The disorder and squalor of the home communicate themselves to the inmates; the lack of room obliges the children to live, during a great part of the day, on the streets, with the result that they are brought into contact with all sorts of demoralizing companions. Finally, the living together of a great number of uneducated persons in one small dwelling is the cause of constant quarrels and fights. The situation of those who are merely night-lodgers is especially unfortunate, as we have already seen.
In Part I we have quoted from authors who have laid stress upon the importance of the question of housing conditions in the study of criminality (Hirsch, for example), and we have indicated the gravity of this cause in speaking of prostitution and alcoholism.
It would be possible to quote a number of authors who have taken up the effect of housing conditions upon morals.[88] However, it is naturally very difficult to express this influence in figures. As far [[421]]as I know it is Dr. E. Laspeyres who (in “Der Einfluss der Wohnung auf die Sittlichkeit”) gives the most significant data upon this subject. I borrow from him the following figures: summarizing part of the results of a study of “Furnished Rooms” in 2,360 dwellings:[89]
Paris, 1849.
Table I.
| Arrondissements. | Good Dwellings. % | Conduct of the Inmates. | ||||
| Men. | Women. | |||||
| Good. % | Very Bad. % | Good. % | Very Bad. % | |||
| The 6 arrondissements with the smallest number of good dwellings | 35 | 46 | 10 | 20.4 | 19 | |
| The 6 arrondissements with the largest number of good dwellings | 44.5 | 50 | 2.5 | 21.7 | 14 | |
| The 12 arrondissements together | 39 | 48 | 6.4 | 21.0 | 16.6 | |
| The figures cited above in proportion to all Paris = 100 |  | 89 | 96 | 156 | 97 | 114 |
| 114 | 104 | 39 | 103 | 86 | ||
| 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | ||
Table II.[90]
| Arrondissements. | Very Bad Dwellings. % | Conduct of the Inmates. | ||||
| Men. | Women. | |||||
| Very Bad. % | Good. % | Very Bad. % | Good. % | |||
| The 6 arrondissements with the greatest number of very bad dwellings | 13.6 | 9 | 45 | 20.2 | 21.3 | |
| The 6 arrondissements with the smallest number of very bad dwellings | 6.0 | 2.2 | 52 | 11.7 | 21.0 | |
| The 12 arrondissements together | 11 | 6.4 | 48 | 16.6 | 21.0 | |
| The figures cited above in proportion to all Paris = 100 | | 124 | 141 | 94 | 122 | 101 |
| 55 | 34 | 108 | 70 | 100 | ||
| 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | ||
[[422]]