These and other exterior additions or decorations may add to the value of a "home" from an æsthetic point of view, but all such additions will, of course, make it necessary to increase the rents, and will make the houses unavailable for the lowest class of wage-earners. It is evident that the most economical method of construction, for a given floor space, is that obtained by building tenements of several stories, covered by a single roof, and having stairways, hallways and toilet facilities in common for two or more families. Where ground is expensive, as in the large cities of this country and Europe, there seems to be no method of getting away from this type of "tenement house." The best that can be done by municipal authorities where houses of this type are being built to supply the demand for two, three and four room apartments, renting at figures which bring them within the reach of unskilled workmen, is to enforce suitable regulations as to dimensions of rooms, light, ventilation, width of stairs and hallways, toilet facilities, etc. But such tenement houses are objectionable under the best methods of construction and management. When provided with elevators, janitor service, and bathrooms for each apartment, they are no longer classed as tenement houses, and may be made in every way desirable for occupancy by the better classes of wage-earners. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the evils of tenement-house life as it exists in New York and other large cities. Fortunately, land is so cheap in certain parts of Washington and in the suburbs that we have, to a great extent, escaped these evils. And it is to be hoped that the new building regulations, soon to be issued, will provide against the construction in future of tenement houses of this type. In planning houses for the Sanitary Improvement Company, more than ten years ago, the writer had in view the desirability of furnishing each tenant a separate home, having nothing in common with any other family. But a separate house upon a city lot having a frontage of 16 feet would cost too much to bring it within the reach of an unskilled laborer, or even of a skilled mechanic, or a clerk having a large family and a small salary. Two houses cannot be placed side by side upon a 16 or even a 20 foot lot, but two independent homes can be covered by a single roof on such a lot. This entirely removes the tenement-house features and appears to be the most practical method of providing independent apartments, at low rentals, within the city limits. In the suburbs separate frame houses may probably be built upon larger lots to rent at about the same price as it is necessary to ask for one of these apartments. In the two-flat houses above referred to the back yard is divided into two parts by a high board fence, so that each family has an independent yard leading to an alley in the rear.

of the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company also have, as a rule, a cellar, with cement floor, for each apartment. The back stairway for the upstairs apartment is usually constructed in connection with a back porch, but in some cases an inside stairway leads to the back yard. This, of course, diminishes the width of the rear rooms of the lower flat to the extent of the width of the stairway. (See Figure 35.) The back porches are highly appreciated, and the upper flats provided with these porches readily rent for fifty cents per month more than lower flats in the same house.

At present prices of material and labor, the cost of the construction. of houses of this type will be from $350 to $400 per room, including cost of bathroom, back porches, yard fences, sidewalks, etc.

IX.

PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT.

The economic management of dwellings constructed for the poorer classes of the community calls for special care. The cost of such management will, of course, constitute an important item in the amount of rent which must be paid by the tenants. For, as a rule, such properties will be required to pay a reasonable rate of interest on the capital invested. At the same time provision must be made for the deterioration resulting from wear and natural decay. The average "life" of houses of this class, built of brick, in accordance with modern building regulations, may be placed at about fifty years, and, from a business point of view, it will be necessary to fix rentals at such a rate that a surplus of from one to two per cent will remain after paying a reasonable interest on the capital invested and all expenses of management. This will be necessary even in the case of corporations organized from philanthropic motives; for, experience shows, such corporations cannot obtain the money required for extensive operations unless their stock is regarded by those who have money to invest as a safe dividend-paying investment. Small subscriptions may be obtained, by personal solicitation, to inaugurate a movement for the betterment of housing conditions, but such efforts will not lead to important results unless it can be shown that the investment is safe from a business point of view. This was recognized at the outset by the writer and his associates when the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company was organized in 1897. The dividends were limited by the by-laws of the company to five per cent, and rentals were fixed at such a rate as would pay these dividends and the cost of management, and at the same time afford a surplus to provide for the gradual deterioration of the build

ings. At the outset it was difficult to secure subscriptions to the stock of the company, but when, at the end of three or four years, the demonstration had been made that the stock of this company was a safe five per cent investment, subscriptions came in more rapidly and without any special effort on the part of the directors. This is shown by the following:

STATEMENT

Showing growth of the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company and its surplus earnings:

The capital stock of this company is limited by its charter to $500,000, but by investing its surplus in houses and by borrowing money upon its real estate it has been able to increase its usefulness, and the assets of the company now amount to $711,720.81, with an indebtedness of $105,900.

The company now owns 200 houses of the two-flat type described in a previous chapter, and is building 29 more houses for colored tenants in the southwest section of the city. (See Section III, page 19.)

The Sanitary Housing Company, which was organized in 1904, also has an authorized capital of $500,000. This company is incorporated by an Act of Congress, and its dividends are limited by its charter to four per cent. The object in thus limiting the dividends was to give the humbler class of wage-earners sanitary homes at rentals which they could afford to pay. This company has been quite as successful as the other in paying its dividends and earning a surplus. But, in the present state of the money market, it is difficult to obtain subscriptions to the stock of a four per cent company, and it is unable at present to continue its building operations. The present state of its finances is shown below: