The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-03-10
BY FREDERIC J. HAskIN.

NEW YORK, March 1U,--One of the
most difficult things to do in New York
this year Is to live. This Is due not so
much to the inferior quality OF the NV
ing conditions offered at superior prices,
but to the hopeless scarcity Of them.
There Is plenty of work to be had,
The want ad columns are so fat that
| they lure thousands of ambitious per-
sons to the city every month, but after
| they are here only the fittest survive
the terrible struggle for accommoda-
lions. Out of hundred milliners who
came here recently, to work during the
spring millinery season, for example,
only 50 remained the other As promptly
shaking the dust of the metropolis from
their feet because, they asserted, they
simply could not afford to reside here.
The struggle is not quite so intense
for men as it is for women, because
men can live where women cant, in
GLIDING not only disreputable neghbor-
hoods but mems clubs, hotels, studio
houses and fraternity houses, of which
a great variety exists, Moreover, most
New York landladies share the world
general Partially toward the male sex,
extending their hospitality to gentle
men only" while the supply of rooms
for refined gentlemen" advertised in
the for rent columns apparently even
exceeds the demand.
But the lone woman attempting to
of it. The records of the room registry
bureau of the central board of the Y.
w. c. A. here, which bureau is devoted
entirely to securing rooms for women.
prove II. The reception hall outside the
offices of the bureau does, too. Here,
every day, from 3 o'clock in the morn
ing until 10 o'clock at. night, may be
found crowd Of patient weary women,
waiting to be helped to find places to
live.
IF this bureau can't find something
for me, | will have to go back home,
a young art student confided to the
other applicant seated on the sofa be-
side her, the other day. II have spent
three whole days looking for rooms
when | should have been going to
school. The last place | went the land
lady would not rent me the room be
cause | admitted that sometimes l
stayed at home in the afternoon. Ev-
/ erybody had to be out of the house at
8 80 in the morning, she said; must be
out all day, and she preferred them to
be out in the evening, also, ! asked
her bitterly where she expected me to
/ live, but she replied coldly that those
were her rules, and closed the door ~
During 1919 nearly 90, 600 girls applied
to the room registry bureau for assist
ance in locating rooms, which repre-
scented an increase of GA per cent over
the number applying during the preVi-
Gus year Although the bureau has
three 7. w. c. A. houses, girls clubs
and a list of nearly a thousand private
rooming houses to draw from, and al
though it has a large staff of paid and
volunteer workers constantly searching
for and investigating new houses, 1t
was able to place only one-fourth of
| the total number OF women applying
| for permanent lodgings.
we attribute this to the fact that
most of the applicants could not afford
to pay the prices of the rooms listed,
SAYS Miss Ethel Hanks. director OF the
bureau Rooms are just about twice
as expensive as they were two years
rented room in New York was Sc a
week: now it Is $12. But there are not
nearly enough rooms at Sl2 a week
available Many working women who
really can not afford it are renting
rooms at SIS and SIS week because
they feel that they must maintain their
standard of living, but they are having
to cut down on food and other essen
tials in order to do It.
When the applicant reaches the bu-
reau which is on the second floor Of the
Y. w. c. A. building at Fitty-thlrd ana
Lexington avenue, she is given brass
check bearing a number and told to
wait until this number is called, as
+ there are usually from one to two dozen
applicants ahead of her, The walt is
| indeed. often long and tedious, since
each girl must be extensively inter-
viewed by an officer of the bureau be-
fore her request is placed on file. This
fact may account for one ladys misin-
depreciation of the bureaus sign placed
conspicuously on the wall to guide
strangers,
The sign reads: Get check and
wait your turn. Yellow check, one
week or less. Green check. over one
ltffapant Nn1nrg