The daily progressive-miner., 1915-11-22
HOW CHEAP HOME
 MAY AFFECT MEN
NEW YORK COMMISSIONER POINTS OUT MANY
 GOOD REASONS

presidency the late Benjamin Harris son uttered an epigram which made him the target of much criticism. He said, "A cheap coat makes a cheap man, and this statement, which was intended to epitomize his views on the protective tariff, was twisted into meaning that people whose clothes were cheap were pur- | Nhasable.
 This was not true says Jdohn j.. Murphy, New York City's Tenement House Commissioner an it would be no more true that bad housing made bad citizens under all circumstances. But next to an adequate and un- wholesome food supply, poor hous- ing does stand as the most deleter- ious element in our civict life. San itary research shows how important is the reaction of adequate light and ventilation on the health, stam- ina and moral character of individu- a's. Bad housing furnishes the fruitful nurseries of disease germs of all kinds, while at the same time creating conditions which prevent the building up of resistance to their inroads.
 There can be no question that the three great scourges of mankind -disease, poverty and crime-are in large measure due to bad hous- ing in it's broadest sense. Intem- perance in many of it's most repug- nant forms may be traced to the fact that so many citizens are oblig- ed to live in homes in which they can take neither pride nor comfort and which makes the saloon seem desirable by contrast.
 Bad housing is especially detri- mental in it's consequences to the children reared under its influences of environment can never be erad cated
 The need for the erection of ins- titutions for the blind and hospital for the child victims of tuberculosis, spinal miningitis and other diseases If like character is greatly intensi- fled by bad home conditions. The omploye living in a house made quately lighted and ventilated is unable to perform his task with pro per energy and intelligence. Wo- men compelled to live in such houses developed tendencies to irritability which frequently lead to family dis ruption.
 Bad housing tends to increase the ax burdens of a community by re- quiring larger expenditures for re- medial service, which might other wise be eliminated. The lack of proper cleanleness and decency in the exterior and interior of houses tends to reduce the self-respect of the occupants.
 Note how eagerly the family which has slightly Improved its financial standing seeks build ings with more attractive exteriorsd and better decorated rooms It will also be found that as family des- cend in the social scale, one of the bangs most keenly felt is the neces- sity for the occupancy of quarters in buildings whose general appear ance indicates that they are oc- cupied by the miserably poor.
 It nay be said, therefore, that there i5 no plane of human exist ence in society which the housing question does not touch. There is no form of vice, crime, debility or shiftlessness which bad housing does not tend to nurture. Keeping up appearances" is often decried, and deserves much of the reproach castd upon it when it simply means un-
 arranted extravaganza to maintain a position which one's does not jus tify, but among the poor it is an ever present aid to the maintenanc of self-respct, and is to be encoure- ged rather than decried.