The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-02-06
HOME IN SMALL
TOWN is BELOW
GENERAL LEVEL
Water, Sewage Facilities
Are Found Inadequate;
Farms No Better.

This Il the fifth Of series Of articles
on housing conditions in this country II
is published by permission OF Fortune
MAGAZINE.
In Fridays installment a vivid
picture of housing conditions in the
slums Of the great cities was pre-
Sented. What OF the small town and
village? The typical American COM
munity, however, is neither the
metropolis nor the middle-class
residential area circling the metrop-
oils, but the small city.
Mr.. Rabbits Zenith was a small
city; the small cities should show
a different situation. For example,
GAINESVILLE, o., a city of 10000 lying
in pleasant farming and industrial
country on the Muskingum river
was selected by the Literary Digest
as the typical American small city
for an advertising survey conducted
in 1927. ..-...
1t follows that GAINESVILLE was not
below the average of similar COM
munities in comfort, civic pride and
general prosperity.
Nevertheless, of the SO per cent
OF its families surveyed" almost 40
per cent had no baths and only 81
per cent had plumbing systems"
Des Moines Is Surveyed
AS a commentary on the realism
Of the Rabbit portrait of America.
GAINESVILLE is more eloquent than
Mulberry road. And so is Des
Moines.
Des Moines is the CITY of
Homes" and perhaps for that rea-
son its housing commission made
the most thorough survey OF an
American town to date.
The commission found that of the
1884 dwellings in the city, 5000
were entirely without sewers or city
water; $500 houses in the East
Court avenue slum district had no
running water of any kind and
their families carried pals as much
as block and a half. So it runs
from one end of the country to the
other
Prejudices of fact die hard. If it
were proved to the average Ameri-
can that town housing was below
standard he still would fall back on
the farm. No political speech ever
was complete without a reference to
our happy country homes.
The facts, therefore, fall with a
peculiar weight.
Farm Homes No Better
In 1926 the department Of agri-
culture published a bulletin entitled
"The Farmers Standard of Living"
1t was based on a study of 1886
selected, white, farm families in
eleven states, including New Hamp-
shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, Kentucky, South Carolina,
Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas, Iowa
and Ohio.
The departments summary as to
housing conditions is interesting:
Slightly more than a twentieth of
all the homes reporting were COM
pletely modern; that is, fitted with
central heating and central lighting
systems, running water, kitchen
sink and bathroom equipped with
a stationary tub and bowl, indoor
toilet and sewage disposal. About
fifth of the homes were partially
modern; that is, fitted with a part
of the improvements named. AL
most three-fourths of the homes
have none of the modern improve
ments mentioned above"
The effect Of the application Of
minimum standard of decency, re-
curing such fundamental essentials
as privacy, an inside sanitary tot
let, light and ventilation, and dry
walls to regions such as these is
obvious.
High Standard a Myth
Authoritative estimates put some
thing up to 80 per cent of farm
houses, 80 per cent of village homes
dilQ Do pei CClll Va OOWAl 1lOlllCo OC-
yond the pale for lack of a sani-
tary toilet within the house, and
almost as many for lack of run
ming water.
To these inadequate homes must
be added homes inadequate for
lack of light and air (say a third
of the homes in the greater CT esq,
homes inadequate for reasons Of
overcrowding, toilets in common,
dampneSs, etc. etc. The total most
certainly exceeds half the homes of
the country.
This conclusion will outrage the
convictions of most Americans.
They will feel that the picture of
America which it presents is very
remote from the picture of Amer
lea their own observations have
presented to them.
But it must be remembered again
that the inadequate houses of
America are not only the slum
houses and the tenant farmer
shacks. but the apparently re-
spectacle buildings of the sub
suburban areas in the small towns
and the farming country.