Woman's work in municipalities

by Mary Ritter Beard

Fundamentals

Of the work of Jane Addams of Chicago in the foreign colonies the very best tribute is that paid her by one of her alien neighbors: “It was that word with from Jane Addams,” said a working woman, “that took the bitterness out of my life. For if she wanted to work with me and I could work with her, it gave my life new meaning and hope.”

Starting in with a simple desire for service to our new citizens, sometimes enlivened by real missionary fervor and again by a semi-religious and philanthropic sentiment, women social workers are now realizing to a gratifying extent that the real basis of assimilation is economic, because the immigrant comes here as a worker. To prevent exploitation thus becomes the main endeavor of a large group of workers in the foreign colonies, and their emphasis on good wages as a basis for housing reform and other standards of living as well as for social opportunity and culture proves the capacity of women for intellectual growth and keenness of penetration. Sometimes in their anxiety to make good citizens of foreigners, women workers among them, or for them, lay emphasis on governmental action and are paternalistic in that they work for legislation more than education among the workers themselves. Others, while not underestimating the value of legislation, feel that exploitation will be more permanently removed or prevented by educating the immigrant to demand those conditions of life and labor for himself or herself which will make exploitation impossible.

CHAPTER VI
HOUSING

It is an interesting fact that among the very earliest pioneers in the movement for better housing conditions were two women, Octavia Hill, of London, and Ellen Collins, of New York. Of these two women, it has been justly said: “They were alike in the fact that before anyone else saw how bad housing underlies more of the mischief that is abroad in a great city than do most other causes, they saw and understood. What is more, they attacked the evil where few in their day had the courage, and fewer the will, to meet it.”

Guided by the work done by Octavia Hill in England, Miss Fox, Miss Parrish, and a few others organized, in the pioneer days of housing reform, the Octavia Hill Association, as a branch of the Civic Club of Philadelphia, a woman’s organization which had been investigating congestion in courts and alleys and presenting reports. This association still exists. The members of the association buy property in the tenement districts, and either build new houses or improve old ones which are rented then in the usual way. The shareholders are guaranteed 4 per cent. on their investment and still the houses are kept in perfectly sanitary condition. It is eleemosynary in its interest though profit-making in its appearance. It handles property for those who want it handled by someone who will take more than a pecuniary interest in the tenants.

The ideals of this association have been copied elsewhere, as in Detroit and Washington. They were the inspiration for the Women’s Municipal League of Boston, which now manages the property intrusted to its care on the same principles. It regards the rent collector as a social worker of real assistance to the landlord and the tenant.

The attitude that so many people have of placing the blame for bad conditions upon tenants largely or solely was well answered by a member of the Octavia Hill Association. After showing that the last annual bill for repairs due to carelessness of tenants in the Association’s 500 houses was only $50, someone asked to what extent tenants are responsible for bad housing conditions. Instantly the answer came, “None.”

The work done by Miss Ellen Collins in New York is told by Miss Emily Dinwiddie in “Tenements for a Million People.” Jacob Riis thus had able assistants.

Women of wealth have helped to build some of the model tenements which were, in the earlier stages, regarded as most important contributions to the housing movement. Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, Sr., for example, spent one million dollars in erecting four model tenements in New York to meet the needs of tuberculosis patients and their families.

As the housing reform movement assumed wider aspects than the destruction of limited slum areas or the construction of model tenements, women were everywhere found active along the new lines of development. The Housing Problem, it is now recognized, offers different aspects for different classes in society, although the requirements for all individuals in the matters of light, air, warmth, sanitation, and freedom from overcrowding, are similar.