The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-12-24

each household the Servians ant
croatians. eight; the Rumanians. six.
and the Russians. i've. The crowdng
which results may be readily realized
when 1t is known. for example, that
one-third Of the Bulgarian households
arc living In two-room apartments.
and two-ffths In three rooms.
Congestion In Sleeping Rooms.
Another significant aspect Of the
situation is the tendency exhibited by
Immigrant households TO use all or the
| rooms of their apartments for sleep
Ing purposes. OF the total number
studied in detail by the National I'M
! migration Commission about 5 per cent.
use NIL OF their rooms for sleeping
quarters. or the Bulgarians, 63.3 per
cent; OF the Greeks. 1914 per cent; Of
the Ruthenians. i2.1 per cent. and OF
the Slovenians. 1913 per cent. use all
! OF the rooms of the apartments in
| whlch they lived for sleeping pur-
| poses. Ons-third of the immigrant
households have only one room avail
able for cooklns. eating. and general
| living purposes.
! Perhaps the best general indication
of the congestsd conditions and low
standards OF living which prevail in
the households OF Immigrant induB-
trial workers may be seen in the aver
! age rent payments per person. due to
| the tendency OF the immigrants TO
crowd together In order 10 reduce the
per capita rant outlay. Tho average
| monthly rent payment per person of
native American wage earnors was
found by the Immigra ton Commission
| to be s2.S7. and OF the immigrant In
dustrial workers only sl.5l. The Pul
garians paid only S9I. the Mace
domains. SIS; the Rumanians. sI.02: the
Servians. sl.os; the croatIans. a1.o9:
the Rutheninns, s1.l6; the slovaks.
Sis. and the Poles. sl2t rental
! monthly per capita.
Tendencies Exhibited by Recent I'M
migrants.
The recent Immigrant Is moro in
clined than the native American or
other immigrants to use the so-called
company house" system. In bltumin-
GUS. coal mining. iron ore, and copper
, mining communities. In oil sections Of
the country. members Of races Of re-
cent immigration are more commonly
found In company houses than the ma
tive American and British and North
ern European employees Wherever
possible, the two latter classes OF en-
ployes settle in the urban centres
around which the mining villages clus-
ter. In the villages themselves where
all classes OF employees arc found.
there is little discrimination az to the
housing facilities. the usual policy Of
the mining company being to rent the
houses to the frst applicants. regard
less Of race On the other hand, the
housing conditions OF the immigrants
in the larger Industrial towns and
cities arc unattractive and uninviting.
and often unsanitary ami dangerous
to tho community as a whole. Very 1T
tie interest In his surroundings Is
evinced by the recent immigrant The
duties OF the immigrant housewife are
so arduous and so numerous that she
has but little time ito keep the living
and sleeping quarters In a cieanly
condition. The presence OF large
number OF boarders and dodgers also
tends to make this impossible. Con-
sequently the houses are dirty, as
rule. badly kept, and there is little
privacy or Independent family life. As
rule. there arc no water or sanitary
appliances in this house.
Types of Immigrant Households.
Space Is not available TO enter into
detailed descriptions OF Immigrant
househoide. AS a concrete Ilustra-
ton. however, OF the living conditions
which prevail among recent immigrant
households, two composite and repre-
sentative cases may be described: ~.
household In an Industrial locality
conducted by a family with one or
more children. and t2) boarding
group composed entirely OF males. The
FIRST type OF household usually oc-
cupIes a four-room apartment Tho
rear room on the nrst moor 1, used as
a kitchen and living and dining room
for the family and Its boarders and
dodgers. 1t Is equipped with an ordi-
nary cheap cooking range. plain
table and simple cooking and eating
utensils. Sometimes there is running
water and sink. but usually water
must be carried from an outside
source. In this room the household.
which may consist Of twelve to TWEEN.
All the laundry work for tho entire
household is done In this room. 1t Is
also used as general living and loaf
ing room.
The front room on the ground floor
Is the sieeping-room OF the head OF
tho household and his wife and chill
dren. 1t contains all OF their personal
effects. which arc very meagre. Al
most all OF the available floor space Is
occupied by beds or cots for the fam.
lily, and clothing Is hung on nails
around the walls.
The two rooms upstairs are given
over to boarders and dodgers Their
furniture consists OF beds or cots,
seating facilities. so far as they exist.
being afforded by the beds or trunks
OF the boarders Usually four men
sleep In each room, the only Limitation
on the number In each room being the
available space for placing beds or
cots Working or other clothes are
hung about the walls on hooks or
nails. In some instances the rooms
are occupied by two sets OF dodgers, the
men who work during the DAY using
the beds at night. while thu night
workers occupy the same beds during
the day. Household conditions through
out are usually very dirty and unat-
tractive.
In the case Of the second general
type OF Immigrant industrial house
holds. composed entirely of males, the
general arrangement Is the sams, ex-
cept that all rooms are used for sleep
ing purposes. Groups of this charac-