Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-20

NEW YORK IS NO PLAcEF0 GIRLS

New YORK, Fsb. ls.-Ons Of The
most dinicult things to do IN New
York this year II to live. This u
dine not % much to tho inferior
quality Of living conditions offered
at superior prices, but to the hope
less scarcity Of them.
There b plenty Of work to be
+ had. The want-ad columns arc 30
fat that they lure thousands OF am
bilious persons to the city every
month, but after they are here only
the flttest survive the terrible
| struggle IL. accommodations. Out
| of . hundred milliners who came
! here recently, to work during the
spring season. for example, only
IS remained, the other - promptly
shaking the dust of the metropolis
from their feet, because, they as
serted, they simply could not af-
ford to reside here.
The struggle is not quite 50 seri-
GUS for men as It is for women.
because men can live where women
icant, including not only disrepuy
table neighborhoods, but mems
clubs, hotels, studio houses and
fraternity houses, Of which great
variety exists. Moreover, most
New York landladies share the
worlds general partially toward
the male sex, extending their hos
pitality to gentlemen only" while
the supply of rooms for refined
gentlemen" advertised in the for
rent columns apparently even ex-
ceeds the demand.
But the lone woman attempting
to settle down in New York has a
sad time 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 Sc
curing rooms for women, prove it.
The reception hall outside the Of
fees of the bureau does, too. Here,
Ievery day, from 3 o'clock in the
morning, until 10 o'clock at night,
may be found a crowd of patient
weary wol en-, waiting to be helped
to find places to live.
"If this bureau can't find some
thing for me. / will have to &c
back home" young art student
lconided to the other applicant
Iseated on the sofa beside her, the
other day. II have spent three
whole days looking for rooms when
should have been going to school
The last place l went the landladJ
iwould not rent me the room be.
!, cause l admitted that sometimes. i
stayed at home in the afternoon
Everybody had to be out of hel
house at $3.50, in the morning, sht
, said, must be out all day, and sht
preferred them to be out in tn,
evening, also. I asked her bitterl,
where she expected me to live, bu
she replied >coldly that those wer,
her rules, and closed the door,"
During 1919, nearly twenty thou
sand girls applied to the room reg
!, istry bureau for assistance in 10
! eating rooms, which Representa-,
an increase of Ga per cent over tn,
) number applying during the pre-
l vious year. Although the burea,
has three Y. w. C. A. houses, girls
Y clubs aida list of nearly a thou
: sand private rooming houses II
| draw from, and although it has
r large staff Of paid and voluntee
l workers constantly searching 70
l and investigating new houses,
!, was able to place only one-fourtl
t of the total number of women ap
l plying for permanent lodgings.
I'VE attribute this to the fac
that most of the applicants coul
not afford to pay the prices OF tn
5 rooms listed" says Miss Ethe
: Hanks, director of the bureau
Rooms are just about twice as ex
Ipensive as they we're two year
Z ago. In 1916 the average price 9
k a rented room in New York was s
a week; now it is So. But Their
are not nearly enough rooms at 81
r a week available. Many workin
women who really cannot afford |
are renting rooms at SIS and SIS
= week, because they feel that the
z must maintain their standard G
living, but they are having to Gu
down on food and other essential
{" in order to do it." f.
n When the applicant reaches tn
y bureau. which is on the secon
floor of the Y. w. C. A building q
Fifty-third and Lexington avenu,
b she is given brass check bearin
number and told to wait unit
= this number is called, as there ar
usually from one to two dozen ar
4 plicants ahead of her. The wait i
4 indeed, often long and tediou
since each girl must be extensive
\ ly interviewed by an officer Of th
bureau before her request is plas
] ed on file. This fact may accour
for one lady's misinterpretation {
: the bureaus sign placed conspic,
le ously on the wall to guide stranf
# ers.
:. The sign reads: Get a chez
- and wait your turn. Yellow chez
q one week or less. Green chec]
'n over one week." The different CO
-, !. ors are to separate permanel
:. jewellers from transients, but tt
- other day, after waiting a consi,
~ cradle length of time, middl,
-. aged woman approached an ofic,
q OF the bureau with a distresse
I. look on her face and said, mo,
8. does this mean l must wait a wee
!. before you can give me a room!"
,ui Part OF the bureaus stan is a
ways out on what is called "ie,
III ,,work-that is. the investigation