“Certainly,” replied Professor Adler; “and not only that, but most of the poor are too proud to accept charity in that form, though, inconsistently enough, they may be quite ready to accept it in other ways. But anything which savors of an institution or charity, and that puts them under obligations, is sure to fail. On the other hand, to hold out to capitalists the idea that they had better put their money into tenement houses because it is a good investment is something I do not like to do. A man who wishes simply to make money would tell me that he knows far better methods than mine, and would consider my advice an impertinence. But every man, no matter how much of an egotist he may be, likes to be thought unselfish, and if I can tell him that here is a means of doing great good while at the same time he loses no money, then he may listen to me. Money wisely put into tenements can provide for the tenant far more advantages than he usually has; it can give light, air, cleanliness, many conveniences in common with others, and yield to the landlord four per cent. besides. Some good tenements pay six per cent., but this is perhaps at a sacrifice of conveniences to the tenant, or is due to some special reasons. However, as the security of the investment is so great, four per cent. may be considered fair interest.”
“Good; now as to the details,” said Mildred in her practical way. “I want to tell you my scheme, and then let you criticise it to the utmost. I suppose I was born with a bump for economy; at all events, nothing tries me more than the excessive waste which I have seen around me all my life. I don’t mean merely waste of money, but waste of time, waste of energy and effort in every direction. Of course there is less of the latter here than in the old world, for here Yankee ingenuity does not have so hard a fight with prejudice, and every inventor of a labor-saving machine is crowned with honor. Still, there is a terrible amount of waste, especially in women’s work. I will not stop to speak of all phases of it; but as I have observed men and women for years, and have seen the suffering from needless backaches caused by climbing stairs and doing housework in an unnecessarily hard way, as I have seen the complexity and endless details of our modern life crowd out, in the lives of all but the rich, the leisure which their children should have, and which they need for their own self-development, I have racked my brains to see what could be done to simplify the petty details of modern housekeeping.
“I believe that we are on the verge of a new era in this respect. The prejudices of centuries must give way to the new requirements of a civilization which will more and more create an urban population, and also a higher standard of physical comfort. Now in this, time, strength, and money must be better conserved, or we shall, as a nation, have nervous prostration, I fear.
“My only solution for this, or for a part of it at least, seems to me coöperation, so that all shall get the greatest return for the least outlay. I don’t mean for a moment that I believe hotel life or boarding-house life to be the life of the family of the future. Heaven forbid! That the privacy and seclusion of the individual and family should be preserved is imperative. The home is the first consideration. But that one’s food should be cooked, or one’s clothes made or washed, inside the rooms occupied by the family, seems to me no essential feature of the home, and I am convinced that where prejudice can be removed, a great gain would be made by eliminating the first and last, at least from the home of the city poor.
“In regard to the value of a common laundry with set tubs, I think most of you have found them successful. I have found only one person-an attendant in the beautiful Astral flats of Green Point—who told me that they were considered undesirable, as tending to encourage gossip and quarreling. Now the dwellings which I mean to build are intended for a lower class of people than any whom I have hitherto found occupying model tenement houses. In those on Seventy-second Street, I was told there were many mechanics earning three to four dollars a day. Such people are not what I call poor, and I design my houses for people who earn, at most, only half of that. I want to give them the greatest possible return for their money, and at the same time make a fair per cent. on the capital invested. The income thus derived I shall devote to the erection of more houses.
“I propose to make the buildings fairly fireproof, with iron staircases and stone-paved halls. The interior walls will be of painted brick. Upon the top of the house I propose to have a well-fenced, well-paved playground, believing that the roof space which is so rarely utilized in our great cities may be made of great service in this way. In most of the tenement houses I find that the roof is not allowed to be used for anything but drying clothes, the owners not caring to go to the extra expense necessary to make it a perfectly safe place for children. But, if it is all planned in the beginning, the expense will be comparatively slight, and the open space thus provided will afford better air than any interior court, and be, both physically and morally, a far safer place than the street. By a simple arrangement of pulleys the drying clothes can be elevated between strong, high posts quite above the heads of the children, so that their play need not be interrupted. A stout wire netting can be arranged to keep the clothes from blowing away.
“On the upper floor of the house I shall have several store-rooms adjoining a freight elevator and a kitchen. This will be connected with every floor of the house by speaking-tubes and dumb-waiters, so that meals can be cooked here for the whole number of tenants and delivered hot when ordered. The charge will be simply for the cost of preparing the food itself and the fuel; and as everything will be bought by the quantity, the expense for each individual will be moderate. I believe that thus, with proper arrangements, and suiting the food to the tastes of the occupants, the whole question of the food supply may be solved, and three women do the work of a hundred. How does this feature of the house impress you?”
As Mildred paused, three voices exclaimed in chorus,—
“It would never work in the world!” “Perfectly impracticable!” “They would not like it at all!”
“Why not?” asked Mildred.