Associated Charities of |
Boston He also served president of the |
Workingmen's Building Association and |
the Workingmen's Loan Association and |
was actively interested in the work of the /
Peoples Institute, the American Peace So
ciety. Boston Children's Aid Society, Indus |
trial Aid Society and the New England |
Watch and Ward Society. In conjunction /
with his wife he created the Robert Treat /
Paine Association trust for charitable /
purposes which he endowed with 500, 900. |