Overcrowding and defective housing in the rural districts . in and the localitydegenerates into a veritable slums. In Fig. 2 is shown another phase ofrural overcrowding the land, which I sup- 22 Rural Housing pose does not happen very often, andthat is an actual rear tenement,—smalland insignificant the building is, yet nev-ertheless it differs only in degree from thebig city tenement—the fundamental prin-ciple is just the same. It probably cameabout through a re-survey of the streetwhich left the old house some distanceback from the pavement: then an addi-tional building was put up in the fro
Overcrowding and defective housing in the rural districts . in and the localitydegenerates into a veritable slums. In Fig. 2 is shown another phase ofrural overcrowding the land, which I sup- 22 Rural Housing pose does not happen very often, andthat is an actual rear tenement,—smalland insignificant the building is, yet nev-ertheless it differs only in degree from thebig city tenement—the fundamental prin-ciple is just the same. It probably cameabout through a re-survey of the streetwhich left the old house some distanceback from the pavement: then an addi-tional building was put up in the frontand the old rear building rented as aChinese laundry—almost as bad as someof the buildings in the Chinese quarter inNew York. A similar case worth recording is thatin which an entire corner lot is coveredwith a building, so much so that the toiletaccommodations are on the street. Thisresult was, to be sure, brought about veryslowly, A bankrupt speculator owned thebuilding and lot, and gradually sold offthe lot to his neighbor; in fact, sold every-. Fig. 2.—An Actual Rear Tenement in a Small Town. Land Overcrowding 25 thing except the house, and that hisneighbor didnt want! Of course these are all isolated instancesgiven only as samples of conditions whichexist in many places: they serve to showit, possibly, at its worst. There are, how-ever, few towns and villages which do nothave some of these defects: they aremostly, I think, in the older ones. In thenewer towns it is less evident. How to prevent this condition fromarising is not so easy save by proper edu-cation of the people. The building ofrows and shacks begins quite often beforethe village is incorporated, while it is stillthe country,—only with township su-pervision which does not amount to muchas long as a man keeps to his own land andpays his taxes. When the straggling housesbecome incorporated into a town, properbuilding rules can be made and enforced,but often already the damage is done. CHAPTER II HOUSE
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