New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
Decadence of Home
Seen as City Takes
10 Apartment Life
Bedroom and Kitchenette the
Start; Servant Problem
and Community Kitchen
Combine in Death Blow

;. statistics seem to show that family
me- good, old-fashioned family life,
which used to centre round the parlor
lamp and we'll laid dining table, is
decadent thing in New York CITY.
and 1t is predicted that before many
moons 1T will have become tradition.
thlng OF the past as surely as booze.
war, winter and horse cars The
home, that cherished institution.
praised as the "Bulwark of Society,"
even now IS groping its palsed way
TO dissolution. Soon the red table
cloth and the hearthstone will repose
in a sheltered corner of some museum, scum
the only remaining relics of a type
OF existence that a benighted age re-
garded as the height of happiness.
How pleasant it used to be to drop
casually in our friends houses of an
evening, smoke a cigar or chat over
cup of tea, hear all about the
wonders OF the baby from our charm
ing hostess, and just pass a comfy,
honey evening.
has an apartment big enough for a
casual caller, and if the casual caller
ana call ten to one nobody would be
home.
Few Keeping House
Compared to the number of people
IN New York City, the proportion who
are keeping house is startlingly small.
The apartment hotel is asserting its
CLAIM to a place in the sun. A kitch-
enette. that travestry on the real heart
OF home, was formerly considered
indispensable iii small apartment
now, I'VE get all our meals OUT
Houses which formerly were sub
stantlaliy tlivate homes are now being
remodelled into bachelor or studio
apartments; and large apartment
houses OF the old type are being cut
up INTO suites Of from one to three
rooms And real estate concerns saw
that when building begins again in
New ork City more attention will be
gwen to the smaller apartment and to
apartment-house hotels than in the
past.
1t is difficult just at present to rent
even the smallest of the small apart.
ments, or get q room in a hotel. board
ing house or rooming house. There
are I34 first class hotels in New York
with 4O,S60 rooms-evcry one occupied
or reserved so far ahead as to be prac-
tically Unavailable. Of course. with
the demand SO great prices aee trip
ping gally among the clouds. The
meanest Of the mean little furnished
nail room now rents for what formerly
would have secured an unfinished.
slX-room and bath apartment.
They" Give Many Causes
home? ''' 'iie
They" say it is due to lots Of thinas
servant problem. the war, old friend
high Cost of Living" They have
even lad 1t to the fault OF the young
orlae; shc isn't capable. "They" say.
and doesn't want the responsibilities
Of home life
Home life is dying out" firmly de-
clare these ladies, because the Young
marrled woman doesn't want to do
housework. She's happy if she has M
cares and can CAD about the shops ali
morning and go to movie in the
afternoonl"
The young bride NAV sbirk ber d,,t,,
in this. ou'y
Bat there is another side-there is
do not permit children, and if any arc
born the family is promptly dispos-
Sessed. But if a bill now before the
Legislature passes it will be made
mlsdemeanor to bar families with chill
dren.
The passing OF the home, others be-
heve, may have been brought about to
some degree by the war In many
cases whore families were broken nm
ny men going to the front the women
gave up thcir own homes, took "roomsv
and got war Job
Home Leasers Regret Act
1t is the opinion OF a we'll known
real estate agent, whose Office is on
fltth Avenue, that many people mis-
calculated the duration of the war. In
the belief that it would last number
81 Years longer. and that there would
probably be business slump when il
dld end. they leased their own homes
AND now they're regretting it" said
the real estate agent.
The servant problem undoubtedly has
great deal to do with the situation
and may be the crux Of the whole mat
ter great many families have moved
10 smaller quarters and dispensed with
the servant problem rather than wres-
tie with its difficulties.
Should the community kitchen finally
pc accepted as a permanent institu-
'ion home life. with kitchen to ii.
AS we have known it, will receive its
death blow. Perhaps a better life will
come IN its place. But one kindly ola
man does not think So ITS true. he
said' that people prefer the non.
housekeeping apartment; it's true that
voung girls are not capable of assum-
ing the responsibilities of the home.
~ s true there has been an exodus from,
the home boarding house. But I thinL
al'er the boys came back, people will
nave homes again they'll want a nice
sneery place for the men who have