cent. pay less than one-fifth. Statistics collected for French and German cities show similarly large proportions.

Bad housing is a frequent cause of disease. An inquiry instituted by the London health authorities to estimate the value of labor lost from physical exhaustion induced by unfavorable surroundings showed that, upon the lowest average, every workman lost about twenty days annually from this cause. Investigations in Berlin have shown that the death rate increases as overcrowding becomes greater.

Bad housing is one of the principal causes of drunkenness and crime. Often the saloon is the only decent and attractive place in a tenement-house block. It is not strange that the residents should seek to forget the wretched poverty of their homes at the cheerful bar of the neighboring saloon. The close connection between bad housing and intemperance is shown by the fact that the saloons are always found massed in the poorest residence quarters. They go where the largest demand exists. In his report upon the "Housing of the Working People" Dr. Gould states: "In St. Gile's ward the population is the most dense and the housing the poorest in the whole city of Edinburgh. There were in 1889 in this division one hundred and twenty-seven licensed premises for the sale of liquor to two hundred and thirty-four where food could be obtained. Strangely enough, the rental of the latter was but 79.6 per cent. as much as for the former-possibly a gauge of relative patronage. Out of 8,139 police offenses in Edinburgh during a single year, 2,690 were committed in St. Gile's ward. These statistics are exceedingly suggestive. This district contains oneeleventh of the population of the city, yet it furnishes one-third of its total crime." The influence of bad housing upon crime is no less pronounced than its influence upon drunkenness. The overcrowded tenement house is a

nursery of vice. Children in early years are brought in direct contact with all kinds of depravity. It is not to be understood, of course, that bad housing is the sole cause of drunkenness and crime, or that these evils may not themselves be in part causes of bad housing. There is a causal connection here running in both directions. But it is not to be doubted that bad housing is at least a very potent factor in aggravating social evils. From an ethical as well as an economic point of view, the housing problem is seen to be fundamental to other problems of social reform.

SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM.-The solution of the problem depends upon whether improved housing can be made to pay. Philanthropy alone can never effect a complete solution, for the problem is too vast to be dealt with in this way. Nor will business alone solve the problem. The economic interest of the landlord dictates a policy of neglect. Dilapidated and insanitary property yields enormous rentals. The landlord is not obliged to furnish decent accommodations; the tenant must accept the house as it stands. With the demand for tenements largely in excess of the supply, there is no pressure of competition upon the owners. If improvement had to wait upon their initiative, spurred by economic interest, it would never come. Neither philanthropy nor business, then, can be relied upon alone to solve the housing problem. It is through a combination of business and philanthropy that the problem will find its solution. Improved tenement houses can be made to pay a fair return upon the investment; housing reform offers an attractive and remunerative field to capital with a conscience. It is this fact that gives hopefulness to the situation. In the report of the United States Commissioner of Labor upon the "Housing of the Working People," compiled by Dr. Gould, tables are presented showing the earnings of thirty-four commercial and sixteen semi-philanthropic enterprises for improving

tenement-house conditions in American and European cities of one hundred thousand inhabitants and upward. The figures prove that improved housing is a paying investment. It appears that only four of the thirty-four commercial enterprises failed to earn four per cent., while twenty-two earned five per cent. and upward. Of the sixteen semi-philanthropic enterprises only two failed to pay as well as they should, while twelve earned four per cent. and upward. "The significance of these facts is more easily grasped by percentual comparison. The successful enterprises constitute eightyeight per cent. Six per cent. of the enterprises earned a savings-bank rate of interest, while the remaining six per cent. failed to do so well." From the experience thus presented the conclusion is drawn by Dr. Gould that "about five per cent. in dividends and a safe reserve can be earned on model tenement dwellings anywhere, charging customary rents, provided the total cost of the completed property does not exceed five hundred dollars per room."

GREAT BRITAIN.-The first city to grapple in earnest with the tenement-house evil was Glas

ments have been built, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.

It is in London that the tenement-house reform movement has been carried forward most energetically. The work begun in 1890 with the reconstruction of a part of the parish of Bethnal Green in East London. The council purchased fifteen acres of land, inhabited by six thousand people, living in seven hundred and fourteen squalid cottages. The houses were destroyed, and the area was laid out in seven broad streets, radiating from a central garden. Model five-story tenements were built for the population. The county council is carrying out various improvement schemes at the present time with the greatest vigor. It is stated that during the last summer and autumn a new block of council dwellings was opened, on an average, each month. More than five million dollars' worth of buildings are in process of construction. The houses already built accommodate more than 10,000 people; those now building or planned will provide housing for 30,000 more. Another plan which the council is working out is the acquisition of tracts

gow. In 1866 an act of parliament was passed constituting the city of Glasgow an improvement trust for the purchase and renovation of property. It was under this act that the first projects of housing reform were carried out. Long before this, to be sure, there had been some agitation for the improvement of tenement conditions in various cities. As early as 1834 the city inspector of the New York board of health called attention to the condition of the tenement houses, and in 1856 a legislative investigation was ordered. But these early inquiries bore no fruits.

The first action of the Glasgow city council under the act of 1866 was the improvement of about ninety acres of tenement-house property at a cost of over seven million dollars. Since 1888 Glasgow has gone into the business of constructing and renting tenement houses on a large scale. The progressive example of Glasgow has been followed by other cities of Great Britain, notably Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and London. Hundreds of acres of slum territory have been bought and cleared, parks have been opened, streets have been widened, and thousands of model tene

of land in the country, outside of London. These are to be built up with model dwellings and connected with the working centers by light railways. The execution of the plan will cost probably $10,000,000. Thus by two methods of reform-the reconstruction of the worst slums and the provision of suburban dwellings -the London county council is revolutionizing the housing conditions of the working class.

EUROPE. On the European continent, as in Great Britain, the housing problem has received systematic study and treatment from the municipal authorities. The city government of Berlin, in 1885, made a comprehensive inquiry into housing conditions. This investigation showed with startling clearness the effect of overcrowding upon mortality. The population was divided into four classes, according to the number of rooms occupied; namely, those living in one room, in two rooms, in three rooms, and in four or more rooms. The death rate per thousand of the population was found to be 163.5 for the one-room dwellers, 22.5 for the two-room dwellers, 7.5 for the three-room dwellers, and 5.4 for the four-room dwellers. This analysis of the death rate according to the house room of the

population exhibits unmistakably the fatal effects of bad housing. A city death rate of twenty per thousand is regarded as normal. The Berlin investigation showed a rate eight times as great as this for the population occupying single rooms. The municipal authorities of Berlin promptly set about the task of correcting the evils revealed by this inquiry. An improved code of building regulations was enacted, and provision was made for the strict inspection of tenement houses.

In Paris the housing problem has been attacked in a remarkably thoroughgoing fashion. A permanent commission of experts-physicians, architects, engineers-has been created, whose sole duty is the supervision of dwelling houses. This body acts upon all complaints, orders repairs upon buildings, and condemns as uninhabitable houses that are beyond reclamation. The establishment of this Paris commission was a noteworthy step in tenementhouse reform. Paris was the first city to realize that the housing problem is one of such magnitude and complexity that it can be satisfactorily dealt with only by a commission of experts charged with this single duty.

UNITED STATES.-In the United States the movement for tenement-house betterment has been confined principally to two cities, New York and Boston. In other American cities practically nothing has been done in the way of organized effort for improving housing conditions. Both in Pittsburg and in Chicago, to be sure, associations have recently been formed for the purpose of agitating for housing reform. The City Homes Association, organized in April, 1900, in the latter city, has just published a report on "Tenement-House Conditions in Chicago," which contains the results of an exhaustive investigation of housing conditions in three slum districts, selected as typical of the poorer residence quarters. This report reveals the existence of serious evils in the Chicago tenement houses which call for energetic remedial action. Doubtless also conditions equally bad could be found in many other American cities. But only

in New York and Boston have systematic attempts been made to stamp out the slums.

In New York the housing problem began to attract attention over sixty years ago. But nothing substantial was done toward its solution until the last decade of the nineteenth century. The man who broke the path for reform was Mr. Jacob A. Riis. In 1890 Mr. Riis published "How the Other Half Lives," in which he described the conditions of New York's tenement houses in a way that stirred the public conscience. An important result of the awakening was a thorough official investigation of existing conditions. In 1894 a tenement-house commission was appointed by an act of the State Legislature. Its report showed the New York tenement houses to be the worst in the world.

The overcrowding was found to be unprecedented. "New York below the Harlem," the report states, "has a greater density per acre than any other city in the world; namely, 143.2 per acre. Paris comes next with a density of 125.2 per acre, and Berlin follows, with 113.6. The densest small section of Europe seems to be the Josefstadt of Prague, with its 485.4 to the acre; but New York's Tenth ward exceeds this, with not less than 626.26 to the acre, and the Tenth ward has nearly five times the acreage of the crowded district of Prague."

The report of the commission of 1894 gave impetus to a new movement for tenementhouse reform. This movement has taken two directions the destruction of slum conditions and the construction of improved dwellings. The first line of reform has been followed by the municipal authorities, the second by private individuals.

The demolition of the slums was provided for by an act of the State Legislature, passed in conformity with the recommendation of the commission of 1894. This law empowered the board of health to order vacated and destroyed any house which in their judgment was so bad that it could not be made fit for habitation. Acting under the provisions of this law, the

board of health made a vigorous assault on the notorious rear tenements. During the year 1896 the board issued orders for the removal of eighty-seven houses, all rear tenements. Unfortunately, however, the early activity of the board has not been sustained. The board condemned several houses in 1897, but since that has refrained from exercising the new power. Two reasons may be given for this relapse. In the first place, the fact that some of the expropriated landlords brought suit against the city led to a more cautious policy on the part of the board. In the second place, the change of administration in January, 1898, ushered in a period of general indifference to reform. Thus the crusade against the slums, which began so promisingly, has been abandoned.

The construction of improved dwellings in New York has been carried on chiefly by the City and Suburban Homes Company, organized in 1896 with a capital of one million dollars. This company has built several blocks of model dwellings in the city and a large number of detached houses in a suburb of Brooklyn, to which it has given the name Homewood. The financial results of the company's enterprises have been most satisfactory; five per cent. and a surplus have been earned.

In spite of the efforts at improvement made during the last ten years, the present condition of New York's tenement houses is most unsatisfactory to the friends of reform. Last year a committee of the New York charity organization society undertook an agitation for further reform. An elaborate tenement-house

exhibition was held, and Gov. Roosevelt was induced to appoint a special tenement-house commission. The report of this commission, which was presented last spring, was based on a study of all phases of the housing problem, more comprehensive and thorough than any previously made either in this country or in Europe. It is impossible within the limits of this article to present any summary of its contents. The commission found that non-enforcement of existing laws was responsible for some of the worst evils of the tenement houses. As a remedy it recommended the creation of a special department for the supervision of housing conditions. This recommendation was promptly adopted by the Legislature, and the new department will take office next January. A new and elaborate code of tenement-house laws, proposed by the commission, was also enacted.

Tenement-house reform in Boston began about thirty years ago. The early efforts for improvement took the form of private enterprises for the construction of model dwellings. The recent movement, on the other hand, has been directed toward the destruction of unsanitary property through the public authorities.

The pioneer in the first method of reform was the Boston Co-operative Building Company, incorporated in 1871. The object of this company, which has been in successful operation since its incorporation, is "to improve real estate in Boston as homes for working people at moderate cost." The annual report for 1899 states that the company owns seventy-six

houses, accommodating more than 1,000 tenants. The company has been very successful financially, paying dividends of five and six per cent.

The movement. for the destruction of insanitary dwellings began in Boston in 1898, when the publication of a pamphlet report on "Some Slums of Boston" by the Twentieth Century Club attracted general attention to the condition of the tenement houses. In this pamphlet detailed descriptions were given of sixtyfour insanitary houses selected as typical of many others in the city. The board of health was called upon at a public hearing to order the indicted tenements vacated and demolished. The power to take such action had been given to the board by an act passed April 1, 1897. After the demonstration of public sentiment at the hearing the board proceeded to exercise this power very extensively. Since the new law went into effect more than two hundred buildings have been ordered removed.

CONCLUSION.-From the foregoing sketch of the movement of the Tenement House Reform it appears that the principal methods of dealing with this problem have been: 1. Regulation of the building and use of tenement houses. 2. Demolition of insanitary dwellings. 3. Creation of parks and play-grounds in the crowded districts. 4. Construction of model dwellings. 5. Improvement of suburban transit.

F. SPENCER BALDWIN, PH. D., R. P. D., Prof. Political Economy and Social Science, Boston University.

TURKO-FRENCH DISPUTE.-The article on TURKEY, pp. 346, 347, contained an account of the diplomatic rupture ending in the recall of the French ambassador, M. Constans, who left Constantinople Aug. 27. At the same time the Sultan's ambassador in France was given

his passports. The trouble arose over some financial claims of long standing that the French could not collect. One of these claims, with unpaid interest, amounted to about $9,000,000. Matters were conplicated by differences as to the disposition of the French quays in Constantinople which the Sultan wanted to buy. He haggled over the price and broke off negotiations, then yielded the contention as to the quays, but failed to satisfy the other claimants. French patience was finally exhausted and the departure of Constans brought matters to a crisis.

A dispatch from Constantinople says the French Quays company was paid 700,000 francs ($140,000) for the company's loss of rights for two years, also $121,500 was paid to a French subject whose land in Albania had been arbitrarily taken. The other claims were ignored. It is said that the French Ministry was not "greatly concerned about the claims, but they could not permit a definite promise given to their ambassador to be recalled at the mere whim of the Sultan." So France determined to teach the Sick Man a lesson.

Public opinion in Europe generally approved the course of France. The evasive methods of the Sultan had got him into trouble, and the powers were not disposed to help him out. It was reported that the Kaiser declined to arbitrate and advised Abdul Hamid to make the best terms possible with M. Delcasse. The attitude of the British was well set forth in an editorial in the London Times (Sept. 4, 1901): "We have already expressed our opinion on the general merits of the controversy. It is entirely favorable to the demands of France. In the dispute about the quays her rights appear to be absolutely clear. In regard to the debts alleged to be due to MM. Lorando and Tubini, she takes her stand on judgments delivered by Ottoman courts. The procedure of the French