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GIFT OF

REPORT

Housing and Living Conditions

in the Neglected Sections

of Richmond, Virginia

PREPARED BY

GUSTAVUS A. WEBER, Secretary

Society for the Betterment of Housing and Living Conditions in
Richmond

ftfeftmonft, &a.

Whittet (& Shepperson, Printers
1913

REPORT

Housing and Living Conditions

in the Neglected Sections

of Richmond, Virginia

PREPARED BY

GUSTAVUS A. WEBER, Secretary

Society for the Betterment of Housing and Living Conditions in
Richmond

fcirfjmonb, ¥a.

Whittet GBk Shepperson, Printers
1913

L r

Society for the Betterment of Housing and
Living Conditions in Richmond

(Incorporated June 4, 1913)

OFFICERS

President,
E. RANDOLPH WILLIAMS.

First Vice-President,
MRS. B. B. MUNFORD.

Second Vice-President,
JOHN W. DIXON.

Treasurer,
JAMES CASKIE.

Secretary,
GUSTAVUS A. WEBER.

DIRECTORS

MISS GRACE E. ARENTS JOHN W. DIXON

MISS FLORENCE BLACK CHARLES HANNIGAN

W. RUSSELL BOWIE WALTER S. McNEILL

JAMES CASKIE MRS. B. B. MUNFORD

ANDREW D. CHRISTIAN McGUIRE NEWTON

MISS ELIZABETH COCKE MISS CALLY RYLAND

D. WEBSTER DAVIS E. RANDOLPH WILLIAMS

FRANK D. WILLIAMS

Contents

Preface 7

Introduction . 9

Part I. Report of the Survey:

Chapter I. Land Crowding 18

Chapter II. Room Crowding 23

Chapter III. Housing Accommodations 26

Chapter IV. Water Supply and Toilet Facilities ... 32

Chapter V. The Occupants 36

Chapter VI. Streets, Alleys and Yards 42

Part II. Legislation:

Chapter VII. Building Regulations 46

Chapter VIII. Sanitary Regulations 54

Chapter IX. Regulation of Cleanliness of Streets and

Alleys and Garbage Removal 59

Part III. Appendices :

Appendix I. Investigation Card 65

Appendix II. Notes made by Investigators .... 68
Appendix III. The Death Rate of Richmond Compared

with that of other Cities 74

Appendix IV. Financial Statistics of Richmond Compared

with those of other Cities 78

Preface

The Society for the Betterment of Housing and Living Con-
ditions in Richmond was organized on June 7, 1912. On Novem-
ber 1 5th, the Executive Committee of the Society appointed Mr.
Gustavus A. Weber, of Washington, D. C, Executive Secretary
of the Society. On December 2ist, the Executive Secretary made
a report to the Executive Committee giving the results of a
preliminary study made by him of housing and living condi-
tions in Richmond. On January 6, 1913, the Executive Com-
mittee appoint -d committees on Investigation, Publicity, Law-
Enforcement, Legislation, and Organization. The work of the
Committee on Organization resulted in a plan of permanent
organization, which was presented at a meeting of the Board of
Directors, and also immediately after at a meeting of the Society
held on February 2Oth. At the latter meeting this plan of organi-
zation, with slight modifications, was adopted by the Society,
and officers were elected and committees appointed under the
new constitution. The Society was incorporated on June 4, 1913.

The present report consists of returns made by volunteers
who conducted a house to house investigation in selected sections
of the city, the results of personal observations made by the
Secretary, an analysis of the laws, regulations and ordinances
affecting the housing and living conditions in Richmond, and a
discussion of the measures that, in the opinion of the Committees
on Investigation and Law Enforcement, are needed to bring
about a better condition.

The data presented as a result of the house to house investi-
gation were collected in typical districts in different sections of
the city. The work was begun February 13, 1913, and closed on
April 30, 1913, a period of eleven weeks.

In selecting the districts to be studied it was deemed advis-
able to confine the inquiry to sections of the city where the usual
family income does not exceed $15 per week. Such districts were
selected in many different parts of the city, and the selection was
made in such a way as to cover as far as possible, in their proper

proportion, a sufficient number of typical white and negro fam-
ilies, in order that the result of the inquiry would be fairly rep-
resentative of the housing and living conditions of all the people
of these classes living in Richmond.

In all 682 dwellings were inspected. A card, a fac-simile of
which is shown in the Appendix, was filled out for each family,
but not all the facts indicated on the card were ascertained in
every case.

The personal observations made by the Secretary consisted
of a preliminary survey covering a little over a month, in which
he visited every street and alley in the neglected sections, and on
several occasions accompanied the chief sanitary inspector of
the Richmond Department of Health on house-to-house inspec-
tions. The Secretary also visited many of the homes studied
when starting the various investigators on their work.

Through the courtesy of the Richmond Board of Health, the
Building Inspector, the Superintendent of Street Cleaning, the
City Engineer, and the Director of the U. S. Census Bureau, the
Secretary was enabled to obtain some of the statistical and other
data presented in this report.

In the consideration of the measures for the improvement of
the housing and living Conditions, the Committee on Law En-
forcement directed the Secretary to make a careful examination
of the City Code, and of copies of regulations on file in the
various city departments, an analysis of which appears in, the
report. While this committee presents a long list of remedial
measures, it is not intended that all these measures should be
striven for at once by the Society. Such an attempt would be
inexpedient. The recommendations cover a program of activities
for better housing and living conditions to be undertaken
gradually in such order and at such times as the Society may
deem advisable and opportune.

The Society is indebted to the persons who have assisted in
the collection of the data presented in this report, and to Dr.
Ennion G. Williams, Miss Eloise Johnston and Miss Elizabeth
Cocke who provided the illustrations. Special acknowledgment
is due to Mr. Georges M. Weber, who did nearly one-third of
the field work, and also rendered material aid in the preparation
of the report.

GUSTAVUS A. WEBER,

Secretary, Society for the Betterment of Housing
and Living Conditions in Richmond

Richmond, Va... October 31, 1913.

Introduction

While the housing and living conditions of the people in the
neglected sections of Richmond are bad enough to demand the
serious attention of all the citizens, the problem of their amelio-
ration is not as difficult or as hopeless as the conditions in the
crowded sections of larger cities where the tenement house evil
had taken root and had begun to bear the fruits of disease,
immorality and crime, before public attention was called to the
need for remedial legislation.

Richmond, Virginia, is at present in a transitional stage. It
is becoming a large city, perhaps the future metropolis of the
South. With this growth come civic problems and responsibili-
ties which its citizens have never faced before. To meet these
problems and to solve them intelligently we must profit by the
experience of other cities — their successes and failures. For-
tunately for Richmond, its transition is taking place at a time
when public interest in civic and social betterment throughout
the world is at its height, and when organizations and experts
everywhere are giving their attention to its various problems.

Perhaps the most important problem of the rapidly growing
city is the housing of its working people. The Rt. Honorable
James Bryce, late British Ambassador to the United States, in
a speech made before the National Housing Association in Phila-
delphia last year, said : "Whatever you are trying to accomplish
for the benefit of the poorer classes leads you, by one path and
another, to the housing problem. The place in which a man or a
woman dwells is vital to the character of the man or woman.
To begin with, there is the consideration of health and of all that
follows from bad health. Depressed vitality is a most fruitful
cause of intemperance. Bad housing is one of the direct causes
of that evil. Cleanliness is not only a condition for health, it is
a condition for self-respect. It is a condition for the elevation of
the whole life of the man or woman, that he or she should be
able to feel that they are living with a standard to maintain, with
an ideal to live up to, something to respect."

Rev. Luther E. Lovejoy, late of the Detroit (Mich.) Housing
Commission, characterized bad housing as consisting of "houses

io Housing and Living Conditions in the

that are poorly lighted, unventilated, damp, imperfectly drained,
exposed to undue fire peril, in bad repair, vermin-infected, dis-
ease-infected, with unclean surroundings, with insufficient water
supply, without toilet accommodations adequate for comfort,
cleanliness or privacy, with defective plumbing, with over-
crowded rooms, and with cellar tenements."

All of these conditions, without exception, have been found
to exist in Richmond, and will be dealt with at length in the
various chapters of the report. Concerning the results of bad
housing, Dr. Lovejoy declared that such houses are "dangerous
to moral and physical health, social and personal, and promote
industrial inefficiency, inebriety, dependence, poverty, disease,
death, juvenile delinquency, debased citizenship, vice and crime
and degeneracy of race." There is no doubt in the minds of those
who participated in the Richmond housing investigation that
the living conditions found in some of the neglected localities
here give evidence of the truth of this last assertion of Dr. Love-
joy. Nevertheless the housing and living conditions of the peo-
ple in the neglected sections of Richmond are not so bad as to
cause any alarm, or to justify the statement, sometimes made,
that they are worse than in almost any other city in the country.

Death Rate. — While Richmond in 1911 had, according to the
U. S. Census Bureau, the second highest death rate of the fifty
leading cities in the United States, an examination of the death
rate from preventable diseases in Richmond, as published in the
annual reports of the Health Department of the City of Rich-
mond, shows a remarkable reduction in recent years.

Land Crowding.— The statement has often been made, and
frequently published, that there is a greater density of popula-
tion in Richmond than in almost any other city. It is true, as
shown on page 21 that, by dividing the total population by the
total area, we find that for Richmond the quotient is greater than
in most other cities. This, however, does not necessarily show a
condition of over-crowding in Richmond. There is perhaps less
vacant land in the form of large unimproved private tracts within,
the city limits of Richmond than there is in most of the other
cities. The only land crowding which exists, however, in Rich-
mond is found in the large fashionable apartment houses and in
some of the tenement houses along east Main Street and Seven-
teenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Streets north of that thor-
oughfare, where frequently the houses occupy all or nearly all
of the lot space.

Owing to the large blocks in some sections of Richmond, the
lots are so deep that much land space is taken up in large back
yards that might well be shortened. In such cases, if minor

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. II

streets were run through the blocks the building frontage would
be doubled, and by building shallow two-story houses, two or
at most three rooms deep, there would be plenty of air and light
and model conditions could be maintained. This would avert
the alley house evil and would also remove the necessity for the
tenement house, which will otherwise arise in time as the city
grows. It is believed that, with a proper use of the ground, a
sufficient number of dwellings could be built within convenient
distance of the industrial sections to accommodate all of the
working people in Richmond. On the whole, if the private land
space in Richmond were economically utilized, the actual popula-
tion within the present city limits of Richmond could be very
materially increased without necessarily over-crowding.

Room Crowding. — There is, however, some room-crowding,
which is dangerous to health and most conducive to immorality,
due mainly to a lack of sufficient living accommodations. Thus
of 1,170 bed-rooms for which the number of occupants was re-
ported, there were eight rooms in each of which seven persons
crowded together at night; thirteen rooms in each of which six
persons slept ; forty-one rooms, five persons each ; eighty-six
rooms, four persons each; 212 rooms, three persons each. In
the remaining 810 bed-rooms there was no room crowding.

Housing Accommodations. — According to the U. S. Census
leturns the provision of dwelling houses has more than kept pace
with the increased population. Thus while the population of
Richmond increased from 85,050 in 1900, to 127,628 in 1910, or
50 per cent., and the number of families from 17,845 to 26,914,
or 51 per cent., the number of dwelling houses has increased
from 14,201 in 1900, to 22,205, or 56 per cent. What the relation
between these figures is in any particular part of Richmond can-
not be ascertained, because the boundaries of the city wards were
changed during this decade and the available figures by wards
are not comparable. The increase in the number of dwellings
has been mainly in the sections of the city where the wealthy
people and those of moderate means live, namely, those whose
annual family incomes are above $1,200 per year. In the sections
which came within the scope of the investigation, out of a total
of 517 buildings only thirty-six were reported as being new, that
is, houses apparently built within the past ten years. Of 520
houses of which the condition of repairs was reported, 157 or
30 per cent, needed no repairs whatever, 244 or 47 per cent,
needed some repairs, while 119 or 23 per cent, were in such
condition of repair as to be practically unfit for habitation.

An examination of the building permits issued by the Build-
ing Inspector of the City of Richmond shows that during the five

12 Housing and Living Conditions in the

years ending December 31, 1912, 2,213 dwelling houses (exclusive
of dwelling houses with stores or shops) were constructed in this
city. Of these buildings considerably over one-half were con-
structed at a cost which placed them beyond the reach of the
average clerk, salesman, or wage-worker who constitute the bulk
of the population of Richmond. This is shown on pages 28 and 29.

Building Material.— Of 546 houses visited and for which re-
turns were made by investigators, 118 were built of brick, 23
were of brick and frame, and 405, or 74 per cent, were of frame.
According to the records of the Building Inspector, of the 22,083
dwelling houses in the entire City of Richmond on December
31, 1912, 13,543, or about 60 per cent., were of frame construc-
tion.

Water and Toilet Facilities. — Very few of the houses visited
had running water within the dwellings, a still smaller number
had interior water closets, while bath tubs appeared to be almost
unknown in the sections visited. Some houses had wells, and
some had no water supply at all. About one-tenth of the houses
visited had dry closets. In some cases where water facilities
had been installed, the water was found turned off on account
of the non-payment of the water rent, an evil which could be
avoided if the burden of paying the water rent were placed upon
the landlord instead of the tenant. Where water closets were
found, the plumbing conditions were often very bad, some defect,
either in the nature of an insufficient flow, continual flow, or no
flow at all, broken tank chain, leaking tank, stopped up bowl, etc.,
being found in about one-fourth of the water closets used by
the white families, and nearly one-half of those used by the
negroes which were visited.

Rents. — The working people visited paid in general less rent
than their family incomes justified. Thus while the average
wage worker in an American city pays about 15 to 25 per cent,
of the family income for rent, the white families in the sections
studied in Richmond from whom the information could be ob-
tained, paid, on an average, about n per cent., and the negroes
14^2 per cent, of their family income for rent. While this is true,
it must be stated that the dwellings visited were not, as a rule,
worth more than the rents paid for them, many being worth
much less, a considerable number being unfit for human habi-
tation. In the few good houses that were found, the rents
were high for the accommodations furnished. It is evident that
if better housing accommodations were available, the wage-
workers, both white and negro, now living in hovels, would be
able and willing to pay higher rents.

Modern Dwellings.— The greatest need of Richmond at the
present time is the building of modern dwellings to replace the

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 13

thousands of ramshackle houses that are unfit to live in. What
is needed most of all by both the white and colored population,
are dwellings renting from $6 to $12 per month, although there
appears also to be a great demand for dwellings renting for from
$12 to $20 per month. If new houses were built in sufficient
numbers, and if many of the old houses were repaired and pro-
perly managed, the worst of the present housing evils in Rich-
mond would be eliminated.

There, are, however, other serious housing evils in Richmond,
of which some are now felt and others will become more and
more apparent as the city grows larger, and ought to be dealt
with before it is too late to prevent serious harm in the future.

Housing Laws. — There are no regulations concerning land
crowding. An apartment or tenement house may cover every
square foot of the lot on which it is built, leaving no yard or
court for light or ventilation, and it may be built to any height.
There are no restrictions concerning the size of rooms in such
houses, no provision for lighting and ventilating halls, or for
adequacy of the water supply and of water closet accommoda-
tions.

In dwelling houses of three or less families there are no re-
quirements whatever concerning light or ventilation, and a land-
lord may provide as many dark rooms as he chooses.

A housing law should be enacted which will limit the lot
space that may be built upon, make provision for ample light,
ventilation, water and toilet facilities, prevent over-crowding and
secure privacy for the tenants. It should apply not only to new
houses, but also to old houses when altered, and to such an ex-
tent to existing houses as will not involve too great a hardship
upon the owners.

Nothing is so essential to the efficiency and the healthy phy-
sical development of the people as a plentiful supply of fresh
air and sunshine. Over-crowding of rooms at night is not only
detrimental physically, but it frequently involves the promiscu-
ous mixing of sexes with its consequent incentive to vice.
Privacy, especially in the use of toilet facilities, is merely a re-
quirement of civilization. An absence of it is barbarism. In
Richmond, cases have been found where as many as six families
use one water closet. Furthermore, we cannot expect people to
keep their bodies and their homes clean if they must expend a
great part of their energies carrying water from a neighboring
yard or a street pump a block away. We must install the city
water in every house, and, if possible, in the apartment where it
is used. There are places in Richmond where people must carry
water a distance of a block or more from a well or spring.

14 Housing and Living Conditions in the

As stated above, perhaps the most difficult housing problem
in Richmond is the presence of ramshackle wooden houses that
are mere shelters unfit to live in. Richmond has many, one may
say, thousands of these houses. Several hundreds of such houses
were condemned in the last few years by the Building Inspector
because they were structurally unsafe. However, houses may
be regarded as structurally safe and yet may be unfit for habita-
tion on account of their decay, bad repair and general unsanitary
condition. . These also should be condemned and destroyed. Un-
less they are condemned as unfit for habitation, not only will
they continue to be a menace to health, but it will be difficult to
replace them by new model houses because their present rental
value is too high to permit their purchase, destruction and re-
placement on a paying basis.

Yards, Alleys and Streets. — The condition of back yards, lots,
alleys and streets in the neglected sections, constitutes a very
conspicuous feature of the housing problem in Richmond.

An extensive survey of practically all of the streets and
alleys of Richmond, made by the Secretary before the inaugura-
tion of the "Clean-up Campaign" on May 5th to i8th, disclosed
conditions about as bad as could be found anywhere. There was
scarcely a street for a distance of a block or two that was not
found littered more or less with paper and other rubbish. Some
of the streets and alleys in the poorer sections, especially where
the negroes live, appeared as though they had never been cleaned.
The habit of throwing all kinds of rubbish in the yards, lots,
streets and alleys, appears to be universal. The educational
campaign for a cleaner city conducted by this Society, with
the aid of the newspapers, and in co-operation with the city offi-
cials, had a marked effect, and during the clean-up period nearly
every back yard and alley, particularly in the neglected sections
of the city, was cleaned up. Since then, however, the old habit
has been resumed.

There is no doubt that the forces of the Health and Street
Cleaning Departments are insufficient to deal with this problem.
They should be materially increased. But the evil is not only a
matter of inadequate service. Ignorance and carelessness on the
part of the householders and business men are largely respon-
sible. When the poorer people are untidy it is usually because
they do not have sufficient time and facilities for keeping clean,
or because they know no better and need education. The others
are untidy because they are often extremely careless and be-
cause they fail to look adequately after the condition of their
premises. The filthy rubbish-littered cellars and back yards are
not confined to the neglected sections of the city. They are com-

Xeglcctcd Sections of Richmond, Va. 15

mon along the most fashionable streets. The employees of many
business houses litter the streets, alleys and vacant spaces in
their vicinity with paper and rubbish, and their employers, while
they have to step over the litter on their way to their offices, do
not think of prohibiting this carelessness. Householders permit
their sen-ants to neglect to put the garbage and ashes where
they can be collected, and then complain to the Street Cleaning
Department that the collectors do not carry them away. In a
modern city it is unwise to leave the entire responsibility for the
cleanliness of a household in the hands of the servants. Their
work should be carefully supervised and the kitchens, cellars,
and back yards frequently visited by the householders if the
premises are to be kept clean and sanitary. Likewise, a busi-
ness man should give some thought to the cleanliness of his
establishment and its environment. For those wrho have no re-
gard for civic cleanliness, stringent laws should be enacted and
enforced.

Sewerage and Water. — While splendid work has been done
in recent years in the extension of the sewerage system and the
water mains in Richmond, there are still a considerable number
of streets, some of which are lined with habitations, which have
no water mains and sewers. According to the records of the
City Health Department there were, in September, 1913, about
i. 200 houses that cannot be connected with the sewers, and hence
the people who live in them must be content with the objection-
able dry closets. The work of extending the water mains and
sewers ought to go on as rapidly as possible, so that every dwell-
ing house within the present city limits will have water and
sewer connection. In this work of extension, the inhabited streets
should be given precedence over those where the land is unim-
proved and where much of it is merely held for speculation.

Street and Alley Improvement. — The same remarks apply to
street and alley improvement. Of approximately 200 miles of
streets in the City of Richmond, only 70 are paved, and of 190
mil^s of alleys, only 20 miles are paved, according to the records
of the Street Cleaning Department. Of the unpaved streets and
alleys, many are in the most densely settled sections of the city,
where also there are many miles of sidewralks which have never
been paved.

Dumps. — There should be better police supervision over the
dumps which are in close proximity to dwelling houses. These
often become the depositories for garbage, dead animals, paper
and other perishable rubbish. Some of the dumps are so high
above the surrounding property that, during heavy rains, the

1 6 Housing and Living Conditions in the

filth is washed into the neighboring yards and dwellings.
The existing dumps which are in close proximity to dwellings
should be raked of all combustible rubbish, which should be
burned, and the dumping of combustible rubbish and all dumping
above the street level within the city limits should be prohibited.
Open Sewer. — Few cities would tolerate an open sewer like
Shockoe Creek. This polluted creek flows close to a thickly set-
tled section of the city, some houses being almost on the water's
edge. In places, the creek overflows in rainy weather, leaving
stagnant pools of filthy water which remain for days and weeks.
No arguments should be needed to secure an immediate appro-
priation for the conversion of this creek into an underground
sewer.

Dusty Streets. — Another bad condition, and one which can be
easily remedied, is that of dusty streets. The paved streets are
sprinkled by the Street Cleaning Department whenever swept,
and the street car companies are required to sprinkle between
and a short distance beyond the tracks, but the rest, and by far
the greater part of the street area, receives no such treatment
except when undertaken at private expense. The street sprinkling
should be done by the municipal government, and all streets
should be either oiled or sprinkled as often as is necessary to
lay the dust.

Smoke. — The smoke nuisance should also receive attention.
It is claimed that the most recent types of smoke consumers are
not only effective in consuming smoke, but that they also effect
an economy in the use of fuel. An ordinance should be passed
requiring smoke consumers to be installed wherever large quan-
tities of bituminous coal are consumed.

Model Houses. — Aside from the necessity for the education
of the people and the enactment and enforcement of remedial
legislation, as outlined above, there is a need for the organiza-
tion of housing improvement enterprises which will not only
build, rent and sell new houses on the many acres of available
lots within as well as without the present city limits, but which
will also purchase and renovate existing houses and manage all
on a humane though strictly business basis. The way in which
many houses are being neglected by owners who draw rents
from them is a disgrace to the city of Richmond. The experi-
ence of other cities, notably, Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Washington, Cincinnati, Albany, etc., show that with proper
expert management model housing enterprises can provide com-
fortable homes for their tenants, set a good example of construc-
tion and business management for other landlords to follow, and
demonstrate to legislators that proper housing regulations are

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 17

not oppressive. At the same time they offer an opportunity for
the profitable investment of capital.

In conclusion, the problem of the betterment of housing and
living conditions in Richmond can be effectively dealt with (i)
by arousing public sentiment and appealing to civic pride, so
that citizens may do their part in keeping the streets, alleys,
back yards and other exposed places clean and free from rub-
bish; (2) by enacting and enforcing model housing laws and
better regulations for the maintenance of clean streets and alleys
and the removal and disposal of rubbish; (3) by making liberal
appropriations for the completion of the water and sewerage
systems, the extension of the street paving, and for the enforce-
ment of housing, street cleaning and other sanitary laws and
regulations; (4) by providing proper and adequate housing ac-
commodations for the working people.

PART I.

Report of the Survey

CHAPTER I.
LAND CROWDING.

There is very little land crowding in Richmond at the present
time. Aside from the fashionable apartment houses, built for
from two to forty families, and the tenement houses in the sec-
tion between Seventeenth and Nineteenth, Main and Venable
Streets and along East Main Street, the "tenement evil" has
scarcely been felt in Richmond. In the latter section, the tene-
ment houses are mostly two and three stories high, and house
from two to five families each, some being occupied by large
households consisting not only of members of the immediate fam-
ilies, but in many cases also of boarders and lodgers. The occu-
pants are largely foreigners and negroes. The houses were not
originally built for tenement houses, but were in most cases
adapted for such use without the provision of any such light,
ventilation, plumbing, privacy, etc., as modern tenement house
laws require. Many of these houses are dark, poorly ventilated,
and extremely filthy and dilapidated. They are among the very
lowest types of habitations covered by the investigation, and
emphasize the need for tenement house legislation in Rich-
mond. But even here, the number of persons per acre is small
when compared with the congested sections of most large cities.

Aside from the above-mentioned sections of Richmond, there
are very few apartment or tenement houses, and comparatively
few have been constructed in the past five years. Thus of a total
of 2,213 dwelling houses constructed during the years 1908 to
1912 inclusive, according to the records of the City Building In-
spector, only 56, or 2^ per cent., were built for three or more
families. Of the 546 buildings included in the Society's investi-
gation, 449, or 82 per cent., were one-family houses; 85 were
two-family houses, and 8 were houses occupied by three or more
families.

These two illustrations show vacant land space in the northwest section,
within a mile of the heart of the city and very near a growing manu-
facturing district, a section where it is claimed that the population is
congested. There is room crowding in many of these houses, but not
on account of a lack of land space.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 19

There is, as a rule, more or less yard space with each
dwelling, nearly all houses having rear yards and many having
front and side yards also. The following statement shows the
extent to which the houses visited were provided with yards :

Houses Occupied by
White Negro

Houses Having- Families Families Total

Front yards only 5 6 n

Side yards only I 3 4

Rear yards only 1 16 131 247

Front and side yards 6 6

Front and rear yards 75 119 194

Side and rear yards 7 13 20

Front, side and rear yards 18 20 38

222 298 520

It is a remarkable fact, that, taken as a whole, the average
number of persons to a dwelling house in the sections visited
was smaller than the average number per dwelling in the city
as a whole. Thus in the houses studied there were on an aver-
age 5.4 white persons and 4.9 negroes per house. The average
number of persons per house in the entire city in 1910, according
to the U. S. Census returns, was 5.7.

Even this average of 5.7 persons per dwelling house, for the
city as a whole, is less than the average of the ten cities in the
United States most nearly the size of Richmond. This is shown
in the following statement compiled from the U. S. Census re-
turns for 1910:

Persons Persons

Occupied to a to a

Population Dwellings Families Dwelling Family

Syracuse, N. Y 137,249 23,200 31,551 5.9 4.4

New Haven, Conn 133,605 17,466 29,271 7.6 4.6

Birmingham, Ala 132,685 26,989 31,050 4.9 4.3

Memphis, Tenn 131,105 26,710 31,154 4-9 4-2

Scranton, Pa 129,867 22,143 26,312 5.9 4.9

Richmond, Va 127,629 22,205 26,914 5.7 4.7

Paterson, N. J 125,600 15,812 27,978 7.9 4.5

Omaha, Neb 124,096 23,657 26,359 5.2 4.7

Fall River, Mass 119,295 10,962 24,378 10.9 4.9

Dayton, Ohio 116,577 26,692 28,370 4.4 4.1

Grand Rapids, Mich.. . 112,571 23,432 26,925 4.8 4.2

2O Housing and Living Conditions in the

There is a tendency at the present time in Richmond, how-
ever, to build houses of two families each, as is shown by the
statistics of dwelling houses constructed during the past five
years compiled from the records of the Inspector of Buildings.
Of the 2,213 dwelling houses built in the past five years (exclu-
sive of houses built for stores and dwellings), 1,637, or about
74 per cent., were built for one apartment only; while 520, or
23/^ Per cent., were built for two apartments each. Of the re-
mainder, 32 were built for three apartments; n for four apart-
ments; i for five apartments; 4 for six apartments; I for seven
apartments; 3 for eight apartments; I for nine apartments; 2
for ten apartments; and I for forty apartments. While a con-
siderable proportion of the two apartment dwellings were for
the wage-earning class, the larger apartment houses were mainly
built for high-priced dwellings. The fact, however, that there
were some three, four and five apartment houses of the cheaper
grade built in recent years, shows the need of some tenement
regulations if Richmond desires to avoid the tenement house
evil, which has become such a serious problem in other larger
cities.

There is much unoccupied land space within the city limits
in the form of vacant lots, in fact, whole squares, particularly
in the southwest and northeast sections, which is admirably
adapted for working people's homes and which ought to be so
utilized. Furthermore, the city of Richmond has a small total
area when compared with other cities of similar size, and there
ought to be much land outside the present limits, but still easily
accessible, cheap enough to allow for the provision of decent
housing accommodations.

The following statement, compiled from the U. S. Census
returns for 1910, shows the total population and land area and
the population per acre of each of the fifty leading cities in the
United States:

These two illustrations show, vacant land space in the northwest section,
within a mile of the heart of the city and very near a growing manu-
facturing district, a section where it is claimed that the population is
congested. There is room crowding in many of these houses, but not
on account of a lack of land space.

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22 Housing and Living Conditions in the

It will be observed that only eight of these fifty cities had a
smaller area in proportion to their population than Richmond.
This, however, does not necessarily mean that there is land
crowding in Richmond, but only that most other cities have ex-
tended their limits so as to include a larger amount of unim-
proved land.

If the city limits could be extended so as to give to a larger
territory suitable for working people's homes the advantages of
municipal government, such as streets, sewers, water mains,
police and fire protection, street railway service, etc., and if at
the same time the price of land in such newly annexed territory
were kept sufficiently low to make the building of model houses
for working people financially practicable, such annexation would
be of immense benefit from the housing point of view. The
extension of municipalized territory under those conditions
would increase the possibilities on the part of the working peo-
ple of obtaining such ideal home conditions as detached one-
family houses, with sufficient rooms for privacy and comfort, and
with adequate land space for play and for the cultivation of
flowers and vegetables. There is no logical reason why hun-
dreds of acres of splendid vacant land, both within and without
the present city limits within easy access to the industrial sections
of the city, should lie idle from year to year when thousands of
our working people are compelled to live in two and three-room
hovels. If this vacant land were available for cheap homes for
working people, and if stringent building and sanitary laws were
enacted and enforced, it would soon become unprofitable for
landlords to own houses which are unfit for habitation.

CHAPTER II.
ROOM CROWDING.

While there is but little land crowding in Richmond, there is
considerable room crowding, due in part to a lack of sufficient
housing accommodations for the working people, and, to some
extent, to the absence of a proper appreciation of the require-
ments of decent living on the part of the occupants.

The crowding together, especially in bed rooms, is one of the
very worst evils of bad housing. Where three or more people
sleep in one bed room, especially when the windows are closed,
as is often the case among the poorer people, the air soon be-
comes foul and unfit to breathe, and the physical condition of
the occupants is seriously impaired. The effect is particularly
bad upon children who, through lack of sufficient pure air, not
only develop weak lungs, but also are otherwise weakened and
stunted physically and mentally as well.

Where children and adults of both sexes are crowded to-
gether in one bed-room, especially when some of the occupants
are not members of the immediate family, as is frequently the
case, the over-crowding becomes a serious moral problem, for
such a condition cannot exist without depriving the occupants,
especially the children, of all sense of modesty. Perhaps the
greater part of the sexual immorality which exists among the
very poor is due to the lack of privacy in the homes.

The 546 houses covered by the investigation were occupied
by 645 families including about 2,800 people. The average negro
family consisted of four persons, and the average white family of
five persons, the average for all families studied being 4.3 per-
sons per family. This figure is lower than the average size per
family in Richmond as a whole in 1910, 4.7 persons, as shown
by the U. S. Census returns.

The families studied occupied on an average three and one-
half rooms per family, which, after allowing for the kitchen,
leaves about one room for every two persons for living and
sleeping purposes. Every dwelling, no matter how poor the
occupants, should have at least one bed-room for every two
occupants, besides a kitchen and a living-room.

A study of the occupancy of bed-rooms shows that of 1,170
bed-rooms covered by the investigation, 8 were occupied at
night by seven persons each, 13 by six persons, 41 by five per-

24 Housing and Living Conditions in the

sons, 86 by four persons, and 212 by three persons each, this
over-crowding of bed-rooms being more common among the
whites than among the negroes studied.

The following statement compiled from the returns of this

investigation show the condition of room occupancy for the
white and negro dwellings studied.

Size of

Apartment or White Negro All

Dwelling Families Families Families

One room 9 18 27

Two rooms 29 94 123

Three rooms 62 134 196

Four rooms 53 82 135

Five rooms 51 14 65

Six rooms 31 16 47

Seven rooms 9 6 15

Eight rooms i 5 6

Nine rooms i i 2

246 370 616
Average number of rooms

per family 4.0 3.2 3.5

In the next table, the returns concerning 619 families are
grouped according to size of family :

Size of Family White Negro Both

(Including Boarders) Families Families Races

One person 1 1 23 34

Two persons 21 86 107

Three persons 37 65 102

Four persons 41 70 m

Five persons 56 50 106

Six persons 29 41 70

Seven persons 18 20 38

Eight persons 17 g 25

Nine persons 10 4 14

Ten persons 3 3 5

Eleven persons o i i

Twelve persons 2 i ?

Thirteen persons i i

246 373 619
Average number of persons

per family 4.9 3<8 4<3

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 25

The next table shows the returns concerning 1,170 bed-rooms
grouped according to the number of occupants per bed-room at
night :

Occupants per Bed- Bed-Rooms

Room at Night White Negro Total

One person 100 183 283

Two persons 200 327 527

Three persons 106 106 212

Four persons 50 36 86

Five persons 22 19 41

Six persons 9 4 13

Seven persons 3 5 8

490 680 1,170

Average number of occupants

per bed-room 2.5 2.1 2.3

CHAPTER III.
HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS.

One of the greatest needs of the City of Richmond as dis-
closed by this investigation, is a sufficient number of modern
houses for its working people, that is, for the large group of
citizens who cannot afford to pay a rental of over $20 per month.
According to the U. S. Census returns the population of Rich-
mond increased from 80,050 in 1900 to 127,628 in 1910, or 50 per
cent. During the same period the number of families increased
from 17,845 to 26,914, or 51 per cent., and the number of dwell-
ing houses increased from 14,201 to 22,205, or 56 per cent.

This is shown in the following statement obtained from the
U. S. Census Bureau:

Population, Number of Families, and Number of Occupied
Dwellings in Richmond, Va., in 1910, by Wards.

Number of Persons Number Persons
Occupied per of per

Wards Population Dwellings Dwelling Families Family

Cla7 ......... 22,550 3,992 5.6 4,539 5.0

HemT ....... H,999 2,389 6.3 3,145 4.8

Jefferson ..... 16,196 2,910 5.6 3,475 4.7

Jfe .......... 16,297 2,882 5.7 3,484 4.7

Madison ...... 14,630 2,415 6.1 3,189 4.6

Marshall ...... 18,021 3,469 5.2 3,959 4.7

Monroe ....... 14,565 2,258 6.5 3,110 4.7

Washington .. 10,370 1,890 5.5 2,113 4-9

T°tal ..... 127,628 22,205 57 26,914 4.7

In 1900 the figures returned for the wards as they existed at
that time were as follows:

22,133 3,851 5-8 4,518 4.9

Jackson ...... J8,/i3 3,279 57 4,219 44

Jefferson ..... 8,817 1,529 5.8 2,053 4-3

Madison ...... 8,005 1,174 6.8 1,584 5.1

Marshall ...... 13,584 2,405 5.6 2,805 4-8

Monr°e ....... 13798 1,963 6.5 2,666 5.2

Total,.... 85,050 14,201 6.0 17,845 4.8

A dilapidated house occupied by white people in the Church Hill section.
This and many other houses in the 'vicinity are unfit for habitation.

A cheap-grade zvorking man's house in the white section of Fulton. Many
of these houses could be made comfortable and attractive if painted
and repaired.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 27

Lack of Good Accommodations. — An examination of the
2,213 building permits for dwelling houses (exclusive of houses
with stores or shops) issued by the Building Inspector of the
City of Richmond during the five years ending December 31,
1912, shows that 32 houses were constructed at an estimated
cost of less than $500 each; 202 at an estimated cost of $500 to
$999; 272 at $1,000 to $i,499; 225 at $1,500 to $1,999; and 1,482,
or about" two-thirds, at an estimated cost of $2,000 and over, ex-
clusive of the price of land.

In every American city, of which Richmond is no exception,
the great mass of the people consists of the skilled and unskilled
wage workers, clerks and salesmen, whose average family in-
come does not enable them to pay more than $20 per month
for rent. A very considerable number cannot pay more than
half that amount. In order to yield a fair revenue on a real
estate investment, allowing for taxes, repairs, depreciation of
building, cost of rent collection, vacancies, etc., a dwelling should
bring a gross annual rental of about 10 per cent, of the total in-
vestment. On this basis, a one-family dwelling, in order to be
accessible to the average wage-worker or clerk must not cost
over $2,500, including the price of land, or say, $2,000 for the
building alone. Of 1,637 one-family dwellings constructed in
five years in Richmond, only 596, or a little over one-third, were
constructed at a cost of less than $2,000, that is, were within the
reach of the average clerk or wage-worker. The remaining two-
thirds of the new one-family houses were either for people earn-
ing higher salaries or for those who had to deprive themselves of
other necessities of decent living or keep boarders or lodgers, in
order to pay their rents.

Of the 520 two-family dwelling houses constructed in five
years, 257 cost less than $4,000 to construct, or, in other words,
less than one-half were of a cheap enough grade to be accessible
to the average clerk or working man. Of the 56 remaining
buildings constructed for three or more apartments each, only
15, or about one-fourth were built at a low enough cost to be
so accessible. The above figures, it must be remembered, -in-
clude buildings used for dwelling purposes only, and do not in-
clude those used for both business and dwelling purposes.

This statement, compiled from the official records of the City
Building Department, shows beyond dispute that, in the won-
derful building operations which have been going on during the
past five years, the great mass of the working people have been
lamentably overlooked.

The following table and map show the number of new dwell-
ings for which building permits were issued during the past five
calendar years, grouped according to the number of apartments,
value and location of each:

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3<3 Housing and Living Conditions in the

This lack of new building constructions for the working peo-
ple is confirmed by the investigation made by this Society, which
shows that in the selected districts where working people live,
very few new houses were found. Thus, of 517 dwelling houses
occupied by from one to five families each, 36, or 7 per cent.,
were reported as being new — that is, apparently built within the
past ten years.

Dilapidation. — Most of the houses visited were more or less
out of repair. Only 157 out of a total of 520, or 30 per cent.,
were reported to be in good condition, while 244, or 47 per cent.,
needed some repairs, and 119, or 23 per cent., were in a bad con-
dition of repair, many being absolutely unfit for human habita-
tion. In 122 cases the roofs leaked, causing damp walls and
ceilings in the living and sleeping rooms. The proportion of
dilapidated and unfit houses was very much greater among the
negroes than among the whites, notwithstanding the fact that
the former paid more rent per room than the latter.

The following statement gives this information in detail for
the white and negro habitations :

)

Houses Occupied by

White Negro All

Age of Building- Families Families Houses

New buildings II 25 36

Old buildings 203 278 481

Total 214 303 517

Repair of Building

Good 88 69 157

Fair 103 141 244

Bad 30 89 119

Total 221 299 520

Condition of Roof

Good 172 187 359

Leaking 36 86 122

Total reporting 208 273 481

Character of Dwellings.— The prevailing type of dwellings oc-
cupied by the families visited is the old two-story frame house,
built either singly or in rows, each house being built for one fam-
ily, although frequently used by two or more. The houses visited
usually contained two, three and four rooms each. Very few of
the buildings have water and toilet facilities within the houses or
apartments, as is shown in the next chapter. The negro families
mostly occupied two and three-room dwellings, and the white

Negro dwellings in the neglected sections of Richmond, These are unfit for
habitation.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 31

families three and four-room dwellings. Otherwise there is not
very much difference between the character of the habitations of
the whites and negroes in the sections studied, except that the
former are, as a rule, in a better condition of repair.

Of 546 houses for which returns were made, 405 were of frame,
1 18 were of brick, and 23 were of both wood and brick construc-
tion. With regard to height, 108 were one-story, 425 were two-
story, and 13 were three-story houses.

Nearly all the houses in the sections studied were situated
on the street front, there being comparatively few rear or alley
houses in Richmond.

Of the 546 houses visited, 449, or 82 per cent, ftvere occu-
pied by one family each ; 85 by two families ; and the remaining
12 by three or more families.

The following statement gives in detail the results of the
investigation with regard to the character of 546 houses visited :

Brick Houses White Negro

Occupied by Families Families

One family each 54 31

Two families 10 14

Three families 3 3

Four families o 2

Five families o I

Total 67 51

Brick and Frame White Negrro

Houses Occupied by Families Families

One family each 6 14

Two families I I

Three families o I

Total 7 16

Frame Houses White Negro

Occupied by Families Families

One family each 151 193

Two families 10 49

Three families I I

Total 162 243

White Negro

Houses of Families Families

One story 33 75

Two stories 196 229

Three stories 7 6

Total

I
118

Total
2O
2
I

Total

344
59

405

Total

108

425

Total

236

310

520

CHAPTER IV.
WATER SUPPLY AND TOILET FACILITIES.

Very few of the houses covered by the investigation had
water and plumbing arrangements within the buildings; a still
smaller number had interior water closets, and only 13 had bath-
tubs. Some of the houses had no water supply at all.

Water Supply. — Of a total of 539 houses for which returns
were made concerning the water supply, 358, or 66 per cent.,
had city water in the yards; 119, or 22 per cent., had water with-
in the houses, usually in the kitchens; 2 houses had wells; 45
houses had neither wells nor city water; and 15 houses had
plumbing facilities in the yards, but the water had been turned
off at the time of the visit because the tenants had failed to pay
the water tax. Forty-two of the houses having no water supply
and no plumbing facilities were occupied by negroes, who, in
some cases had to carry their water a distance of as much as a
city block.

Toilet Facilities. — Of 515 houses for which returns were made
concerning toilet facilities, 468 had water closets and 47 had dry
closets. Fifty-one of the water closets were within buildings, all
the others, as well as the dry closets, being in the yards.

Wherever water closets or dry closets were installed in yards,
one closet usually served all the families in the house or the
group of houses having one yard in common. Thus cases were
found where one toilet was used by as many as four, five, and
six families.

In the cases where the water had been turned off on account
of the non-payment of the water tax, some of the families con-
tinued to use the water closets, pouring water into the bowls
occasionally; in some cases the occupants resumed the use of
dry closets which had been discarded; in some instances they
used their neighbors' toilets ; and in one case the tenants emptied
the refuse in the shrubbery on a vacant lot.

While in most cases the water closets were provided with
flush tanks, about one-third of the toilets were flushed directly
from the supply pipes. In a number of cases the flow was insuf-
ficient to clean the bowls, and the tenants either had to pour in
water or allow the same to stop up. In one-fifth of the water
closets reported upon, the plumbing under the seat was enclosed

Dilapidated houses along the Shockoe valley.
Confederate Museum in the background.

upper picture shoivs the

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 33

in wooden casings, the plumbing being open in all other cases.
All water closets installed in recent years, however, were of the
modern, open, flush-tank type, as the plumbing regulations
require.

In general, the condition of the plumbing in the water closets
was bad, there being some defect, such as an insufficient flow or
no flow at all, broken chains, leaking tanks, stopped up or leak-
ing pipes, broken bowls, continuous flow, etc., in nearly one-
half of the water closets used by the negroes, and in about one-
fourth of those used by the white families visited. With regard
to the plumbing, as with the bad condition of repair of the houses,
the tenants generally stated that the agents and landlords paid
no attention to their complaints. Ninety-six closets were re-
ported dirty and 53 filthy.

Of the 47 dry closets in use, in 10 the boxes were found to
be leaking; in 18 there were either no screens or the screens were
ineffective, and 12 were reported in a dirty or filthy condition.

The following statement gives a summary of the returns, for
537 houses, concerning the water supply :

Hydrants in Yards, White Negro

each used by Families Families Total

One family 142 128 270

Two families 20 54 74

Three families o 9 9

Four families o I I

Five families o 3 3

Six families o I I

Total 162 196 358

Hydrants in Buildings, White Negro

each used by Families Families Total

One family 53 61 114

Two families I 3 4

Three families i o i

Total 55 64 119

Hydrants in Yards, but

Water turned off, White Negro

intended for the use of Families Families Total

One family 8 5 13

Two families I o I

Three families I O I

Total . 10 5 T5

Housing and Living Conditions in the

No Water Supply in
Houses Occupied by

White
Families

Negro
Families

One family 3

Two families o

Total 3

Total
40

5
45

The next table gives the returns, for 514 houses, concerning
toilet facilites:

Water Closets in Yards, White

each used by Families

One family 179

Two families 24

Three families 3

Four families i

Five families I

Six families . . o

Negro
Families

146
56

4
o

i
i

Total

325
80

Total . 208

208

416

Water Closets in Build- White

ings, used by Families

One family 14

Two families . o

Negro
Families

Total

Total 14

Dry Closets in Yards, White

each used by Families

One family 5

Two families i

Three families o

Total . 6

Negro
Families

Total
2

White
Families

Water closets provided
with flush tanks 117

Water closets not pro-
vided with flush tanks. . 75

Total 192

Negro
Families

141

41
182

Total
258

116
374

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 35

White

Negro

Families

Total

Water closet

plumbing

open

145

142

287

Water closet

plumbing

enclosed ....

Total . , ,

179

185

366

White

Negro

Families

Total

Water closet

plumbing

defective

; • • 42

1 2O

Water closet

plumbing

not defective

130

213

Total , ,

173

161

333

White

Negro

Families

Total

Water closet drains stop-

ped up

Water closet drains not

stopped up . .

147

184

Total

161

215

CHAPTER V.
THE OCCUPANTS.

Family Income.— In planning this investigation, the aim has
been to cover localities where the family income of the people
does not exceed $15 per week. It was found, however, that fam-
ilies having much larger incomes sometimes live in these locali-
ties and under the same general conditions as the poorer people.
These are either shop keepers who carry on business with the
people among whom they live; skilled workers who are extrava-
gant in their personal expenditures, usually for drink; persons
who prefer to live in such environments when they can afford
to live in other localities ; or persons who are forced to live there
because there are no accommodations available elsewhere.

Statistics concerning the family income were obtained from
109 white and 229 negro families, the latter being more willing
to give information of this character. The average yearly income
per white family responding was $731.86, and the average yearly
income of a negro family was $516.23. By family income is
meant, for the purposes of this study, the income of the head
of the family, plus moneys received from other members of the
family and boarders and lodgers, and contributed to the house-
hold fund. The average yearly income of the head of the family
alone was $589.58 in the case of the white wage earners, and
$369.52 in the case of the negroes.

In only 36 per cent, of the families was the family income
derived from the head of the family alone, the proportion being
higher in the case of the white families (44 per cent.) than in
the case of the negroes (31 per cent.). In other words, the
wives and boarders contributed in a much larger degree toward
the family income in the case of the negroes than in the case of
the white families. The proportion of negro families in which
the wife contributed to the family income was particularly large.
On the other hand, the proportion of families which derived a
part of the family income from the children, appears to be greater
among the white than among the negro families.

Boarders. — Among boarders were included in this study, all
persons who were not members of the immediate family, and
even children were regarded as boarders when married and liv-
ing with their husbands or wives with their parents. Of 615
families making reply to the inquiry concerning the composition

iaiaMiiMi^f ..

Toilet facilities in the neglected sections. The upper picture shows a dry
closet close to a well. The lower picture shows a filthy water closet.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 37

of the family, 205, or one-third, kept boarders. In 100 cases the
boarders were related to the head of the family, in 95 cases the
boarders were not so related, and in 10 cases the families had
both related and unrelated boarders.

The number of boarders in a family ranged all the way from
one to eight, although in about one-half of the cases the families
had but one boarder each. Of the white families, 67 per cent.,
and of the negro families, 60 per cent, had no boarders.

Rents Paid. — Considering the amount of rent paid for a given
land space in the sections studied, the ground on which the work-
ing people's homes stand does not yield nearly as great a revenue
to the owners as it would if the same ground were economically
utilized. Furthermore, the working people of both races in the
sections studied, could afford to pay more rent if proper accom-
modations were furnished them. This is especially true of the
white people.

The amount of rent paid was ascertained in the case of 484
families, of whom 186 were white and 298 were negroes. The
white families reporting paid an average of $6.75 per month per
dwelling, or $1.80 per room, while the negro families paid an
average of $6.27 per month per dwelling, or $2.08 per room. It
will thus be observed that the negroes pay $0.28 per room, or
14 per cent, more than the white families, or a difference of $0.84
for a three-room dwelling, the negro accommodations being, as a
rule, inferior, from the standpoint of plumbing, age, and repair,
to those of the white families.

The prevailing types of three and four-room dwellings occu-
pied by white families rented for $5.00, $6.00 and $7.00 each per
month. The prevailing types of negro dwellings of two and
three rooms each likewise rented for from $5.00 to $7.00 per
month. That the families covered by this investigation could
afford to pay higher rents if better accommodations were fur-
nished them, is shown by the figures of family income. Accord-
ing to returns made for families from whom both the rents paid
and the family income were ascertained, the average white fam-
ily paid 1 1.2 per cent, and the average negro family 14.5 per cent,
of the family income for rent. Working people in the chief in-
dustrial centers of the country ordinarily pay from 15 to 25 per
cent, of their family income for rent. On the basis of 20 per
cent., therefore, the average white family studied could pay a
monthly rental of $5.00 more, and the average negro family $2.00
more, provided suitable accommodations were furnished them
in place of their present neglected dwellings. It should be em-
phasized, however, that the present dwellings of the families
studied are not, as a rule, worth the rents paid for them, many
being unfit for human habitation.

38 Housing and Living Conditions in the

In the comparatively few instances where new, comfortable
houses were found in the districts studied, the rents were high
and the occupants paid a much larger proportion of their family
incomes for rent.

The relation between the average rents paid and the average
income of the heads of families (exclusive of all other income)
was 13.9 per cent, in the case of white, and, 20.2 in the case of
negro occupants.

Home Ownership. — Of 226 white families making returns con-
cerning home ownership, 23, or about 10 per cent, owned their
homes, the rest paying rent. Of 337 negro families, 30, or about
9 per cent, owned their homes. In nearly all cases, both among
the white and negro families, the houses owned by the occupants
were in good repair, the plumbing was in order, and the premises
were clean.

Following is a summary statement of the returns concerning
the economic condition of the families studied:

Monthly Rentals Paid by White and Negro Families
(186 White and 298 Negro Families).

Monthly Rents Exclusive of Water Tax
White Families Negro Families

Rooms per Average per Average per Average per Average per

Dwelling Dwelling Room Dwelling Room

One room $ 2.29 $2.29 $2.14 $2.14

Two rooms 4.70 2.35 4.55 2.28

Three rooms 5.76 1.92 6.17 2.06

Four rooms 7.14 1.78 8.15 2.04

Five rooms 8.05 1.61 8.83 1.77

Six rooms 10.27 1.71 ....

Average rent per

family 6.75 1.80 6.27 2.08

Annual Income and Rents Paid by White and Negro Families
(109 White and 229 Negro Families).

White Negro

Families Families

Average yearly income per family $731.86 $516.23

Average yearly income per head of family. . 589.58 369.52

Average yearly rent, exclusive of water tax, . 81.98 74.81

Per cent, of family income paid for rent. .. 11.2 14.5
Per cent, of income of head of family paid

for rent I3.9 2O>2

White and negro children living in some of the districts covered by the
report.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va.

Source of Family Income
(231 White and 362 Negro Families).

White Negro

Families Families

Head of family only 101 112

Head and wife 8 66

Head and children 53 44

Head, wife and children 8 15

Children only '. 12 7

Wife and children I o

Boarders only o I

Head and boarders 28 83

Wife and boarders I o

Head, wife and boarders o 17

Head, children and boarders 10 12

Head, wife, children and boarders I 2

Children and boarders 8 3

Total 231 362

Boarders and Lodgers in Private Families
(245 White and 370 Negro Families).

White Negro

Families having neither boarders nor

lodgers 178 232

Families having related boarders or

lodgers 32 68

Families having unrelated boarders or

lodgers 33 62

Families having both related and unre-
lated boarders or lodgers 2

Total 245 370

Both
Races

410
100

615

Occupations. — About one-third of the 251 white male adult
wage earners whose occupations were reported, were either fac-
tory hands or day laborers, the remainder being engaged in 73
different occupations, a considerable number being in skilled
occupations such as barbers, boiler makers, carpenters, engi-
neers, machinists, molders, painters, plumbers, steam fitters,
tailors, etc. There were also some grocers, liquor dealers, fruit
and vegetable vendors, salesmen and clerks among the number.

4O Housing and Living Conditions in the

Of 376 male negro adult wage earners, about two-thirds were
day laborers, factory hands, drivers and teamsters and porters,
the remainder being engaged in 67 different skilled and unskilled
and professional trades. The skilled workers were mostly bar-
bers, blacksmiths, carpenters, chauffeurs, concrete workers,
lathers, machinists, and plasterers. There were also some but-
lers, cooks, janitors, and waiters, and a number of clergymen
among the occupants.

Two-thirds of the 83 white female adult wage earners were
factory hands, most of the remaining one-third being dress-
makers, seamstresses and laundresses. Of the negro female adult
workers about one-half were laundresses, one-third were cooks,
maids, and other domestic servants, and the remainder were
mostly seamstresses and factory hands.

The white and negro male children under 18 years of age
were mostly factory hands and laborers, while of the female
wage-earning children the whites were nearly all factory hands,
and the negroes were mostly domestic servants. It is interesting
to note in this connection that of the 88 white children and the
99 negro children between the ages of 14 and 17 inclusive, of
the families visited, 56 per cent, of the white children, and 35
per cent, of the negro children were engaged in gainful occu-
pations.

Illiteracy. — A large degree of illiteracy was found both among
the white and negro families visited. Of a total of 789 white
persons 9 years of age and over, 71, or 9.0 per cent, were illit-
erate, and of a total of 1,100 negroes, 228, or 20.7 were unable
either to read or write. The proportion of illiterates was slightly
higher among the females than among the males in each of the
two races. It was higher among adults than among children.
Of the illiterate whites, 56, or 79 per cent, were native Americans,
and 15, or 21 per cent., were foreign born. Forty-six of the 56
native white illiterates were born in Virginia.

According to the U. S. Census returns for 1910, the propor-
tion of illiterates in the entire City of Richmond was 1.3 per
cent, in (the case of the whites, and 19.6 per cent, ajnong the
negroes.

Following is a summary statement of the facts ascertained
concerning illiteracy among the persons visited during the in-
vestigation :

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va.

Persons able to Both

read and write White Negro Races

Males, 18 years of age and over 241 306 547

Females, 18 years of age and over. . . . 252 359 611

Males, 9 to 17 years of age 84 79 163

Females, 9 toi7 years of age 109 93 202

Total 686 837 1,523

Persons able to read, Both

but not to write White Negro Races

Males, 18 years of age and over 12 10 22

Females, 18 years of age and over. ... 19 23 42

Males, 9 to 17 years of age i 2 3

Females, 9 to 17 years of age o o o

Total 32 35 67

Persons unable to Both

read or write White Negro Races

Males, 18 years of age and over 27 87 114

Females, i§ years of age and over 35 123 158

Males, 9 to 17 years of age 6 15 21

Females, 9 to 17 years of age 3 3 6

Total 71 228 299

Both

Per cent, of Illiterates White Negro Races

Males, 18 years of age and over 10 22 17

Females, 18 years of age and over. n 24 19

Males, 9 to 17 years of age 7 16 n

Females, 9 to 17 years of age 3 3 3

Total 9

CHAPTER VI.
STREETS, ALLEYS, AND YARDS.

A survey of practically all the streets and alleys and of sev-
eral thousand back yards made by the secretary of the society
before the inauguration of the "clean-up" campaign, disclosed
conditions about as bad as could be found in any city. There
was scarcely a street for a distance of a block or two that was
not littered with more or less paper and other rubbish, except,
of course, for a few hours after the streets had been cleaned.
Some of the streets and alleys in the poorer sections, particu-
larly where the negroes live, appeared as though they had never,
been cleaned.

Condition of Streets. — The habit of throwing rubbish on the
streets seems to be universal in Richmond. People may be
seen at any time deliberately throwing whole newspapers, wrap-
ping paper, torn letters, paper boxes and other discarded articles
on the streets and sidewalks; circulars are scattered broadcast;
employees of many business houses when unpacking goods cases
habitually throw the paper and packing materials in the streets
and alleys or place them in unsuitable receptacles where a mod-
erate wind can blow them about. Children, too, following the
example of their elders, tear up- paper and scatter it about on
the streets.

Not infrequently people in cleaning their yards and sidewalks
sweep paper and other rubbish on the streets soon after they
have been cleaned by the city employees, when they could just
as well have done it a little earlier. Besides, paper and larger
pieces of rubbish could at such times be picked up and placed
in proper receptacles without much additional labor.

Very often — one might almost say usually — in front of stores
and other business houses and under vendors' wagons where
fruit and vegetables are sold and handled, the trade refuse is
thrown on the streets and in the alleys where it sometimes re-
mains, becomes putrid, and furnishes food for swarms of flies.
Cases have been observed where this process of littering the
streets with garbage was resumed immediately after the streets
were cleaned and while the carts of the Street Cleaning Depart-
ment were still in sight. This happens most conspicuously in
the down-town district, where the wholesale commission houses

a//ry.y i« f/ie neglected sections, the upper one in the northwest, the
lower, in the Shockoc valley.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 43

are, and in the vicinity of the markets, but also in other parts
of the city where fruits and vegetables are sold.

Another source of uncleanliness is the overloading of carts
and wagons with earth, ashes, garbage and other refuse, and the
use of unsuitable vehicles, resulting in the dropping of their
contents upon the streets. Such carts and wagons are frequently
seen on the principal thoroughfares, leaving trails of dirt and
refuse behind them.

The presence of many unpaved streets in close proximity to
those that are paved, especially in sections where there is much
traffic, results in the carrying of mud and dust from the one to
the other, and no amount of work by the Street Cleaning Depart-
ment can keep the latter clean.

An examination of the annual reports of the Superintendent
of the Street Cleaning Department shows that year after year
he has called attention to these difficulties, but apparently with-
out effect. Under such circumstances the most efficient street
cleaning service that could be created could not keep the streets
and alleys clean.

Refuse. — Similar difficulties confront the Street Cleaning De-
partment with reference to the collection of garbage, ashes and
other refuse. Visits made to thousands of back yards in all
)arts of the city show that but a small proportion of the people
n Richmond use suitable receptacles for their household and
:rade refuse, and even where they have them, they are often
careless in their use. Every conceivable kind of receptacle has
)een found for the deposit of garbage, including paper bags, car-
:ons, baskets, sauce pans, beer cases, broken barrels, packing
Doxes, and even piano cases. In the Fulton section, in the old
[ackson Ward and some other localities, garbage and other per-
shable household and trade waste have been found in consider-
able quantities on vacant lots, the people in some cases claiming
that they never see a garbage collector, and that this is the only
way in which they can dispose of their refuse.

Ashes were most frequently found deposited in boxes, bar-
rels and cases, some of the latter being too heavy for half a
dozen men to lift. The barrels were usually defective, so that
when handled it was impossible for the collectors to avoid drop-
Ding some of their contents into the yards and alleys. Some-
times, mountains of ashes mixed here and there with garbage,
were found in the back yards, even in the fashionable sections
of the city.

The practice of mixing combustile with non-combustible re-
'use appears also to be common in Richmond, especially the mix-
ng of ashes, paper, rags, old shoes, etc., but not infrequently

44 Housing and Living Conditions in the

garbage also. The result is that all this perishable rubbish is
carried to the dumps, which are mostly in close proximity to
the dwellings of the working people, where it becomes putrid,
breeds flies, rats and other vermin, and thus becomes a menace
to health and a most offensive nuisance to the neighborhoods.
Furthermore, these dumps are picked over by swarms of poor
people, who fill their bags with the pickings and thus carry more
or less of this putrid matter back into their homes. Sometimes
the refuse on the dumps takes fire, and then for days and weeks
the people in their vicinity must submit to the smoke and noxious
fumes, and, at times, even their houses are jeopardized by these
fires.

Back Yards. — Besides the personal observations of the Secre-
tary as outlined above, the investigators engaged upon the house-
to-house survey of the housing and living conditions noted on
their cards, among other facts, information concerning the con-
dition of the back yards. Of 450 yards observed by these inves-
tigators, 179 were reported fairly free from rubbish, 216 had
some rubbish scattered about, while 55 were badly littered with
rubbish of all kinds. The general condition of 168 of these yards
was reported as dirty, and 85 filthy. Stagnant water was re-
ported in 54 of the yards observed.

All of these conditions need the careful attention of the citi-
zens. Some of them can be corrected or avoided by the enforce-
ment of existing laws, but some cannot. Unless public opinion
is aroused to the necessity of keeping the yards and lots clean,
exercising greater care in the use of sufficient and proper recep-
tacles, separating combustible from non-combustible refuse, and
properly placing these receptacles so that they may always
be easily accessible to the collectors, the Street Cleaning Depart-
ment cannot deal with the refuse problem as it should be dealt
with, and no amount of increase in its efficiency will enable it to
do so. If the refuse is properly placed in the receptacles and if
the collections are regularly made by the Street Cleaning Depart-
ment, there will be no occasion for rubbish-littered yards.

Garbage Receptacles. — Of 457 cases for which returns were
made by investigators concerning garbage receptacles, 278 fam-
ilies were reported to have receptacles of some kind, while 179
had no receptacles whatever for garbage. Of the latter, 27 fam-
ilies reported that they burn the garbage; 34, that the garbage
is fed to the chickens and other animals; 2, that the garbage is
carried to the country ; 8, that it is thrown in the yards ; 12, that
it is thrown on the dumps; 3, that it is given away; and II
householders reported that the garbage is thrown on the neigh-
boring lots.

Two tf/f/iy

i» the neglected sections of Richmond.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 45

Ash Receptacles. — Returns concerning ash receptacles were
made in the case of 418 families. Of these, 289 had receptacles
and 129 had none. Of the latter, 7 families reported that they
use the ashes for filling wells and other depressions ; 22, that the
ashes are thrown in the yards; 16, that they are thrown on the
dumps; and 12, that they are thrown on vacant lots.

Stables. — In 32 cases stables were found on the premises
visited, all but two of which were of wood construction. Returns
concerning the material of the floor were made in 22 cases, and
of these, 17 stables had earth floors, three had floors of wood,
one had a concrete floor, and one had a brick floor. The condi-
tion with regard to cleanliness was reported in 24 cases, 10 stables
being found to be clean, 9 dirty, and 5 filthy.

Animals. — One hundred of the families visited kept chickens
on their premises, 88 kept dogs, 4 kept pigeons, 4 rabbits, 2 goats,
and i kept a cow.

Other Outhouses. — Of 373 premises concerning which re-
turns were made of the condition of fuel sheds, 258 had sheds
which were reported clean, 76 dirty, and 41 filthy. Poultry
houses were reported clean in 36 cases, dirty in 14 cases, and
filthy in 9 cases.

PART II.

Legislation

CHAPTER VII.
BUILDING REGULATIONS.

In order to determine what remedial legislation may be
needed to ameliorate the housing and living conditions in Rich-
mond, it was necessary to make a careful examination of the
City Code, copies of regulations on file in the various city de-
partments, etc.

There are but few dwelling or tenement house laws other
than general health and plumbing regulations and building
regulations enacted to secure structural safety which apply to
buildings generally. Only such of these as are of special in-
terest in this study are considered here. Following is a brief
statement of such laws and regulations at present in force, to-
gether with such suggestions for their amendment or for new
legislation as is deemed advisable by the Committee on Law
Enforcement.

The building laws and ordinances are made by the City
Council, and are enforced by a Building Inspector, elected by
the Administrative Board, who has power to make general
rules and regulations concerning the construction, maintenance,
repair, or removal of walls, buildings, or other structures, not
inconsistent with the Building Code. He may modify the pro-
visions of the Building Code in exceptional cases where there
are practical difficulties in the way of carrying out the strict
letter of the Code. He is required to report to the Police Justice
violations of the Building Code and Regulations. (Chap. LIX.,
sees, i and 2.)

The following are definitions of building terms used in th(
Richmond Building Code:

above are illustrations of an alley and three back yards in one of the
most fashionable residence sections of Richmond. The lower right
Jiand picture shoia's the kind of receptacles that are sometimes used for
ashes and garbage. The upper right hand picture shows a city employee
picking up a heap of refuse that had been dumped in an alley.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 47

DEFINITIONS.

Building. — Any structure having a roof, whether
with or without one or more enclosing walls, is consid-
ered to come within the operations of the Building Code
(Chap. LX,, sec. 2.)

Private Dwelling. — This means any building which is
intended or designed for, or used as, the home or resi-
dence of not more than three separate and distinct fam-
ilies or households, and in which not more than ten (10)
rooms shall be used for the accommodation of boarders,
and no part of which structure is used as a store or for
any business purpose. (Chap. LX., sec. 7.)

Two or more such dwellings may be connected on each
story when used for boarding purposes, provided the halls
and stairs of each are left unaltered. (Chap. LX., sec. 7.)

Apartment or Tenement House. — This includes every
building three or more stories in height which is intended
or designed for or used as the home or residence of more
than three families. (Chap. LX., sec. 8.)

Lodging House. — This includes any house or building
or portion thereof in which persons are harbored or lodged
for hire for a single night or less than a week at a time,
or any part of which is let for any person to sleep in, for
any term less than a week.

Hotel. — A hotel is a building, or part thereof, intended,
designed or used for supplying food and shelter to resi-
dents or guests and having a general public dining-room
or a cafe, or both, and containing also more than fifteen
(15) sleeping rooms above the first story. (Chap. LX.,
sec. 10.)

Apartment Hotel. — This includes every hotel in which
apartments are rented or are intended or designed to be
rented in suite, and for terms not less than one (i) month
and in which there are no kitchens, dining-rooms, or serv-
ing rooms within the apartments, but where a common
dining-room is provided for the use of the tenants. (Chap.
LX., sec. 10.)

Office Building.— An office building is a building which
is divided into rooms above the first story and intended
and used for office purposes, and of which no part is
used for living purposes, excepting by the janitor and his
family. (Chap. LX., sec. n.)

48 Housing and Living Conditions in the

Frame Building. — This means (i) buildings or struc-
tures of which the exterior walls or a portion thereof, are
constructed of wood; (2) buildings sheathed with boards
and partially or entirely covered with four inches of brick
or stone; (3) wood frames covered with metal, whether
the frames are sheathed or not with boards. (Chap. LX.,
sec. 12.)

Basement and Cellar. — A basement is that portion of a
building the floor of which is below the curb level at the
center of the front of the building, more than one foot,
and not more than three-fourths of the height of said por-
tion measuring from floor to ceiling.

A cellar is the lowest portion of a building, the floor of
which is below the curb level at the center of the front
of the building, more than three-fourths of the height of
said portion measuring from the floor to the ceiling.
(Chap. LX., sec. 34.)

TENEMENT AND APARTMENT HOUSES.

As shown in the definition of a tenement or apartment house,
it is a building three or more stories high which is intended or
designed for, or is used, as the home or residence of more than
three families. If the building is not more than two stories
high, or if it is intended or designed for or used by less than four
families, it is a private dwelling, and the apartment or tenement
house regulations do not apply to it.

The usual standard of what constitutes a tenement or apart-
ment house is three or more families, and some tenement house
laws set the figures at two families. The provision of the Rich-
mond Code that it must be over two stories high to constitute
a tenement or apartment house should be eliminated. The evil
conditions which make it expedient to legislate specially for
tenement or apartment houses exist in two-story houses just
as well as in houses of three or more stories. The definition
suggested by Mr. Lawrence Veiller in a recent work* is recom-
mended, namely, "a tenement house is any house or building,
or portion thereof, which is rented, leased, let or hired out, to
be occupied, or is occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed
to be occupied as the home or residence of three families of
more living independently of each other, and doing their cook-
ing upon the premises, and having a common right in the hall,
stairways, yard, cellar, water closets or privies or some of them,
and includes apartment houses and flat houses."

* "A Model Tenement House Law," by Lawrence Veiller, 1910.

This shows one of the unsightly dumps along Shockoe Creek, near the heart
of the city. These dumps are close to, and in some cases touch the
working people's homes.

This picture shows some of the objects that are regularly thrown upon the
dumps.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va.

SAFETY, LIGHT AND VENTILATION.

Height of Building. — Buildings, unless fireproof, are not per-
mitted to be erected in Richmond to a greater height than sixty-
five feet. (Chap. LX., sec. 29.)

For tenement or apartment houses, a better standard would
be a maximum height of three stories for all non-fire proof build-
ings.

Thickness of Walls. — For dwellings or apartment houses,
twenty-seven feet or less in width between bearing walls or
bearings, the minimum thickness of all independent surround-^
ing and dividing walls in the same, carrying the load of floors
and roofs, must be in accordance with the following table, but
no party wall may be less than thirteen inches in thickness
throughout its entire height.

Dwelling House Class— Brick Walls

(Minimum Thickness in Inches).

Basement

Height

3 to
ifl CQ O

Stories

One story ......... 16

Two stories ....... 20 13 13 9 ......

Three stories ...... 20 13 13 13 9

Four stones ....... 20 18 13 13 13 13

Five stories ....... 20 18 13 13 13 13 13

Six stories ......... 24 22 18 13 13 13 13 13

Seven stories ...... 24 22 18 18 13 13 13 13 13

Eight stories ...... 28 27 22 18 18 18 18 13 13 13

Nine stories ....... 28 27 22 22 18 18 18 18 13 13

Ten stories ........ 32 31 27 22 22 22 18 18 18 18 13 13

(Chap. LX., sec. 3O-a.)

This provision appears to be entirely satisfactory.

Common Halls and Staircases. — The only regulations in the
Richmond Code concerning halls and stairs in tenement houses
are such as provide for safety in case of fire. (Chap. LX., sec.
50.)

50 Housing and Living Conditions in the

There is no provision for lighting or ventilating common
halls in tenement or apartment houses. To insure ample light
and ventilation in halls and stairways, there should be at least
one window of sufficient dimensions at each story, opening
directly upon the outer air. Dark halls in tenement houses are
not only storage places for filth and rubbish and breeding places
for disease germs, but, being used in common by the tenants,
they are conducive to immorality.

In existing tenement or apartment houses where the halls
and stairs do not have windows to the outer air and it is imprac-
ticable to provide such windows, or where they are lighted and
ventilated by courts too small in size to admit sufficient day-
light, artificial light should be required during the day time on
each floor in the hallway near the stairs. All common halls in
tenement houses should be lighted at night.

Lighting and Ventilation of Rooms. — The only provision in
the Building Code concerning lighting and ventilation of dwell-
ings or tenement houses, is a paragraph which provides that "In
every apartment or tenement house hereafter erected, every
room, except water-closet compartments, bath rooms, and stor-
age rooms shall have at least one window opening directly upon
the street, or upon a yard or court." (Chap. LX., sec. 50.)

It will be observed that this provision concerning dark rooms
does not apply to all dwellings houses, but only to apartment
or tenement houses ; that is, buildings over two stories in height
intended or designed for or used as the homes of more than three
families. In other words, if the building is "intended or designed
for or used by" one, two or three families, dark rooms, that is,
rooms without outside windows, may be provided even in new
buildings. Dark rooms, wherever they exist, whether in small
dwellings or large tenement houses, are detrimental to health,
are apt to become filthy, and act as breeding places for tuber-
culosis and other disease germs.

Lighting and Ventilation of Water Closets. — There is a pro-
vision in the Richmond Building Code that water closets must
not be located in any sleeping apartment, nor in any room or
apartment which has not direct communication with the exter-
nal air, either by a window or air-shaft having an area to the
open air at least four square feet. (Chap. XXV., sec. 76.)

Water Closets, Adequacy, Location and Size. — The Rich-
mond Building Code makes no provision for adequate water
closet facilities in private dwellings or in tenement or apartment
houses. In fact, the only provision for privacy of any kind is in
requiring separate water closets for females in large office build-
ings and factories. Cases have been found where six families in
Richmond use one water closet.

«/>/>cr picture shows the dump-pickers at work. The loivcr picture
shozi's a boy returning from the dumps loaded with the pickings winch
he probably emptied and sorted in the yard under the clothes. 7 It is
family, like many other such families, takes in washing.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 5!

While it might be too much of a hardship to require a land-
lord to install a separate water closet in each apartment of a
tenement house, he should be required to install at least one
closet for every two families or apartments. Water closets
should not be permitted to be installed in cellars of tenement
houses, unless it is not practicable to have them elsewhere, as
in the case of stores on the ground floor, or when the janitor's
apartment is located in the cellar, and then should it be permitted
only under the most careful regulation, so as to insure adequate
light, ventilation, cleanliness, and privacy.

Water closet compartments in dwelling or tenement houses
should be at least three feet wide, and should be enclosed with
partitions extending to the ceiling. Water closets intended for
the use of two or more families should have water-proof floors.

Fire Escapes. — There is no provision of law requiring fire
escapes to be placed on tenement or apartment houses. The law
which now applies to hotels, apartment hotels, lodging houses,
etc. (Chap. LX., sec. 75), should be made to apply with some
modifications to tenement houses also.

Alterations. — No existing tenement house ought to be per-
mitted to be altered, and no private dwelling house should be
converted into a tenement or apartment house in such a way
that the alterations or conversion will diminish the light and
ventilation of the rooms, water closet compartments, halls or
stairs, or the dimensions of the rooms below the requirements
recommended for new tenement houses.

Basement and Cellar Rooms. — There is no provision in the
Building Code of Richmond prohibiting or regulating the use of
cellars and basements for living purposes. The use of such
rooms for living or sleeping purposes should be prohibited un-
less the ceilings are at least seven feet above the floor and two
and one-half feet above the curb level, the walls and floors damp-
proof and water-proof, and the window space sufficient to fur-
nish the necessary light and ventilation. In new buildings the
ceilings should be at least nine feet high and four and one-half
feet above the curb level to permit the occupancy of basements
or cellars for such purposes.

ADDITIONAL BUILDING REGULATIONS NEEDED.

Notwithstanding the importance of light and ventilation as
a matter of health and decency, there are no other provisions
concerning them in the Richmond Building Code.

52 Housing and Living Conditions in the

Building Space. — There is no provision limiting the propor-
tion of ground space which may be built upon. The builder of a
private dwelling, apartment or tenement house may, if he desires,
cover the entire space of his lot, leaving no yard or court space
for light or ventilation. Outside the fire limits, a space of at least
ten feet must be left between frame buildings, but this is for
the prevention of the spread of fire and is not a regulation for
light and ventilation.

Modern building laws require that a certain percentage of
every lot must be left vacant for light and ventilation. In the
modern tenement house law proposed by Mr. Lawrence Veiller,
not more than eighty per cent, of a corner lot, and not more
than sixty per cent, of any other lot may be built upon. A yard
space is always required in modern building laws, extending
across the entire width of the lot, the minimum depth of the
yard to be proportionate to the height of the building.

Courts. — The Richmond regulations do not define a yard or
court, and therefore any space, no matter how narrow, may be
construed to be a yard or court, and the provision requiring out-
side windows in tenement or apartment houses may, therefore,
be without material effect where the yard or court is too small
to admit sufficient light and ventilation.

All modern building laws define courts and require that they
be of certain dimensions in proportion to the height of the build-
ing. In Mr. Veiller's proposed model law, the width of a court
may not be less than twelve feet in any part for a building forty-
eight feet in height, the minimum width permitted being in-
creased and decreased by one foot respectively, for every twelve
feet above and below a height of forty-eight feet. Courts which
are entirely enclosed should be required to have air intakes at
the bottom not less than three feet wide and seven feet high.
These intakes are necessary to renew the air in the inner courts.

Size of Rooms. — The Richmond Building Code makes no pro-
vision concerning the size of rooms in dwellings. Such a pro-
vision is necessary in order to insure sufficient breathing space,
especially in sleeping rooms. The tendency among builders, es-
pecially of the cheaper grade of tenement houses, is to make the
rooms smaller and smaller. In a model building law, provision
should be made that there be at least one room in each apart-
ment which has not less than 150 square feet of floor space, and
that no other room should have less than ninety square feet of
floor space ; also that no room should be less than nine feet high
in every part.

Alley Houses. — As certain sections of a city become densely
populated, there arises the danger of crowding houses into nar-

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. ^

row alleys and courts, a practice which in Washington, D. C.,
constitutes the most serious housing problem. A few such
houses were recently built in Richmond.

A law should be enacted prohibiting the building of private
dwellings and tenement houses and the conversion of other build-
ings into such houses on streets or alleys less than twenty feet
wide.

Houses Unfit for Habitation. — There is a law in the Building
Code providing, that upon it being represented to the police jus-
tice by any citizen, city officer, police officer, or other building
inspector, that any building or part of any building, staging or
other structure in the city of Richmond is dangerous or unsafe
by reason of dilapidation or otherwise to persons passing upon
the streets, alleys, or other public places or to persons on private
property, he may, after proper court proceedings, require the
owner or occupant either to remove the same or to repair and
put the same in a safe condition within a specified time. (Chap.
LX., sec. 95.)

If there is actual and immediate danger of any building or
part thereof falling so as to endanger life or property, the Build-
ing Inspector is required to cause the necessary work to be done
to make it safe until the proper proceedings can be taken, and
he may require the immediate removal of the occupants of such
building which may be endangered. (Chap. LX., sec. 97.)

Unless a house is structurally unsafe, it may be unfit for habi-
tation in every other way on account of age, neglect, decay, poor
ventilation, etc., and yet nothing can be done to require its vaca-
tion. Many such houses exist in Richmond. A board of con-
demnation, such as exists in Washington, D. C., should be pro-
vided for, with power to condemn and order the repair or de-
struction of any house which may be unfit for habitation.

CHAPTER VIII.

SANITARY REGULATIONS.

The sanitary regulations of the City of Richmond are made
by the City Council and the Board of Health. The City Council
usually enacts specific ordinances for the protection of the health
of the residents, and the Board of Health prescribes rules and
regulations for their enforcement. Sometimes the City Council,
by an enabling act, gives special authority to the Board of Health
to make certain regulations.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

Board of Health. — The Board of Health consists of five mem-
bers, three of whom must be physicians. They are elected by
the City Council in joint session. The terms of office are for
three years, the terms of two, one and two members respectively,
expiring each year. The members receive no compensation.
They appoint the Chief Health Officer and the subordinate offi-
cers of the City Health Department. (Chap. XXV., sees, i, 2,
3a.)

The Board of Health is the governing power of the Health
Department of the City of Richmond ; they suggest to the Coun-
cil such measures as they think fit, to preserve the health of the
city, and are required to make annual reports of their proceed-
ings. They are invested with police authority and are empow-
ered to prescribe rules and regulations for the prevention of
disease, or for carrying out the provisions of the ordinances of
the City Council pertaining to the public health. All the powers
of the Board of Health are derived from the City Council. The
Board of Health is required to make an annual report to the
Mayor. (Chap. XXV., sees. 4, 5, 6.)

The following subordinate officers are appointed by the
Board of Health to serve for a term of two years : a medical in-
spector, a city bacteriologist, a plumbing inspector, a fumigator,
a food inspector, a clerk of the Health Department, a registrar
of vital statistics, a stenographer, and six sanitary officers. Most
of these officers are invested with police powers. (Chap. XXV.,
sees, 3a and 42.)

77zw picture shows a pool of stagnant water, the overflow from the open
se^ver, Shockoe Creek. This, pool is usually covered with a green scum
and emits foul odors. It is within one-third of a mile of the State
Capitol and within a stone's throw of negro habitations.

I p,

This shows stagnant water in one of the neglected but inhabited streets. A
dump is shown in the distance.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 55

The Chief Health Officer.-— The Chief Health Officer is ap-
pointed by the City Board of Health for a term of two years.
He is required to devote his entire time to the duties of his office.
He is invested with police power, has immediate charge of the
current work of the City Health Department, and is required to
report to the police justice all offenses against the Health regu-
lations of the city. (Chap. XXV., sees. 3a. (i), 6.)

CLEANLINESS OF BUILDINGS AND PREMISES.

The City Health Department appears to have ample author-
ity to require all buildings and private premises to be kept in a
sanitary condition and to inspect the same, and no new legisla-
tion will probably be needed for this purpose. The plumbing
regulations likewise appear to be adequate. With its present
force of inspectors it is impossible, however, to discover all the
violations of the sanitary regulations.

Dirt, Etc., on Premises. — No person is allowed to have or
to suffer any noxious, unwholesome or offensive matter, stag-
nant water, or nuisance of any kind, in any house or cellar, or
upon any other private property owned or occupied by him, a
fine of $i to $20 being provided for violation of this ordinance.
If it is due to a want of proper drainage, the occupier is not fined
if he notifies the owner. If the latter fails to abate the nuisance,
he is liable to a fine of from $10 to $50. (Chap. XXVIL, sec. 4.)
The police justice may, furthermore, order the removal of the
misance within a specified time, and if it continues after that
time he may impose a fine of from $10 to $20 per day during its
subsequent continuance, and he may cause the nuisance to be
abated at the cost of the person offending. (Chap. XXVIL,
sec. 15.) If the property of a non-resident is subject to be cov-
ered by stagnant water, or other unwholesome substances accu-
mulate there, the ground may be filled up, raised or drained, and
the substance covered up or removed by order of the City Coun-
cil, after notice to the representative of the owner, or in his
absence, by advertisement, and the amount may be recovered
by distress >nd sale as in the case of non-payment of taxes.
(Chap. XXVIL, sees. 4 and 15.)

Depositing Filth on Private Premises. — It is prohibited under
penalty ',of a fine of from $i to $20 for any person to put or
cause Ito be put into any cellar or house or upon any other
private property not owned or occupied by him, any filth or
nuisance of any kind. (Chap. XXVIL, sec. 2.)

Storage of Rags and Pickings from Dumps. — There is no law

56 Housing and Living Conditions in the

specifically prohibiting the storage of rags or perishable or com-
bustible material in dwelling houses. An ordinance is desirable
prohibiting the carrying of pickings, other than coal and non-
combustible materials, from the dumps into private dwelling
houses.

Offensive Trades. — There is no law specifically prohibiting
the carrying on of offensive trades in dwelling houses, but in
case such a trade is found to be injurious to health the Health
Department has general powers to abate the nuisance.

Throwing or Placing Medicine or Merchandise on Private
Premises. — The throwing or placing of samples or sample pack-
ages of medicine or merchandise of any description whatever in
any yard, hall, porch, doorway or vestibule of any residence,
boarding or apartment house is prohibited under penalty of a
fine of from $2 to $10. (Chap. XXVIL, sec. 36.)

Smoke Nuisance. — There is no provision of law for the pre-
vention of smoke. The experience in other cities has been that
the installation of the latest type of smoke consumers has not
only prevented the dense volumes of smoke, such as we now
have in Richmond, but it has proven economical to the estab-
lishments which used such smoke consumers. An ordinance
should be enacted requiring smoke consumers to be installed in
all places where bituminous coal is used in large quantities.

WATER SUPPLY.

The Council Committee on Water determines, when, upon
the application of a property owner or owners, a water main may
be run in a street or alley on which such property abuts. When-
ever such a main is introduced, the property owners must make
connection within thirty days, and construct on their premises,
if a sewer is adjacent, at least one closet suitably connected
with the water and sewer pipe. An owner or occupant failing
to comply is liable to a fine of from $2 to $10 for each day's fail-
ure. (Chap. XXXI., sees. 9 and 30.)

Wells. — The use of wells, other than artesian wells, is not
permitted where city water connections can be made, and they
must be closed up when their use is no longer permitted.

Adequacy of Water Supply. — There is no specification con-
cerning the adequacy of the hydrants for the use of the tenants.
Cases have been found where as many as six families use one
hydrant. In tenement or apartment houses there ought to be a
sink with hydrant in each tenement or apartment, or at least on

The upper and lower pictures show piles of refuse awaiting the collectors
after "clean-up day." The two middle pictures show boy scouts at work
m the suburbs of Richmond on "clean-up" day.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. rj

each floor. In smaller houses there should be at least one hydrant
for every three families.

Water Rates.— The practice appears to be for the tenant to
pay the water tax, and if he refuses to pay, the water is turned off.
In that case, the Water Department notifies the City Health De-
partment of its action and the latter orders the tenant to have
the water supply renewed. The burden of paying for the water
should be definitely placed upon the landlord, and he should be
prohibited from permitting his property to be occupied for dwell-
ing purposes unless the water is turned on.

PLUMBING.

The existing plumbing regulations appear to be adequate.
Occasionally antiquated closets and bath tubs were found, but it
would perhaps be too great a hardship upon the landlords to re-
quire the installation of new apparatus where the old are func-
tioning fairly well. Modern plumbing is at present required in
all new buildings and wherever the old appliances have to be re-
placed.

Water Closets. — Every water closet within a dwelling must
be either an enamelled iron or earthenware siphon jet closet, or
washout closet with trap and vent, to be supplied from a tank
or cistern through a flush pipe not less than i^ inches internal
diameter. Inspectors may, where conditions are favorable, grant
special permits for the use of flushing rim hoppers with reser-
voirs in the basements, cellars and exposed places. (Chap. XXV.,
sec. 74.)

All closets in yards must be frost-proof and supplied with
anti-freezing valves, reservoirs, flushing rim bowls, and flush
pipe not less than i^4 inches internal diameter. (Chap. XXV.,
sec. 74.)

Dry Closets.— Dry closets are permitted only where city
water mains and sewers are inaccessible. The manner of their
construction and screening is carefully specified in the regulations
of the Health Department, copies of which are distributed to all
premises where dry closets are located. Upon complaint of any
citizen, or information given by a police officer to the police jus-
tice, that a privy is so placed as to be offensive, he may, upon
summons returned and executed against the owner, order such
privy to be removed.

The boxes are emptied by a contractor employed by the Board
of Health, but the fees for this service are collected from the
occupants of the premises, the rates of which are fixed by city

58 Housing and Living Conditions in the

ordinance. The boxes must in all cases be emptied regardless
of whether the contractor can collect the fees or not. (Chap.
II., sec. 5.)

The regulations concerning dry closets appear to be adequate
to insure the best condition possible where dry closets must
exist, provided the regulations are enforced. The system of
emptying the boxes, however, is wrong. The burden of removing
the contents of the boxes should be either upon the municipality
as a whole or upon the landlord. As it is, the contractor has
no recourse in case the tenants are unable to pay, and in conse-
quence, he must necessarily allow for such losses when he fixes
the price in bidding for the contract. If the burden were upon
the landlord, the contractor or the municipality could recover in
every case.

PREVENTION OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES.

Every physician practicing in Richmond who attends a
patient affected with small-pox or varioloid, cholera, scarlet or
yellow fever, diphtheria, measles, pulmonary or laryngeal tuber-
culosis or typhoid fever, is required to report to the Board of
Health in writing within twenty-four hours the name and loca-
tion of the patient, and his recovery or death from such disease.
A penalty of $10 for every twenty-four hours is fixed for failure
to report. (Chap. XXV., sec. 95.)

When cases of small-pox, varioloid, diphtheria, scarlet fever
or measles are reported, the Chief Health Officer is required to
have cards placed within or without the premises where the case
exists, in a conspicuous place, stating the name of the disease and
such words of precaution as he may deem necessary. The Board
of Health may, if deemed proper, extend the operation of this
ordinance, both with regard to reporting and to placarding, to
other diseases. (Chap. XXV., sec. 96.)

CHAPTER IX.

REGULATION OF CLEANLINESS OF STREETS AND
ALLEYS, AND REFUSE REMOVAL.

The Superintendent of the Street Cleaning Department is
elected by the City Council for a term of two years. His duties
are to take charge of, manage and direct, under the direction of
the Administrative Board, the cleaning of the streets and the
removal of the garbage and ashes, and for this purpose he can
employ and discharge laborers, drivers and hostlers. He is also
required to abate nuisances in streets, alleys and lanes. He re-
ports annually to the Mayor. (Chap. XLL, sees. I to 3.)

STREETS AND ALLEYS.

Placing Ashes, Dirt, Rubbish, Etc., in Streets. — Any person
may carry from his lot or put in a street or public alley, or any
part of the carriageway nearest to the gutter or drain, ashes,
dirt, or rubbish; provided the same be free from offensive mat-
ter and be removed by him from said street or alley within
twenty-four hours ; or if one of the Committee on Streets for the
ward in which said lot is, shall, in writing, allow a longer time
for the removal, then within such time as may be allowed.
(Chap. XXVII., sec. 24.)

This provision is out of date and should be repealed. No one
should be permitted to deposit any ashes, dirt, rubbish or other
substance on a public street, except in case of an emergency, and
then only by special permission of the Street Cleaning Depart-
ment.

If any filth, rubbish, ashes, dirt or other things be carried
from a lot or place and put in a street or public alley, or if any
nuisance or obstruction be put or caused to be put or to remain
therein, without being authorized by the city ordinances, the
offender is liable to a fine of from $i to $10 for the first day, and
from $2 to $20 for subsequent days. (Chap. XXVII. , sec. 25.)

Removal of Ashes, Dirt, Rubbish, Etc., from Streets. — Every
person occupying a house or a lot is required to remove, or to
give notice to the City Engineer or to a police officer of any filth,

60 Housing and ^Living Conditions in the

rubbish, ashes, dirt, stones, or other things, or any nuisance or
obstruction not authorized above, which may be put on that half
of the street or alley next to and opposite his house and lot. For
failure to remove or report the. same he is liable to a fine not
exceeding $10 for each day of such failure. (Chap. XXVII. ,
sec. 26.)

Sidewalks to be Swept. — Tenants, occupants or owners of
any house, store or other building used for mercantile or manu-
facturing purposes, or as a place of amusement, on the front or
side of which the sidewalk is paved, are required to sweep such
sidewalk once in twenty-four hours, such sweeping to be done
between 7 P. M. and 8 A. M. A penalty of from $2 to $10 is
provided for violation of this ordinance, recoverable before the
Police Justice. (Ordinance approved May 20, 1911.) It is sug-
gested that Saturday to Sunday be excepted.

Expectorating or Throwing Fruit Skins on Sidewalks, Etc. —
It is unlawful to expectorate upon, or throw fruit skins or peel-
ings on the sidewalks, or floors of street cars, public elevators,
or public halls. The penalty for violation is $5. (Chap. XXVII. ,
sec. 21 ; Chap. XXVII., sec. 4.)

'Dropping Filth, Etc., on Streets, or Alleys, or Dumping
Same. — If a person employs any other person than an appointee
of the City Council to remove any filth or nuisance from any
house or lot, or any other place, and such person wastes the same
in the street or alley, or puts or causes the same to be put into
the James River within the city limits or upon the private prop-
erty of another, he is liable to a fine of from $2 to $20. (Chap.
XXVII., sec. 3.)

Snow on Sidewalks. — Tenants or occupants or, in their
absence, owners or persons in charge of buildings or lots border-
ing on streets, lanes, courts, squares, or public places where there
are paved footways or sidewalks, are required to remove snow
fallen in the daytime within six hours, and if fallen in the night-
time, before noon of the following day. The penalty for viola-
tion is from $2 to $10 the first day, and from $i to $10 for each
subsequent day that the snow remains on the footway or side-
walk. (Chap. XXVIL, sec. 28.)

Streets, Gutters or Drains. — Every person occupying a house
or lot is required, as far as such lot extends, to cause the paved
gutter or drain in a street or public alley opposite thereto, to be
constantly kept open and free from obstruction. The penalty
for violation is from $i to $10 for the first day, and from $2 to
$20 for each subsequent day. (Chap. XXVIL, sec. 23.) This
ordinance is antiquated and should be repealed.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 6!

Street Sprinkling.— The street car companies are required by
ordinance to sprinkle the streets along the lines of their railways
each day except when wet from rain-fall or snow, the sprinkling
to extend over the road-bed occupied by the rails and between
them and six feet outside the outer rails. Paved streets are
sprinkled whenever swept. In all other cases the streets are
never sprinkled except at private expense. The result is that
whenever there has been no rain-fall for a few days, the whole
atmosphere of the city is charged with dust, and when the wind
blows, dense volumes sweep over the streets and into the houses.
Appropriation should be made to enable the Street Cleaning De-
partment to sprinkle or oil every street in the central and the
more densely populated sections of the city daily, except when
wet from rain-fall or snow.

Littering Streets. — There are no provisions prohibiting the
throwing of paper on streets and sidewalks or in alleys, or the
distributing of dodgers broadcast, and there are no receptacles
for paper, fruit skins and other trash along the streets. Such
provisions should be made, and they, as well as the existing regu-
lations, should be rigidly enforced by the Police Department, and
a sufficient number of receptacles should be provided for paper
and trash. This would go a long way toward securing cleaner
streets and alleys. On the other hand, an adequate street clean-
ing service should be provided.

Unpaved Streets. — Owing to the many unpaved streets which
intersect those that are paved, much of the dirt is carried by the
horses and wagons from the unpaved to the paved streets, and
it is consequently very difficult to keep the latter clean. There
are many miles of unpaved streets, sidewalks and alleys within
half an hour's walking distance from the heart of the city, par-
ticularly between Broad Street and the northern city limits, even
though the streets are lined on both sides by habitations which
have existed for many years. On the other hand, there are many
well paved streets and alleys in other more distant sections of
the city where vacant lots predominate. In appropriating money
for street improvements the preference should be given to the
more accessible and more densely populated sections of the city,
regardless of the character of the people who live there.

The following extracts from the last annual report of the
Superintendent of the Street Cleaning Department illustrates
some of the difficulties encountered by that officer:

"The department is much annoyed by the storekeepers and
careless pedestrians making a public dumping ground of the

62 Housing and Living Conditions in the

streets of the city. The streets are regarded by these people as
a receptacle for store sweepings, packing materials of all kinds,
waste paper and fruit parings, to say nothing of the trade refuse
which is left to be taken care of by the department.

"It is very discouraging to see a street that has just been
cleaned, littered with trash, paper and refuse, within an hour
thereafter. It is manifestly impracticable as well as beyond the
financial capacity of any community to have street cleaners
always on hand to receive the rubbish swept off the sidewalks
or thrown in the streets, dependent upon the convenience of each
house or storekeeper.

"Leaking and broken carts are used by contractors, with the
result that many of the most important thoroughfares are con-
stantly littered with broken bricks, sand and clay, notwithstand-
ing that all of this is prohibited by law."

GARBAGE, ASHES AND RUBBISH DISPOSAL.

Receptacles. — Housekeepers are required to deposit their gar-
bage in water-tight vessels, each having a capacity not to exceed
thirty-two gallons, and these must be placed on the premises
where they are most accessible to the garbage collectors. Garr
bage and ashes must be kept in separate vessels. Ashes and
other rubbish, whether combustible or not, need not be separated.
The garbage receptacles may be made of any material, provided
they are water-tight, and any kind of box, barrel, or other recep-
tacle may be used for ashes and other rubbish. (Chap. XLL,
sees. 12 and 14.)

The city ordinances should be so amended as to require a
complete separation of (i) garbage and combustible or perishable
refuse, and (2) ashes and other non-combustible refuse. The
garbage and ash receptacles should be made of metal, and the
garbage cans should be provided with tight-fitting covers. All
the combustible refuse as well as the garbage should be cremated.
The other refuse should be dumped, but it would be advisable
to make some other disposition of the tin cans and other dis-
carded receptacles which fill up with water and become the
breeding places for mosquitoes. While the house-flies are nearly
all bred in stables, one of their chief sources of food supply is
the open garbage can. Furthermore, open garbage cans are
accessible to dogs and cats, which frequently upset them and
otherwise scatter their contents about. Ashes should be placed
in metal cans as a protection against fire.

Removal of Refuse. — It is evident that the Street Cleaning
Department, with its present force and as it is now constituted,

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 63

is unable to deal with the street cleaning and garbage removal
problem. In a communication to a member of the City Council,
the Superintendent gave an estimate that it would require an
additional appropriation of over $26,000 to carry out the pro-
visions of a proposed ordinance approved by the Committee on
Legislation of this society in accordance with the above sug-
gestions. The proper removal of the garbage and other rubbish
and the cleanliness of the streets and alleys is of such vital im-»
portance to a city that no expense should be spared to do it.
In order to do this work economically, however, it is necessary
to employ only able-bodied men to do the manual labor, and
these should be so disposed and supervised that there is no waste
of time and labor. Likewise, there ought to be no favoritism
shown either to individuals or to localities, but the garbage and
other refuse collections should be uniform and regular. Many
complaints were made during the investigation by householders
in some sections, particularly in Fulton, on Oregon Hill, in the
Shockoe Valley, and west of Brook Avenue, between Leigh and
Catharine Streets, that the collections of ashes and garbage are
infrequent and irregular. The same complaints were made re-
garding the cleaning of streets in those sections. This was given
as the reason for the practice, as shown in the first part of this
report, which is not uncommon, for tenants living near the
dumps to carry not only ashes and rubbish but also garbage
and other perishable matter to the dumps, or to throw them on
neighboring vacant lots.

The Dumps. — The dumps which line the south banks of
Bacon's Quarter Branch and Shockoe Creek would be harmless
if the material dumped consisted only of earth, ashes, and
other imperishable matter. They would merely constitute an
unsightly approach to the city, defacing a landscape which would
otherwise be picturesque. But these dumps appear to be utilized
as depositories for everything imaginable. Most conspicuous of
all are the paper and the tin cans, while, here and there, upon
closer inspection may be found deposits of garbage, rags, dead
animals, and even fecal matter. The dumps sometimes tower
high above the surrounding dwellings, so that on rainy days the
water runs down from them, carrying the dirt and filth into the
neighboring yards and under the houses. The dumping of paper,
rags, and perishable matter of every kind should be prohibited,
and the police authorities should see to it that no such dumping
is done.

Police Supervision. — The City Code provides that police offi-
cers are required to report all nuisances and obstructions on
streets and alleys, private premises, drains, gutters, etc., and

64 Housing and Living Conditions in the

that the Chief of Police should "explore all the streets and alleys
of the city at least twice each month and give information and
prosecute for violations of laws." (Chap. LVIIL, sec. 4.)

While this provision concerning the Chief of Police is obso-
lete and impracticable, there is no reason why the police officers
should not be on the alert for violations of law concerning the
condition of streets, alleys, yards, vacant lots, etc.

Conclusion. — With an adequate force of competent employees
in the service of the Health and Street Cleaning Departments,
with better regulations as indicated above, and with a proper
spirit of civic pride and devotion to duty on the part of the citi-
zens, and especially the public officers, there is no reason why
Richmond cannot be made one of the cleanest and most health-
ful cities in the United States.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I.

Following is a fac-simile of the card used by investigators
in their house-to-house study of the housing and living con-
ditions :

57 Remarks

*•
j

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i
i

i I

'otal cost |

t/;

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-IOUSE

S3 Occupati

ijs

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ill

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fit

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Members

58 Famil

III

APPENDIX II.

NOTES MADE BY INVESTIGATORS.

Following are some of the comments made by the investi-
gators concerning the people and premises visited. They are re-
produced because they give a human touch to the cold facts re-
ported in collective form in the various chapters of the report:

White Families.

"The sink in the kitchen leaks, and there is a hole in the floor
next to it one-half a foot square where filth accumulates and
where rats come in. The kitchen floor is weak and full of holes."

"The plaster in the kitchen is very dirty and there are several
holes in it letting in the cold air in winter, the floors are shaky,
and the house is said to be about eighty years old. Ashes and
filth are deposited on a lot about twenty feet away."

"Occupant said that the first time she has ever seen a garb-
age man was yesterday. The plaster on the walls is weak and
dirty, and the building looks as if a heavy wind would blow it
down."

"The garbage and ash men never come. The dry closet was
cleaned only once since October (1912). It is not screened, and
is in a dirty condition."

"The dry closet was emptied twice since October (1912). It
leaks and is almost full. Four of the six little children have had
typhoid fever within the past year. The garbage and ashes have
not been emptied in months."

"The house is in a dilapidated condition, the plaster is broken
and is falling down. There are cracks through to the outside, and
the roof leaks. No repairs have been made for over two years.
In this house lives a family with six children, the oldest being a
girl who works in a tobacco factory."

"This dwelling has a store in front and the floor leading from
it to the living rooms is weak, loose, and is falling in. It is quite
dangerous, especially as there are five little children in the
family."

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 60

"This is a fearfully dilapidated place. The porch leaks, the
plaster is falling down in the kitchen, and the air comes through
the walls so that it is very cold in winter. There are no locks
on the doors. The flooring next to the back door is giving way.
The sink in the kitchen is very old and rusty."

"The drain pipe is out of order. A big hole where the rats
come in and dirt accumulates is under the sink in the kitchen.
In the dining-room and in the hall at every touch the plaster
falls down under the wall paper, which is peeling off. The flue
from the kitchen is open on the second floor, and the tenant had
to put tin up to keep out smoke and prevent fire."

"The wall paper is patched up by the tenant all over the
house, the rear steps are broken down, the drain is stopped up,
the porch roof leaks and water stands under the house after
every rain. The agent will make no repairs."

"During every rain the water comes through the roof. The
wall paper is coming down and the house is damp. Here in four
rooms lives a family with five little children."

"This house has been condemned as being structually unsafe,
and yet it is occupied by a family of a man and wife and three
small children, aged 2, 4 and 8 years who live in two filthy, dilap-
idated rooms. The plaster on the walls and ceilings is coming
down and there is stagnant water in the areaway. The husband
is an incessant drunkard."

"The water closet is often out of order. The plaster is out in
several places. The floors in the four rooms sink down in the
middle. This family has five children, aged from two to seven
years, four of whom seem to be suffering with colds."

"The water closet leaks and water runs down into the ground
in the rear. The garbage man comes around about once every
four weeks."

"The fence is all broken up and rather dangerous for the two
little children when playing. The front room in the basement is
used for a kitchen, while the back is full of rubbish. The toilet
is defective so that the occupants use the one next door. In the
kitchen the plaster is falling down from the walls ^and ceiling.
The garbage man comes about once in three weeks."

"This house is very old and dilapidated, the plaster being in a
fearful condition, the porch is shaky and dangerous, the water
pipe is burst and the water turned off and the cellar cannot be
used on account of its dampness."

"Bricks along-side of the hearth in the front room and in the

70 Housing and Living Conditions in the

kitchen are caving in. The water closet pipe leaks so that the
contents often go on the ground instead of in the sewer. A very
unpleasant odor was present. The roof of the back porch leaks,
and the plaster on the second floor is coming down."

"In this house live thirteen filthy foreigners who cannot speak
English, six of whom sleep in one room. Of the six, four are
the children, ranging in age from two to ten years, of the woman
who appears to be head of the household. The rest are boarders.
Filth is dominant everywhere."

"This is a very pathetic case of a family of six children rang-
ing from three to twenty-one years of age, three girls and three
boys, all exceptionally handsome. The mother, a very thin, frail
woman, had been raised in a good family and well educated, but,
marrying a man who has been an inveterate drunkard, she has
fallen into poverty. The water in the toilet is running continu-
ally, portions of the plaster of the ceiling have fallen, and the
walls are dirty. The husband uses most of the income for drink,
the wife relying upon the two oldest children for support."

"The water has not been turned on in eighteen months."

"In this basement are two rooms occupied by one man and
two women. When visited, one of the the women was raving
with delirium tremens. The condition of the rooms was dirty,
filthy, and disorderly."

"The water closet is nailed up, as it is stopped up and the
plumbing defective. The water is turned off, the occupants using
a spring across the street. The wall plaster is falling down all
over the house and very dirty, while the floor near the stove in
the kitchen is dangerous to walk on."

"The water closet is under the steps in the hall, and both the
closet and sink are leaking."

"This poor woman, with four children, aged from two to thir-
teen years, has been deserted by her husband. She keeps a cow
and chickens and sells milk, butter and eggs. The house is one
story high, has three rooms, and is in a bad condition. There
is stagnant water under the house. The woman had typhoid
fever for three months. She keeps herself and premises clean."

"The occupants keep a mule under the house in the fuel
room."

"Husband and wife are both inebriates. A son of twenty-one
and a daughter of fourteen years of age are the main support. The
woman takes in washing sometimes, but frequently solicits alms.

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 71

The home conditions seem unfit for the young daughter. The
house is in bad repair and the rooms are dirty."

"This house has two rooms and a detached kitchen, and is
occupied by three families. One family downstairs consists of a
husband and wife who eat, live and sleep in this room, which is
filthy. The husband and wife composing the family which rented
the kitchen and upstairs room, live, eat and sleep in the kitchen
in the yard and sub-let the upstairs room to a woman boarder
with two girls aged five and eight years, the woman being away
at work during the day. This woman earns $5 per week, of
which she pays the couple who live in the kitchen $4 per week
for room and board and for the care of the children. The wife
of the man in the room downstairs has consumption and the
mother with her two little girls must pass through this room in
order to reach her room upstairs. The wife of the man who lives
in the kitchen has catarrh, while the man recently had chicken-
pox. The children, however, appeared to be in good health.
The kitchen where the one couple live and sleep and the two-
families eat has only one window."

"These people are very poor and sickly. The walls and ceil-
ings are in bad repair. The husband is a molder, earning $9 per
week. He pays $6 per month for rent. He was ill with blood
poisoning for four weeks recently, the wife had a fever, the oldest
daughter, age four years, had diphtheria, and the baby had
pneumonia."

"After rains, the water stands in the yard and under the
house. The kitchen wall is in such condition that it caught fire
twice. The repair of the house and walls is generally bad. The
family income is $10 per week and the house rent $6 per month.
One child had pneumonia recently. The man, wife and five chil-
dren, seven in all, sleep in one room, although the house has
three rooms."

"The husband, wife and six children, aged from fourteen
months to sixteen years, occupy three dirty, ill-smelling rooms.
The four oldest children are girls, the oldest, of sixteen, working
in a factory. Six persons sleep in one bed-room and two in the
kitchen."

Negro Families.

"The water for the hydrant and closet is turned off, and
the latter is not used. The night soil is carried out in a bucket
and emptied in the bushes on a vacant lot."

72 Housing and Living Conditions in the

"The water for the hydrant and closet is turned off. The
latter is out of order and has a broken seat. A portion of the
ceiling is loose and may fall at any time."

"There is much rubbish in the back yard, and about ten re-
ceptacles filled with it, which the collectors appear to have over-
looked. The water closet does not flush."

"Two houses are occupied by one woman who keeps a board-
ing house. Of nine rooms, five are occupied by two boarders
each. The kitchen floor is irregular, caves in, and is weak. Two
rooms on the first floor have low ceilings and are dark. There
were six barrels of trash in a dirty back yard."

"In six of these houses the middle room has no window, and
is consequently very dark. There is a dump about 100 yards
away where all the folks along here dump their refuse, garbage,
and ashes, as the garbage and trash men are seldom seen."

"The water closet does not flush. Several boards in the floor
are weak and are giving way. The plaster is coming down on
the second floor."

"The back porch floor is dangerous. The plaster all over the
house is coming down, the exposure making it very cold in
winter. Under one window the rain pours in. The water closet
is very dirty. A large refuse dump is in the rear of the yard.
The husband drinks and gambles away his money."

"Several houses owned by their occupants are in a splendid
condition of repair and would be a credit to any neighborhood."

"Get drinking water at a spring a block away. Walls are
very dirty and have received no attention in five years. Ceiling
is weak and fell on occupants one night while asleep."

"When it rains the water runs under these houses and often
into the kitchens."

"The middle room is dark. There is a dump across the street
and much refuse on a vacant lot beside the house."

"The roof leaks and rain comes into the house. The tenants
are afraid to wash the windows and shutters as they may drop
out."

"The basement of this house cannot be used, as it fills with
water during every rain. The water runs from the street into
the basement."

"This house faces the dumps, and when it rains all the water
and filth run into the yard."

"Nearly all the houses on this block are owned by the occu-

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Pa. 73

pants, and they are well kept, clean, up-to-date in every way,
and would be a credit to any section."

"This is a house of one room in the back yard, in which live
a man, wife and five children, the one room being used for all
purposes."

"The walls are covered with newspapers to cover up the dirty
and broken plaster. The ceiling is loose and ready to fall."

"The occupants keep young chickens in the back room up-
stairs, which room is also used as a water closet."

APPENDIX III.

THE DEATH RATE OF RICHMOND COMPARED WITH
THAT OF OTHER CITIES.

In 1911, the year for which the latest comparable figures are
available, Richmond had the second highest death rate of the
fifty leading cities in the United States, being exceeded by Mem-
phis, Tenn. The death rate per 1,000 of population was 21.0 in
Richmond, and 21.3 in Memphis. This is shown in the follow-
ing table :

Death Rate Per 1,000 Population in the Fifty Leading Cities,
Showing White and Negro Death Rate Separately for Cities
Having a Negro Population of 10,000 or Over, 1911

Cities White Negro Both Races

New York 15.0 25.1 15.2

Chicago, 111 14.3 22.1 14.5

Philadelphia, Pa 16.2 23.2 16.6

St. Louis, Mo 14.6 25.8 15.4

Boston, Mass 16.9 24.3 17.1

Cleveland, Ohio ... 13.8

Baltimore, Md 16.2 30.8 18.4

Pittsburg, Pa 14.8 16.8 14.9

Detroit, Mich ... 14.4

Buffalo, N. Y ... 14.5

San Francisco, Cal 15.0 20.4 15.2

Milwaukee, Wis ... 11.9

Cincinnati, Ohio 15.7 29.2 16.5

Newark, N. J ... 14.8

New Orleans, La 16.6 31.2 20.4

Washington, D. C 15.5 26.5 18.7

Los Angeles, Cal 14.4 17.2 14.5

Minneapolis, Minn ... 11.5

Jersey City, N. J ... 15.8

Kansas City, Mo 14.3 25.3 15.4

Seattle, Wash ... 8.8

Indianapolis, Ind 13.9 22.3 14.7

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. jr

Providence, R. I ^ jr 5

Louisville, Ky. 13.9 25.8 16.1

Rochester, N. Y . . . I4 4

St. Paul, Minn . . . IO Q

Denver, Col ... jc c

Portland, Oregon ... Io 9

Columbus, Ohio 13.9 19.4 I4.'3

Toledo, Ohio ... ^9

Atlanta, Ga 15.8 27.8 19^8

Oakland, Cal ... I2,j

Worcester, Mass ... ^.7

Syracuse, N. Y ... ^3

New Haven, Conn ... 16.7

Birmingham, Ala 14.2 24.3 18.2

Memphis, Tenn 16.7 28.3 21.3

Scranton, Pa ... 14.8

Richmond, Va 16.7 28.4 21.0

Paterson, N. J ... 14.6

Omaha, Neb ... 14.3

Fall River, Mass ... 17.4

Dayton, Ohio ... 13.7

Grand Rapids, Mich ... 13.6

Nashville, Tenn 16.0 29.6 20.5

Lowell, Mass ... 17.7

Cambridge, Mass ... 15.2

Spokane, Wash ... u.6

Bridgeport, Conn ... 13.9

Albany, N. Y ... 20.4

As in every case the negro death rate is higher than the
white death rate, it is interesting to study the comparative white
death rate only. The latest Census Bureau report showing the
death rate for white and colored people separately is for the
year 1911 in cities in which the negro population formed at least
10 per cent, of the total. There were twenty-one out of the fifty
leading cities where such a separation was made. For the pur-
poses of the present comparison it will be assumed that the negro
death rate did not have an appreciable effect upon the total death
rate in the remaining twenty-nine cities, and the total death rate
in those cities will be compared with the white death rate in the
other twenty-one.

The white death rate per 1,000 population in Richmond was
16.7. This was exceeded in but four cities, namely, Boston, Fall
River and Lowell, Mass., cities having a very large proportion of
foreigners, and Albany, N. Y. It was equalled in New Haven,
Conn., and Memphis, Tenn.

76 Housing and Living Conditions in the

It will be observed that in the cities where both the white
and negro death rates are shown, the white death rate is usually
high where the negro death rate is high. Thus in the five cities
having the lowest negro death rate, ranging from 16.8 to 22.1,
the white death rate ranged from 13.9 to 15.0 per 1,000; while in
the five cities having the highest negro death rate, 28.4 to 31.2,
the white death rate ranged from 15.7 to 16.7 per 1,000. Further-
more, the cities with a comparatively small negro population
have, as a rule, a much smaller death rate than the white popula-
tions in the other cities. Thus, of the twenty-nine cities having
a negro population of less than 10,000, twenty, or 69 per cent., had
a total white death rate of less than 15.0 per 1,000. Of the remain-
ing twenty-one cities, with larger negro populations only nine, or
43 per cent., have a white death rate under 15.0 per 1,000.

The next table shows the death rate per 100,000 of population
by races and by causes of death in 1911 in Richmond, in other
Virginia cities, and in all registration cities in the United States
as a whole :

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00 <* 1-1 00 I-H CO CO N. t^. CQ »O CO I-H CO (N O l> CO OS

APPENDIX IV.

RICHMOND'S FINANCIAL STATISTICS COMPARED
WITH THOSE OF OTHER CITIES.

According to the most recent returns published by the U. S.
Census Bureau, namely, for the year 1910, both the receipts and
the expenditures, per capita, of Richmond are less than those of
the average cities of 100,000 to 300,000 population, and very
much less than the average of all cities in the United States.

Thus, while the receipts from other than public service enter-
prises were $17.64 per capita in Richmond, they were, on an aver-
age, $21.15 in cities of 100,000 to 300,000 population, and $24.77 m
all cities of over 30,000 population. The figures showing total
cost payments for other than expenses of public service enter-
prises were $21.75, $26.21, and 30.06 respectively.

This is shown in the following table compiled from the Cen-
sus report:

Neglected Sections of Richmond, Va. 79

Per Capita Revenue Receipts and Per Capita Governmental Cost

Payments, 19 10, of Richmond, Va., Compared

With Those of Other Cities.

(From U. S. Census Report on Financial Statistics of Cities, 1910.)

«rH G

•O •£

l# Jss

o X5j3o ^^

it: !!!

y~( °° "3 °°

o ao <j p,o

Per capita revenue receipts :
Other than public service en-
terprises $17.64 $21.15 $2477

Public service enterprises 5.25 2.50 3.05

Total $22.89 $23.65 $27.82

Per capita governmental cost

payments :
For expenses other than of

public service enterprises

General government $ 1.27 $ 1.19 $ 1.95

Police department 1.21 1.53 2.15

Fire department 1.27 1.65 1.65

Other protection to person

and property 0.18 0.15 0.30

Health conservation 0.28 0.27 0.33

Sanitation 1.05 i.oi 1.29

Highways 1.23 1.60 2.01

Charities, hospitals and cor-
rections 0.60 0.59 1.08

Schools 2.34 4-16 4-62

Libraries, museums, and art

galleries o.oi 0.21 0.27

Parks, playgrounds, baths and

public entertainments 0.43 0.44 0.59

Miscellaneous 0.13 0.15 0.20

Aggregate 9.99 12.97 16.45

For expenses of public ser-
vice enterprises 2.83 1.07 1.26

For interest 3-6i 2.39 34O

For outlays 8.27 10.80

Total cost payments ...$24.70 $27.23 $3T-32

8o Housing and Living Conditions in the

Comparing the detailed expenditures of the Richmond Govern-
ment with the average of cities of from 100,000 to 300,000 popula-
tion, it is found that Richmond in 1910 paid more, per capita, than
the average, for expenses of the general government, for health
conservation, for sanitation, and for charities, hospitals and cor-
rections. Richmond paid less than the average for the police de-
partment, fire department, highways, schools, libraries and parks
and playgrounds. The most conspicuous difference is in the
case of expenditures for schools, the per capita for Richmond
being $2.34 as compared with the average of $4.16 for cities of
100,000 to 300,000 population and $4.62 for all cities of over
30,000 population. The per capita expenditures for libraries,
museums and art galleries was $o.0i for Richmond and $0.21
and $0.27 respectively for the two other groups of cities. This
low expenditure for schools and other educational purposes ac-
counts in a measure for the high percentage of illiteracy in Rich-
mond, especially among those who came under the observation
of this society.

JOm-4,'23

Makers

Syracuse. N. Y.
PAT. JAN. 2 1,1 908

393431

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

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