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V REPORT ON HOUSING CONDITIONS 
 IN THE ORANGES 
 
 <*•* 
 
 £.. CR .Xc^Jc^- 
 
 By 
 EDITH ROCKWBLL HALL 
 
 Field Secretary of the 
 CIVIC COMMITTEE OF THE -WOMAN'S CLUB 
 €ow!c ORANGE, N. J. 
 
 September, 1915 
 
A REPORT ON HOUSING CONDITIONS 
 IN THE ORANGES 
 
 By 
 EDITH ROCKWELL HALL 
 
 Field Secretary of the 
 
 CIVIC COMMITTEE OF THE WOMAN'S CLUB 
 
 ORANGE, N. J. 
 
 Septerrl>cr. 1915 
 

 r 
 
A REPORT ON HOUSING CONDITIONS 
 IN THE ORANGES 
 
 The purpose of this report is to present a statement of living 
 conditions in the Oranges as they are met by the great mass of the 
 working population, and to show particularly certain existing con- 
 ditions of housing which, wherever they are found, tend to hamper 
 the fullest development of human beings as healthy and useful 
 citizens. 
 
 Those who expect a revelation of horrible conditions will be 
 agreeably disappointed, for horrible conditions, as the worst are 
 known, do not show themselves anywhere in the Oranges. It is 
 the very fact that conditions on the whole are good, and that prob- 
 lems hopeless of remedy practically do not exist here, that should 
 inspire citizens to put forth every effort to remedy the evils that 
 do exist before they become permanently fastened upon the com- 
 munity and reach the stage of being irremediable. 
 
 The card used for this housing investigation was compiled in 
 consultation with the Orange Health Officer, and was used by his 
 official sanitary inspectors in making a complete inspection of 
 Orange tenements during the summer and fall of 1914. The find- 
 ings of that inspection are published in the Seventh Annual Report 
 of the Orange Health Department issued last spring, and the official 
 figures are made use of in this report. The records were also used 
 as the basis of further data here presented in regard to Orange 
 tenements in the districts chosen for investigation. 
 
 The record cards of Orange tenements are filed in the office 
 of the Orange Health Department. The cards used in the inspec- 
 tion of all single and two-family houses and of tenements inspected 
 in East, South and West Orange, are filed with the Civic Com- 
 mittee of the Woman's Club, to whom this report is made by its 
 Field Secretary. 
 
 Thanks for courtesies in the way of information and helpful 
 suggestion in planning the survey are due many of the officials and 
 social workers in the Oranges, to Mr. \Y. Lane Shannon, Secretary 
 of the State Housing Association, and to Captain Charles J. Allen, 
 Secretary of the State Hoard of Tenement House Supervision. 
 
 393418 
 
Definitions and Explanations of Terms Used. 
 
 A tenement house is any house or building or portion thereof 
 which is rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied or is occupied 
 as the home or residence of three families or more, living independ- 
 ently of each other and doing their cooking upon the premises, or 
 by more than two families upon any floor, so living and cooking, 
 but having a common right in the halls, stairways, yards, water 
 closets or privies or some of them. 
 
 A New Tenement is a tenement house built since, and presum- 
 ably in accordance with, the requirements of the State Tenement 
 House Law passed in 1904. 
 
 An Old Tenement is a tenement house originally built before 
 the passage of the State Tenement House Law, and either existing, 
 against the law, in its original construction, or modified according 
 to the requirements prescribed for old tenements in the State Tene- 
 ment House Law. 
 
 A two-family house is a dwelling arranged for occupancy by 
 two and only two families living independently of each other. 
 
 A basement is a story partly, but not more than one-half below 
 the level of the grade. 
 
 A cellar is a story more than one-half below the level of the 
 curb. 
 
 Early History of the Oranges. 
 
 When the New Haven Colony, after a vigorous protest for its 
 independent existence, was finally united with that of Connecticut, 
 a body of the more uncompromising church members of Xew 
 Haven, jealous for the prerogatives of church membership in polit- 
 ical affairs, betook themselves to lands further south, and in 1666 
 founded the colony of Newark on lands obtained from the Berkeley 
 and Cartaret grant. 
 
 In 1678 the original western boundary of the new colony was 
 extended to the top of the "Great Watchung Mountain" by pur- 
 chase from the Indians of a tract of land covering the regions now 
 occupied by the towns of Belleville, Bloomfield, Montclair and the 
 Oranges. 
 
 The settlement prospered from the beginning. The mountain 
 slopes were heavily wooded with oak, ash and hemlock, the meadow 
 lands were easily cleared and were well watered by numerous 
 brooks and streams, the soil was light and easy to cultivate, and was 
 well adapted to farming, gardening and fruit growing. The land 
 was eagerly taken up by members of the Newark colony' receiving 
 grants in 40 or 50 acre lots, or by colonists from New York or New 
 England securing allotments through purchase money. ;\ score 
 of names among those early settlers are now familiar in the 
 Oranges, often as owners still of the original farmland grants. 
 
Early in the 18th century a permanent local church was estab- 
 lished (now the First Presbyterian Church, corner Main and Day 
 streets), and became the center of a church community known for 
 many years as the "Mountain Society" of Newark. By the end of 
 the century this settlement had assumed the character of a village. 
 and quite generally had come to speak of itself as < >range or ( >range 
 Dale — a name probably taken in honor of the universal Protestant 
 homage rendered to William of ( (range. 
 
 In 1806 by an act of Legislature the old Township of Xewark 
 was divided and an independent Orange Township formed. Under 
 this government the settlement developed until 1860, when a new 
 
 charter for a more adequate government was obtained. Soon after 
 this, owing to disagreement over taxation and governmental policy, 
 three large sections of outlying territory split off from the old town 
 lands and organized themselves into the separate political units 
 now known as South Orange. East Orange and West Orange. 
 Orange was thus shorn of most of her territory while still retaining 
 the bulk of the population and practically all the industrial interests 
 and problems. 
 
 Industries. 
 
 From earlv times the business of the community was brisk. 
 Besides raising the various farm products to supply their own home 
 needs, the settlers carried on from the first a profitable export trade 
 in copper, timber, barrel staves and tan bark. Tanneries and curry- 
 ing shops were established, and as an outcome of this leather work, 
 a flourishing boot and shoe manufacture developed. A pleasing 
 picture is drawn in the early town records, of the work shops, built 
 in connection with the houses and usually painted red. where the 
 manufacture was carried on by the proprietor with the aid of 
 apprentices and journeyman artisans. Hogsheads of shoes, at first 
 of rough make, were yearly shipped to New York and distributed 
 over the country from the big whole-ale houses in Maiden Lane. 
 As the style and quality of the product improved, a thriving trade 
 was established directly with the ^Yestern and Southern states in 
 high class goods as well as in the rough shoes designed for the use 
 of slaves. This shoe trade continued to be the leading industry of 
 Orange until financial depression and the loss of the southern mar- 
 ket during the Civil War brought ruin to many of the manufac- 
 turers. The business was never wholly revived and soon after the 
 war it ceased to be a prominent feature of Orange life. Its place 
 as the leading industry of the community was taken by hatting, 
 which in a small way had been begun as early a- 1800. Until the 
 middle of the century, hatting, like the shoe industry, was entirely 
 handwork carried on in small shops often built adjacent to the 
 
dwelling houses. In the early fifties machinery was introduced, 
 and while many of the small makers were thus put out of business, 
 the trade as a whole vastly increased from that time. 
 
 Growth of the Town. 
 
 In 1834 Orange was described as a "straggling village and post 
 town extending about 3 miles along the turnpike from Newark to 
 Dover (the modern Main Street), containing 4 churches, 2 taverns, 
 10 stores, 2 sawmills and a bark mill and from 200 to 230 dwellings, 
 many of them very neat and commodious." A few years later it 
 was reported still rare to see a foreigner or a negro, but a new ele- 
 ment had come in since the discovery of a mineral spring on the 
 mountain slope and the advertisement of Orange as a fashionable 
 health resort. The opening of the railroad in 1837 increased the 
 attractions of Orange as a place of residence for New York business 
 men, and the subsequent growth of the shoe and hatting industries 
 induced the immigration of outside labor. About 1860 Dublin 
 Street, now New Street, is referred to as an Irish settlement, 
 "where tenements have recently been built to suit the demand"— 
 tenement here being used in the old sense of a rented house. On 
 the outskirts of the town handsome residences in spacious grounds 
 were built year by year, and rows of smaller houses, each set in its 
 trim garden space, multiplied in its central portion. Following the 
 railroad the hatters with factory and homestead made "the Valley" 
 their own. 
 
 The Heyday and Decline of Hatting. 
 
 The heyday of hatmaking in the ( )ranges was the year 1892- 
 1893. Records of that year show 21 firms besides many "buckeye" 
 shops, where hats are sized for the regular firms. 3,722 hands were 
 employed, making an output of 397,850 dozen hats in the year with 
 a value of $4,849,940. A good worker very commonly earned $35 
 and $40, or even $50, a week, and hundreds of hatters were sub- 
 stantial men of affairs and property owners within the community. 
 
 After 1893 a variety of causes served to break the prosperity of 
 the hatting industry — chief among them was the prolonged strike 
 in the winter of 1908-09 during which the bulk of trade was diverted 
 to other centers. It has never since then been recovered. Several 
 of the factories have closed down altogether, many are running 
 on irregular or part time, and the lowered wage earned by the lim- 
 ited piece work has turned the industry more and more into the 
 hands of new foreign labor. 
 
 No other industry has yet developed on a large enough scale to 
 replace hatting as a source of prosperous livelihood for the com- 
 
munity. The Edison works were moved from New York to \\ est 
 Orange in 1887 and the firm employs some 4,000 hands, but their 
 large payroll is a constantly shifting one and is tilled only in small 
 part by resident workers, hundreds of them coming from Newark 
 and neighboring towns. The various other industries are largely 
 seasonal and uncertain. The present lack of steady high grade 
 employment in the Oranges goes far to explain many of the hous- 
 ing and social problems of the community. 
 
 The Four Oranges. 
 
 West Orange. The Oranges today consist of four distinct 
 political units. West Orange covers some 12 square miles, but 
 consists for the most part of farm lands "over the mountain." Two 
 extensive tracts, Llewellyn Park and Hutton Park, on the mountain 
 side, are occupied by cultivated estates and large country houses, 
 most of them belonging to New York business men. A fringe of 
 the Valley with one or two small factories is included within the 
 town limits ; there is a small retail business center, once a part of 
 Orange, at the end of Main Street; a few tenements and hoarding 
 houses and single and two-family houses of an unpretentious sort 
 are grouped about the Edison plant at the upper end of Valley 
 Road ; and there are many streets and winding roads already 
 opened up upon the mountain side, either built or available for 
 building in small attractive homes. The population at the present 
 time is 14,000. 
 
 South Orange. South Orange, covering about 2 square miles. 
 with a population of 7.000. is hardly more (or less i than a delightful 
 garden suburb of New York. 150 acres, known as Montrose Park, 
 have been improved and restricted to the more luxurious sort of 
 uncrowded building, and in 1889 the Meadow Land Society bought 
 up another tract of 2-1 acres to control its uses. Much of the less 
 pretentious part of the village is built up with well to do houses 
 of attractive and varied style. The business is only such retail 
 catering as the daily household needs of the residents demand, and 
 so far the community has been proud to feel itself free from sordid 
 "problems." Such immediate housing problems as exist are con- 
 fined to a comparatively small area on either side of the railroad 
 south of South Orange Avenue, though the menace of apartment 
 house speculation is already showing itself in some of the bettei 
 sections. 
 
 East Orange. When East < 'range withdrew from ( Grange and 
 set up an independent government she took four square miles 
 of rolling meadow country stretching the length ^i Orange and 
 away to the Newark border. The old streets and roads — Dodd 
 
Street to the north, Washington, Harrison and Prospect Streets, 
 Arlington and Munn Avenues on the farthest East — were already 
 built with comfortable and often luxurious homesteads set in the 
 midst of spacious gardens and well kept lawns. Many of these 
 houses are still the landmarks of the older town and lend what dis- 
 tinction there is to the modern city. The population of East 
 Orange, at the time of its separation in 1863 was about 3,000, chiefly 
 well-to-do or wealthy families identified with the early growth of 
 the community. From that time to the present its growth in new- 
 comers has been rapid and steady, until its newly built up rows of 
 single and two-family houses, apartments and tenements stretch in 
 more or less compactly built areas to the Newark borders. Its 
 population today is nearly 43.000, largely made up of commuters 
 to New York and Newark. There is probably no suburb of a large 
 city where families of moderate income can find a wider choice of 
 comfortable and convenient small homes with air, sunshine and 
 adequate elbow room. The growth of the town, however, has been 
 so rapid and its natural development so seemingly prosperous that 
 certain unforeseen dangers have been allowed to develop into con- 
 ditions really serious for the permanent prosperity and health of the 
 city. No precaution has been taken to reserve sufficient park space 
 for present enjoyment or for future need, or to restrict the encroach- 
 ment of speculative building on districts of high value as hand- 
 some residence streets demanding space and privacy. Much of the 
 speculative building, while doubtless of sanitary excellence, has 
 little architectural charm or individuality and is bound to depreciate 
 surrounding property values. Moreover, in a community where the 
 possibility of housing its people in individual homes is nowhere 
 nearly exhausted, it is short sighted to allow the rapid construction 
 of tenements, which can only be a menace to the city's future social 
 health. East Orange at present has 369 congregate houses. A 
 certain number of these on the better streets may now be classed as 
 higher grade apartment houses, but many of these are so flimsily 
 built that they must in a few years deteriorate to cheaper and less 
 fastidious use. 
 
 Orange. Orange proper lies as a long narrow triangle of 2 
 square miles hemmed in on its three sides by West, East and South 
 Orange. Since the districts that broke away were the outlying 
 sections on all sides, leaving what was the center of the original 
 town, Orange at the time of the separation was already built well 
 up to its border line, and in its later development has been able to 
 grow only more compactly, not more widely. This inability to 
 expand has created serious housing problems, has fostered the 
 tendency to tenement building, and has made difficult a policy of 
 reserving park spaces or of restricting given areas. The decline in 
 prosperity of numbers of skilled workmen and property owners has 
 
resulted in a deterioration of many houses through lack of proper 
 maintenance. 
 
 Orange consists of several distinct sections. First, "the Val- 
 ley," already spoken of as a manufacturing area, running from Main 
 Street to the South ( )range line, west of the railroad, and merging 
 with the Valley section of \\ est ( )range. Second, the large section 
 to the East of the railroad, extending from the South Orange line 
 north to Central Avenue. This is an almost unbroken area of 
 well-to-do or luxurious homes, and contains the beautiful stretch 
 of Orange Park. North of Central Avenue and contained within the 
 curve of the railroad as it sweeps to the east, are, Third, the small 
 crowded section of Essex Avenue and Cone Streets, stretching from 
 the railroad to Center Street, and Fourth, the almost equally 
 crowded section between Center Street and ( )akwood Avenue. These 
 could conveniently be regarded as one congested district, were it 
 not for the fact that the area west of Center Street is almost exclu- 
 sively Italian, the area east of Center Street largely negro. Fifth, 
 the wedge shaped portion north of Main Street, made up of a 
 variety of elements. It is a district built up chiefly with small two- 
 family or single houses, some of the latter dating back to early days. 
 It contains also a number of tenements, many of them in the older 
 streets with shops on the ground floor. It is broken by several 
 attractive residence streets such as White Street and Park Avenue, 
 Cleveland, High, and Ridge Streets, and a number of smaller streets 
 newly cut. The population is largely American and Irish, with a 
 number of Italians, Greeks and other foreigners in the neighbor- 
 hood of the Edison factories, and a scattering of negroes throughout 
 the poorer sections. Dividing this northern triangle from the 
 southern portion, Main Street, along its length through Orange and 
 continuing through East Orange, is closely built up with shops and 
 tenements, except wdiere a few modern office buildings have been 
 erected or the older churches and residences still stand. It is 
 rapidly being given over entirely to business uses. 
 
 For the purpose of this survey the districts selected for inspec- 
 tion were: A. The Valley district west of the railroad from Main 
 Street to the South Orange line, including both the Orange and the 
 West Orange portions. B. The section of Orange east and south 
 of the railroad, west of Center Street and north of Central Avenue. 
 C. The section of Orange from Center Street east to Oakwood 
 Avenue and stretching from the railroad to Central Avenue. Be- 
 sides these three districts may be grouped under D, scattered small 
 sections or single houses here and there in the four Oranges, in- 
 spected for a special purpose or because their general appearance 
 invited investigation. Among these sections are parts of the dis- 
 tricts of Orange and West Orange surrounding the Edison works; 
 Church Street and the surrounding region in South Orange : the 
 
newly built up Elmwood section of East Orange, rapidly develop- 
 ing as an Italian district; the Jones and Academy Street section, 
 largely negro, also in East Orange. 
 
 No separate summaries are made for these scattered sections, 
 because they merely repeat on a small scale conditions reported in 
 the larger districts. A, B, and C. Mention is made of some of their 
 more salient characteristics. The three districts more carefully 
 studied, while chiefly in Orange, house most of the workers of the 
 four communities, and represent problems in which all the Oranges 
 are concerned socially, if not officially. 
 
 District A. 
 
 ("The Valley" west of the railroad from Main Street to the South 
 
 Orange line). 
 
 The area covered is a long narrow strip about 20 blocks in 
 length by an average of 4 in width. It contains a number of closely 
 built streets in its lower end, a few with scattered houses, and a 
 considerable number of open unimproved spaces. The houses are 
 chiefly of wood, many of them comfortable and homelike in appear- 
 ance and with small garden spaces around them. A number even 
 of those of the older type are still prosperously maintained, though 
 many show the lack of adequate upkeep. Not a few of the sub- 
 stantial older houses have been remodeled into two-family flats. 
 Here and there are sections of jumbled nondescript small houses 
 chiefly occupied by foreigners. The region contains about a dozen 
 factories and some 40 tenements, mostly small ones of the old tene- 
 ment type. 
 
 It was thought that a general survey of the whole district 
 would be more valuable than an intensive study of any one portion. 
 One or two groups of houses of obviously superior type were 
 omitted in the inspection, and no attempt was made to revisit 
 houses where admittance was not gained on the first call, but it is 
 believed that the results give a fair idea of the average conditions 
 of living in this large section. 
 
 The single and two-family houses inspected in this district 
 were as follows : 
 
 Single 
 
 Orange 114 
 
 West Orange 37 
 
 "Til 157 308 
 
 10 
 
 Two-family 
 
 Total 
 
 108 
 
 _'J_' 
 
 49 
 
 86 
 
Since the streets and houses along the border line merge so 
 that the district is entirely homogenous, and since conditions proved 
 to be practically the same on the two sides of the boundary, no dis- 
 tinction has been made between Orange and West Orange in pre- 
 senting the data compiled. 
 
 Of the single houses 63 were owned by their occupants, 88 
 were rented. Of two-family houses, one floor was occupied by the 
 owner in 53 cases; 104 had both Hats rented. The houses were 
 found to range in size from 2 to 10 rooms per family in the follow- 
 ing groups. The size of the families occupying, and the average 
 price paid per room is also indicated in the table. 
 
 X umber of rooms per family and average price per room in 308 single and 
 two-family houses in District A. 
 
 Number of rooms occupied by a family. 
 1 23456789 10 
 
 No. single houses 
 
 each size 1 4 2 22 49 42 16 7 6 2 
 
 No. apts. each size 
 
 in two-fam. houses. 6 97 121 41 20 10 2 1 
 
 Largest no. in fam. 
 
 occupying 1 5 8 10 13 11 10 10 10 12 
 
 Average no. in fam. 
 
 occupying 1 3.3 3.7 4.8 5.1 5.6 6.8 6.7 6.9 9 
 
 Average rent per 
 
 room in each size $2.87 $2.61 $2.15 $2.41 $2.12 $2.00 $2.19 $2.15 $2.00 
 
 lhe table shows that the largest number of single houses had 
 five rooms; the largest number of two-family houses were of four 
 room apartments. The apparent hit or miss relation of the price 
 per room to the number of rooms is probably due to the varictv 
 in the grade of houses studied, and to the small number from which 
 the average is made for the smallest and largest. 
 
 In estimating the average price per room those houses and 
 apartments were omitted where the rent included a store. These 
 ranged from $8 for one room, used as a tailor shop and living quar- 
 ters for a single man, to $30 paid in two instances, for 4 rooms. 
 one including a bakery and one a saloon. 
 
 In both single and two-family houses running water was found 
 almost invariably at the kitchen sink, occasionally in other parts of 
 the house also. But several houses were found having no water 
 supply. ? 
 
 ll 
 
Location of water supply in 308 single and two-family houses in District A. 
 
 Single Two-family Total 
 
 Kitchen sink 142 157(2) 299 
 
 Tap in basement 3 3 
 
 Tap in adjoining store.. 2 2 
 
 No water supply 4 4 
 
 Total 151 157 308 
 
 Additional taps: 
 
 Basement 1 1 
 
 Laundry tubs 3 3 
 
 Upstairs tap 14 14 
 
 Bath tub 16 19 35 
 
 In the case of the four houses without water, one is supplied 
 from a neighboring house, three are on a private unsewered street 
 and pump from a well. 
 
 The sink plumbing was in all cases found to be open, the repair 
 on the whole good. In 8 instances the wooden rim and backboard 
 were worn and water soaked. One outlet was stopped at the time 
 of inspection. Two leaks were noticed — one between walls and one 
 in the cellar. 
 
 The following table shows the location of 361 toilets in the 
 single and two-family houses inspected. It will be noticed that 91 
 are used by more than one family, that 46 have no light or ventila- 
 tion to the outside air, and that 2 houses are entirely without toilet 
 accommodations. 
 
 Location of 361 toilets in single and two-family houses in District A. 
 
 Singl 
 
 Bathroom 16 
 
 Cellar or basement 49 
 
 Off hall 7 
 
 Off kitchen 15 
 
 Off living room 2 
 
 Off bedroom 
 
 Back porch or wall of house. . . 39 
 
 Yard water closet 12 
 
 Off adjoining store 
 
 Off adjoining saloon 1 
 
 Privy in yard 4 
 
 Total 145 
 
 None on premises 2 
 
 No. used by No. having 
 more than no window 
 one family to outside 
 
 Two-family 
 
 
 air 
 
 19 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 84 
 
 
 51 
 
 22 
 
 25 
 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 216 
 
 91 
 
 46 
 
 12 
 
Fixing- the standard of repair and care at the lowest require- 
 ments of health and decency, the condition of the 36] toilets is thus 
 recorded : 
 
 Gond Fair Bad (No record) 
 
 Repair 223 72 29 37 
 
 Care 226 66 32 37 
 
 ]n only two cases was the plumbing enclosed. One of these 
 was protected from freezing by the simple device of filling in the 
 space between the plumbing and the outside boxing with sawdust. 
 This sawdust filling was soaked and foul, though the closet ap- 
 peared to have good care. 
 
 A few of those which, for repair and care are classed as Good 
 would not only satisfy the minimum requirements of health and 
 decency, but would meet the most fastidious standards. The 
 majority, however, even of those marked Good, by no means reaches 
 a satisfactory ideal, either of condition or care. A few were tem- 
 porarily out of order in the working of the flush, but the fault of 
 most of those whose repair was criticised was that of a worn old 
 rusty bowl or a broken and rotting seat. The standard of care 
 given to some of the worst may be judged by the naive excuse of 
 one woman — "it was that way when I come here" ! 
 
 A variety of nationalities is represented in this district. The 
 number of adults, children (under 16 years), and lodgers in each are 
 shown below. 
 
 Nationality of the occupants of 308 single and two-family houses in 
 
 District A. 
 
 Adults Children Lodgers Total 
 
 English speaking races.. . 433 352 17 802 
 
 German 115 76 2 193 
 
 Norwegian 3 2 5 
 
 Dutch 4 6 10 
 
 Polish 71 69 6 146 
 
 Russian 24 18 1 43 
 
 Bohemian 14 7 21 
 
 Austrian 12 24 36 
 
 French 33 2 1 6 
 
 Italian 421 407 13 841 
 
 Greek 5 3 
 
 Jew 12 14 1 27 
 
 Negro 17 7 24 
 
 Total 1124 987 41 2152 
 
 The cards show also an unprejudiced variety of occupations. 
 By far the largest number in any one group are the hatters, of 
 whom in the houses visited there were 90 out of a total of 220 men 
 and women whose occupations were recorded. 18 reported "work 
 
 13 
 
at Edison's" and some 5 or 6 others who are registered simply as 
 machinists and electricians may also be employed there. Among 
 the 107 remaining are clerks, insurance agents, and a bookkeeper ; 
 plumbers, painters, carpenters, paper hangers, masons ; grocers, 
 butchers, bakers ; ice men, milk men, teamsters, coal heavers, beer 
 bottlers, cobblers, blacksmiths, janitors, gardeners, saloon keepers, 
 barbers, day laborers, laundresses, cleaning women, railroad gate- 
 men, a street car conductor, a mail carrier, a tailor, a quarry worker, 
 a ragman, a shoeshine, and a chauffeur.* 
 
 Of the weekly income as reported for 144 families, the highest 
 was $40, the lowest $4 with an average of $12.65. It is doubtful, 
 however, whether this can be taken as a reliable estimate of the 
 average resources of these families. The information given was 
 in many cases vague or inaccurate. Oftentimes there was a hesi- 
 tancy to confess lessened earnings and many such answers are 
 recorded as: "My man earns $15 — but not now," or "$18 when busi- 
 ness is good." On the other hand some, especially the Italians, 
 are prone to belittle their resources, and report only one source of 
 income when there are known to be several. An apparently strug- 
 gling Italian shoemaker or shopkeeper is often found to be the 
 owner of several rented houses. So unsatisfactory was the attempt 
 to gather accurate information as to income that no attempt to sum- 
 marize results has been made for the other districts. 
 
 Besides its varied assortment of individual and two-family 
 houses the Valley contains 34 of the total 245 tenement houses, 26 
 of these are three- and four-family houses, 1 is for 5 families, 5 for 
 6 families, and 2 for 8 families. Ten only are new tenements, the 
 remaining 24 are of old style construction, remodeled as may be to 
 meet the modern requirements. 
 
 The population of these 34 houses is distributed by nationality 
 as follows : 
 
 English speaking 
 
 races Italian Negro German Jews Total 
 
 Adults 116 126 12 17 24 295 
 
 Children ........ 75 159 2 7 29 272 
 
 Lodgers 2 5 1 8 
 
 Total 193 290 14 24 54 575 
 
 These 575 individuals constitute 122 families with an average 
 of 4.7 persons to a family. That this reasonable average does not 
 preclude a good deal of unhealthy crowding, the following schedule 
 shows : 
 
 *It is to be regretted that the matter of occupation was not made part of the record card 
 and that the information was gathered merely as an afterthought and covers only a small 
 proportion of the householders. 
 
 14 
 
Distribution of 122 families in 34 tenement houses of District A by number 
 of rooms occupied in relation to size of family. 
 
 Total no. 
 Xo. of rooms Number of individuals in family. of apt-. 
 
 inapt. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 occupied 
 
 2 3 2 1 
 
 3 13 7 3 3 6 3 13 32 
 
 4 11168964122 50 
 
 5 4 5 3 5 5 4 3 11 31 
 
 6 1 1 
 
 7 11 2 
 
 Total no. 
 
 of families 2 22 18 17 17 19 13 5 6 3 122 
 
 While the largest showing of any one grouping is the com- 
 fortable arrangement of 2 people to 4 rooms, which occurs 11 times, 
 there are at the other extreme 6 cases of 6 in 3 rooms : 5 cases of 7 
 in 3 rooms ; 3 cases of 9 in 3 rooms ; 2 cases of 9 in 4 rooms ; and 2 
 cases of 10 in 4 rooms. 
 
 The water supply for these 122 families was found at the 
 kitchen sink in all but 3 apartments, for which water was to be 
 had only in the outside hallway. The plumbing was open in every 
 case but 3 — 2 kitchen sinks and 1 sink in the hall were enclosed 
 at the time of inspection but have since been opened up. Only in 
 3 or 4 cases are minor deficiencies of repair recorded. 
 
 The toilets showed the usual variety in location: 5 were off 
 bedrooms ; 47 were off the kitchen ; 12 off the hall : 24 on the back 
 porch or wall of house; 13 in the cellar; and 12 in the yard. The 
 location of 7 was not noted. 
 
 In all the new law houses a separate toilet within the apart- 
 ment was provided for each family according to law. 27 of those 
 in the old law tenements were used by 2 families. 1 cellar closet 
 served for 3 families at the time of inspection, but the needed addi- 
 tional closet has been installed since notification by the health 
 authorities. 
 
 Only 1 of the 34 houses was without either windows on all 
 floors of the public hallway, or a skylight over the stair well. In 
 the 3-family house lacking adequate air and light in the public hall, 
 there was a window on the second floor only. 
 
 14 houses were without either gas or electricity for lighting the 
 public hallway at night: 2 were properly provided with lights on 
 alternate floors only. 
 
 11 are recorded as being without adequate fire escapes. 
 
 16 dark rooms were found to exist, all in the old law houses. 
 
 In only 1 house in this district was there a resident janitor. 
 The owners themselves lived in S; 25 were without any resident 
 caretaker. 
 
 ♦Reading down and across we find 2 people in 3 rooms 3 times: 5 people in 4 rooms 9 times; 
 7 people in 5 rooms 4 times, etc. 
 
 15 
 
District B. 
 
 (South and east of the railroad to Central Avenue and Centre St.) 
 
 This district is some 5 blocks long by 4 wide, and is a hodge- 
 podge of large and small brick or frame tenements, tumble down 
 frame shacks, trim new frame or cement houses, or neat looking re- 
 modeled stucco fronts that may or may not hide a ramshackle foun- 
 dation. The streets are comparatively far apart, the interior of some 
 of the blocks being filled with rear houses, stables, chicken coops and 
 other out buildings, garden patches and all the improvised comforts 
 and conveniences that go with the more primitive Italian living. 
 The houses are built for the most part directly on the street, but 
 with no regular front line or lot spacing. There is little fencing 
 or distinct property boundary lines, few trees or grass plots, and 
 little attempt at ornamental gardening. A few notable exceptions 
 may be made of 2 or 3 groups of small houses delightfully set in 
 the midst of riotous summer bloom. Odds and ends of vacant space 
 have been utilized as vegetable gardens, and arbors for outdoor 
 work and eating have been constructed here and there as space was 
 available. A certain charm of outdoor ease and freedom replaces in 
 summer the desolation and disorder of the winter cheerlessness. 
 The streets contain man)- small shops with (in summer) tables of 
 fruit and vegetables exposed for sale, and many crates of live chick- 
 ens decorate the curb. 
 
 In this district 169 single and two-family houses were inspected. 
 Of the 62 single houses, 26 were lived in by their owners ; 36 were 
 rented. Of the 107 two-family houses, one floor was occupied by 
 the owner in 41 cases ; 66 had both flats rented. 
 
 The population of the district is so largely Italian that other 
 elements are almost overlooked. 
 
 Nationality of the occupants of 169 single and two-family houses in 
 
 District B. 
 
 German, 
 
 Eng. speak- Swedish, 
 Italians ing Hungarian Hebrew Negro Total 
 
 Adults 415 101 27 6 42 591 
 
 Children 
 
 (under 16).... 549 106 14 5 29 703 
 
 Lodgers 41 3 44 
 
 Total 1005 210 41 11 71 1338 
 
 The houses fall into the following size-groups: 
 
 16 
 
Number of rooms per family and average price per room in K>9 single and 
 two-family houses in District B. 
 
 Number of rooms occupied by a family. 
 1234 5 6789 
 
 No. single houses each 
 size .' 1 3 9 16 11 1-! 5 2 1 
 
 Xo. apts. each size in 
 
 two-family houses.. IS 88 64 16 8 4 
 
 Largest no. in families 
 
 occupying 2 7 10 13 10 10 11 7 5 
 
 Average no. in families 
 
 occupying 2 3.3 4.7 5-8 5.5 5.3 6 5.5 5 
 
 Average rent per room . $2.77 $2.59 $2.55 $2.20 $2.24 $1.95 .. $1.55 
 
 Comparing this table with the corresponding tabic in District 
 A, it is seen that while the greatest number of families in the Valley 
 live in 4 rooms, the greatest number here live in 3, but that the 
 average size of the family using 3 rooms in District B is practically 
 that of the 4 room family in District A — in other words, in compar- 
 ing the apartments most in demand in the two districts, the figures 
 show an average of one less room per family in District B. 
 
 The room rents, while varying somewhat from those of District 
 A in the several groups, show a general average of $2.26 per room 
 to match an average of $2.27 in District A. 
 
 The greater number of both single and two-family houses were 
 found, as in District A. to lie furnished with water at a kitchen sink. 
 The sink was in all cases open plumbing and the repair satisfactory 
 except for a few temporary disorders. '2 houses had taps in the 
 kitchen without sinks ; 2 had taps only in the basement; 1 had a 
 basement sink serving for 2 families; in 2 families the tap was in 
 a dark closet with no sink. 1'.' houses had additional taps — 4 in the 
 basement : •'! upstairs; 14 in bath tubs. 
 
 ."> single and 11 two-family houses were found to have no water 
 supply whatever indoors. Of these, 3 single houses had individual 
 taps in the yard; 1 two-family house had its own tap outside; 3 two- 
 family houses depended on a single yard pump. In 1 group 1 tap 
 served 2 two two-family houses: in another group 1 tap served 2 
 single and 5 two-family houses sheltering a population of 48 per- 
 sons. 
 
 ddie number of toilets inspected, and their location, is shown in 
 the following table: 
 
 17 
 
Location of 199 toilets inspected in single and two-family houses in 
 
 District B. 
 
 Used by Having no 
 
 more than window to 
 
 Single Two-family one family outside air 
 
 Bathroom 7 12 
 
 Off kitchen 11 21 2 
 
 Off hall 6 20 3 
 
 Off bedroom 1 
 
 Cellar or basement. 11 29 24 6 
 
 Back wall or porch 10 22 7 2 
 
 Yard water closet . . 14 33 24 5 
 
 In adjoining store.. 2 1 
 
 62 137 60 14 
 
 None on premises.. 2 
 
 The gratifying fact should be noted that no privies were found 
 in this congested district. 
 
 Of the 60 toilets used by more than one family, the greater 
 number are intended for the use of but two families, usually the 
 tenants of a two-family house. In 2 cases rear houses were depend- 
 ent on the toilets of the corresponding front house, resulting in the 
 use of one toilet by 3 families in one instance, and of 2 toilets by 5 
 families in another. On 1 property 4 yard toilets are provided to 
 serve 2 single and 5 two-family houses. The tenants report that 
 there has been no water connection in these toilets for over 2 years ; 
 the only means of flushing at present is by pouring water from a 
 near-by tap — the same tap mentioned as being the one source of 
 water supply for 12 families. The difficulty of decent living under 
 such conditions does not need to be dwelt upon. 
 
 The technical repair of these toilets was on the whole good. 
 Aside from the 4 yard toilets mentioned above, only 2 were found 
 with the flush out of commission, and those were reported as being 
 only temporarily disabled. One was noticed where the normal flush 
 was decidedly insufficient, 1 old and worn and generally bad, sev- 
 eral with old, split and broken seats, 1 leaking, and many with rusty, 
 worn old iron bowls. The care was on the whole surprisingly good, 
 though 6 are recorded as only fairly clean, and 9 as filthy. 
 
 The tenement houses included in District B number 66, twice 
 as many as in District A, although the area covered is not more 
 than a third as large. Many of the houses are of a larger type than 
 any of those in the Valley, and fortunately a larger proportion of 
 them, since they exist at all, are built according to the requirements 
 of the new Tenement House Law. and are of brick rather than of 
 frame construction. Three of the older houses are among the num- 
 ber of dwellings in this district that are built at the rear of the lot 
 and have no direct outlook on the street. 
 
 is 
 
Location and construction of tenement houses in District B. 
 
 Location on lot Frame I '.rick Total 
 
 Old Tenement— Front 35 26 9 35 
 
 Rear 3 1 2 3 
 
 New Tenement— Front 28 5 23 28 
 
 Rear 
 
 Totol 32 34 66 
 
 The sizes range from •'! to 16 families per house. 16 of the 
 larger houses are built with part or all of the ground flour arranged 
 for stores. The size grouping is shown below : 
 
 Xo. families per house. 
 3 4 5&6 7—12 12—16 Total 
 
 Number of houses each size. .. . 24 10 18 7 7 66 
 
 These 66 buildings contain 355 separate apartments. 22, how- 
 ever, were vacant at the time of inspection. The remaining 333 
 apartment housed 1,718 individuals, Italians in even greater pro- 
 portion than in the single and two-family houses. 
 
 Nationalities of the population of 66 tenement houses in Dist. E. 
 
 English speak- 
 
 Italian ing whites German Negro Total 
 
 Adults 637 50 24 33 744 
 
 Children 764 30 7 22 823 
 
 Lodgers 144 2 2 3 151 
 
 Total 1545 82 33 58 1718 
 
 This gives 5.2 as the average number per family as compared 
 with 4.7 in the Valley tenements, although the greater number of 
 families live in 3 rooms instead of 4. (Approximately the same 
 relation of numbers to space in the two districts was noticed in the 
 -ingle and two-family houses.) 
 
 Distribution of tenement house families in District V> by number or" rooms 
 occupied in relation to size of family. 
 
 No. rooms Number of individuals in family Total no. 
 
 inapt. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 apts. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 2 4 21 7 10 5 1 48 
 
 3 2 20 18 21 31 25 16 17 6 2 1 159 
 
 4 1 5 10 17 15 20 10 13 13 6 3 113 
 
 5 2 3 117 
 
 6 13 1 5 
 
 Total no. 
 
 families 7 47 36 48 51 50 29 31 21 9 4 333 
 
 19 
 
The case of 8 persons in 2 rooms will be noticed, and the num- 
 ber of cases where 8, 9, 10 and 11 persons occupy 3 and 4 rooms. 
 
 All of these apartments were supplied with water at the kitchen 
 sink except in the case of 14 families. In two three-family houses 
 there was a sink in the hall on each floor ; in 3 other houses a hall 
 sink served 2 families on the floor ; in 1 three-family house, water 
 was supplied only on the second floor. A sink has since been in- 
 stalled, however, on the third floor in response to a notice from the 
 authorities, and 4 sinks found enclosed have had the woodwork 
 removed. 
 
 The following table shows that out of 306 tenement toilets in 
 this district, 87 were planned for the use of more than 1 family. 
 Most of these are intended to be used by not more than 2 families, 
 but in several instances this legal limit is overstepped. One served 
 for 3 families in one instance ; 2 served for 5 in 4 instances ; 2 served 
 for 7 in one instance ; 4 served for 9 in one instance. These cases 
 were all outside toilets, where at best, conditions of decency and 
 privacy are difficult to maintain. It is an encouraging sign that at 
 least there is law and system if not individual family privacy inside, 
 and that most of the toilets are found within the apartment. 
 
 Location of 306 toilets in 66 tenement houses in District B. 
 
 Intended for the use of 
 more than 1 family 
 
 Off kitchen 176 1 
 
 Off bedroom 3 ■ — 
 
 Off public hallway 31 26 
 
 Cellar or basement 4 
 
 Back wall of house 7 3 
 
 Rear or front porch 47 25 
 
 Yard water closet 38 32 
 
 Total 306 87 
 
 Three of the toilets were found to have no ventilation to the 
 outside air, 3 were in bad general repair and 2 had no flush. 
 
 One dark room was discovered — a kitchen on the top floor of a 
 three-family house. This is a gratifying record compared with the 
 number found in the Valley tenements. 
 
 Four houses, all of them New Law tenements, were found to 
 have resident janitors ; the owners lived in 35 houses ; 23 were with- 
 out any resident caretakers ; the owner of 1 rear house lived in the 
 front house and took charge of both. No record of this particular 
 is made in the case of the remaining 3. 
 
 Provision for lighting the halls at night is fairly well met. Gas 
 or electricity in all public hallways is provided in the majority of 
 the houses. In 12 houses fixtures were found only on every other 
 floor; in 15 no light was provided; in 12 houses fixtures were pro- 
 vided, but were reported as "not used." 
 
 Three houses were repotted deficient in fire escapes. 
 
 20 
 
District C. 
 
 District C IS adjacent to District B and covers about the same 
 amount of territory. It is perhaps even more closely built up, streel 
 by street, but its tenement houses are not so large and the popula- 
 tion not so dense. Three streets in its lower part, covering aboul 
 one-quarter of the whole area, are inhabited chiefly by Irish, Amer- 
 icans and prosperous Italians, with a few negroes. The houses 
 are of good grade, many of them new. Most of them have some 
 little space fenced in aronnd them. The other three-quarters is 
 largely negro with a mingling of lower grade Italians, and con- 
 tains many small shabby houses closely set. 
 
 259 single and two-family houses were inspected, as shown 
 below : 
 
 Single. Two-family 
 
 Occupied by owner 39 Occupied by owner 64 
 
 Rented 44 Both apts. rented 114 
 
 83 178 
 
 These houses are occupied by the following groups : 
 
 Nationality of the occupants of 261 single and two-family houses 
 
 in District C. 
 
 Adults Children Lodgers Total 
 
 Negro 443 232 27 702 
 
 English speaking whites.. 316 237 1 554 
 
 Italian 159 210 9 37X 
 
 German, Russian, Hebrew . 55 58 1 114 
 
 Total 973 737 3$ 1 748 
 
 A complete census of the district would probably show a larger 
 proportion of negroes, for the married colored women work out 
 much more generally than do the whites, and many houses in the 
 negro sections were found closed during the day, and were passed 
 by without revisit. 
 
 It is noticeahle how small a proportion of the negroes own their 
 OWn homes. ( >f the •'!!• single houses owned by their occupants, 16 
 belong to negroes, 23 to whites; of 44 rented single houses .">ti arc 
 occupied by negroes, * by whites. < >f the 04 two-family houses in 
 which one apartment is occupied by the owner, only 6 arc owned 
 by negroes, as against 58 owned by whites. Of 201 rented apart- 
 ments in two-family houses, 14-") arc occupied by negroes, L>4 by 
 whites. 
 
 21 
 
These facts may be thus tabulated : 
 
 Single Two-family Total 
 
 Occ. by 1 floor occ. Rented 
 
 owner Rented by owner apts. 
 
 Negro 16 36 6 145 203 
 
 White 23 8 58 134 223 
 
 Total .... 39 44 64 279 426 
 
 From these figures it can be seen that of the owners of houses 
 only 21% were negro; 79% white, and that among the negroes only 
 11% owned their homes as against 36% among the whites. 
 
 This division of 426 apartments between the colored and white 
 population of the district brings out the fact also that 702 negroes 
 are housed in 203 separate homes, while 1,046 whites occupy 223. 
 This gives an average of 3.4 in the negro family as against 4.7 in 
 the white, although the negroes have a larger proportion of lodgers 
 than the whites. 
 
 The number of rooms per family and average price per room 
 is shown in the following table : 
 
 No. of rooms per family and average price per room in single and two-family 
 
 houses in District C. 
 
 No. of rooms occupied by family. 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 S 9 10 11 12 
 
 No. of single houses 
 
 each size 1 3 6 4 17 23 11 10 6 10 1 
 
 No. apts. each size in 
 
 two-family houses.. 1 10 6S 146 77 30 8 3 
 
 Largest no. in families 
 
 occupying 2 6 10 11 11 10 9 11 9 9 9 
 
 Average no. in families 
 
 occupying 2 2.1 2.9 4.1 4.5 4.7 5.7 5.5 5.2 9 9 
 
 Average rent per room... $3.50 $2.70 $2.40 $2.76 $2.66 $2.51 $2.30 $2.47 
 
 In comparing these figures with the corresponding figures in 
 Districts A and B we find that the average numbers of individuals 
 to apartments in this district is lower than in either of the other 
 two. A comparison of negroes with whites within the district 
 shows that in 3-, 4-, and 5-room houses and apartments which make 
 up the bulk of those inspected, the negroes invariably have more 
 rooms to a given number of individuals. This, contrary to the 
 general belief, bears out the observation that as a rule negroes do 
 not as readily herd into crowded quarters as do the Italians and 
 other whites. This is doubtless due partly to lack of thrift and an 
 easy going self indulgence characteristic of the race, but it is also 
 due very largely to an instinctive knowledge of and regard for a 
 nicety of living, which is one of their highest qualities when prop- 
 erly cultivated. It has been found in making the inspections that 
 many of the houses most noticeable for careful and dainty house- 
 keeping belonged to negroes. 
 
 22 
 
Comparative number of negro and white individuals occupying 3-, 4-. and 
 5-room apartments in District C. 
 
 No. rooms \verage no. per family, 
 
 inapt. Negro White General average 
 
 3 2.5 3.4 2.9 
 
 4 3.8 4.4 4.1 
 
 5 3.9 5.0 4.5 
 
 As in the other districts there is no consistent relation between 
 the room price and the size of the apartment, owing probably to the 
 varying grades of houses inspected. The general average room 
 price for apartments of 2 rooms and over is $2.54 which, it will be 
 noticed, is considerably higher than the almost ecptal averages of 
 $2.26 and $2.27 in Districts A and B. It is not evident that enough 
 of the houses are any better, or that any of the houses are enough 
 better in District C to warrant this difference in price. Xor can 
 it apparently be explained on the ground that the negroes as a class 
 pay higher rents than the whites. The average room price for 
 apartments ranging from 3 to 7 rooms is made up of the prices paid 
 for 390 single houses and apartments divided about equally between 
 white and negro families. The price paid by negroes is higher in 
 only 2 out of the 5 groups, and it will be seen that the general negro 
 average is lower. 
 
 Average price per room in single and two-family houses. 
 
 Xo. rooms in apartment 
 3 
 Price paid by negro.... $-.41 
 Price paid by white.... 2.3 ( > 
 Gen'l average 2.40 
 
 In spite of these figures there is reason to believe from the 
 statements made by those in a position to know that negroes do as 
 a rule pay higher rent for what they get. and that at the same price 
 their quarters are inferior. It may be that the large percentage of 
 negroes in this district has forced up the rent of the poorer houses 
 for both the negroes and whites, but no sufficient study of the 
 houses in the several districts by grades has been made to warrant 
 definite conclusions. 
 
 Of the 83 single houses 79 were provided with kitchen sinks, 
 all of which were of open plumbing and in satisfactory repair. The 
 4 without indoor water supply were rented houses. ( )ne drew from 
 a pump in the yard, 1 from an outside tap. 1 from a tap in the cellar 
 next door, one had no water facilities on the premises and it- source 
 of supply was not discovered. 
 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 Gen'l Aver 
 
 $2.61 
 
 $2.51 
 
 $2.66 
 
 $2.28 $2.4-' 
 
 2.90 
 
 2.81 
 
 2.36 
 
 2.31 2.55 
 
 2.76 
 
 2.66 
 
 2.51 
 
 2.30 2.52 
 
Of the two-family houses, the 64 lived in by their owners all 
 had kitchen sinks in good repair for both families. In the 228 
 apartments of 114 rented two-family houses, there were 184 kitchen 
 sinks. 9 apartments were vacant ; no record was made of 4. Of 
 the remaining 31, one single room apartment had a tap with a sink; 
 3 had taps in the basement, one of these serving for two families ; 2 
 had taps in a closet off the kitchen ; 24 families lacked any indoor 
 supply. In the case of these, 1 yard tap served 2 two-family houses ; 
 1 yard pump served 2 two-family houses ; 1 yard pump served a 
 row of 8 two-family houses. 
 
 14 of the 39 single houses lived in by their owners had bath 
 tubs, but only 3 of the 44 rented single houses. In the 64 two- 
 family houses lived in by their owners there were 17 baths. In 
 6 houses tubs were provided on both floors ; in 5 they were found 
 only in the apartment used by the owner. Only 7 baths were found 
 in the 114 two-family houses where both floors were rented. 
 
 The location of 295 toilets in the single and two-family houses 
 of District C : 
 
 Bath room 38 
 
 Off kitchen 15 
 
 Off hall 35 
 
 Back wall or porch 59 
 
 Cellar or basement 119 
 
 Off bedroom 1 
 
 Off adjoining store 1 
 
 Barn on premises 1 
 
 Yard water closets 24 
 
 Privies 2 
 
 295 106 27 
 
 No toilet on premises 5 
 
 Of the 5 houses with no toilet accommodations on the premises, 
 2 were rear houses and depended on the toilets of the corresponding 
 front houses. 3 used the toilets of neighboring houses. 
 
 In the cases of those intended for the use of more than one 
 family most of them here, as well as elsewhere, served only 2 
 families. One yard toilet in one case, however, served for 4 two- 
 family houses. A group of 6 yard toilets served 8 two-family 
 houses. One of these was out of repair and nailed np at the time 
 of inspection. 
 
 The 2 privies are on an unsewered thoroughfare. The vaults 
 are of good modern construction and in satisfactory condition. 
 
 24 
 
 Used by 
 
 No 
 
 window 
 
 more than 
 
 
 to 
 
 one family 
 
 on 
 
 tside air 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 5 
 
 60 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
( >f the 295 toilets inspected, 'Jo:! may be counted as good by 
 
 the same standard used in the other distriets of accepting as satis- 
 factory all those in sound condition, of approved construction, and 
 in working order. '-','2, however, were of such generally worn and 
 poor condition as to be marked had, .''7 passed only as fair. In 
 addition to those generally worn out and unpresentable, the flush 
 was out of order in 7; in 5 the flow of water was insufficient to 
 flush, and in one it had been turned off for seweral weeks pending 
 a dispute as to whether the tenant or the landlord should pay the 
 water hill. 7 seats were badly split and hroken, and two leak- 
 were discovered, one of them of long enough duration to have 
 soaked and rotted the floor. 
 
 A number of the toilets here, as in the other districts, were 
 found to he immaculately kept, notably several in the homes of 
 high class negroes, but the care in most cases was indifferent, and 
 the lack of it in many cases shocking. The condition of the 
 toilets in this district is, on the whole, less good than in the others, 
 and it is noticeable that a majority of those lacking care were those 
 used by negroes of the less thrifty class. 
 
 District C has a larger number of tenement houses than either 
 of the other sections. ( )f its 74 houses, •'!!) are of the Xew Law 
 type, 35 of remodeled old style construction. They are grouped 
 in size as here shown : 
 
 Number of apts. in house 
 
 3 4 5 6 11 14 16 Total 
 
 New Law 16 5 1 14 1 1 1 39 
 
 Old Law 22 5 1 7 35 
 
 Total 38 10 2 21 1 1 1 74 
 
 All of these buildings are on the front of the lot and are frame 
 with but 6 exceptions. These 6 buildings are of brick. 
 
 The following table shows the population of these 74 tenements 
 by nationality. 
 
 Engl, speaking Italian Negro Total 
 whites 
 
 Adults 252 211 305 668 
 
 Children 134 24S 109 491 
 
 Lodgers 6 7 12 25 
 
 Total 392 466 326 1184 
 
 These 1184 individuals form a total of 310 families; about 
 evenly divided among English speaking whites. Italians, and 
 negroes. 
 
 Engl, speaking 
 
 whites Italians Negro Total 
 
 No. of families 110 94 106 310 
 
 25 
 
These numbers make an average of 3.8 to a family for the 
 whole tenement population, as compared with 4.7 in District A 
 and 5.2 in District B. But, estimating according to the racial 
 groups, we find that the average family of the English speaking 
 whites is 3.6; of the Italian 5; and of the negro only 3.1. 
 
 The grouping by size of family and number of rooms occupied 
 shows the most usual disposition to be that of families of 2 or 3, 
 in apartments of 3 or 4 rooms. 106 families, or slightly over one- 
 third of the whole number of families, are so housed ; but here, as 
 in the other districts, there are repeated cases of overcrowding. 
 Such cases are 5, 6, 7 and 8 people in 2 rooms ; 7, 8, and 9 in 3 
 rooms ; 8, 9, and 10 in 4 rooms. 
 
 Distribution of 310 families in 74 tenement houses in District C by number 
 of rooms occupied in relation to size of family. 
 
 No. rooms 
 in apt. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 N 
 
 umber 
 4 
 
 of 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 individi 
 6 
 
 uals 
 7 
 
 in fai 
 8 
 
 nily 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 Total no. 
 
 apts. 
 occupied 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 33 
 
 26 
 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 117 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 27 
 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 101 
 
 5 
 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 ? 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 6 
 
 
 8 
 
 14 
 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Total no 
 of families 
 
 15 
 
 75 
 
 76 
 
 
 42 
 
 38 
 
 33 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 310 
 
 Water is supplied in this district in individual sinks in all 
 apartments of the new tenements and in 117 apartments in the old 
 tenement type of building. 13 sinks in old tenement buildings were 
 in the public hallway ; 1 sink was in the yard ; 1 in the basement, 
 and 1 apartment was found having no water supply. One sink 
 and 2 laundry tubs were found leaking. One sink was enclosed. 
 
 28 of the 39 new tenements have toilets within the apartments. 
 In 3 houses an individual toilet is provided for each family, but 
 they are in the basement; in 4 six-family houses the toilets are in 
 the yard with two families to 1 toilet. Three on the rear porch or 
 in the hallway have 2 families to 1 toilet. Although these arrange- 
 ments are permitted for old buildings, they are not in accordance 
 with the present state law for new buildings.* 
 
 *These figures are taken from official records listed as new tenements. It is exceedingly 
 difficult in some cases, however, without a careful study of building records, to distinguish 
 between a new tenement and an old tenement successfully remodeled. It is probable that some 
 of these houses belong in the class of remodeled old tenements and that the condition> nun 
 tioned, while not desirable are not violations of the law. 
 
 26 
 
Iii the old buildings 6 apartments have individual toilets open- 
 ing off the kitchen; 9 open off the public hallway, of which 6 are 
 used for 2 families. One of these has no window to the outside 
 air. 26 are on the hack porch, 10 of them serving for 2 families, and 
 in one case 2 of them serving for 3 families. Three of these have 
 no window. 4 are in the cellar, 3 of which are used by 2 families 
 each, 1 by 3 families ; 28 are in the yard. 6 of these are used by 2 
 families. In 2 cases 4 are used by 5 families; in 3 cases 1 is used 
 by •'! ; 1 was found opening from a bedroom and having no light 
 or ventilation from outside. 
 
 All these toilets are reported in good condition excepting 4. 
 where the flush was temporarily out of order. 
 
 Again it is pleasant to record that only 1 dark room was found. 
 
 Of these houses 16 are recorded as having no caretaker on the 
 premises. 15 are lived in by their owners, and 8 have resident 
 janitors. Xo record was made in the case of 35. 
 
 23 buildings are reported as having no provision for night 
 lights in the public hallways ; 3 had gas fixtures provided but not 
 used; no record was made of 7, leaving 41 with proper provision for 
 nisrht lisrht. 
 
 General Findings for All Orange Tenements. 
 
 71 of the 245 Orange tenement houses are in sections 
 of the city that are not included in the present survey, but which 
 in character repeat with varying emphasis the features noticed 
 in the 3 districts studied. 
 
 The facts in the following general summary of the official 
 tenement inspection are taken from the report of the Health De- 
 partment issued in May, 1915. The tabulations are there made by 
 wards, which roughly correspond to the districts of the survey in 
 this way : 
 
 The First Ward includes all of District C, but extends beyond it. 
 
 The Third Ward includes all of District B, but extends beyond 
 it. 
 
 District A is made up of parts of the Third and Fourth Wards. 
 
 The Second and Fifth Wards are entirely outside the districts 
 studied. 
 
 There can, therefore, be no identity between the figures shown 
 by wards and those of the lettered districts, but a certain general 
 correspondence exists. 
 
 The report gives for the entire city the following interesting 
 figures, showing for each of the chief racial groups the percentage 
 living in tenement houses. It will be noticed that 30^? of the 
 Italians in the city are tenement dwellers, and that 12.6' i of the 
 entire population is housed in tenements. 
 
Population of Orange Tenement Houses by Nationality. 
 
 Pop. of Per cent, of Total 
 Total Pop. Tenements in Tenements 
 
 Colored 2,836 437 15.4 
 
 Italian 6.202 2,257 30.7 
 
 Other Whites 23,639 1,425 6.0 
 
 City 32,679 4,119 12.6 
 
 These same population figures are shown distributed by wards 
 and divided into Adults, Children (under 16 years), and Lodgers. 
 
 Tenement House Population by Wards, Age and Principal Nationalities. 
 
 Colored Italian Other Whites City 
 
 ACLA CLACL 
 
 First Ward.... 202 106 13 255 258 13 276 207 7 1,337 
 
 Second Ward.. 3 1 18 20 165 160 3 370 
 
 Third Ward... 36 25 6 537 766 117 188 90 24 1,789 
 
 Fourth Ward.. 14 2 101 142 2 34 105 400 
 
 Fifth Ward.... 18 11 10 18 106 58 2 223 
 
 City 273 145 19 921 1,204 132 769 620 36 4,119 
 
 A — Adults. C — Children. L — Lodgers. 
 
 The report calls attention to certain facts shown by this table 
 — that 43% of the entire tenement house population lives in the 
 Third Ward; 32% in the First, or 75% in the two wards combined. 
 Also that only in the Italian families does the number of children 
 exceed that of adults. 
 
 The report continues : "This table shows the very interesting 
 fact that, as far as the tenement house population is concerned, 
 there were more Italian or other whites in the First Ward than 
 colored. Since the ward is pre-eminently colored, the fact is ap- 
 parent that these people do not generally live in tenement houses, 
 but rather in one or two-family houses." 
 
 But the study made of 261 single and two-family houses in 
 District C, which contains the bulk of the colored population of the 
 First Ward, showed that in these houses also only 40% of the popu- 
 lation was colored. It is probable that this district is not predom- 
 inantly negro as is generally supposed, but that an idea of numbers 
 is given by many houses occupied by small negro families. (It 
 was shown in the study of District C that the average colored fam- 
 ily in single and two-family houses was 3.4, and in tenements only 
 3.1 — in both cases smaller than the corresponding whites.) 
 
 The official inspection "disclosed the fact that horses were 
 housed upon tenement house premises in 11 cases, cows kept in one 
 case, and chickens in 12." Attention is called to the fact that no 
 privy vaults exist on any tenement house property in the city, every 
 such house being connected with the sewer. 
 
 28 
 
I he records also show that "the average weekly income of the 
 
 colored tenement house population, as shown by the statistic- of 92 
 families taken at random, was $7.87 as against $10.1] and $14.09 for 
 the Italians and other whites respectively (these two being based 
 on 100 families studied). The monthly rent paid by 100 families 
 averaged as follows: Colored $9.00; Italian $9.50; other whites 
 S12.72. In other words, while it is seen that 28.6^ of the colored 
 income is paid out for rent, only 2T7 r / of the Italian and 22.6^5 of 
 the income ot the other white population is used for this purpose." 
 
 The inspection discovered Hi!) violations of state laws or local 
 ordinances, which are listed as follows: 
 
 Painting or whitewashing required i,\ 
 
 Defective plumbing 41 
 
 Number of dark rooms 22 
 
 Rubbish in yard or cellar 16 
 
 Toilet rooms not properly ventilated or lighted 11 
 
 Deficient in no. of water closets or sinks 11 
 
 Inadequate tire escape facilities 2 
 
 Surface water running into cellar 2 
 
 Cbicken coops too near house 3 
 
 169 
 
 Notifications were sent out, and at the time of issuing the 
 report, reinspection had been made and all these violations were 
 found corrected. It will he noticed that many of them, such as the 
 dark rooms, unventilated toilet rooms, etc., are among the defects 
 noted in the present report. It is gratifying to know that already 
 they no longer exist. 
 
 DISTRICT D. 
 
 The small scattered sections grouped for convenience as Dis- 
 trict 1), do not need any detailed discussion, since they offer no 
 unusual or acute problems. I hit certain general comments are sug- 
 gested by their inspection. 
 
 First. In looking over the district, in Orange and West 
 Orange, surrounding the Edison works and extending to the still 
 open hillside beyond, one is forcibly struck with the tine i ipportunity 
 open to the factory management of developing there a prosperous 
 industrial community of factory workers, by adopting, contrary to 
 the present practice, a policy of putting a premium on local resi- 
 dence and on steady long-time service. Such a policy would create 
 a greater local pride and interest in the success of the industry, and 
 would secure the expenditure at home of a large payroll now in 
 great measure diverted to other communities. 
 
 29 
 
Second. The district in South Orange which shows the marks 
 of poverty' and ignorance is small, and does not as yet constitute 
 an evident serious responsibility for the community. But certain 
 conditions in the region that has Church street as its center indicate 
 that a slum is in process of forming, with the growth of this lower 
 section of the town, if the tendency is not counteracted by diligent 
 sanitary supervision and social care. South Orange is fortunate in 
 that whatever good-housing program she may undertake can still 
 be largely in the nature of an ounce of prevention, calculated to 
 save at least a large percentage of the pound of cure. 
 
 Third. Attention is directed to the growing Italian district in 
 the Elmwood section of East Orange, as a district likely to develop 
 slum conditions for lack of sanitary supervision and guidance. 
 Tenement houses are springing up in this still sparsely built region, 
 several houses at the time of inspection were without the water 
 connection demanded by ordinance, and a number of ill kept privy 
 vaults were to be found on sewered streets. Chickens, goats and 
 other animals wandered at will through the streets and in cellars 
 and untidy back yards. A flourishing poultry yard was discovered 
 in the third story hallway of a big tenement house. 
 
 Even now conditions seen within the past few weeks may 
 be in process of correction, for East Orange is now developing a 
 
 A general view showing unkempt conditions in part of the growing Italian section 
 of East Orange. In this district there are several privy vaults on sewered streets and houses 
 lacking water supply, and an increasing number of tenement houses. It is in danger of 
 developing slum conditions through lack of sanitary oversight and guidance. 
 
 30 
 
recently reorganized and improved health administration, which 
 can be trusted to maintain an efficient supervision and a progres- 
 sive policy of constructive betterment. It is pleasant to record a 
 knowledge of the correction already of several serious abuses — one, 
 the partial reconstruction of a dark and ill-ventilated negro tene- 
 ment in the center of the city. 
 
 Fourth. This district comprises the two blocks bounded by 
 the Parkway, Willow Street, along the railroad, Academy Street 
 and Main Street. It is the chief negro section of East Orange. 
 Mention is made of it not on account of the several wrong condi- 
 tions to be found there, but to call attention to the infinite possi- 
 bilities afforded for the development of neighborhood interests. 
 
 The houses, many of them, have open garden spaces capable 
 of charming cultivation; the region is bounded on one side by the 
 beautiful strip of parkway, at present, but not necessarily, devoid 
 of benches; the Public Library is almost directly opposite across 
 Main Street: and the Eastern School, bounding a third side, 
 affords an equipped playground, a beautiful shaded park-like yard, 
 and a building that could be made available for an endless variety 
 of meetings and social gatherings. A social settlement, already 
 doing admirable work among the people of the district, is a means 
 at hand for furthering the growth of a fine neighborhood standard 
 and spirit. It should have the support in its work of all agencies 
 interested in civic welfare. 
 
 Summary of Conditions and Needs. 
 
 Types of Houses Available. 
 
 Single and Two-Family Houses. By far the larger part of the 
 working population of the Oranges have their homes in single or 
 two-family houses, many of them owned by their occupants. Rents, 
 while fairly moderate, are sufficiently high to warrant the building 
 of houses of better architectural design and construction. Among 
 the more ship-shape houses the existence of many old ramshackle 
 drab-colored single and two-family houses still offered for rent is a 
 misfortune. Some few of these, to be sure, offer surprises inside; 
 they are neatly kept and make tidy homes. In some of the shab- 
 biest and most uninhabitable looking exteriors has been found the 
 most admirable housewifery, deserving >A better conditions. But 
 for the most part these houses have no conveniences, are difficult 
 to make in any way homelike or attractive, and offer nothing to 
 "live up to." Especially in Districts B and C numbers of such in- 
 ferior little shacks give a forlorn aspect to certain neighborhoods 
 that otherwise would be perfectly orderly self respecting streets. 
 and the tendency from their cheapness is to have them fall into the 
 hands of the more shiftless and unambitious element. 
 
 31 
 
These houses are the relics of by-gone days, and many are 
 rapidly nearing the time when they can be condemned and torn 
 down. Another and different problem is the increasing ownership 
 of small properties for speculative purposes by ignorant foreigners 
 to whom an immediate return for a small outlay is a necessity and 
 by whom a community ideal is rarely understood. Many of these 
 little new houses they build are comfortable and sanitary, and their 
 owners, usually living in the neighborhood, often make excellent 
 landlords, but these quickly built and amateurish structures create 
 an unfortunate standard of architectural style. There is no per- 
 ceptible movement as yet in the Oranges to build as profitable in- 
 vestment houses for the poorer classes that shall at the same time 
 be a contribution to the aesthetic value and attraction of the com- 
 munity and an educational help toward a higher standard of living. 
 It is probable that small investors, if they could be shown the possi- 
 bility of good returns on such building, would be glad to avail 
 themselves of new knowledge and use it in planning the houses they 
 put upon the market. 
 
 Rear of a typical small tenement of the old style in the business section of Orange. 
 Two of the four rooms on the top floor are remodeled "dark rooms". The yard closets seen 
 to the right are old and worn and offensive to sight ami smell and the small yard space 
 littered and forlorn. 
 
 32 
 
Old Tenements. There is little to be said of the old tenement 
 except that it must be watched with unremitting vigilance, and tol- 
 erated only until it can be destroyed. The requirements of the State 
 Tenement I louse Law for old buildings and the vigorous enforce- 
 ment of the law in the ( Iranges has mitigated its evils in large meas- 
 ure, hut the most that the law requires in the modification of old 
 structures, notably in the matter of "dark rooms," water supply, 
 toilet facilities, and hallway light and air, leave them in most in- 
 stances far short of beings satisfactory domiciles. Their original 
 construction does not admit of complete conforming with the excel- 
 lent law for new tenements, and a compromise is all that in fairness 
 to the owners can he demanded. Fortunately most tenements of 
 the old type in the Oranges do not house over three or four families 
 each, and their number all told is comparatively small. 
 
 New Tenements. < )f new tenements there are a number well 
 built in conformity with all the requirements of the law. Most 
 of them house from three to six families, but a few contain up to 
 12 and 16 apartments each. Whatever can be said in praise of 
 them, however, from the point of view of material excellence, their 
 existence is bad at best in a community where conditions are favor- 
 able for housing all the people in individual homes. Xo congregate 
 dwellings, precluding as they do all family privacy, can ofi'er suitable 
 conditions for the normal health}- development of growing children. 
 A check should be put upon the rapid multiplication of these calam- 
 ities in the Oranges, and the evil effects of those already existing 
 should be counteracted as far as possible by a liberal public policy 
 in the matter of playgrounds, small parks, provision for neighbor- 
 hood centers, etc.. in the more congested districts. 
 
 The argument is sometimes brought up that not all workers 
 can afford a separate house or undertake the responsibility for its 
 care, and are for convenience forced to the tenement manner of 
 living. The modern architects are answering this argument con- 
 vincinglv by the planning of what may be called group, as distin- 
 guished from congregate, dwellings, where advantage is taken of 
 the cheapness of a common roof and foundation, but where the 
 privacy of separate entrances is maintained, and some individuality 
 provided in quarters planned as a family house unit, however small. 
 
 Rear Houses. The rear house is an evil that the ' "ranges have 
 escaped only in part. A half dozen or more small rear tenements 
 exist, built before the law was passed prohibiting their creation. 
 and not a few single and two-family houses are found that either 
 have been shut off from the street in the process of new building or 
 else have been built as an afterthought to utilize the full value of 
 the lot. Many such small rear dwellings are found in Districts A 
 and B; a few can be found along the length of Main Street; ami 
 several exist in the poorer parts of South ami hast Orange. 
 
 33 
 
There is of course nothing necessarily undesirable in such a 
 house in itself — in fact those investigated have often shown good 
 conditions. Most of them have not been deprived of sunlight and 
 air, and there is frequently about them a rather pleasing privacy 
 and quiet. Their position, however, suggests a certain social infer- 
 iority, and experience proves that sooner or later they tend to fall to 
 the occupancy of an element of society that cannot bear the light 
 of publicity in its manner of living. 
 
 With rear houses may be classed various makeshift living quar- 
 ters in buildings not meant for dwellings. Among such in the 
 Oranges at the present time is an abandoned hat factory in East 
 Orange, a part of whose second story is fitted up and utilized as a 
 dwelling. Entrance is by way of the fire escape. Another is an 
 apartment built over a stable, also in East Orange. The social 
 isolation of such quarters is bad, even if other conditions are favor- 
 able. In the case of the stable apartment, which is well built and 
 neatly kept, an inside toilet off the hallway and directly opposite 
 one of the bedrooms, is without outside light or ventilation, and the 
 house, though carefully screened, is literally swarming with stable 
 flies and reeking with stable odors. For a playground the children, 
 of whom there are 7, can choose between a coalyard on one side 
 and the railroad track on the other. 
 
 Alleys. The community is fortunately entirely free from the 
 curse of the alley system. A few blind alleys or courts exist, which 
 share the dangers of the single rear house. One such may be seen 
 in Whitty's Lane, Orange ; another in the group of rear houses 
 known as "476 William Street," East Orange. A row of houses 
 that well illustrates the problem of aloofness from a public thor- 
 oughfare stands in an open space bordering on the railroad and 
 hemmed in by the tenements and stores of the business center of 
 Orange. Entrance to it is had through a vaulted passage leading 
 from the street. The only light by night is from a kerosene lamp 
 attached to one of the house fronts, and the surrounding open space 
 of a half acre or so, containing a few trees, several stables and other 
 outbuildings, is a favorite loafing place at all hours for idlers and 
 hoodlums. The right sort of tenant deserves better conditions 
 and the wrong sort needs them. Such hidden away dwellings as 
 now exist should be closely supervised, and their increase should 
 be prohibited. 
 
 Out Buildings. In such open spaces as that mentioned above, 
 at the rear of business blocks and in the back yards of small houses 
 and tenements, there is always a tendency to accumulate crude 
 frame outbuildings, used as stables, tool houses, chicken coops, 
 store rooms, etc. These give a slovenly appearance to the open 
 spaces, tend to discourage the tidy upkeep of yard room, and in 
 many cases create a serious fire hazard. One such outbuilding at 
 
 34 
 
the back of a small tenement fn < Irange was found to be Riled with 
 such inflammable household effects that it was not thought safe to 
 attempt a flash light picture of its interior. 
 
 Group of out buildings at the back of a business block in Oranee. Such crowded 
 frame buildings constitute a serious fire hazard in the midst of a closely built up section. 
 Many such cluttered groups remain in Orange, though much has already been done toward 
 clearing them out. 
 
 Many such cluttered groups may be found in the community, 
 especially in the crowded sections of Orange, though much has 
 already been done there toward clearing them out. 
 
 Dark and Gloomy Rooms. Among the good living conditions 
 in the Oranges should be emphasized the abundance of light and 
 sunshine and air in all the streets, since there are few large or high 
 buildings anywhere. Dark and gloomy interiors have been con- 
 cocted in too many cases, however, almost in spite of intrusive sun- 
 shine. There are still numerous tenement rooms that are "light" 
 only by courtesy of the law, and it must be remembered that rooms 
 with absolutely no direct light or ventilation are not at present 
 illegal when they occur in single or two-family houses. Several 
 such dark bedrooms have been found in small houses, usually those 
 converted from single to two-family use. The existence ol such 
 
 35 
 
rooms is a physical and spiritual menace wherever they occur, and 
 should be prohibited by local ordinance until such time as they may 
 be universally abolished by state law. 
 
 These small houses are delightfully situated with a fine view of the Mountain. The toilets 
 in six of them open off the kitchen with no outside light or ventilation. The two upper dwellings 
 have been remodeled into two family houses, and dark bedrooms have been created in the 
 process. 
 
 A tendency has been noticed also, here and there, to build small 
 houses on such narrow lot frontage that adjoining houses have 
 hardly more than a footpath between them. "Windows opening 
 on such a slit are practically useless, and the space could be used 
 to better advantage by planning semi-detached houses where the 
 lot is so limited. Such lot crowding is as yet fairly rare, but it 
 is easier to prevent in advance than to remedy. 
 
 Water Supply. Good water and plenty of it is an asset of all 
 four Oranges, that of East Orange particularly being widely famous. 
 Water mains are within reach of practically all houses in the settled 
 areas and are already actually connected with nearly all. It is usual 
 to find water connections not only within each house, but within 
 each separate apartment even in the old tenements, where an indi- 
 vidual family supply is not required by law. Some tenements are still 
 dependent on hall or even on basement taps, but the latter are rare. 
 
 36 
 
A considerable number of small houses, however, have been found 
 with no inside supply and dependent either on a pump or a yard 
 tap, such a single fixture in two known instances serving a dozen 
 
 or more families. 
 
 Such lack of water facilities, in spite of easy access to the public 
 supply, is an unnecessary privation, and enormously increases the 
 difficulty of decent living. A local ordinance requiring running 
 water within each dwelling where the public supply is available 
 should he passed and strictly enforced. 
 
 This yard tap has replaced the pump as the source of water supply (or two single and 
 five two-family houses. The yard closets seeii in the background serve the same twelve 
 families. The flush tanks are rusted out and disconnected, ami the only means of flushing 
 at present is with water carried from the tap. The filthy fixtures and the refuse scattered 
 about the ground swarm with flies. 
 
 The custom seems to he practically universal where water is 
 supplied at only one point within the house, to provide a sink in the 
 kitchen. The lack of laundry tubs in small houses and in many 
 tenements is noticeable. It seems as if. where the choice has to be 
 made, a single stationary laundry tub would he of infinitely greater 
 service than the shallow sink and. with the aid of a dish pan, could 
 he made to serve the double purpose, thus saving the most hack 
 breaking task of the housewife, that of filling and emptying mov- 
 able tubs. 
 
 37 
 
A condition existed in Orange during part of last summer 
 which, while it was temporary, ought to be brought widely to the 
 knowledge of citizens in order that steps may be taken to prevent 
 its recurrence in the future. A reorganization of system in the 
 water department of the city gave impetus to the collection of out- 
 standing water bills, and as a last resort, after due notification had 
 been given to the owners, water was shut off from properties where 
 payment had not been made. Many of these houses were rented, 
 and the tenants, most of them ignorant and long suffering, did not 
 even know why they were deprived of the usual supply. Several 
 houses in the poorest sections of the city were without water for 
 weeks in reeking August and September days, and conditions in the 
 household and around the unflushed toilets beggar description. 
 
 As this report goes to print the newspaper announces that 
 employes of the water department are again starting on the task 
 of shutting off water from delinquents, and mentions 750 as the 
 number of property owners who have not paid overdue water bills. 
 
 Such method is not only unjust to the innocent tenant, but cre- 
 ates conditions that are a serious menace to public health. Either 
 it should be made possible for the city to levy on the rent in pay- 
 ment of overdue bills, or the house should be placarded when 
 notification is sent to the owner so that tenants may have suitable 
 time to move. 
 
 Sewerage and Privy Vaults. The sewerage of streets is almost 
 complete. Out of 74 miles of streets in East Orange, 71 are already 
 sewered ; in Orange all but a few small streets have sewers laid : 
 and in both South and West Orange the work is being steadily 
 extended in advance of building as these towns reach out toward 
 the country. This is making possible the rapid extinction of the 
 privy vault, and it is safe to prophesy that these will soon be diffi- 
 cult to find in any of the Oranges. 
 
 Streets and Pavements. Curbed streets and pavements are 
 laid not only in the built up portions, but extending well to the out- 
 skirts of the towns, and some start has been made in the several 
 communities toward a public system of street cleaning. Neat and 
 orderly conditions outside tend to create responsive effort in house- 
 holders, and much of the neighborhood spirit of order depends on 
 the public standard of street care. Much is still to be desired in 
 this line, especially in the matter of proper oiling and of removing 
 surface dirt on much traveled thoroughfares. 
 
 Street Lighting. An effective system of street lighting extends 
 over all sections of the community. There are few public streets 
 lighted inadequately for safety and convenience. 
 
 38 
 
Municipal Collection of House Refuse. Municipal provision for 
 the collection of garbage, ashes and other house refuse is made in 
 all the ( >ranges. While there is still room for improvement in the 
 methods of collection and disposal employed in some of the 
 municipalities, improvements have recently been made in all, and 
 simply the fact that it is undertaken by them all as a public service 
 is a great factor in assuring sweet and sanitary conditions in and 
 about the houses. 
 
 lint the failure to enforce the ordinance, existing in all the 
 municipalities, requiring- covered garbage cans for every house- 
 hold, creates serious nuisance. While there is rarely found an 
 offensive collection of garbage within the home it is often revolting 
 to sight and smell outside. Xot only is a suitable receptacle for 
 garbage seldom seen in the individual family of the poorer class. 
 but the accumulation from large tenements is often piled in uncov- 
 ered cans, wash tubs, and in many cases no separation is attempted 
 of garbage, ashes and papers. The variety of receptacles seen 
 presented on the curb by individual housewives ranges from old 
 wash boilers and wooden boxes of various sizes and conditions to a 
 battered derbv hat. The regulation requiring a covered metal can 
 is difficult of enforcement, but its observance lies at the root of 
 much of the nicety and health of community living and is worth 
 much thought and effort on the part of the authorities. That it is 
 an ideal possible of achievement is attested by success in a number 
 of towns where the effort has been made. 
 
 Toilet Accommodations. One of the most beneficial provisions 
 of the State Tenement House Law is the requirement for new tene- 
 ments of a separate toilet for each department within the apart- 
 ment, and within each store located on the premises. Practically 
 all the new tenements and many of the old tenements are now so 
 provided, and separate toilets are sometimes supplied for each floor 
 of two-family houses. This arrangement, however, is not usual in 
 the cheaper grade houses. Most of the two-family houses in tin- 
 districts studied have but a single toilet. 
 
 The use of a common toilet by two or more families, and the 
 frequently promiscuous use of yard toilets is unutterably bad. Xot 
 only does the lack of family privacy in this respect make it well 
 nigh impossible to fix the responsibility for the proper care of the 
 fixtures, but it endangers personal dignity and decency, and when. 
 as frequently happens in the case of yard toilets, the convenience 
 becomes semi-public, it is one of the surest ways of spreading 
 hideous disease. 
 
 These clangers of promiscuous use. as well as the objection of 
 great inconvenience, exist in several instances where families are 
 
 dependent on the toilet of an adjoining store. In 1 case, the only 
 
 39 
 
toilet available for the use of a family including 2 little girls was in 
 the adjoining saloon, of which the father was the proprietor. The 
 case is reversed when, as sometimes happens, the patrons or em- 
 ployees of a store are dependent on the use of the toilet of an 
 adjoining house. 
 
 Rear view of small two-family houses occupied by negroes. The houses have some 
 good points (notably the separate entrances), but sixteen families depend on a single yard 
 pump and a group of yard toilets, which from their exposed position lend themselves to 
 semi-public use. A good chance is lost of developing a community garden in the large yard 
 space. 
 
 The location of the toilet in the cellar is also unsatisfactory, 
 whether it be for private or for joint use. Usually there is insuffi- 
 cient light and air, often the approach is awkward or even danger- 
 ous, and it is practically impossible for night use. Its inconvenience 
 is attested by the frequent evidence of the use of portable vessels 
 even in the day time, and in one extreme case of drunken shiftless- 
 ness a substitute was found in a collection of empty butter firkins, 
 cuspidors, and other receptacles in a back room. Infrequently, but 
 in a noticeable number of instances, human excreta have been found 
 in hallways, dooryards or courts where toilets were inconveniently 
 placed. 
 
 40 
 
In a matter so vitally affecting public decency and health, pri- 
 vate decency ought to be rewarded or facilitated as the case may 
 demand. The standard of a separate family toilet within each 
 apartment should be established for all houses, whether tenement 
 two-family or single, and the requirement of a toilet within each 
 store or workshop, now secured in the Tenement House Law for 
 stores on the premises of new tenements, should be extended to 
 cover all stores. 
 
 Room Overcrowding. The tendency to room overcrowding 
 
 and the admittance of lodgers to crowded family quarters at best 
 destroys the chance of individual privacy and epiiet essential to 
 healthy living. At its worst it is a serious moral evil. It is probable 
 that the total number of lodgers in the houses inspected is con- 
 siderably underestimated, since there is usually a hesitancy to 
 admit their presence at all. The number of adults claimed as 
 family is often suspiciously high, and the testimony of neighbors 
 frequently gives a higher count of lodgers than that offered by the 
 householder. In one case where the owner of a four room apart- 
 ment confessed to a wife and five lodgers the neighbors insisted 
 that the lodgers numbered fourteen ! 
 
 Serious overcrowding has been found to exist in certain Greek 
 and other foreign lodging houses in the neighborhood of the Edison 
 works, and the continuous running of the plant makes possible the 
 utilization of rooms for a day and a night shift of sleepers. This 
 evil may be controlled, though with difficulty, by means of laws 
 and vigilant official inspections. But the family overcrowding and 
 the sharing of family quarters with outsiders can be satisfactorily 
 prevented only by slow education and economic readjustments in 
 the relation of wages to the cost of living. 
 
 It is difficult to fix a standard for permissible crowding, or to 
 gauge what is permissible beyond what is desirable. The law for 
 tenements, basing the limit on cubic air space, obviously cannot 
 guarantee hygienic safety if the air is stale, and it ignores altogether 
 the matter of privacy and morality, which is the most important 
 issue. Measuring up the air space of the rooms in cubic feet, the 
 following five cases chosen from tenement apartments in Districts 
 B and C are found to be all legal, and in 1 or 2 instances additional 
 lodgers could be accommodated without infraction of the law: 
 
 2 parents, 4 children and 5 lodgers in 4 rooms. 
 
 2 parents, 5 children and 2 lodgers in 3 rooms. 
 
 2 parents, 7 children and 1 lodger in •'! rooms. 
 
 2 parents, 3 children and 1 lodger in 2 rooms. 
 
 2 parents. 5 children and 1 lodger in 2 rooms. 
 
 Little need be said of the effect on children of such promiscuous 
 and crowded living arrangements. 
 
 41 
 
It seems reasonable in considering a standard for permissible 
 crowding, to assume than in every apartment at least one room 
 (presumably the kitchen ) should be reserved free from use as sleep- 
 ing quarters. Possibly an exception to this might be made in the 
 case of a two-room apartment, where a single person could be 
 allowed to use the second room if the first itself was not over- 
 crowded. In the other rooms anything over an average of 2 l / 2 
 persons to a room would seem incompatible with the least amount 
 of privacy that can be thought of as tolerable. Testing the tene- 
 ment house records by this standard, it is found that 175 tenement 
 families, or 23% of those studied in the 3 districts, are living in 
 quarters crowded beyond this limit. Reckoning by individuals in- 
 stead of families the proportion rises to 36% of the tenement house 
 population of these districts. 
 
 Not all the worst overcrowding is in the tenements, although 
 it is usually found there accompanied by more sordid poverty and 
 shiftlessness. The population in the single and two-family houses is 
 more permanent, since many own or are earning their houses, and 
 the crowding is often a matter of forward looking thrift rather than 
 a necessity for a hand-to-mouth existence. An example may be 
 cited of a Polish couple living with five children and a lodger in 
 4 rooms of a two-family house, which they own with a mortgage, 
 renting the 5-room Hat on the second floor to a family of 2. The 
 kitchens have porcelain sinks, a bathroom with tub and toilet is 
 provided on each floor, and the whole place is immaculately kept. 
 Presumably the crowding is a temporary necessity in establishing 
 the home, and one likes to picture the time arrived when they will 
 be able to abandon the lodger and transfer themselves to the more 
 roomy upper floor, contenting themselves with the lesser rent from 
 the smaller quarters. 
 
 Other families without lodgers are recalled ; a mother and father 
 and 11 children in 5 rooms; a mother and 11 children in 4 rooms; 
 a mother and father and 8 children in 3 rooms, &c. It was in one of 
 these that a little girl lived who replied, to a suggestion that she 
 ought to come in earlier at night and go to bed: "What's the use 
 when I can't turn over?" She slept in a bed with her 4 sisters — 
 3 of them lengthwise at the top and 2 crosswise at the foot. 
 
 Parks and Playgrounds. The Oranges are wonderfully sup- 
 plied with recreation grounds in the surrounding neighborhood, 
 such as the Essex County Reservation, and Eagle Rock Park on 
 the Mountain, I'. ranch Brook Park in Newark, and Watsessing 
 Park to the north of East Orange. These could be increased a 
 hundredfold in usefulness to the poorer members of the community 
 if transportation facilities were more widely developed. 
 
 All 4 Oranges have municipal and school playgrounds, also, ot 
 which they may be justly proud, and ( )range Park gives delight to 
 
 42 
 
thousands. It is. however, too far off from the poorer sections to 
 he reached except by a definite excursion. The great need, prac- 
 tically untouched as yet, is for small parks and resting places in 
 the crowded sections of the community, where the lack of space and 
 quiet within many of these home-- might be relieved by beauty and 
 a nearby means of restful recreation without. The districts studied 
 are sadly lacking in any plan of street adornment, small parks, or 
 playgrounds convenient for little children, and hundreds of children 
 find their only play space in the dirty and crowded streets. (But 
 special appreciative mention should be made of the 2 playgrounds 
 maintained by private agencies — 1 by the Baptist Mission in District 
 B and 1 by the Colored Chapel in District C.) 
 
 The beautiful little park space on Main Street. Orange, is a 
 delightful spot in the midst of a dreary business street, but it is 
 entirely without benches, and therefore unavailable for its greatest 
 usefulness. More such places planted with trees and shrubs and 
 supplied with drinking fountains and benches would he a life and 
 soul saving benefit to many mothers in the poorer quarters, whose 
 life for the most part is a monotonous drudgery within doors, and 
 who cannot seek rest and refreshment far from home. 
 
 Such need is more urgently apparent in the already crowded 
 districts of Orange, but provision cannot be made too soon in the 
 growing sections of the other Oranges, where congested living is 
 likely to develop. The lack of foresight in this respect in East 
 Orange has already been mentioned, where whole tracts have been 
 sold to realty companies, streets cut and sewered, and surveyed off 
 into small building lots, without provision for future need of public 
 space. 
 
 For central Orange and the Valley this great need should be 
 kept in mind when adjustments of property arc made in the con- 
 templated track changes. The railroad should be willing to co- 
 operate in a park development along its right of way that would 
 make this part of Orange not only a delight to its inhabitants, but 
 an attraction on the railroad map instead of an eyesore as it is at 
 present. 
 
 Any discussion of housing conditions in the Oranges would be 
 incomplete without mention of the work done toward better housing 
 in the community by a group of citizens working under the name <>\ 
 the Civic Sanitation Committee some ten or twelve years ago. 
 
 They have the honor of being one of the potent influences 
 exerted in behalf of the Tenement House Act passed in 1!M>4. and it 
 was entirely due to their insistent demands, supported by substan- 
 tial evidence of needs, that the old inefficient health administration 
 in the Orange of a dozen years ago was reorganized into the present 
 efficient system under a trained sanitarian. A comparison of th« 
 
 43 
 
findings of investigations made at this earlier time and now shows 
 the immense improvement found today in the comfort and sanitary 
 safety of living conditions among the working population. It is 
 to be regretted that this Committee ceased to exist after several 
 years of successful effort and accomplishment. 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS 
 
 To insure an effective development of plans for better housing 
 in the community a permanent Housing Committee for all the 
 Oranges is advisable. The functions of such a Committee could be 
 as wide as their abilities and energies permitted. In general their 
 function would be to keep themselves informed as thoroughly as 
 could be of the needs and possibilities for securing and maintaining 
 better living conditions in the community, and in turn to guide pub J 
 lie sentiment toward the support of measures that would in any way 
 promote such betterment. They would do well first of all to 
 arouse interest in securing an expert City Planning, on which to 
 base an harmonious development of the whole community, looking 
 ahead to the needed reservation of park spaces, necessary building 
 restrictions for given areas, extension of transportation facilities. 
 formation of community centers, etc. 
 
 A uniform housing code for the four municipalities, supple- 
 menting the State Tenement House Law should be worked for. 
 
 Such a committee rightly organized could have immense influ- 
 ence in raising the standard of landlordism and in promoting move- 
 ments of various sorts for the education of tenants toward a better 
 standard of living. 
 
 Deeper work would lie in influencing a reform in taxation in 
 favor of the small householder, and in the general matter of pro- 
 moting a better adjustment of wages to living costs. 
 
 Immediate work might be done in forming a company to buy 
 and remodel old houses as opportunity offered, or to construct on a 
 paying basis new model houses for occupancy at low rents. Also 
 to make possible at reasonable rates small loans for the purchase 
 of homes by small wage earners. 
 
 But while improvements in the houses themselves are in prog- 
 ress, the crying need is the education of the foreign, the ignorant 
 and the shiftless toward a knowledge of and a desire for higher 
 standards of living. Much of this valuable work is now being done 
 by the school and other welfare nurses and the district visitors 
 from the Bureau of Charities. Much more could be done through 
 a systematic campaign for the instruction of mothers in good 
 housekeeping. This could best be carried on by an official woman 
 sanitary inspector to supplement the present excellent work of the 
 
 44 
 
men inspectors. She would investigate and report, not SO much on 
 technical housing deficiencies as on had hygienic and social condi- 
 tions, would give individual suggestion and instruction in good 
 housekeeping, and would bring to hear upon an individual case 
 whatever other special agency was needed. 
 
 Such an inspector should preferably he a municipal officer, as 
 
 in this capacity her suggestions would have an official weight with 
 landlords, her work would be free from the suspicion of "charity", 
 and her information would he more readily available for the con- 
 structive health work of the department. 
 
 In connection with the individual instruction and friendly 
 advice of such an inspector, valuable help cotdd he given in organ- 
 ized neighborhood gatherings in the schools or other suitable cen- 
 ters. This is one of the fields where private welfare endeavor can 
 most successfully co-operate with municipal betterment programs, 
 and such neighborhood gatherings can be made not only to serve 
 immediate educational ends, but also to stimulate and guide good 
 social and civic spirit. 
 
 In all that is done the ideal should he kept in mind of a com- 
 munity where the welfare of each is the welfare of all and the duty 
 of all to maintain. Xo community can achieve its highest develop- 
 ment and success while any citizen in it is hampered by prevent- 
 able causes from accomplishing his own highest personal develop- 
 ment. Society as a whole must bear the burden of individual inca- 
 pacity. This time, especially, in the world's history is not one in 
 which to let well enough alone. It may well be that from the hor- 
 rors of the present European war we shall be the only great civil- 
 ized nation left not utterly shattered and crippled by the shock and 
 strain of so terrific a conflict. It falls to us in our immunity to 
 preserve to its fullest uses whatever there is among us of human 
 energy and capacity and worth. It falls as a privilege to the 
 Oranges to do their easv share. 
 
 45 
 
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