53 I'k^^.v.^r S^V E THE SOCIAL SCimCE7EAM£Hl^^ 307.760973 I R843t ESSENTIALS IN OGRAPHY— HISTORY— CIVICS BY HAROLD RUGG EARLE RUGG EMMA SCHWEPPE OF THE UNCOLN SCHOOL OF TEACHERS COLLEGE TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Making a Community Survey Small Town vs. Large City How We Spend Our Leisure Time The Houses We Live in The Health of the Community Groups in the American Town Our Newspapers and Magazines The Schools of America The Business of City Government AN EXPERIMENTAL EDITION Of Pamphlet No. 3 of Volume I: The Seventh Grade Series This edition is published by the authors for cO'Operative experimentation in schools with which arrangements are made. It is not for general commercial distribution. J Copyright, 1922, by Harold Rugg, Earle Rugg, and Emma Schweppe. The reproduction of these materials is expressly prohibited. THIS is one of The Social Science Pamphlets for the school grades Seven, Eight, and Nine. Although these Pamphlets are not a perfected curriculum, it is necessary that they be printed at this time in order to determine experimentally their reorganiza- tion. The content that they represent has been taught in^, mimeo- graphed form in three grades of The Lincoln School of Teachers College, 1920-1922. For two years and a half the authors have also carried on curriculum investigations seeking to validate the content of this social science course. The present status of thesei if studies justifies the printing of a trial edition. The purpose of the trial edition is to determine by measured experimentation the grade placement and teaching arrangement of the material. As a result of their cooperative use in public schools, 1922-1923, The Social Science Pamphlets will be revised and issued in another experi- mental edition for use in cooperating schools, 1923-1924. A series of monographs will be published to accompany this curriculum which will report the research by which the materials have been selected and organized. Town and City Life in America is Pamphlet No. 3 of Vol. I, the Seventh Grade Series, in a complete Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Grade curriculum in geography, history, and civics. Four or five pamphlets will be issued for each grade. They will deal with the following aspects of American life, presenting essen- tial contemporary matters together with needed historical back- grounds and geographic conditions and explanations: L Immigration and Americanization. II. Conserving Our Natural Resources. III. Industry, Business, and Transportation. IV. Schools, the Press, Public Opinion. V. The American City and Its Problems. VI. The Culture of America and of Other Lands. VII. Problems of Government in a Representative Democracy, VIII. Primitive Peoples, Past and Present. IX. America and World AfEairs. The authors need cooperation and criticism from public schools. They will welcome inquiries and suggestions about this experi- mental work. Address all inquiries to : Harold Rugg^ The Lincoln School, 425 West 123rd Street, New York, N. Y. THE SOCIAL SCIENCE PAMPHLETS ESSENTIALS IN GEOGRAPHY— HISTORY— CIVICS BY HAROLD RUGG EARLE RUGG EMMA SCHWEPPE OF THE LINCOLN SCHOOL OF TEACHERS COLLEGE TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Making a Community Survey Small Town vs. Large City How We Spend Our Leisure Time The Houses We Live in The Health of the Community Groups in the American Town Our Newspapers and Magazines The Schools of America The Business of City Government AN EXPERIMENTAL EDITION Of Pamphlet No. 3 of Volume I: The Seventh Grade Series This edition is published by the authors tor co-operative experimentation in schools with which arrangements are made. It is not for general commercial distribution. HOSE who arc engaged in the making of these materials 1 of instruction believe that the future of representative democracy in America depends upon the intelligence of the com- mon man. They believe that the known facts of intelligence are worthy of the hypothesis that there is in the group mind sufficient capacity to express its will effectively through industrial, social, and political machinery. This means that potential capacity must be transformed into dynamic ability. They are equally con- fident that, although America has practised universal education on a scale never before attempted by a large nation, our instruction has fallen far short of preparing the rank and file for the intelligent operation of democratic government. After more than a century of democracy, there are signs of serious import that we are facing a near impasse in citizenship. The impasse, if such it is, is undoubtedly the natural outgrowth of our spectacular conquest of vast material wealth; of our recep- tion into the country of thirty-three millions of people of diverse races, nationalities, practices, and beliefs, and of the massing of human beings in cities at a rate of which we had hitherto not dreamed. The present crisis has been brought about in large part by the mushroom growth of a fragile and highly specialized mechanism of industry, transportation, communication, and credit. With these stupendous material advances, resulting in the artificial inflation of our economic and social standards of liv- ing, there has not been a parallel aesthetic, spiritual, and cul- tural growth. To relieve this impasse, we must substitute critical judgment for impulsive response as the basis for deciding our social and political issues. The thoroughgoing reconstruction of the school curriculum is a necessary first step in the process, for the reason that the public school is our most potent agency for social regen- eration. Especially through the curriculum in the social sciences must we subject our youth to a daily regimen of deliberation and critical thought. Only those who have been trained through years of practise in the analysis of facts, in the making of de- cisions, the drawing of inferences and conclusions, will resort to intelligence instead of to predisposition as their guide for con- duct. The Social Science Pamphlets have been organized and written with the collaboration of Marie Gulbransen A Foreword to the Teacher will be found in Pamphlet No. 1 of the Seventh Grade Series, "America and Her Immigrants." This explains how the pamphlets have been made, and gives suggestions for the teacher's use of them. The Foreword has also been reprinted as a separate folder, and a copy will be sent upon request. A Foreword to the Pupil will be found in Pamphlets No. 1 of the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Grade Series. A Suggested Schedule of Lessons will be found at the end of this pamphlet. We suggest that you use it as a guide in planning your assignments. The Social Science Pamphlets published prior to March 20, 1923, are : SEVENTH GRADE PAMPHLETS 1. America and Her Immigrants 2. The City and Key Industries in Modern Nations 3. Town and City Life in America EIGHTH GRADE PAMPHLETS 1. The Westward Movement and the Growth of Transportation 2. The Mechanical Conquest of America 3. America's March Toward Democracy NINTH GRADE PAMPHLETS 1. Americanizing Our Foreign-Born 2. Resources and Industries in a Machine World 3. Waste and Conservation of America's Resources The remaining pamphlets to be published before April 15, 1923, deal with the history of American government (municipal and national), the development of world relations with special reference to modern European history, and historical examples of the way people live together. TO THE TEACHER After trying out various plans for the teaching of the social science materials, we have evolved a combination method of individual and class instruction which is proving very effective with the pupils in The Lincoln School. We are therefore passing it on to you. Commencing with the third pamphlet of each series, the Social Science Pamphlets are organized with a view to their being taught on this combin- ation plan. The materials of the present pamphlet have been set up in sections, each one designed to occupy several class exercises. As each section treats a particular problem or group of related problems, we suggest that it be introduced informally by the teacher before the class sets to work on it. Sketch through the section as a whole in each case, commenting on the headings and outlining the main points to be discussed. Develop in one brief class discussion the theme of the section, having in mind its relation to the general theme of the entire pamphlet: "Town and City Life in America." Then let each pupil read straight through the entire section at his own pace. Warn the pupils beforehand that they ought to accomplish the reading and answer what questions there are in about so many lessons (whatever the Schedule of Lessons at the end of the pamphlet indicates). Remind them that when they have finished the reading of the sectioK they will be expected to take the test which appears at the end of it. As soon as each pupil completes the work of the section, let him take the test, answering the questions on blank paper and numbering his answers according to the question numbers. The teacher will need to work out her own answer sheet and have enough copies made so that the pupils as they finish the test can check their work against it. Have them count each point on the test as one and total their scores. Pupils like to have a quantitative measure on what they have done. Do not insist on their getting everything in the test right, but if they fail on many questions have them turn back through the section and look up the answers. As each pupil finishes the checking of his test, let him select other reading to do, either from the suggested reading lists or from other pertinent books which you may have in your school or city library. We find it wise to allow one or two class exercises for the more rapid pupils to do this extra reading. At the end of this time, have a general class discussion of the problems treated in the section and let occasional pupils make special reports on their extra reading. We make very frequent use also of debates, the informal kind, for which there is no elaborate preparation beforehand. SECTION 1. WHAT KIND OF A TOWN DO YOU LIVE IN ? American Communities are of all sorts and sizes. There is the town like Rochester, New York, of separate houses where relatively few of the people live in apartments. Does this description make you think of your town? ''Your Rochesterian, rich and poor, dwells in a detached house on his own tract of land ; the chances are that he has market-truck growing in his backyard, a real kitchen-garden. There are thousands of these little homes in the outlying sections of the town, with more pretentious ones lining East avenue and the other more elaborate streets. All of these taken together are the real regulators of the town. For the citizens of Rochester are less governed and themselves govern more than in most places of the size. That is the value of the detached house to the city. Detached houses in a city seem to mean good schools, good fire and police service, clean streets, health protection, social progress. Rochester has all of these in profusion."^ Or is your community, perhaps, more like Pittsburgh, the "steel town?" "This is Pittsburgh," a visitor says: "Later that day that same man stands in another window — of a tall skyscraper this time — and again gazes down. Suspended there below him is a seeming chaos. There are smoke and fog and dirt there, through these — showing ever and ever so faintly — tall, artificial cliffs, punctured with row upon row of windows, brightly lighted at midday. From the narrow gorges between these cliffs come the rustle and the rattle of much traffic. It comes to the, man in waves of indefinite sound. "He lifts his gaze and sees beyond these artificial clif¥s, mountains — real mountains — towering, with houses upon their crests, and steep, inclined railroads climbing their precipitous sides. In these houses, also, there are lights burning at midday. Below them are great stacks — row upon row of them, like coarse-toothed combs turned upside down — and the black smoke that pours up from them is pierced now and then and again by bright tongues of flame — the radiance of furnaces that glow throughout the night and day. " 'We're mud and dirt up to our knees — and money all the rest of the way,' says the owner of that office. He is a native of the city. He comes 1 Hungerford, Edward: The Personality of American Cities, pag-es 168-169. McBride, Nast & Company, New York, 1913. 2 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA to the window and points to one of the rivers — a yellow-brown mirrored surface, scarcely glistening under leaden clouds but bearing long tows by the dozen — coal barges, convoyed by dirty stern-wheeled steamboats."^ Perhaps your home town has all the variety of the one described so well by Sinclair Lewis in his portrayal of a typical American city. "The bungalows and shrubs and winding irregular driveways of Floral Heights. The one-story shops on Smith Street, a glare of plate-glass and new yellow brick; groceries and laundries and drug stores to supply the more immediate needs of East Side housewives. The market gardens in Dutch Hollow, their shanties patched with corrugated iron and stolen doors. Bill- boards with crimson goddesses nine feet tall advertising cinema films, pipe tobacco, and talcum powder. The old 'mansions' along Ninth Street, S. E., like aged dandies in filthy linen ; wooden castles turned into boarding houses, with muddy walks and rusty hedges, jostled by fast-intruding garages, cheap apartment-houses, and fruitstands conducted by bland, sleek Athen- ians. Across the belt of railroad-tracks, factories with high-perched water- tanks and tall stacks — factories producing condensed milk, paper boxes, lighting-fixtures, motor cars. Then the business center, the thickening dart- ing traffic, the crammed trolleys unloading, and high doorways of marble and polished granite." ^ Does your community like so many American cities aspire after bigness, rapid growth, speed in everything? That means great factories, rich banks, parks, a huge number of automobiles, — bigger schools, bigger buildings, bigger bank clearings. Is its one great ambition to grow bigger and bigger in every way? Is your town like Zenith that Lewis describes? " 'It is true that even with our 361,000 or practically 362,000, popula- tion, there are, by the last census, almost a score of larger cities in the United States. But, gentlemen, if by the next census we do not stand at least tenth, then I'll be the first to request any knocker to remove my shirt and to eat the same, with the compliments of G. F. Babbitt, Esquire ! It may be true that New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia will continue to keep ahead of us in size. But aside from these three cities, which are notoriously so over- grown that no decent white man, nobody who loves his wife and kiddies and God's good out-o'-doors and likes to shake the hand of his neighbor in greeting, would want to live in them — and let me tell you right here and now, I wouldn't trade a high-class Zenith acreage development for the 1 Hungerford, Edward: Op. cit., page 172. ^ Lewis, Sinclair: Babbitt, page .31. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 19-22. AMERICAN TOWNS IN PROCESSION 3 whole" length' and breadth of Broadway or State Street — aside from these three, it's evident to any one with a head for facts that Zenith is the finest example of American life and prosperity to be found anywhere! " 'Oh, we have a golden roster of cities — Detroit and Cleveland with their renowned factories, Cincinnati with its great machine-tool and soap products, Pittsburgh and Birmingham with their steel, Kansas City and Minneapolis and Omaha that open their bountiful gates on the bosom of the ocean-like wheatlands, and countless other magnificent sister-cities, for, by the last census, there were no less than sixty-eight glorious American burgs with a population of over one hundred thousand! And all these cities stand together for power and purity, and against foreign ideas and commun- ism — Atlanta with Hartford, Rochester with Denver, Milwaukee with In- dianapolis, Los Angeles with Scranton, Portland, Maine, with Portland, Oregon. A good live wire from Baltimore or Seattle or Duluth is the twin- brother of every like fellow booster from Buffalo or Akron, Fort Worth or Oskaloosa! . . . " 'I tell you, Zenith and her sister-cities are producing a new type of civilization. There are many resemblances between Zenith and these other burgs, and I'm glad of it! The extraordinary, growing, and sane stand- ardization of stores, offices, streets, hotels, clothes, and newspapers through- out the United States shows how strong and enduring a type is ours.' Does this next quotation make you think of your town? "The civilization of America is predominantly the civilization of the small town. The few libertarians and cosmopolites who continue to pro- fess to see a broader culture developing along the Atlantic seaboard resent this fact, though they scarcely deny it. They are too intelligent, too wid- ened in vision to deny it. They cannot watch the tremendous growth and power and influence of secret societies, of chambers of commerce, of boost- ers' clubs, of the Ford car, of moving pictures, of talking machines, of evan- gelists, of nerve tonics, of the Saturday Evening Post, of Browning soci- eties, of circuses, of church socials, of parades and pageants of every kind and description, of family reunions, of pioneer picnics, of county fairs, of firemen's conventions without secretly acknowledging it. And they know, if they have obtained a true perspective of America, that there is no section of this vast political unit that does not possess — and even frequently boast — these unmistakably provincial signs and symbols."^ There are small communities in our country without paved streets and electric lights, without water and sewage systems, without theatres, or 1 Lewis, Sinclair: Op. cit., pages 180-181, 183-184, 184. 2 Stearns, Harold E. (Editor) : Civilization in the United States. Essay on "The Small Town" by Louis R. Reid. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1922. 4 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA schools or any of the outward signs of civilization. We are sure your com- munity cannot be anything like the one described in the next quotation. But it is included so that you will know the different conditions under which human beings have to live. Describing his trip to the Elk Basin oil field in Wyoming, the author of the article says : "The oil produced in the Elk Basin Field is a very high-grade light crude and is similar to that produced in the Grass Creek Field. The mar- keted production from the Elk Basin Field was third largest in the state during 1916 and 1917, and since 1917 it has ranked fourth. . . "At the end of two hours of heavy going across a bleak waste of sage brush we pitched sharply down over the rimrock and slid with screeching brakes down the long Mormon Hill into the Basin. It was literally a 'hole in the ground,' gouged out of the naked clay and sandstone, a mile wide, three miles long, and perhaps three hundred feet deep. Huddled in the bottom were the gray mass of the gasoline plant buildings, and a motley as- sortment of tents, tar-paper shacks and slate-colored company bungalows, while the gaunt skeletons of the oil derricks and the bleak little corrugated iron pump houses cluttered the fringes. No water, no trees, no grass — not a living growing thing in sight save the straggling sage brush. Scattered over the desolate floor of the Basin between four and five hundred people were living the long six-and-one-half and seven-day week of the oil fields."^ Is your town, perhaps, a typical county seat in the middle western prairie land? A town of two, three, four, maybe six thousand souls? A town of bumpy brick-paved streets radiating out from the county court house? Built in the 1870's of the prevailing architecture of the time and the region, it still remains the center of business of the town. To the old wooden railing stretching around the Court House Square, were tied the farm horses in the days before the automobile. Now in their places are the mud splattered "flivvers," Maxwells and Buicks, doing service for either freight or pas- sengers. There on the east side the Citizens Trust dominates the business of the sunny side of the square, rising a full story above its comrades of two- story salmon colored brick. At intervals the sky line is broken by one-story rickety frame buildings with an occasional false front, deceiving no one in its attempt to assume second story dignity. Scattered around the four sides of the square can be found on the shabby side the quick lunch room, the old livery stable transformed into a garage, and the barber shop. On the more prosperous sides are located the family iLynd, Robert S. : Done in Oil. The Survey. November 1, 1922. AMERICAN TOWNS IN PROCESSION 5 restaurant where touring autoists stop, clothing shops, grocery stores and the bank, through whose imposing windows may be seen its well-dressed staff working behind the dignified grillwork. The "general store" is no longer in evidence, the small-town "department store" has come to take its place. One central brick school building there, of twelve rooms, is housing children all the way from the first grade to the last year of the high school. A library — yes, a Carnegie one — ^just a block off the square. Or is your community more like a New England village with white painted houses straggling along the wide gravel main street, flanked on each side by spreading elm trees, with its shady green "common" and its town hall. Perhaps a white painted spire or two glistens above the trees. If your town is such a community of say a thousand human beings, it too probably has its little general store, its humming electric trolley or interurban line tying it to the outside world. On the news-stand in the store are just a few magazines or books. Through the breadth of the land, however, there are hundreds of "small towns" something like Gopher Prairie. Is your community of the type de- scribed in the next quotations? "When Carol had walked for thirty-two minutes she had completely covered the town, east and west, north and south ; and she stood at the cor- ner of Main Street and Washington Avenue and despaired. "Main Street with its two-story brick shops, its story-and-a-half wooden residences, its muddy expanse from concrete walk to walk, its huddle of Fords and lumber-wagons, was too small to absorb her. The broad, straight, tmenticing gashes of the streets let in the grasping prairie on every side. She realized the vastness and the emptiness of the land. The skeleton iron windmill on the farm a few blocks away, at the north end of Main Street, was like the ribs of a dead cow. . . "She trailed down the street on one side, back on the other, glancing in- to the cross streets. It was a private Seeing Main Street tour. She was within ten minutes beholding not only the heart of a place called Gopher Prairie, but ten thousand towns from Albany to San Diego: "Dyer's Drug Store, a corner building of regular and unreal blocks of artificial stone. Inside the store, a greasy marble soda-fountain with an electric lamp of red and green and curdled yellow mosaic shade. Pawed- over heaps of tooth-brushes and combs and packages of shaving-soap. Shelves of soap-cartons, teething-rings, garden-seeds, and patent medicines in yellow 6 J OWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA pack:ag;es — nostrums for consumption, for 'women's diseases' — notorious mixtures of opium and alcohol, in the very shop to which her husband sent patients for the filling of prescriptions. "From a second-story window the sign 'W. P. Kennicott, Phys. & Sur- geon,' gilt on black sand. "A small wooden motion-picture theatre called 'The Rosebud Movie Palace.' Lithographs announcing a film called 'Fatty in Love.' "Rowland and Gould's Grocery. In the display window, black, over- ripe bananas and lettuce on which a cat was sleeping. Shelves lined with red crepe paper which was now faded and torn and concentrically spotted. Flat against the wall of the second story the signs of lodges — the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees, the Woodmen, the Masons. . . "A clothing store with a display of 'ox-blood-shade Oxfords with bull- dog toes.' Suits which looked worn and glossless while they were still new, flabbily draped on dummies like corpses with painted cheeks. "The BonTon Store — Haydock and Simons' — the largest shop in town. The first-story front of clear glass, the plates cleverly bound at the edges with brass. The second story of pleasant tapestry brick. One window of excellent clothes for men, interspersed with collars of floral pique which showed mauve daisies on a saffron ground. Newness and an obvious notion of neatness and service. Haydock & Simons. . . "Axel Egge's General Store, frequented by Scandinavian farmers. In the shallow dark window-space heaps of sleazy sateens, badly woven gal- ateas, canvas shoes designed for women with bulging ankles, steel and red glass buttons upon cards with broken edges, a cottony blanket, a granite-ware frying-pan reposing on a sun-faded crepe blouse. "Sam Clark's Hardware Store. An air of frankly metallic enterprise. Guns and churns and barrels of nails and beautiful shiny butcher knives. "Chester Dashaway's House Furnishing Emporium. A vista of heavy oak rockers with leather seats, asleep in a dismal row. "Billy's Lunch. Thick handleless cups on the wet oilcloth-covered counter. An odor of onions and the smoke of hot lard. In the doorway a young man audibly sucking a tooth-pick. "The warehouse of the buyer of cream and potatoes. The sour smell, of a dairy. "The Ford Garage and the Buick Garage, competent one-story brick and cement buildings opposite each other. Old and new cars on grease- blackened concrete floors. Tire advertisements. The roaring of a tested motor ; a racket which beat at the nerves. Surly young men in khaki union- overalls. The most energetic and vital places in town. "A large warehouse for agricultural implements. An impressive barri- cade of green and gold wheels, of shafts and sulky seats, belonging to ma- AMERICAN TOWNS IN PROCESSION 7 chinery of which Carol knew nothing — potato-planters, manure spreaders, silage-cutters, disk-harrows, breaking-plows. "A feed store, its windows opaque with the dust of bran, a patent medi- cine advertisement painted on its roof. "Ye Art Shoppe, Prop. Mrs. Mary Ellen Wilks, Christian Science Li- brary open daily free. A touching fumble at beauty. A one-room shanty of boards recently covered with rough stucco. . . "A barber shop and pool room. A man in shirt sleeves, presumably Del Snafflin the proprietor, shaving a man who had a large Adam's apple. "Nat Hick's Tailor Shop, on a side street off Main. A one-story build- ing. A fashion-plate showing human pitchforks in garments which looked as hard as steel plate. "On another side street a raw red-brick Catholic Church with a var- nished yellow door. "The post-office — merely a partition of glass and brass shutting off the rear of a mildewed room which must once have been a shop. A tilted writ- ing-shelf against a wall rubbed black and scattered with official notices and army recruiting-posters. "The damp, yellow-brick schoolbuilding in its cindery grounds. "The State Bank, stucco masking wood. "The Farmers' National Bank. An Ionic temple of marble. Pure, ex- quisite, solitary. A brass plate with 'Ezra Stowbody, Pres't. "A score of similar shops and establishments. "Behind them and mixed with them, the houses, meek cottages of large, comfortable, soundly uninteresting symbols of prosperity."^ America is a Country of Small Towns and Cities There are small manufacturing towns. New England villages, muddy Kansas-Nebraska-Missouri towns, county seats, oil or automobile "boom" towns, college towns, suburban residence towns, shoe towns, steel towns, coal towns, river towns, rail- road-shop towns, retired-farmer towns, cotton or woolen mill towns, machine-shop towns, port towns, fish towns, lumber towns, mining towns! What kind of a town is yours ? Does it belong under any of these classi- fications? If not, see if you can describe it. The various kinds of American towns and cities have moved before our eyes. All sorts and sizes they are indeed. Great hustling metropolitan 1 Lewis, Sinclair: Main Street, pages 33-37. Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1921. 8 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA cities and small placid sleepy villages stand side by side. Steel towns, shoe towns, furniture towns, breakfast food towns, coal towns, oil towns, port cities, railroad centers, fine suburban communities, and many other types are scattered over the landscape of America. Which Kind of Town do You Live in? Just what kind of a town you live in is the next thing for you to learn about through your work in the social science class. Probably the best way to do it is to make a "survey" of your own community. Do you know what a survey is? It is a study of what the community is, where it is, its people, its size, whether it is growing or not, and why. You will need to make maps of the community. You will need to investigate the kinds of population in it, to study its streets and recreation centers, its industries and its businesses, to find out the way it protects the health of its citizens and their lives and property, and the way it is governed — whether by a mayor and council, a commission, or perhaps a city-manager. By doing all such things you will become really acquainted with your community, but better than that, you will learn the ways in which American communities should be improved. Things you will want to look for as you and your class-mates make a survey of your own community. 1. HOW IS THE TOWN LAID OUT? Where is the business section? The railroads and terminals? Wharves, if a port city? The manufacturing district if there is one? Perhaps the manufacturing is scattered all over town, and the residences, too. Or are the residences all in one district? Where are the municipal government buildings? The schools? The play- grounds and parks? Where does the city dispose of its garbage and sewage? Are there any historic homes and public buildings? 2. THE AMOUNT OF ITS POPULATION. How large IS it now? Where does it stand in population in the towns of your state? Are there many towns in the United States, or in your state, of about the same size? 3. IS THE POPULATION GROWING LARGER? Or is it Standing still? Is it perhaps becoming smaller? Why is it growing or remaining stationary? 4. WHAT KINDS OF MANUFACTURING AND BUSINESS ARE GOING ON IN YOUR TOWN? Are there machine shops? Cotton, woolen, or silk mills? Spinning or weaving mills? Canning factories? Grain mills or elevators? Automobile factories? Large department stores? Is it a banking center? Are there large real estate companies? Perhaps there is no manufacturing going on at all. TOPICS FOR YOUR STUDY 9 5. DOES THE KIND OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY OF THE TOWN DETER- MINE THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE? Are there large numbers of immigrants? What kinds of work do they do? What work do the native Americans do in your town? 6. WHAT KINDS OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE THERE IN YOUR TOWNf Americans are known to be "joiners." They have countless organ- izations of all sorts and types. Nothing is more important in American community life. What organizations do you have in your community? Civic associations? Business men's clubs? Women's clubs? Fraternal societies? Labor unions? Churches? Lyceum or Chautauqua? Charity organizations? Boy and girl scouts? Such organizations will be studied in your survey of your community. 7. HOW ARE THE PEOPLE OF YOUR COMMUNITY HOUSED? Do mOSt of them live in separate houses, or in apartments? How many and what proportion own their own homes? How many rent? How many people on the average live in each home? Are houses congested? Is there a dif- ference in this respect in different parts of the town ? What are the health conditions of the homes? Are buildings up to standard of fire protection? 8. PROVISIONS FOR COMMUNITY RECREATION. How adequate are the parks and playgrounds? Does growing "young America" have a fair chance? What is the character of the indoor entertainments of the com- munity? Are there theatres, movies, dance halls, club and lodge meetings, young people's community meetings? 9. HOW DOES THE COMMUNITY GOVERN ITSELF? Does it have a mayor and council? Is representation and election on the "ward" plan or are officials chosen "at large"? • Is the "commission" plan employed? Or even the city-manager ? What are the advantages of these various plans of munic- ipal government? What are the weaknesses? We must debate these ques- tions in class. 10. HOW DOES THE COMMUNITY RAISE THE MONEY TO RUN THE MU- NICIPAL GOVERNMENT? It costs a great deal to carry on the government — to pay the mayor and the aldermen, the policemen, the firemen, to run the water, health, and street departments, and the schools. So it is very im- portant to know how enough money is to be secured to do all these things. Shall it be by taxes ? Who should pay taxes and how much ? Should bonds be issued ? These are the kinds of questions to which we will have to find the answers. 11. HOW DOES THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT PROTECT THE HEALTH OF THE CITIZENS? What does the health department do? Does it reduce 10 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA the death rate ? How is food inspected and cleanliness insured ? How does the city dispose of garbage and sewage? What provisions are made to in- sure pure water? 12. HOW DOES THE COMMUNITY EDUCATE ITS FUTURE CITIZENS? Are there elementary schools in your community? High schools? A college? A business college? Is there a technical school or a trade school? Do all pupils in your schools go on through high school? Do all or nearly all go to college? Do some children leave at the sixth grade? Eighth? How well do 5^our schools prepare young people for the tasks of life? 13. HOW DOES THE COMMUNITY PROTECT THE LIVES AND THE PROP- ERTY OF ITS CITIZENS? Does your community have an efficient fire de- partment? Police department? Is the fire apparatus up-to-date? Is the water pressure great enough for the tops of the tallest buildings? How are the courts run? 14. WHAT WAYS ARE THERE FOR THE CITIZENS OF YOUR COMMUNITY TO LEARN ABOUT THE HAPPENINGS OF EITHER THE COMMUNITY OR THE OUTSIDE WORLD? Are there local newspapers? What kinds of happenings do they report? Are metropolitan newspapers sold in the town? Do the people appear to read pretty widely? Do they discuss public matters? Where do they get their opinions? Are magazines of political, industrial, and social affairs widely read? Are such matters discussed in the churches of the town? Are there public lyceums or lecture courses which many of the citizens of your community attend ? SECTION II HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR CLASS TO MAKE A SURVEY OF YOUR OWN COMMUNITY To make a survey of your community, and to have lively discussions you need to organize your class, draw up a consti- tution, and elect officers and committees. You are beginning a study of your ovv^n community to find out the different kinds of things we outlined in the preceding section. There are so many things to do that it will be necessary to arrange matters very care- fully. We want you and your class-mates to take charge of the whole sur- vey yourselves. Of course your teacher will act as your adviser in it all and will help you to direct the work and to prepare your class discussions. But since she is to be only an adviser you will need to elect some officers and divide yourselves into committees. How DOES A GROUP OF PEOPLE LIKE YOUR CLASS ORGANIZE ITSELF? FIRST IT ELECTS A ^TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN" Whenever a new organization is to be made, the first thing to do is to choose one person to act as temporary chairman. He will preside over your meeting until a president or a permanent chairman is elected. After that the elected president or chairman will preside. What officers do you think you should have? How should they be selected ? What should be their duties and their powers ? How long should they hold office ? YOU SHOULD DRAW UP A CONSTITUTION All these questions, and others that will come up, make it necessary for you to write out a Constitution. This is simply a written agreement that the members of your class subscribe to, telling how the class is to be organ- ized. After electing a temporary chairman, therefore, you should draw up a Constitution. You can do it in several ways. One way is to appoint a committee to write a preHminary ''draft" (statement). Then have state- ment read to the class and approved item by item, or change it as the members of the class wish it changed. •12 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Perhaps a better way for you to do, since everyone in the class ought to learn how, would be to make the constitution right in the class — with the whole class as the connmittee. The Temporary Chairman appoints one secretary to write down the "articles" (sections) of the constitution, and an assistant to write each one on the black board so every one can understand just what each article means. Since most of the pupils in your class have never made a constitution, we give next the titles of the articles in the constitution of another seventh grade class that we know about. Your class can use this plan as a guide for writing out a detailed constitution. To the Teacher: Perhaps it would be a good thing to divide the class into groups and have each group draw up a constitution. In that case the reports should be brought into the committee of the whole and the articles read and debated. Have one of the best phrased ones accepted. If you think it would be better, work out the constitution in the class, with all pupils contributing. , Use your judgment as to which of the two procedures to follow. With each article below we are including leading queries to suggest to the pupils the matters to be covered. Your Constitution and By-laws should cover such items as the following : ARTICLE I. NAME Choose a name for your organization which will describe the kinds of things it is to do in studying your community. ARTICLE II. MEMBERSHIP Who can belong? ARTICLE III. PURPOSES OR OBJECTS OF THE ORGANIZATION State clearly the purposes of your class in studying your community. ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS Most clubs and organizations have a president, and a vice-president to preside when the president is not on hand. Since you will want to keep notes of what you do in your meetings (these are called "minutes") you will need a secretary. And if you should need to collect money and spend it, you would need a Treasurer. Very frequently the same person serves as Secre- tary-treasurer. Such organizations always have an executive committee composed of the officers and about three additional members, to decide poli- cies. ARTICLE V. DUTIES OF OFFICERS Tell in a number of separate sections (Section 1, 2, 3, etc.) what each officer can and must do. Include the executive committee, too. HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR CLASS 13 ARTICLE VI. MEETINGS Tell when meetings (regular and special) shall be held. ARTICLE VII. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Provide the time and method of electing officers. Organizations generally use the secret ballot. You will have to decide whether to do that, and whether a majority of votes cast will be sufficient to elect or whether a plurality shall be required. Majority is "more than half"; plurality is (Who in the class can tell?) ARTICLE VIII. DUES Do you wish to have dues ? If so you must provide the amount. ARTICLE IX. AMENDMENTS All organizations need to change their Constitutions from time to time. Why ? Perhaps you will need to change yours. At any rate make an article in which you provide a way in which the Constitution can be amended. Be careful to state the number of votes needed to amend. Sometimes two- thirds are required, sometimes three-fourths. Should the number be larger than a majority? Why? Debate this in your class. BY-LAWS Now you need some by-laws to supplement the Constitution. The Constitution gave just the bare frame-work of your organization. By-laws are rules and regulations for the carrying on of the business of your club. In these you will need to state how the details of class discussion are to be carried on. So make a series of articles, I, II, III, etc. to serve as by-laws. We suggest that you make one for each of the following points. I. Order in which business of the day is to be taken up. II. The details of election. Provide for a clerk, tell how nominations are to be made, when elections are to be held, how they are to be carried on, etc. III. Provide for permanent committees of your class. Discuss what com- mittees you need to appoint and state in your by-laws what they shall do. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE In this article you should state the order of business, and the way in which order and decorum should be maintained. You also need very ex- plicit rules for conducting meetings — when members are allowed to speak, how motions are presented and debated and voted upon, etc. It is so import- ant for you to get accustomed to carrying on meetings in the proper way 14 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA that \vc arc giving in full a sample section prescribing "Rules for Conduct- ing Meetings." Use this as sort of a reference manual on how to conduct yourself in meetings, 1. Each member must stand, address the chair, and be recognized be- fore speaking. Once recognized he has "the floor" and may not be inter- rupted except for the kinds of motions which are indicated in paragraph 5. 2. No member may speak on any measure or motion for longer than two minutes unless it be a committee report (all committee reports should be presented in not over three minutes). Exceptions can be made only by a majority vote of those present. 3. No member shall speak more than once on a motion unless it be the maker of the motion or unless it be to answer a question of some other mem- ber addressed to him through the chair. 4. The president shall not speak on motions from the chair; in case he wishes to speak he shall ask some other member to take the chair and then he shall be recognized in the usual manner from the floor. 5. Any member may make a motion after being recognized by the "chair." When seconded, the motion is before the club for discussion and no other matter can be introduced until this motion is disposed of in one of the ways indicated herein. Discussion may be limited by vote of the club. Any member may propose amendments to the motion ; if seconded, they are to be discussed first and then voted upon. Other motions may be disposed of in the following ways: (a) The motion can be referred to a commit- tee who will discuss it and then report back to the club, (b) It can be "laid on the table." This means that action on the motion is postponed until some future time when unfinished business is in order. No debate may be held on the motion to "lay a motion on the table" or to "take it from the table." A motion may be made to limit debate on the original motion. A motion may be made to adjourn ; this is always in order except when a speaker has the floor, when a vote is being taken, when the motion has been voted down, or when the business cannot be abruptly interrupted. (The president shall decide about the latter.) A motion to re-consider a motion on any report or bill that has been passed is always in order. It must be made, however, by one who voted with the majority. The "previous question" can be moved. When debate is long drawn out, any member may say, "Mr. President, I move the previous question be put to a vote." Such a motion is not debatable, and the chair must then say, "Shall the main question now be put?" If such a motion is made, seconded and carried, the main question must be immediately voted upon. A "point of order" may be taken. Any member may at any time say, "Mr. President I rise to a point of order." The Chair shall then say: "Please state your point of order." Such "points of order" may be viola- HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR CLASS 15 tions of the constitution and by-laws or objections to some ruling of the president. The Chair on hearing the point of order answers either that "Your point of order is sustained," or "Your point of order is denied." If any member does not like the ruling of the Chair on this point of order, he or she may appeal to the entire club. Then the Chair shall say, "Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained?" This question is debated and voted Upon like any other motion. The presiding officer may discuss this without leaving the Chair.^ To the Teacher: Feel free to adapt this outline of a constitution and class organization to fit your local con- ditions. We believe that active participation on the part of the pupils in this kind of work is the only effective way to teach them about their government. The rules of parliamentary procedure might well be learned. Several class periods may be spent on Section II which we believe will teach in a concrete and vivid way many important activities of government. It is our purpose in this unit to teach pupils that groups of all kinds use just such rules of procedure in organizing, and that such rules are not dry, formal things, but necessary for the government of the group and for the accomplish- ment of certain results. Such activity should teach them how elections in a democratic community are conducted. The citizenship value of choosing leaders and learning to follow leaders, the oral "give and take" in a class debate cannot be stressed too much or practised too often. Team play, co-operation, courtesy to others and respect for other's rights — self-reliance, obedience, initiative, honesty, — all these and other habits and attitudes ought to be developed as a consequence of this kind of civic work. Only in some such way can good citizens be made. Constant practice will tend to produce young citizens who can judge what is good and what is bad in civic affairs. With knowledge of the facts, and actual ex- perience in group management and civic activities, they will know how to pull their share of the community load. They will know how to help make their commun- ity a better place to live in. Here is our opportunity as teachers not only to give these pupils the opportunity to read about how people co-operate in what we call "government," but also to help them form good civic habits, to set up in them a desire to work for civic improvement. Working on the scheme suggested in the foregoing paragraphs, make your constitution. "Adopt" it by voting on each article as it is finished. Finally after all the articles are written and adopted, "adopt the Constitu- tion as a whole. Then elect permanent officers as provided for by the constitution. , \Based upon and adapted from suggestions of Mr. R. B. Hatch in "Projects m Citizenship. The Citizenship Company, 323 Beachwood Place, Leonia, N. J. SECTION 111. SOME MAP-MAKING EXERCISES TO ACQUAINT YOU WITH THE GENERAL FEATURES OF YOUR COMMUNITY In order to really understand your community, you should lay it out be- fore you by making a large map of it. To the Teacher: We are giving detailed directions next for each pupil to make a map of the local com- munity. It will be worth while to give several class exercises to this work. Basic maps will need to be col- lected and a good deal of class-discussion devoted to various aspects of the work. Directions for Making the Map of your Community i. collect as many good printed maps as you can Your first task is to assemble in your class room copies of several large maps of the towns. You can obtain these at several places. The City Eng- ineer's office will have the most complete and reliable ones. Appoint a committee to go to his office and secure such maps. (How should this com- mittee be appointed? By the President? Or, should suggestions be made by members of the class? Perhaps certain members will know how best to secure such maps. If so, they should be appointed on such a committee.) It will be a good thing to appoint another committee to go to the city library and get books, pamphlets, or manuals that will help to make com- plete a map of the community and its life. II. DECIDE IN A ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION OF THE WHOLE CLASS WHAT TO INCLUDE ON YOUR MAP. When the maps are brought into class hang them up around the room and discuss together which items should be drawn in on your map. Keep notes of the points agreed upon. One map may contribute one item to your map, another map some other item; so you will need to note down the de- cisions made in class discussion. Now let us see what should be put on your map. We suggest the fol- lowing as a basis for your discussion : FIRST : The general boundary of the community, of course. In planning this make your map rather large — say at least two feet square. It will probably be easier to locate places on it if you use large sheets of square- MAP-MAKING EXERCISES 17 ruled cross-section paper. It will help also to use these ruled squares as horizontal and vertical reference lines. Look at the maps in a geography and you will notice that that is commonly done to help locate places. Number or letter lightly these reference lines and this will aid you to place different objects at proper points. second: The principal highways and the water courses. In the case of roads note the other communities which they connect to yours. If motor- truck traffic moves over them indicate that. In the case of streams show whether they are navigable, where docks are, if there are any, bridges and falls where water power is generated. third: The railroad lines and the electric interurban lines. Letter name carefully on each one. FOURTH : Open "squares," principal street intersections and main streets. FIFTH : Principal buildings, like the City Hall, Court House, Post Office, high schools, colleges or technical schools, if there are any, railroad stations, libraries, theatres, museums, or art galleries. Locate any other buildings that your class decides should appear on the map. Sixth : Principal manufacturing and business districts, if the community is at all industrial. Mark out the location of the chief industries by shading them in lightly but very carefully. Do this as precisely as possible so that you can locate residence districts for industrial workers by a dil¥erent kind of shading. There will be too many items to letter the names of all on your map; number them, therefore, and make a "legend" on a blank cor- ner of the map in which you enumerate the numbers and the names of im- portant industries, districts, buildings and the like. seventh: Shade in the chief residence districts. If there are fairly sharp distinctions in the places where different nationalities live, try to show those distinctions on the map. If you can distinguish between the character of the residence districts in any other ways, do so, — for example, if one sec- tion is largely composed of separate dwelling houses and another of apart- ment buildings show that distinction. Take great care with your lettering. Choose an appropriate title for the map and letter it carefully. Draw a neat border around the map. Work up the whole job with such care that you would be proud to exhibit your map. SECTION IV SMALL TOWN VS. LARGE CITY Now that you know how your home community is laid out we shall study its population — how many people there are, how the town compares to others in the state or in the country, whether it is growing or standing still or perhaps decreasing in population. Is it probable that the community will grow in the future? As you study these matters keep in mind one important question : Would it be a good thing to have it grow, or is it about the right size now for people to live comfortably and happily? The demand in America is for growth, speed, bigness. Ought these things to be goals of our community life ? First then, how large is your community? How can you find out? Either from reports of the United States Bu- reau of Census, Washington, D. C, or from officials in your own town. In Volume I of the 1920 Census, entitled 'Topulation," you will find excel- lent recent statistics. If your school does not have the various reports of the 1920 Census (there are several available now, 1923), write to the Di- rector of the Census, Washington, iD. C. In the meantime, your city library and probably the office library of your Board of Education will have these reports. How does your Community Compare in Population With Others in Your State? You can obtain from the office of the Secretary of State in your own state, other statistics of population. The United States Bureau of Census takes a nation-wide census every tenth year, 1910, 1920, 1930, etc; each state does it on the alternate fifth years. So between the two, nation and states, one can get accurate statistics of population every five years. There will also be places in your community where you can get statistics of popu- lation. Try the school or city librarian, the City Hall, the newspaper offices for this information. Now in order to really understand your town and to discover whether people are making a community that will give them comfort and happiness, it will be very helpful to compare the population with that of other com- munities in your own state. Invent some kind of graph that will show where your town stands with respect to others in your state in point of population. One suggestion would be to make a list of the cities and towns beginning with the biggest and SMALL TOWN VS. LARGE CITY 19 working down to the smallest. Perhaps you could also make a bar graph for all the cities, making the one for your city heavier than the others. See what device you can invent to give this information. Now turn back to pamphlet No. 2 — The City and Key Industries in Modern Nations, page 25. In what population group is your town accord- ing to Table II? As American cities go, is yours small, medium-sized, or large? What per cent of all people in America are living in towns smaller than 25,000? Turn to Table I, page 23. What per cent, were living in towns smaller than 8,000 in 1910? Now what do you think about your town? Is it large, small, or medium-sized? What would people in the rest of your state think about it? Is Your Community Growing? This question is a very important one in American communities today. You can answer it most effectively by making a graph. EXERCISE. Make a line-graph or a bar-graph which will show the population of your community each ten years since it was founded. You can get suggestions for the form of the graph from pages 22 to 34 in Pamphlet No. 2 — The City and Key Industries in Modern Nations. Can you explain the Growth of Population in your Town? Next study the shape of the population graph you have drawn. Has the population grown slowly and steadily all the time ? Or has it increased rap- idly at certain times, remaining constant at others, or perhaps even declin- ing ? Why the increase in growth or the lack of it ? You can find the ex- planation from some source in your community. To give you suggestions, Fig. 1 shows the growth of several large cities. We also quote the discussion that was given of these graphs in one of our other pamphlets: How Recently and How Rapidly Have American Cities Themselves Grown? Fig. 1 answers this question for fourteen of our important cities. Not all these cities, however, grew in the same way. Some are old port or river cities, like Boston or Louisville. Note how slowly these two grew at first when pioneer conditions prevailed, before machines and factories <;ame, and before transportation was improved. But when railroads reached the Ohio Valley, when the reaper began to sell in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Fio. 1 SMALL TOWN VS. LARGE CITY 21 and Kentucky, and when steamboats plied up and down the Ohio — then Louisville grew and grew rapidly. See how steep the curve becomes after Then there's the city that builds up around a new industry. Lowell is a good example. Started suddenly in the 1820's by the establishment of the textile mills, its population has mounted steadily decade by decade. Do cities grow up where unusual natural resources are discovered ? Yes, indeed. Scranton, an older city, Tulsa and Los Angeles, new-born cities, are fine examples of this. Scranton was founded in 1840 and made very slow progress until about 1860. Then it boomed! Why? Vast anthracite coal deposits in and about Scranton came into great demand for use in the expanding steel business. The Kelly-Bessemer process became commercially practicable in the 1860's. The Civil War was on between the North and the South. Steel and iron in enormous quantities were being demanded for both war and peace-time purposes. So, the coal business thrived and Scran- ton grew. A real boom city, do you ask for? Look at Tulsa. Less than 1000 people in 1900 — over 70,000 in 1920! How could it happen? What was the magnet to draw 70,000 human beings to such a locality, for it wasn't especially favored by transportation facilities, water power, or the like. Oil ! Is there any natural resource of more crucial importance to our industrial civilization than oil ? Perhaps you think coal is ; but consider how difficult it is to get the coal from the earth and how easy and cheap it is to get oil. In 1904 large deposits of oil were discovered in Tulsa. Immediately people flocked there as they did in the Californian and Alaskan gold rushes. During that year 14,000,000 barrels of oil were taken from the earth. Eleven years later, in 1915, 97,915,243 barrels! and along with the discovery of oil, came that of natural gas. Much the same sort of circumstances account for the astonishing growth of Los Angeles since 1890. Two things help to explain it: first, the large amount of irrigation that has developed recently; and second, the rapid in- crease in the citrus fruit business around Los Angeles that came with it. In 1900 there were 25,657 acres about Los Angeles cultivated under irrigation; by 1910, the number had increased to 39,352 acres. But one of the greatest single causes of the growth of population in the Los Angeles district has been the sharp increase in the amount of oil produced there. Note these startling figures: 1840. 1899. 1912- 1918. 2,000,000 barrels 86,450,000 barrels 99,731,177 barrels The most rapid advance came between 1911 and 1912. 22 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Akron and rubber! From way back before tlie Civil War there had been a little town at Akron, Ohio. In 1860 it contained a few thousand souls. In 1900 it was still a small city of 40,000. Twenty years later it housed 209,000 people! What was the secret? More than anything else, rubber and the rubber-tire industry. As early as 1869 Dr. B. F. Good- rich founded his rubber business which was the nucleus of the great industry that has grown up in that place. Can you tell why the population should have grown so slowly until 1900 and then have mounted so rapidly — es- pecially after 1910? Look back at Fig. 1. As regards the other cities we leave to you the task of finding out why they grew as they did. Detroit? Long slow development until 1900 — and then tremendous progress. Why? Birmingham, almost a straight steep growth from 1880 to 1922. Why? Now look up the history of your own town in your library to see if you can find an explanation of its growth. No doubt a history has been written, for in every American city of any size at all some one interested in history and the past preserves traditions and stories of earlier days by writing a com- munity history. In such a history you will find descriptions of events which will explain the "population curve" for your town. If you can find no town history, send a committee to some of the oldest inhabitants. Get them to answer specific questions put to them by you about the growth of the city. How would it do to suggest to the newspaper men of the city that some one write a history in case there isn't one already available ? By suggesting it, your class might start something rather important. Perhaps your school could undertake to begin the collection of the material. As a result of your study and your class discussion of the matter, write a paragraph in your notebook summarizing the reasons for the way your community has grown or declined or remained constant, as the case may pQ. Now, you are ready to work on, two most important questions: THE FIRST QUESTION I Can you predict from the population graph whether your town will grow in the future and about how rapidly? One thing about graphs which show history is that they enable you to estimate fairly well what will happen in the future. Study carefully the graph you have made. How large do you estimate your community will be in 1925? in 1930? in 1940? in 1950? Do you think you can predict that far ahead? What could happen to upset your prediction? SMALL TOWN VS. LARGE CITY 23 Now, why is it important to know about how large cities will be in the years to come? Would the officials who are planning the school buildings want such information? Why? Would the city engineers who are planning the streets, the sewers, the reservoirs, and water systems, want to be able to estimate such things? Why? Would the real estate men of the city want to? How could they use such estimates? THE SECOND QUESTION I Would it be better for your community Turn back to Section I and read the quotation from the speech of the man who was "boosting" Zenith. In putting such words into the mouth of a real estate man remember that Sinclair Lewis was trying to portray the typical American real estate booster, and of course every man is a real estate man at heart. "Boosting" for one's home town has become the fashion in our country. As you have passed through communities on the train have you ever seen large signs shouting at you such slogans as : To many people, foreign visitors especially, America seems mad about "speed and bigness." Her cities are racing with each other in boasting of the size of everything going on within them. Each wants the "tallest sky- scraper;" each is proud of its "miles of paved streets." Local newspapers announce proudly every material addition to "main street" — the new depart- ment store, the marble-fronted Bank Block, new street lights. We have already quoted from a pamphlet on Seattle, a city typical of the hustling, growing west, which tells us it is "the chief city of that portion of the United States that is richest in basic resources — a territory with millions of acres of farm lands that lead ^he nation in yield per acre ; with the only coal fields in the Pacific states ; with more than one-third of all the water power in the nation; with the largest area of standing timber on the continent, and with fishing resources that make Seattle the chief fisheries port of the world. Seattle is the entrepot and market place for Alaska; which has more gold than California, more copper than Michigan and Ari- zona combined, more coal than Pennsylvania, undeveloped oil fields, the only tin mine in the United States, extensive marble deposits, the richest fish- ing areas in the world, approximately 60,000 square miles of agricultural land and a total area equal to that of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and Finland, in the same latitude and capable of supporting an equal population of 27,000,000."^ 1 From a publication of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club, 1920. to grow larger, to remain as it is, or even to become smaller? Bigger and Better," or "Welcome to ^ the biggest little town in America' 24 TOWN AND CITY LIFK IN AMERICA It seems as though nearly all kinds of people in our towns and cities want their communities to grow larger. The real-estate man, of course, wants to sell more land, more houses, and to rent more apartments. The manufacturer and the storekeeper want more people to do business with so as to sell more goods ; likewise the banlcer wishes to see his deposits grow and he wants more people to whom to lend money. The professional people, too — lawyers, doctors, and clergymen, are ambitious for a greater popula- tion ; the sizes of their incomes depend on the number of people in the com- munity. Even the school officials "point with pride" to their mounting pupil enrollment. Now all this is indicative of a fine healthy growth in material things. Cities are growing larger and no doubt material comforts have increased along with their size. As the community grows from a small village to a city, muddy streets give way to clean macadam, brick, or stone pavements, stores become larger, better water systems and sewage disposal plants are installed, and comforts and luxuries are supplied more easily. Some people maintain also that better health protection is provided, and, up to a certain size of city, a larger number of school buildings and better libraries are pro- vided. The question of the best size of community for the comfort and happiness of the people is a very difficult one. It is very important, though, to try to get the facts with which to answer it. It is especially important to keep an open mind in studying the advantages and disadvantages of each. 1. How about Neighborliness and Meddlesomeness? That is the principal theme that you should have in mind in studying your community. If your community is a small-town would it be better if it were to grow larger? Would the intimate friendships that go with single houses be taken away by apartment buildings where people pay little attention to one another? Would people become cold and impersonal (as they do in some large cities) and would real "neighborliness" disappear? On the other hand, would such loss be compensated by the disappearance of the meddlesomeness of the small town? People in small towns are gossipy, aren't they? And one person's business is apt to be everybody's business, isn't it? Think about that question of friendship and neighborliness and meddlesomeness as you consider the advantages and disadvantages of the small town and of the big city. There's much to be said on both sides. SMALL TOWN VS. LARGE CITY 25 2. Is Government more Efficient in the Small Town or in the Big City? • There's still more to this question that is worth your study. What about the government in the community? In small towns everybody knows everybody. In large cities any one person knows very few people in the entire population. In which kind of community can the mass of the people be the most intelligent about choosing leaders and representatives? In which one can the people best decide local questions? Keep in mind not only that people know each other in the small town and do not know each other in the city, but also that they may thereby be prevented from doing what really ought to be done because of obligations to party associations or personal relationships established in lodge, church, or neighborhood. 3. How about Protecting the Health of the Community? ^ (X^"^^^-\ ' ' That last point is especially pertinent in the case of cleaning up the com- munity and correcting abuses. Officials and citizens should be absolutely impersonal in enforcing laws. In which kind of community is it easier to be impersonal, in the small town or in the large city? Would friendships, neighborhood and fraternal relations, perhaps, interfere with carrying out one's duty? What do you think? There is something to be said on both sides of our question, isn't there? 4. Take the question of Providing Comfortable Houses for all the People. In the small town of 5,000 people are there apartment buildings? three, six, or ten-family houses? In the town of 10,000? 30,000? 50,000? 100,- 000? In which kind of house do you think comfortable and happy family relations and friendly relations with neighbors can best be worked out — the apartment of the cities or the "detached house" so typical of the Ameri- can small town? Again, there's much to be said on both sides. Take the question of sanitation, of ease of heating the houses, and of the reduction in the work of house-keeping. Which is better? On the other hand, re- member the point we made with respect to the impersonal life. ' 5. Recreation in the Small Town and in the Large City. Which kind of community provides best for the wise use of leisure time? Which has the most open spaces for out-of-door play? Which, on the other hand, provides the best musical entertainment, the best theatres and "mov- ies," the finest art exhibits, and lectures? Which has the best libraries, the 26 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA biggest variety of magazines and newspapers? Does the large city offset its lack of open play spaces by other things? Do you see that there may be an argument or two on both sides of the controversy in the case of recreation as well ? 6. In Which Kind of Community does it Really Cost More to Live? Study this matter too, as you go along in your survey of community life. Consider ''relative' standarids of living. Not only how much more it costs to live in the large city but also whether more is obtained in re- turn? Furthermore, how does income compare with cost of living? These are all points to be kept in mind. Perhaps one gets enough in return to make it worth while to pay more for one's living in the larger city. At any rate, keep the question in mind — perhaps a case can be made for one side or the other. 7. In which Community — Small Town or Large City — is Public Opinion Expressed Most Ef- fectively ? This is a very important question and yet difficult to answer correctly. How is public opinion formed anyway? In fraternal organizations? In labor unions? In business men's clubs? In barber shops, and pool rooms? In motion picture houses? At dances? On street cars and trains? Among mechanics on their jobs? In which kind of community is the will of the mass of the people the more intelligent? We shall have to consider these matters carefully. In which community are the newspapers most effective in informing the public about what is going on in politics? in industry and business? in social affairs? In which one are the newspapers most nearly free from partisan prejudice and the control of special privilege? Ah! these are hard questions to answer. Looks as though there is a chance for an argument about this matter, too. Now as we study section after section of this pamphlet, we shall con- stantly recur to this problem. Keep in mind constantly the advantages and disadvantages of living in a small town, a middle-sized town, and a large city. SECTION V. ORGANIZING A CIVIC LABORATORY In making a survey of your community and in studying different aspects of community life, you will need to use a great many books and pamphlets. So one of the first things to do is to appoint committees who will go through your school and city libraries and make a card catalog of the books and pamphlets that you can get access to. Then you will also need to find out what magazines contain material on community problems. Finally, there are many societies that will send you pamphlets on such matters free of charge upon request. To help you in this work we give extracts from a report that was made by a civic laboratory committee in another seventh grade class. "Our library of civic material is as follows: I. General Books on Civics Ames, E. W. & Eldred, A.: Community Civics. Ashley R. L.: The New Civics. Beard, Charles A.: American City Government. Burch, H. R. & Patterson, S. H.: Problems of American Democracy. Dunn, A. M. : The Community and the Citizen. Field J. & Nearing, S. : Community Civics. Forman, S. A.: Advanced Civics. Garner, J. W. : Government in the United States. Guitteau, W. B.: Government and Politics in the United States. Hill, H. C. : Community Life and Civic Problems, Hill. M. : Lessons for Junior Citizens. ■ Hill, M. & Davis, P.: Civics for Nevj Americans. Hughes, R. O. : Community Civics. James, J. A. & Sanford, A. H. : Government in State and Nation. Jenks, J. W. & Smith, R. D.: JVe and Our Government. Judd, C. H. & Marshall, L. C: Lessons in Community and National Life. (See particularly Series A, lessons 11, 12, 16-19; series B, lessons 12-14, 17-21 and series C, lessons 12-14, 17-20, and 32. Lapp, J. A.: Our America, the Elements of Civics. Leavitt, F. M. & Brown, E. : Elementary Civics. MacGruder, F. A.: American Government. Nida, W. L.: City, State and Nation. Parsons, G. : The Land of Fair Play. Reid, T. H.: Forms and Functions of American Government. Reid, T. H.: Loyal Citizenship. Woodburn, J. A. & Moran, T. F. : The Citizen and the Republic. II. Books on Special Topics ^ Addams, Jane: Tv:enty Years at Hull House, (housing) Allen, W. H.: Civics and Health, (health) Antin, M. : At School in the Promised Land, (education) Aronovici, C. : The Social Survey, (questions for surveying your community) 28 TOWN AND CITY LIFK IN AMERICA Austin, C. P.: Uncle Sam's Secrets, (work of the national government.) Cooke, M. L. : Our Cities Aivake. (work of city government) Curtis, F. R. : T/ie Collection of Social Survey Material, (questions for sur- veying your community) Curtis, H. S. : The Play Mo'vement and Its Significance, (recreation) Crump, I.: The Boy's Book of Firemen, (work of the fire department) Crump, I.: The Boy's Book of Policemen, (work of the police department) Dunn, A. W. : How Presidents are Made, (electing our national President) DuPuy, W. A.: Uncle Sam, Detective, (work of the national government) Uncle Sam, Fighter, (work of the national government) Uncle Sam's Modern Miracles, (work of the national govern- ment) Uncle Sam, Wonder Worker. (work of the national govern- ment) Earle, A. M. : Home Life in Colonial Days.- (early community life) Forbush, W. B. : The Coming Generation, (children's life) Fosdick, R. B.: American Police Systems, (work of the police department) Franc, A,: Use Your Government, (work of the national government) Harrison, S. M. : Social Conditions in an American City, (a survey of com- munity life in Springfield, 111.) Howe, F. C. : The Modern City and Hs Problems, (discusses city government) Hutchinson, W. : Community Hygiene, (health) James, H. G. : A Hartdbook of Civic Improvement, (questions for surveying your community) Kenngott, G. F. : The Record of a City, (a survey of community life in Lowell, Mass.) Kinlon, J.: Fire and Fire Fighters, (work of the fire department) McAdoo, W. : Guarding a Great City, (work of the police department) McCall, S. W. : The Business of Congress, (work of our national Congress) McPheters, G. A., & Cleaveland, G. J. A. & Jones, S. W.: Citizenship Dram- atized, (outlines dramatization of various government activities) Marriott, C. : Uncle Sam's Business, (work of the national government) Muir, John.: Our National Parks, (recreation and civic beauty) Nelson, J.: Neiv Ideals in Planning Cities, (city planning) Orth, S. P. The Boss and the Machine, (political parties) Patri, A.: A Schoolmaster in a Great City, (education) Rightor, C. E. : The City Manager in Dayton, (new business management in city government) Riis J. A.: The Battle with the Slums, (housing) Southworth, G. V. D. & Kramer, S. E.: Great Cities in the United States, (city life) Towne, E. : Social Problems. Willman, F. L. : A Day in Court, (courts and justice) Zeublin, C. A.: American Municipal Progress, (city government) III. Reference Books American Yearbook. Bliss,: Encyclopedia of Social Reform. Publications issued by the City of Clinton, 111.: Annual Reports of City Departments. Course of Study for Clinton Illinois. Ordinances. Social Histories of Clinton. Congressional Directory. Congressional Record. Cushing, L. C. : Manual of Parliamentary Practice. Cyclopedia of American Government. Democratic Party National Handbook, 1920. ^Illinois Blue Book. (state manual) Republican Party and National Handbook, 1920. United States Statistical Abstracts. ^World Almanac, 1923. ORGANIZING A CIVIC LABORATORY 29 IV. Magazines for Reference The American City. [Note: This magazine has published a series of 70 pam- phlets on all aspects of city government. Write Civic Press, 154 Nassau St., New York City.] American Remeiv of Revieivs. Current Opinion. The Independent. The Literary Digest. , The National Geographic Magazine.^ The National Municipal Remenv. The Outlook. The Searchlight. The Survey. The World's Work. V. Fiction Churchill, Winston: Coniston. Churchill, W. : Mr. Creive's Career. Doyle, A. C: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Gordon C. : (Ralph Connor): Corporal Cameron. Gordon, C. (Ralph Connor) : The Doctor. Gordon, C. (Ralph Connor) : The Sky Pilot. Grenfell, W. T. : Tales of the Labrador. Hale, E. E.: The Man Without a Country. Howe, E. W. : The Story of a Country Tonrn. McSpadden J. W. : Famous Detective Stories. Reeve, A. : Craig Kennedy, Detective. Tarkington, Booth: The Gentleman from Indiana. VI. Documentary Material Here is a Committee Report of one class who were on the search for documentary material in making a survey of their community. **We are at work collecting documentary material. Already we have placed in our civic laboratory the following : Sample ballots, tax warrants, and forms, ordinances, indictments, sample deeds, a city map, licenses, and permits of various kinds. The committee on Exhibits is gathering material that will be added to this collection. "Miss Carter [the librarian] has prepared a list of associations and bur- eaus who publish material (pamphlets and bulletins) that will be sent free on request. So we have, with her help, prepared a form letter and Ethel [a member of the class] has mailed it to the following associations and govern- ment businesses: American Civic Association, 913 Union Trust Bldg,, Washington, D. C. American Highway Association, Colorado Bldg., Washington, D. C. American National Red Cross, 1624 H. St., Washington, D. C. American Prison Association, Secretary Commissioners of Charities and Corrections, Trenton, N. J. American Public Health Association, 755 Boylston St. Boston, Mass. Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, Chicago, 111. Legislative Voters League, Springfield, HI. National Civic Service Reform League, 79 Wall St., New York City. National Conference for City Planning, 19 Congress St., Boston, Mass. National Housing Association, 105 E. 22nd St., New 'York City. 30 TOWN AND CITY LIFK IN AMliRICA National Municipal League, North American Bldg., Philadelphia, Pa, National Short Hal lot Organization, 383 Fourth Ave., New York City. Playgrounds Association of America, 1 Madison Ave., New York City. Russell Sage Foundation, 165 E. 22nd St., New York City. United States Postmaster CJeneral Washington, D. C. " '* Cieological Survey " " " " Bureau of Mines " " " " Reclamation Service " " " " Department of Agriculture " ** " " " " Commerce " " " " " " Labor " " " " Interstate Commerce Commission " " " " Civil Service Commission " " State Board of Health, Springfield, 111. " Fire Marshall " " State Public Utilities Commission Springfield, 111. " Board of Charities and Corrections " " " Highway Commission " " " Fish and Game Commission << u " • Workmen's Compensation Commission " " " Labor Board " " " Board of Agriculture u u " " " Education, " " " Legislative Reference Bureau *' "The teacher and the librarian are also going to help us start a clipping file. Will club members contribute old newspapers and magazines so that we may clip interesting events, charts, and pictures about government ? The clippings will be pasted on cards and filed in our filing cabinet for future reference. In a short time, w^e will have a very valuable collection of this kind of reference material. "The Committee also recommend that the club discuss whether each member will subscribe to some magazine. It is urged that we spend one period a week discussing current events, the committee on currents to be responsible for this class period. If we do this a magazine could be used as a textbook for the class exercise. "In conclusion, the Committee wish to say that they will add to this list of references from time to time and publish supplementary lists. The committee wish to thank Mr. Allen, Miss Carter and Miss Kelley, the city librarian, for their help and counsel, in preparing this report, and for the material that they have placed at our disposal. Most of the general community civics books are the property of Mr. Allen, as is the collection of documents. We must use great care in handling this material in order that it may be returned to its owners in as good condition as when lent. Respectfully Submitted, Lawrence Nelson, Chairman Nellie Ellsworth, Library Committee." ORGANIZING A CIVIC LABORATORY 31 To the Teacher: This list of references is included as a guide for use in your class when pupils begin the study of their own community. The bibliographies in many of these books contain other worthwhile refer- ences. The social surveys listed are helpfully suggest- ive as to methods of investigating community life. Maga- zine references have not been included because of the great numbers of articles that are available. By all means have your pupils use the Reader's Guide for magazine articles on their various topics. The files of The American City are excellent sources for concrete up-to-date material on city government. If possible have your class organize a civic laboratory along the line suggested in this section. SECTION VI. THE INDUSTRIES AND THE PEOPLE OF A COMMUNITY What kinds of people make up your community? Are they all well- to-do people — business men, lawyers, doctors, clergymen, teachers? Is your town, by chance, one of those few suburban towns to which only tired busi- ness men from some near-by metropolitan city retire after work hours? Is it therefore without factories, shops, or mills? Or is yours a town of cotton mills, woolen mills, silk mills, and machine shops, where thousands- of spinning spindles and whirring looms are tended by weary workmen? If so, most of the people would be mechanics, weavers, spinners, machinists, carpenters, mill-wrights, and what not, by trade. Or is your community perchance a placid little college town of two or three thousand inhabitants? Has it a quiet and dignified residential district flanking the single square of brick paved business streets that are built up around the college? If so, college professors, college students, and small tradesmen and their families, with a few lawyers, doctors, and clergymen make up "the people." Maybe instead, it is a retired-farmers' town set in the midst of great prairies of corn and wheat. So ? Then the residences are those of farmers ; a few artisans are about, and schools and trading form the chief business of the community. If none of these, can it be a town of clacking shoe shops like Lynn, Massachusetts, or of clammy fish markets like Gloucester? Whatever kind of town it is, there is one thing you should learn about it: What do its industries have to do with the kinds of people who live in it? EXERCISE. Appoint a committee to report to your class on this matter. Either have the committee or the whole class draw up a list of the chief industries of the community. From each of the principal factories, banking houses, stores, or other large business enterprises, secure publications that describe their industry. Be sure to find out these things: How many employees have they doing certain kinds of work? About how much do they earn per day, or per week or month ? About how many days are the workers out of work each year? INDUSTRIES AND PEOPLE 33 From these facts you can figure out the approximate income of the workers per year in each of the principal occupations represented in the com- munity. Inquire from people about town how much carpenters, plumbers, and masons are paid per day. Remember that recent investigations of the Federated Engineering Societies, made under Herbert Hoover's direction, show that such workmen are out of work about 30 per cent of the time. This being true, about what is the average annual income per worker in each industry? In the same way find out the incomes of the clerks in the stores of the city, and of stenographers and other clerical workers. Are there steel work- ers in your home town? coal miners? weavers? shoe-makers? canners? Find out the approximate wages and income of the workers in each of the principal trades. Why get these facts? Because they tell you so much about your com- munity. Your "community," after all, is chiefly the people who live there. The work carried on in the town determines, in most cases, the kind of people who live there. Can you prove that statement now? How about using the figures you have on wages and income to do so ? What do they tell you about the people ? Do they not tell you something very important about the economic well-being of the people? For example, if you knew nothing more about a community than that it was a shop and mill town and that the average income of the people was $1200 a year, couldn't you almost describe the town to a stranger? You would know that Mr. Average Man could pay not more than say $300.00 a year — or about 25.00 a month — for rent. (Ex- 'pert students of "family budgets" estimate that it is not safe for a family to spend more than 25 per cent of its income for rent.) What kind of a house or tenement or apartment could be rented for $25.00 a month? Cer- tainly not a luxurious one, for Mr. Average Man's family numbers five persons and so he must have at least five rooms, — he ought to have six. Of course it is practically impossible for Mr. Average Man to save enough to own his home. Suppose he had built a modest little house cost- ing say $6,000. Perhaps he had saved enough to pay $1,500 for the lot and had received a loan of $4500 from the Building and Loan Association to build the house. He would have to pay 6 per cent interest on that loan, or $270 a year. In addition, he would have to pay taxes of say $100 a year and he would have to pay for repairs which in the long run would average $100 a year. Thus his "rent" would cost him nearly $500 a year — a sum quite beyond his means. The case of Mr. Average Man is typical of the situations of several million mechanics in America who earn at the present time less than $1200 a year and who are barely able to make ends meet. 34 TOWN AND CITY LIFK IN AMERICA So Study the incomes of the people in your community. Perhaps you will be able to obtain information, too, about the "family budget" of typical people in your community. The "family budget" shows how much they spend each year for each of the following items: Rent Medical expenses Food Vacation Clothing Charity Education Church and fraternal organizations Books Recreation (theatre, music, etc.) Do the Industries of the Town determine the Nationalities of the Population? Come back to our statement that the work carried on in the town de- termines the kind of people who live there. How do industries affect the nationalities that make up a community ? You have already found out what an immigrant country America is and especially how the foreign born are concentrated in the northern "industrial zone." 82 per cent of our foreign born live there. What kinds of work did wt find they were doing? If you cannot remember get out your copy of America and Her Immigrants and review pages 118-143. If your town is a steel or a coal mining town, therefore, you know that there must be many (What nationalities?). Probably if it is a textile town there are many foreign-born, too. You Need to Have a Graph of the Nationalities in the Community. Appoint a committee to collect the facts about the nationalities within your community. Then have this same committee make a graph to hang on the wall which will show the number of inhabitants born in each of the different countries represented in the population of the community. Another thing that ought to be studied is the number of workers of each nationality in each of the principal occupations. However, it will probably be somewhat difficult to find the facts on this matter. Search the volume of the 1920 United States Census, especially the tables that deal with "oc- cupations" and "manufactures," and you may find figures on the number of people engaged in difierent occupations. It may be worth the time of your committee to make a real search for the facts. Ask the city librarian and officials at the city Hall to help you. Following up your study of the matter have a round table discussion of this question : Do the industries and the kinds of business carried on in a town determine the kinds of people who live there ? SECTION VII QUESTIONS AND DEBATES ON SECTIONS I TO VI 1. Name as many types of American towns and cities as you can think of. 2. From your map exercises what would you say were the outstanding characteristics of your town? Is it a progressive town, or a stand-still town? If progressive, in what ways? 3. What are some of the things in your town that seem to you to need improvement ? 4. Which do you think has the most advantages, the town or the city? What are some of the advantages of one over the other? Debates 1. Resolved, That the small town is a more desirable place to live in than the large city. 2. Resolved, That the industries in our town have determined the nationalities who live there. SECTION VIII THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 35,000,000 people in America are living in houses below standard. One third of the people in our country — 7,000,000 families — do not have a really comfortable, healthful, and attractive house to live in! That sounds very much like a national calamity, doesn't it? How many people in your town are in that fix? How many are living in crowded and dark rooms? How many have no running water, no bath-room, no gas or electric lights ? How many have no green grass around their homes — no clean yards? Are there some people who cannot even see green grass the year round and who live in such narrow crowded streets that it is difficult even to see the blue sky? We are not exaggerating the importance of this problem — it is one of the most serious ones America faces. The people of a nation cannot be contented and happy, they cannot continue to be a great world power, — more important still, they cannot develop an appreciation of fine and beauti- ful things unless the houses that they live in are healthful, comfortable, and attractive. "By their houses you can judge a people." One of the most necessary things for you to study in your community is the way the people are housed. What kinds of dwellings abound in your town? Apartments, fine brick single houses, mansions, tenements, two-fam- ily houses, "company-shacks"? Is there a section of tenements, a section of fine residences, another section of apartments? Or just what kinds of dwell- ings are there ? Do people in your town live in "houses" like those shown in Figs. 2 and 3? THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 37 Congestion in such tenements as these endangers the health of the city. This is a picture of "The Ghetto" in New York City — the heart of the largest Jewish community in the world. Fig. 21 1 From Steiner, E. A.: "On the Trail of the Immigrant, Fleming H. Revell Co New York, 1900. 38 TOWN AND CITY LIFR IN AMKRICA C'aii you imagine 300 people living in this building? What rules of health must they violate in living under such conditions? A block in Lowell of forty-eight tenements which houses three hundred people. Fig. 31 What about the health conditions of a family living in such a room as this one with two small windows that won't open? It has been the living room of a family of four people. Fig. 42 iFrom Kenngott, G. P.: "The Record of a City," Photograph No. 20. The Mac- millan Company, New York, 1912. 2 From Schneider, Franz, Jr.: "A Public Health Survey of Topeka," page 64; Department of Surveys and Exhibits, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1914. THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 39 Housing Among the Colored Population Many of the houses had ample yards, but cases were numerous where landlords had not provided houses meeting even minimum recognized standards. Fig. 51 This heap of decaying garbage and trash lies at the entrance of a tenement house. How is it likely to affect the health of the people in that neighborhood ? A Disgrace to any City. Fig. 62 1 Harrison, S. M. : "Social Conditions in an American City." 2 From Hutchinson, Woods: "Community Hygiene," page 109. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1919. 40 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Is this a desirable background in which to ask children to play? Contrast this picture with the one of Fig. 8. Fig. 71 In the home shown in Fig. 7 there is poor light, little air, dirt, disorder, while in those of Figs, 8 and 9 there is plenty of good air and light, and clean, attractive rooms. An Ideal City and Alley and Back Yards. Clean grass on which to play, neat garbage cans, trim walks, no trash lying about, and no place for flies to breed — this is the way a self-respecting and hygienic community likes to keep its back yards and alleys. Fig. 82 iFrom The American City; Vol. XVIII, page 407. The Civic Press, New York. 2 From Hutchinson, Woods: op. cit., page 117. THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 41 Health and Good Taste in the Living Room. Notice the big swinging window, the door opening out on the piazza, the comfortable chair and couch, the few good ornaments and pictures, and somebody's collection of ribbons and medals just below the shelf. Wouldn't you think that a happy and healthy family lived in this house? Fig. 91 What do the pictures tell you about the seriousness of "the housing prob- lem"? Do you think America has one? Is there a housing problem in your own community? That is one of the most important matters for you to survey. During the past twenty years, in city after city, investigations of the houses have been made by experts. Many books have been written on the subject. They all tell the same story of large buildings crowded onto nar- row lots; of high buildings so close to each other that there is little or no space for ventilation, light, grass, or playground; of thousands of dark and windowless rooms, of lack of running water or sanitary conveniences; of terrifying fire hazards ; of hundreds of buildings out of repair and in a gen- eral state of delapidation ; and even of thousands of people living in damp dark cellars and basements. Is it any wonder that we want you to survey the houses of your com- munity? You ought to know what such ''homes" look like. 1 From Hutchinson, Woods: op. cit., page 89. 42 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA It IS THE Army of the Unskilled Workers who need Better Houses Now it may be that there is no housing problem in your community. Fortunate you are if that is so. A community without a housing problem is not only fortunate, but exceptional. If yours happens to be one of these, it must be that you do not have a large semi-skilled and relatively unskilled population. How can one be so sure of that? Simply because it has been proved that the people who are housed badly in America are the semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Furthermore, the millions of workers in our cities make up the great masses of our people. Total all the skilled workmen and the professional workers in America and you will find that you have a far smaller group than the army of "unskilled." The housing problem, then, is one of providing decent living conditions for the unskilled wage-earner. The professional man and the business man, and even the skilled mechanic, have wages or salaries in most cases suffi- cient to enable them tp obtain reasonably good living quarters. The condi- tion of the unskilled laborer is very different. Before the World War, 1914, the average wage in the United States was about $700. That means that there were as many people receiving less than $700, as there were more than $700. Now we are not concerned with the small percentage earning $1500-$2000 or more, nor with the skilled mechanic who earns more than $1000 annually. Rather we are concerned to find out who the unskilled wage-earners are. They consist principally of these groups : ( 1 ) The negroes, who in 1910 made up 10.7% of our population; (2) The foreign-born, who in that same year compromised 14.9%. These two groups total 25.6% of our whole population. (3) The native whites of foreign- born or mixed parentage constitute 20.5% of the American people. Let us assume that a third of this 46.1% still live at home with their parents in the foreign quarters and slums and are therefore not under the expense of maintaining separate households. The remainder is about 30%, which means that nearly a third of our population were living under subnormal housing conditions in 1914. Assume also that the unskilled wage-earners made $2.50 a day before the war. (It was probably not higher than this for we know that ditch-diggers received $1.75 to $2.00 a day, and steel workers $11.00 to $14.00 a week.) Bear in mind that while wages are a good deal higher since the war, these estimates are valid because wages rose only 80 to 90 per cent as fast as did the cost of living. Therefore, the unskilled wage earner really gets less for his wages today than he did in 1914. Let us further assume that the average ditch-digger worked 300 days a year (leav- ing out Sundays, but making no allowance for rainy days, sickness, seasonal labor, or unemployment). At most, his income would be $750.00 per year. In almost all cases it would actually be a great deal less. Experts on the cost of living assert that the budget in a typical family (man, wife, and 3 children) should apportion not more than one-fourth THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 43 for rent, preferably only one-fifth. This means that people of this group cannot pay over $12.50 a month, if they allot a fifth, and not over $15.45, of they allot a fourth to rent, about $3.00 or $3.75 a week. Such a family of five also needs at least four rooms. This should give you some appreci- ation of the difficulties the unskilled wage-earner has to contend with in getting reasonably decent living conditions. Here are two more bits of evi- dence on the situation: Public Health Bulletin No. 76 (U. S. Treasury Dept. 1916) says that two-thirds (%) of the male workers 18 years of age and over in the prin- cipal industries of the country receive less than $15.00 a week. A New Jersey report, Feb. 1918, states that two-thirds (%) of the wage-earners in that State receive less than $780.00 per year. Studies as to the cost of living in 1918 estimated the minimum income es- sential to obtain the barest necessities was $875 to $1,000 annually for a family of five. These figures are additional evidence on why people in this group seek living quarters in the poor sections of the city. This does not mean, how- ever, that the community and the nation are not obligated to insist that at least the minimum standards of sanitation and safety be afforded these people. Can you give two reasons why the problem of housing relates princi- pally to the unskilled wage-earners? Can you state the evidence that money sufficient to rent even a modest four-room house is not available for these people? Before leaving the question let us study further the effect of bad hous- ing, as given by reports made after investigating conditions in our larger cities. If you feel that these examples may be exceptional, remember that cities of all sizes are rapidly growing larger and larger, and that as they grow their problems of congestion, housing, health, and recreation become increasingly serious. First, let us take New York City. Summarizing conditions in that city the investigators found that 2,372,- 079 people out of a population of 3,437,202 (1900) were living in 86,652 of these so-called tenements. By a "tenement" was meant any building in which at least three families lived. In these tenements, it was found by the Commission that there were about 350,000 dark rooms. Up to that time it had been the custom to build these tenements with six or eight rooms on each floor, one back of another, then to divide the rooms into two flats — front and back. As a result the four to six inner rooms were dark and each family in consequence had two or three windowless and dark rooms. Tall buildings on the whole area of the lot cut off the light still more, particularly 44 TOWN AND CITY LIFli IN AMERICA on the lower floors. Halls also were found to be dark. Most buildings from the point of view of sanitation were very bad indeed. Bathing facilities were limited. Just one faucet of running water — at the entrance, or on the first floor of a tenement which housed several score of tenants, was common. While improvements in housing conditions have been made and while new buildings are forced to conform to these improved standards, there is, nevertheless, much room for improvement in this metropolitan tene- ment area. Chicago next. A survey of 44 blocks in one district of Chicago showed : 1. That buildings in 2 of the blocks covered 75% of the area of the block. 2. " " 14 other " " 70% 3. " " 20 other " " 65% "People are crowded into the basements. The dark passageways be- tween the houses are almost the only open spaces in the block. The view shows clearly the small dilapidated rear houses, the poorly constructed two- story frame and large three-story brick tenements. . . . There are several new brick tenements covering a large percentage of the lot. The rear of almost every lot has a brick tenement, or a small frame house. Almost the only open spaces are the passages, the streets and alleys with their filth and garbage boxes. . . "Another block has a population of over one thousand people. The ugliness of the street, its wretched tenements, and its ill-smelling garbage boxes in front of each house cannot be imagined from the photograph." As cities grow people crowd together. Is that con- ducive to the development of a free, com- fortable, and happy people? Study these figures : Name of City Gross area in acres Population Persons to the acre. Norfolk, Va. 2,240.0 46,624 20.8 Waterbury, Conn. 2,400.0 45,859 19.0 Holyoke, Mass. 10,464.0 45,712 4.0 Ft. Wayne, Ind. 3,300.0 45,115 13.6 Youngstown, O. 6,144.0 44,885 7.4 Four crowded dis- tricts in Chicago 221.3 45,643 206.2 "The area of Chicago is 187 square miles, which contain 119,768 acres. At 200 persons per acre this area would hold a population of 23,953,600, and at 270 persons per acre it would house 32,337,360. Let one imagine this vast multitude of people, equal to the whole population of England, on THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 45 the present area of Chicago and he will have an idea of what is meant by a population of from two hundred to two hundred and seventy persons per acre. The density of some of the blocks is over four thousand per acre. If this were extended over the whole area it would mean that nearly the entire population of the United States fifteen years ago could be housed in Chicago. This, however, is far from being the maximum density possible, for a large part of these districts is covered with small detached buildings. In one lot of less than one-seventh of an acre in one of the newer tenements one hundred and twenty-five people are housed, or at the rate of nine hundred per acre." Applying this figure to the whole area of the city would mean that the present population of the United States could be housed in Chicago. How ''alleys" develop in large cities. Are they as good places to live as streets or open country? Study the next figures to answer the question. In Washington, D. C. there grew up a peculiar housing problem — that of the ''alley home." Washington is one of the few planned or "made" cities. Major I'Enfant was hired about a hundred and twenty-five years ago to plan the national capital. He designed the city with wide streets and avenues. Consequently, these city lots were deep and in recent years beyond the means of the poorer citizens. Hence, the alleys between the streets became the dwelling places of the poorer people. Particularly did this become prevalent when, follow- ing the influx of negro slaves after the Civil War, it was found that the erection of cheap tenements for the negroes was very profitable. The prin- cipal trouble here has not been lack of air or light, but poor sanitary meas- ures. Neither sewers nor water mains were found in these alleys. Hy- drants were for many people the only available water supply. Neither were there pavements or lights, and no provision for garbage removal. Re- cently conditions have been improved somewhat, and further building in the alleys of Washington has been forbidden by our national Congress. Pavements have been laid and street lights installed. Few such houses have running water. Table V. The Death Rates in Washington at Different Times: In the alleys in 1875, the death rate was 65 per 1000 population. In the alleys in 1912, the death rate was 28 per 1000 population. But in the streets in 1912, the death rate was 17 per 1000 population. One baby out of every four born in the alleys dies within a year. The death rate for tuberculosis among negroes is fifty per cent higher than among 46 TOWN AND CITY LIFI- IN AMHRICA colored people living in huildiny;s that face on the street. Moreover, the report asserts that crime is worse in the hidden recesses of the alley. The police court records in Washington show the percentage of arrests in the total population to he 10.3; the percentage of arrests of colored people to. the total negro population 18.93. But in four alleys with a population of 540 people the percentage of arrests was 35.93, nearly twice the percent of the arrests in the general population. As you study the situation in different cities and the remedies which were undertaken have in rtiind that you are going to find out the housing situation in your community. You will also want to propose plans for improving it. How Housing Has Been Improved About twenty-five years ago a crusade was started to improve the living quarters of the poor people of our great cities. One of the greatest leaders in this movement was Jacob Riis, an immigrant himself who lived in the meanest of slums in New York City. He afterward came to be a very prom- inent social worker. It is interesting to find that he was a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt, Commissioner of Police of New York at the time. Roosevelt helped Riis to get reforms in tenement housing put through. One of the things that was done was to build model tenements to rent at low rates to poor people. Real estate men said they would not pay. But they did pay, and think of what they did for the health and happiness of the people who lived in them. P^r 5^^, In New York City the notable model buildings were the Alfred T. White Tenements and those of the City and Suburban Homes Company. When Riis wrote his report about them in 1902, the latter company owned model tenements to the value of $6,336,228 and they accommodated about 11,000 people. Dividends of 4 to 5% have been paid on the property an- nually during the eighteen or fwenty years they have been built. These buildings are clean and well ventilated, and they are kept sanitary and in a good state of repairs. Rents have varied from $1.60 a week for a two- room flat, without bath, to $5.00 a week for four rooms and a bath. Riis emphasized the fact that health conditions are much better in such buildings. He said about them: "They harbor nearly four hundreds of families, as contented a lot as I ever saw anywhere. The one tenant who left in disgust was a young doctor who had settled on the estate, thinking he could pick up a practice among so many, but he could not. They were not often sick, those tenants. Last year only three died, and they were all killed away from home. So he had good cause for complaint. The rest had none, and having none, they stayed, which is no mean blow struck for the home in the battle with the slums." THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 47 While such model tenements are important there are only a few of them. They do little toward solving the housing problem of our 7,000,000 families of unskilled wage-earners now living under subnormal conditions. They are important, however, as actual examples of what can be accomplished if we could stimulate landlords and people who erect houses to work out similar model buildings. But the minimum legal housing requirements are, as a rule, the only things these people can be made to conform to. Profit is the object of tenement-house building and therefore the owners exact all they can get by way of rental. But health standards are higher in the model buildings. Should something be done to compel all owners of apartments to pro- vide sanitary buildings? What do you think? Can you suggest a plan to bring this about? Have a class discussion of it. The Following Facts Show that it Pays to be Born in a Healthy District.^ 1. In districts where water was piped into the homes the death rate was 117.8 per 1000 population. Where water was not piped into the homes the death rate was 197.9 per 1000. 2. In the homes of 496 babies where bathtubs were available the death rate was 72.6 per 1000. In the homes of 496 babies where bathtubs were not available, the death rate was 164.8 per 1000. 3. In dry homes this infant death rate was 122.5 per 1000. In damp homes this infant death rate was 156.7 per 1000. 4. In the homes of 1389 babies who lived one month or more the mor- tality rate of babies who slept in rooms rated as poorly ventilated was 169.2 per 1000. In the homes of 1389 babies who lived one month or more the mortality rate of babies who slept in rooms rated as well ventilated W2LS 2SA per 1000. Additional evidence is found in the testimony of Miss Mildred Chadsey, Chief Sanitary Inspector of the Health Department of Cleveland, Ohio. She says: "Our city has prepared a set of pin maps that show where cases of tuberculosis, contagious diseases, . . . infant deaths, and all deaths which have occurred during the year are marked. It has prepared another set of pin maps which show where the foul plumbing, the dark rooms, the over- crowded lots are, and in every map the pins have gone in at about the same places." What does that prove ? 1 This data is taken from pages 8 to 9 of Aronovici: "Housing and the Housing Problem." 48 lOWN AND Cl\y LIFIi IN AMliRlCA The Need for Better Houses is Too Great to be Satisfied by tlie Efforts of a Few Benevolent Persons. Should the Government Help the People Get Better Houses? These efforts of private citizens and building companies are fine and helpful. But how insufficient they are, taken altogether, to get 7,000,000 people into better houses! What can be done about it? Two things can be tried : first, owners of buildings generally must be persuaded to help by putting up only houses which conform to acceptable standards. Improve- ments are coming in this direction, but very slowly. The second proposal is have the government, either of the city, state, or nation, help the people buy land and build houses. This second proposal of government help has been tried out in several places, notably in Massachusetts and California. What kind of help does the man of small means, the $1000 a year man, need? He needs to have money lent to him at a low rate of interest. Otherwise he cannot become an owner of a home. In Massachusetts the legislature finally added an amendment to the State Constitution which gave the State the power to build houses to re- lieve congestion. It is interesting to find that when the legislature earlier passed a law to help laborers build homes the State Supreme Court decided that the law could not be enforced because it did not agree with the State Constitution. The Constitution, however, was made in 1780 — a hundred and thirty years before. Although life in every state had changed a very great deal since, the Constitution had been changed only slightly. Imagine three million people living in the teeming manufacturing cities of Massa- chusetts in 1911 trying to make laws that would conform with a constitu- tion made in 1780 when there wasn't a single manufacturing city in the whole country. Of course, after a while people came to realize that it couldn't be done, and they passed amendments. By the way, how well that episode illustrates how necessary it is every generation or so to make consti- tutions over almost completely. Conditions in America are changing so fast that we have to change our constitutions to keep pace with them. Town-Planning Boards are now Required Not much progress has come in Massachusetts as a result of the new amendments and new laws. The most important thing accomplished was to require each town of 10,000 people or more to appoint a town-planning board whose business it was to study the resources and needs of the town, and to plan ahead for the proper housing of the people. What do you think of a law like that ? Would it be a good thing to make communities plan for the future? Would such a "board," if appointed in your community be likely to think out ways of relieving congestion, of improving streets, squares, parks, and playgrounds, of building more and better houses? THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 49 Is There a Town-Planning Board in Your Community? Find out in making your Survey. Should There be One ? What Would it Do ? The work of the California Commission on Immigration and Housing California is another state which is helping communities to improve their housing conditions. The control of housing was given to this Commission whose primary work Was with the immigrant, because it was felt that the serious problems concerning homes were principally with respect to the foreigners. The Commission has done three things: 1. It has developed a hous- ing program based upon carefully prepared plans with many maps and pic- tures designed by an expert architect and city planner. It has exhibited these plans, together with material collected from other cities and states in different parts of the country, in various communities throughout the State. This is a concrete way to present bad housing conditions and to demonstrate the importance of good housing. 2. This board has also drawn up careful statements of what the stand- ard of town-planning and home-building for California communities should be. The Commission stated its willingness to send detailed plans to any city interested to improve conditions within its limits. It will also furnish, without cost to the community itself, an expert on housing and town-plan- ning who will co-operate with the city in planning improvements. Two im- portant pamphlets on these subjects designed to educate the people to the . need for such efforts are (1) An A B C of Housing, and (2) A Plan for a Housing Survey. 3. Labor camp inspection is another phase of the Commission's work. This concerns principally the seasonal and migratory worker in camps. In- vestigations of these laborers have shown them to be rather badly treated and neglected. They are poorly fed, badly housed ; in general there is no great care taken to protect them from conditions that menace their health. The Oklahoma Home Ownership Law. In this State a law was passed in 1915 which permits "the Commission- ers of the Land Office to invest money from the sale of State Educational Institution lands in loans not exceeding $2,000 to any individual or family to build a home or pay off a mortgage on one. Land to twice the value of the loan must be owned by the borrower and 4 per cent of the face value of the loan must be paid semi-annually. Out of this 6 per cent is taken on the unpaid balance, the remainder going to reduce the principal. The debt is extinguished in 23^ years." "The total number of loans made in the Home Ownership division at the close of business, February 28, 1918 was 215, aggregating $253,800, outstanding $237,431.37, invested in other securities (authorized by this same law) $764,000." 50 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA It is too early yet to predict whether this plan will help people own homes on a large scale. It is chiefly of interest as another example of the point of view that the state should undertake to provide aid of this sort. Housing War Workers by the Federal Government. While this plan was occasioned by a tremendous war emergency, namely, to find living quarters for thousands of war workers in the great ship yards, ordnance plants and government war offices, still it is another example of the possibilities of government aid in providing houses for the wage earner. When the armistice was signed (November 1918) 89 of these housing pro- jects were under way. In March 1919 the Housing Corporation was authorized by Congress to complete 25 of them. They include 5624 single family dwellings besides dormitories and apartments. Miss Edith Wood, a specialist of the problem, says by way of summary concerning this govern- ment housing, **It is altogether too soon to appraise the effect of the gov- ernment war housing projects either on American housing standards, or on our housing policies. It can hardly fail to be large. It may prove decisive." Some Industrial Employers Build Houses for Their Employees. In Some Cases the Houses so Built Have Been Very Bad. Another important method for providing housing, largely for the work- ing people, is the building and renting of houses by employers. Why is the employer willing to undertake this task? He feels that it is necessary in order to maintain his labor force. In industries like coal-mining and steel- making employees often cannot find places to live. Sometimes the manag- ers of industrial concerns feel that such efforts pay because the men are more contented and are more loyal to the company. Some of the earlier attempts of the employers to provide these houses were very bad. Dreary rows of boarding and lodging houses without sani- tary facilities and without the barest conveniences were in most cases found to be typical. Fortunately, these conditions are changing. Companies are looking in a more sympathetic way toward increasing the prosperity and welfare of their employees. Here is an illustration : "One superintendent in a very isolated mining town in Pennsyl- vania remarked 'that the time is gone when it is possible to pack foreigners in boxes for houses; we supply them with clean home- like quarters, for neatness tends to cheerfulness and contentment of employees.' " Some idea of the scope of this method of housing may be gained from Table I. THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 51 Table I. Showing the number of companies and number of employees housed in various types of industries. a M-l O (« v ° S O cn o S Industry J3 TO i.1 ^ o i| |2 -Q O OJ Z g Ig Z OJ = S Z OJ zl^ Bituminous coal mining 64 163 102,843 62,748 61.0 Anthracite coal mining 24 104 90,608 20,660 22.8 Iron mining 13 36 6,930 2,252 32.5 Iron and steel and allied Industries 28 33 120,084 21,555 17.9 Manufacture of explo- sives 2 5 28,777 10,840 37.7 Textile manufacture 54 54 46,367 27,336 59.1 Miscellaneous industries 17 17 56,020 11,107 19.8 A report of the Massachusetts Commission says of industrial housing that vi^hile there are creditable instances of employers providing decent houses for their employees, experience has convinced the various groups — employer, employee, and the general public — that it is not wise for the em- ployers to be also the landlords of the community. The best example of this is the city of Pullman, Illinois. Mr. Pullman, of the Pullman Car Com- pany, built a whole town where his factory was located some twenty miles south of Chicago. He built the streets, laid out the sewers, provided the water mains, and lights, erected the schools, churches and even a library, be- sides the homes for his workmen. Three to five room flats, clean, sanitary and well ventilated, rented from $8 to $90 a month. Single family houses rented for from $15 to $20 a month. But the plan did not work well. Pull- man workmen said it was paternalism. They objected to eating, sleeping, working, and going to school and to church with the company. They also claimed that their individual liberty was restricted. For example, they felt that it prevented any effort toward trade unionism and collective bargaining. In Massachusetts 122 of the 1217 manufacturers investigated reported that they furnished either board or houses for their employees. Thirteen said that they had to do it as there were no other houses available. Only five of the 122 made such a condition of employment. Is Your Community Like This? If so. What Should Be Done About it? Here are summaries of housing surveys in three different industries.^ 1 These surveys were made by agents of the United States Department of Labor. O.OFrU. UB. U. OF ILL LIB. 52 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Example I. Housing by employers in the bituminous coal region of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The survey in this region showed : 1. 32 companies with 114 establishments. 2. 61% of their employees housed by the companies. 3. Conditions of living: a. Uniform, dreary houses. b. Dirt streets, no sidewalks. c. Piped water to homes and sanitary facilities infrequent. d. Room around houses for gardens. e. Trees, lawns, and beautifying elements are lacking. 4. Types of houses : a. Of ll;7ll houses 63.1% w^ere double or semi-detached types of houses; 33.2% were single houses; 3.7% were multiple row houses. b. Houses in these communities were not built warm enough. c. No wall paper as a rule. 5. Rent: $1.00 to $2.50 per month per room. 6. Improvements: On 10,119 houses reported 2.4% of the houses have bathrooms 2.9% of the houses have running water 47.9% have gas and electric light. 7. Return on income on the property: About 3% on the investment. Are conditions like these in your community? What can you do about it? Example H. Housing by Employers in Southern Cotton Mill Villages A Survey here showed : 1. 48 southern cotton mills investigated. 2. 71% of the employees were housed by the companies (25,289 out of a total of 35,643). 3. Type of town: a. Rows of small houses of the same design and size. b. Streets unimproved, no trees, muddy much of the time. c. Houses clustered around the mills. THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 53 4. Type of houses: a. Almost all frame houses. b. Four rooms as a rule (43.2%) ; Three rooms (20%). 5. Rents: (returns on 10,609 houses) a. Monthh^ rental of 25% is less than $3.00 b. " ' " 28% is $3. to $4.00 c. " " " 27% is $4.00 to $5.00 d. " " " 80% is less than $5.00 6. Improvements (returns on 10,197) a. 62% used hydrants as water supply 20% used wells as water supply 24% had water in home as water supply 6% had more than one of these sources of supply b. 4% reported bathtubs c. 41.3% had gas and electric light. . 7. Maintenance: a. Homes kept in repair according to reports. b. Garbage collected as a rule according to reports. c. Gardens common. 8. Return or income from the property: a. About 4.4% on the investment, the companies assert. Example III. Housing by Employers in the Iron and Steel Towns of the North. The Survey in this region revealed : 1. 9 communities surveyed. 2. 5,528 employees out of 45,075 are housed by the companies. 3. 1,882 dwellings included in the investigation. 4. Type of town: In these industries the survey found all kinds of towns from high class communities laid out according to town-planning principles to undeveloped neglected communities. 5. Tj^pe of houses: a. 4-6 room buildings. b. Semi-detached buildings in many cases. 6. Rents: They ranged from 16.4%, at a rent of $6 or $7 a month or under, to 14.3% at a rent of $18.00 a month and over. (Note: the fact that there are more skilled workers in these industries explains the ability of a considerable group to pay $18.00 a month and over for rent.) 54 TOWN AND CITY LIVE IN AMIiRICA 7. Modern improvements: (5,722 houses surveyed) a. 50.4% have electricity. b. 74.3% " running water inside the house. c. 39.5 %i " bath-tub, gas, electricity. d. But 24. 6/^^ report that there are no modern conveniences. 8. Maintenance : a. Only two of the twenty-five companies reported concern- ing maintenance. Their reports mentioned (a) repairs; (b) street cleaning; and (c) garbage collection as mat- ters they gave attention to. 9. Return or income from the property: a. Here the return was simply the gross income which was 8.3%. This does not allow for repair, taxes, insurance, etc. Probably the net return deducting these items would be about 4 to 5%. What general conclusion can you make concerning industrial housing by employers on each of the following items: a. Per cent of wage earners housed by employers. b. Type of towns where industrial housing is prevalent. c. Types of company houses. d. Average rent per month. e. Modern conveniences (water, bath, lights, etc.) f. Net return or profit from rentals. To Solve the Problem of City Housing — Some People Have Proposed The Garden City As factories accumulate and cities grow larger workers must either live in tenements near their work or travel a very long distance on trains or buses. Railroad fares get larger in amount as the time and distance of travel be- tween the w^orker's home and his work become greater. In our larger cities right now workers spend from an hour to an hour and a half going to work and as much more time returning from it each day! So you see it is almost impossible for a worker to live in suburban districts and work in the heart of a great city. On the other hand, the awakening conscience of our people will not tolerate the congestion and poor housing that has been so common in cities in the past. What shall be done about it? Many proposals are being made. Most of them agree that THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 55 Manutacturing must be taken Out of the Largest cities. Worker and factory must be fairly close together, but the worker ?nust have land. Thinking people want to unite the attractions of the country and the city. One of the most constructive experiments that has been tried out is that of THE GARDEN CITY. About thirty years ago, Mr. Ebenezer Howard an Englishman, wrote a book called Garden Cities of Tomorrow in which -he outlined a plan for building up smaller communities around industries where land was cheap so that each worker could have a little land of his own. The scheme not only aimed at better housing but also at providing all the advantages of the attractive small community — ^schools, stores, churches, libraries, recreational facilities and amusements. He was inter- ested in the problem of how to give community life, both urban and rural, the physical situation and the intimate neighborhood relationship which is found in so many suburban communities today. A "garden city association" was organized. As a result of its ef¥orts one model garden city was built — at Letchworth, England. The principles on which this garden city was laid out are interesting. They involved : 1. Fewer houses to the acre — a maximum of twelve. 2. Provision for gardens where people might produce vegetables, fruits, etc. 3. Lawns where old and young might enjoy fresh air and sunshine. 4. A community life sufficiently varied and interesting to satisfy the normal craving for society. In developing the estate these principles were carried out : 1. The number of houses per acre are limited; not more than 12, except in the case of shops. The factory area is separate from residential areas and is so placed and designed as to provide every convenience for transport and handling of goods. 2. The town is surrounded by a belt of agricultural land to be per- manently kept free from town development. 3. The community retains for itself the increase in land values after the return of 5 per cent to the shareholders and all proper reserves have been provided for. "As the company had to create a city where none was before, the ex- penses of development have naturally been heavy. It had to make roads, provide water-works and mains, gas-works, electric power and light; it also had to build offices and other buildings. Buildings of a capital value of $300,000 have been erected, or are in course of erection. Among these 56 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA are forty-nine factories and workshops, two public halls, fifty-two shops, various churches and clubs. At the end of 1911 there were 1,679 buildings on the estate. The population is about 8,000. In 1911 the Garden City for the first time made a small profit, and its success as a business project seems now to be assured. "The health of the community is extremely good. The death rate is something like half of the average for England, and less than one-fourth that of the old manufacturing cities. Infantile mortality is correspondingly low. "Although I was not greatly impressed by the cheapest kind of work- men's cottages ajt Letchworth — they looked rather flimsy and cramped — yet on the w^hole the standard of housing was very high, and the rentals very moderate. The general environment, moreover, is infinitely more cheerful than that which usually falls to the lot of the working classes. But the population of Letchworth is just as varied as that of any other town. It has its factory and factory workers, its shops, its business and professional men, and a number of people of means who prefer the semi-rural life to life in packed cities. Many of the houses and grounds are very beautiful. It was in winter when I saw them. In spring and summer Letchworth must be truly a garden city. "The first garden city has in one decade exercised a world-wide influ- ence, and the housing principles which it followed have been adopted in al- most every civilized country." As an example of constructive housing efforts the garden city plan is im- portant. It has been influential in bettering housing conditions. Employers of labor in England have built Port Sunlight near Liverpool, Bourneville near Birmingham, and other similar communities modeled after Letchworth. Co-partnership and private real estate companies have also been stifnulated to develop communities along the lines laid down by Mr. Howard and his garden city associates. Some evidence on the results of these constructive housing efforts. 1. Death rate in London County Council buildings 1911-12 was 8.5 per 1000 2. " " " entire city of London 1911-12 " 15.0 per 1000 3. " " " Port Sunlight 1900-1907 " 9.8 per 1000 4. " " " Bourneville 1901-1905 " 7.3 per 1000 5. " " " England and Wales " 15.7 per 1000 Nos. 1, 3, and 4 are fur model housing plans. Compare them with Nos. 2 and 5. Most convincing is the evidence in Liverpool. It is claimed in general that lower death rates in these "model tenements" are due to the fact that they attract a better class of tenants. But in Liverpool the poorest class of THE HOUSES PEOPLE LIVE IN 57 tenants were permitted to move into the new homes built by the city. Here, then, we have identical groups of people. The building is the only new fac- tor. After the group moved into the new buildings, the death rate fell fifty per cent. The same rate of improvement holds true concerning habits of cleanliness and good order. In one area in 1901 there were 170 arrests, in 1912 there were only 52. Table II Shows the influence of better homes on the heights and weights of boys in all Liverpool and Port Sunlight schools.^ Boys — Aged 7 Boys — Aged 11 Boys — Aged 14 Height inches Weight pounds Height inches Weight pounds Height inches Weight pounds Liverpool Schools Port Sunlight Schools 44.3 47.0 43.0 50.5 51.8 57.0 59.0 79.5 56.2 62.2 75.8 108.0 Difference 2.7 7.5 6.2 20.5 6.0 32.2 Other figures show the same general effect of dark rooms, no ventila- tion, insanitation, overcrowding, filth and delapidation in homes. Now Organize a Survey of Housing in Your Own Community Of all the aspects of a community's life no one is more important than its housing and its provisions for recreation. Now that you have studied the situation as it is in other places organize a survey of the problem for your own community. Very likely you will wish to have the whole class work on the survey, perhaps dividing the group up into committees. CLASS EXERCISE 1. Prepare a blackboard list of things that the citizens of a community should include in planning civic improvement. 2. Make a list of rules that a city should insist upon in housing. 3. What can a city do to provide for the recreation of its citizens? 4. What can be done to make cities more attractive? Find other examples besides those mentioned in this section. Suggested Questions and Topics A. Housing: 1. Take two districts about two or three blocks square, one in an attrac- tive residential part of town, the other in the factory district. Compare them for (a) Appearance of the houses. (Are they in good repair, attractive, clean ? ) 1 Woods, Edith: "Housing the Unskilled Worker," page 160. 58 •JOWN AND CITY LIFIt IN AMHRICA (b) TyP^' houses. (One-family, two-family, tenement?) (c) The number of people per block. ( I^stimate this as closely as pos- sible.) (d) Provision for ventilation. (Are there dark rooms? How much space is there between houses?) (e) Are there playgrounds or parks in the neighborhood? (f) Are the streets kept clean and in repair? (g) Are the streets shaded ? (h) Are there evidences of an unclean neighborhood (trash, dump- heaps, swamps, bad odors, bill-boards, buildings falling to pieces, etc.) ? (i) What are the provisions of the housing laws governing each district? 2. Draw a rough map of these districts, indicating by various symbols such as crosses, circles, etc., attractive blocks and homes, unclean or unattrac- tive blocks, houses in poor shape, etc. Indicate public buildings, fac- tories, stores, theatres, schools, churches, parks, streets, (whether paved or not) railroads, (electric and steam) ponds, rivers and bridges. B. Parks and Playgrounds, Recreation, and Civic Beautification : 1. How many parks and playgrounds has your city? Are they located so that citizens in all parts of the city are near some park or playground ? 2. Inspect them; estimate how many people are using them, r 3. Does your city employ playground supervisors? What do they do? 4. What band concerts, pageants, civic holidays, etc. does your community have ? 5. What other recreational facilities do people in your city have ? 6. Take a survey in your class as to what your classmates do for amuse- ments. What per cent, play baseball? basket ball? tennis? How many skate? How many belong to boy scouts, girl scouts, other clubs? How many go to the movies ? How often each week or month ? How many read books? How many books a week or a month? Have them list other forms of amusement. 7. Find out and list in your survey any examples of attempts to beautify the district or the city. These include: tree planting, "cleaning-up" cam- paigns, planting shrubs and grass on parkways, boulevards, and around public buildings, replacing ugly bridges with attractive ones. C. City Planning: 1. Find out if your city has made plans for its future growth and develop- ment. List the most important plans it has to make the city more attractive. 2. See if you can discover any ways in which the city could be improved by planning. For example, are there sections of the city that need better transportation, more parks, schools, better fire protection, etc? / 60 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN aIvIERICA 3. Does your city have what is called a "Zoning" law, — that is, does it restrict factories to a certain area, and homes to certain areas? Find out how the law works. 4. Could streets be re-located so that the appearance of the city would be improved ? How ? TEST 1. Complete the following sentences: 1. 2. 'A 3. The group of workers in the United States who ar{ ; suffering from poor housing 4. Poor houses affect those who live in thenn in the fol lowing ways : 5. Two ways of providing better housing conditions £ (2) re: (1) 6. The work of the Town Planning Boards consists ( >f 7. In order to secure better housing conditions Massachusetts is. 8. Workmen object to houses furnished by their employers for the following reas- ons: 9. Sixty-one percent of the workers in the bituminous coal regions are housed by the companies. These houses are '. (describe them.) 10. The owners of the cotton mills in the South house 71% of their employees. These houses are (describe them). 11. Experiments in better housing conducted in England (for example Port Sunlight and Bourneville,) have proved (1) that the of the community improves. (2) that the of the com- munity 12. The problem of housing concerns the unskilled age-earner principally be- cause J 13. The California Commission on Immigration and Housing has done the following to meet the need for better housing II. A. Our unskilled wage-earners are largely (Check the groups which represent a high percentage of such workers.) : 1. Negroes. 2. Native whites. 3. Foreign-born whites. ' " 4. Native whites of foreign-born or mixed parentage. B. Check the group which comprises the majority of the workers in America : 1. Skilled trades. 2. Professional work. 3. Unskilled trades. C. The unskilled wage-earner is able to buy | | v cross out the untrue one) for his wages today than in 1914. TEST 61 III. Write a T before statements that are true and an F before those that are false. 1. 1 — The unskilled workers in the United States earn enough to afford houses / which meet the proper standards for light, sanitation, and attractiveness. 2. — -^^ — It is only in our large cities that bad housing conditions are found. 3. ■ — The condition of a city's housing affects the death rate in that city. 4. Single-family houses are usually better homes than flats in crowded tene- ments. 5. Housing conditions in Washington, D. C. are very superior and should serve as a model for the country. 6. One-third of the people in the United States are living in houses that are neither comfortable nor healthy. 7. Communities have always been alive to the needs for better housing of their citizens. 8. The Federal Government built living quarters for War workers 1917- 1919. 9. Employers have always realized the need for attraictive, healthful homes for their workers. Reading List . V , BE SURE TO USE THE BOOKS LISTED IN SECTION V Bridgeport, Connecticut Chamber of Commerce: More Houses for Bridgeport, American City, 87 Nassau Street, New York, 1916. Cleveland, Public Welfare, Department of Investigation of Housing. Conditions of Cleveland's Workingmen. 1914. A pamphlet. Mall, E. R. : Report on Housing Conditions in the Oranges. Woman's Club, Civic Committee. Prospect and Welham Streets, East Orange, New Jersey, 1915. A pamphlet. Headley, M. Study of Housing Conditions. New York Department of Health, Al- bany, New York. A pamphlet. Hill, O. : Life of Octavia Hill as Told in Her Letters. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1913. Ihlder, J.: City Housing — Past and Future. National Housing Association, 1915. A Pamphlet. Plan for the building of Sanitary Houses for Workingmen. Octavia Hill Associ- tion, 613 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1916. Pam- phlet. Smythe, W. E. : City Homes on Country Lanes. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1921. White, J. H.: Houses for Mining Towns. United States Department of Mines. Supt. of Documents, 1914. A pamphlet. Write to the Chamber of Commerce of any one of the following cities, asking for material on their housing problem and how they are meeting it : Akron, Ohio Detroit, Mich. Hamilton, Ohio Jersey City, N. J. Berkeley, Cal. Boston, Mass. San Francisco, Cal. Pittsburgh, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio Providence, R. I. 62 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA The following is a suggestive list of magazine references on your prob- lems. Look through the magazines in your school or public library. You will find your best material there. Janesville housing plan. American City. 20:481-3, May 1919. North Dakota provides state aid for housing. American City, 21:569-71, Decem- ber 1919. Connmunity values in government housing. American City, 22:1-7, January 1920. Urgent need for a federal bureau of housing and living conditions in the De- partment of Labor. American City, 22:222-3, March 1920. Portland, Indiana plan of Solving the Housing Problem. American City, 23:65, July, 1920. America's housing need and how to meet it. American City, 23 :26-30, July 1920. State and municipal aid for housing. American City, 23 :463, November 1920. Lessons to be learned from Bridgeport's experiment in housing. American City, 24:451-5, May, 1921. Revolution in housing. Current History Magazine, Neiv York Times 15:903-9, March, 1922. Belgium's housing methods. Current History Magazine, Neiv York Times, 15:909-10, March 1922. Garden villages of France and Belgium. Current History Magazine, Neiv York Times, 16:962-8, September 1922. Why and how long America must suffer a scarcity of buildings? Current Opin- ion 68:839-40, June, 1920. Better homes in America. Delineator 101:16-17, October 1922. Homes for our people. Ladies' Home Journal 37:39, February 1920. Who will build five million homes? Literary Digest 66:17-18, August 28, 1920. Government duty in the housing crisis. Literary Digest 67:20, October 23, 1920. How to meet the shortage of homes. Literary Digest 69:7-9, April 9, 1921. Cities built by a French railroad. Literary Digest 74:23, August 12, 1922. What housing shortage means. Nation 111:261, September 4, 1920. Case of government housing. Neuj Republic 17:335-7, January 18, 1919. Buying up slums. Outlook 127:142-4, January 26, 1921. National housing problem. Remeiv of Revieivs 60: 212-13, August 1919. Government hotels for women. Re'vieiv of Remeivs 60:603-8, December 1919. War-time housing and the government. Revieiv of Remeuus 60: 597-8, Decem- ber 1919. Yorkship Village. Remew of Revieivs 60: 599-602, December 1919. Are we solving the housing problem? Review of Reviews 65: 517-25, May 1922. Government housing in Argentina. Review of Reviews 66:177-180, August 1922. Wanted, Ten Million Houses! Saturday Evening Post 192:23, May 8, 1920. Funds for Housing. Saturday Evening Post 194:20, July 30, 1921. Government's model villages. Survey 41:585-92, February 1, 1919. Housing and home loans — necessity of Continuing the Bureau of Industrial Housing and Transportation. Survey 42: 407-8, June 7, 1919. Getting the poorest into decent homes. Survey 42: 575-6, July 12, 1919. Houses for working women. Survey 45: 570-1, January 15, 1921. Cities of peace. Survey 48:611, August 15, 1922. New houses for old: Wellington Home Foundation. Survey 49: 363-70, De- cember 15, 1922. Housing by employers in the United States. United States Bureau of Labor Bul- letin 263, 1920. SECTION VIII WHAT MAKES A HEALTHY COMMUNITY? 64 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA "Almost every boy wants to be the strong man of the circus or the daredevil of the movies; almost every girl the Circassian Queen who rides three horses bareback and leaps so nimbly through the paper-filled hoops." A Trip through Healthland What do you think the artist who drew the picture of Healthland was trying to portray? Was that just an interesting picture to arouse your cuYi- osity and make you smile? Smiling you probably are, as you look at it. Think of such stations on a railway as "Hot Soup Springs," and "Long Sleep Mountain," and "Drinkwater" and "Spinach Green." Yet these were actual stations on an actual miniature railway in St. Paul, Minn, in the month of October, 1922. How could that be? Why, a National Dairy Show was held at that time in a great building at St. Paul, and one of the most astonishing of the exhibits was the Healthland exhibit shown in the picture. "People interested just in health!" you exclaim. Yes, just in health. To interest thousands, hundreds of thousands — even millions of healthy boys and girls as the idea spreads over the country — the exhibitors went to great expense and trouble to make the Healthland Exhibit. 27,000 persons — parents, teachers, and children — crowded to the exhibit in one day. All the week there were such crowds that from time to time the doors had to be closed and the hall cleared to make room for clamoring new arrivals. "Granted the why of child health education, the St. Paul Healthland set a new highwater mark for the how. Conceived by the famous health clown 'Happy,' Clifford Goldsmith of the Child Health Organization, executed by Martin Jenter of Mount Vernon, New York, and made possible by the generosity of the National Dairy Council, Healthland became a real village, covering acres, in the great building which had aroused St. Paul's county fairs. " 'The Smiles Come Out of the IMilk Bottle,' " declared the legend on the side of one of the swaying lanterns that twinkled everywhere among real trees. But so did something else. For the milk bottle was a great turret with a winding staircase inside, and from its top a steady line of laughing children tumbled unceasingly down a playground slide. From the radio loud-speaker came such gems as Tor a good complexion apply one apple to the face daily and rub in until it disappears' or 'Try our cow's vanishing cream.' When you visited the radio station itself, you found the set made of carrots and beets and string beans, for it was through them that the power came. "Through the midst of Healthland, past Prune Bridge and the Vege- table House with its picket fence of string beans, ran the Healthland Rail- THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY 65 way, its ticket offices as besieged by travellers as the Grand Central on the Fourth of July. And the ticket? A regular, printed ticket form, but it said: 'My Name is ' 'I weigh ' 'But I Should Weigh \ University students, and members of the practice work in home economics courses, and members of the women's clubs cooperated with the members of the Child Health Organization, who ran the railway, in weigh- ing the children and filling in the tickets which enabled them to ride. Each child had to give his 'number' — what he should weigh for his age and height — when he entered the train."^ Do Children Who Have been Trained in Health Habits Become Healthier? Why so much uproar about health? Does it do any good to talk so much about it? To have great exhibits about it? Can it be shown that teaching children the value of health habits really results in better health? Does it pay to take better care of the water supply of a city to protect the food, to "swat-the-fly," and so on? It certainly does. Here is some evi- dence : "New proof of the returns on even a small investment in health edu- cation have been brought forward recently by C. E. Turner, Professor of Biology and Public Health at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writing in The Nation's Health on his experiments at Somerville and Mai- den, Massachusetts. In certain classes definite health instruction was given, in no case for more than one hour a week, supplemented to a certain extent by a health emphasis in other school work, while in similar groups no health instruction was given. At Somerville only one child of thirty-nine, who received the instruction, failed to make a normal growth ; in two control groups of the same size [in which instruction was given], nine and sixteen, respectively, did not achieve it. At Maiden nearly 50 per cent of a group of 247 children, underweight for their age, were distinctly nearer the normal after four months of teaching. In a similar group of 141 who received no training, only 26 per cent came nearer to standard during the same period. The work was non-medical and non-technical, accomplished by talks on health habits, and the keeping of habit and growth records and of health scrap-books."^ Examples of Improvement in the Health of Human Beings Every year in America 40,000 of our people have typhoid fever, and more than 5,000 of them die from it. Why? Largely because the water supply or the milk supply is polluted. Until thirty or forty years ago most 1 The Survey, November 15, 1922. 66 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA 1913 J communities paid little attention to protection of milk and water. For ex- ample, it was common for a community to empty its sewage into a river from which another community took its water supply for drinking purposes. What happened? The water supply of the second town frequently be- came contaminated with typhoid germs and bad epidemics of the disease set in. Engineers who were studying the problem saw that the sewage must be disposed of in some other way. The improvement that soon came about in Chicago when this was done is shown in Fig. 12. 1895 In Chicago in 1895, 82 persons to every 100,000 died from typhoid fever, caused largely from emptying sewage into Lake Michigan and drawing the water sup- ply from the same source. In 1913 the number of persons who died from the fever were only 10 per 100,000. Between those dates all sewage had been taken by a drainage canal away from the Lake. Of course other preventive measures . have been taken as well, and Chicago's health is improv- FiG. \r To make the story still more emphatic, — in 1891 Chicago's death rate from typhoid was 174, in 1920 it was 1.1! In a similar way Milwaukee's water supply, which was taken from Lake Michigan, was polluted by per- mitting manufacturers to empty chemical waste into the Lake. Excellent examples are at hand of the way the health of human beings is being better safeguarded in these days than it was in earlier times. See how clearly the fact is brought out in the annual death rate from disease of American armies in the different wars our country has fought. Out of 1,000 Men Mexican War 110 Civil " (North) 65 Spanish " 26 World " 17 Another way to see the improvement that has come about slowly but surely is to compare the average length of life in the different centuries, say from 1500 to the present time. In a certain European City which has preserved its records all that time the average length of life was as follows : In the I500's 21 years " " 1600's 26 " " " I700's 34 " " " 1800's 40 THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY 67 Steadily as time has gone on people have learned how to protect life better and better. Population has been on a constant increase and the aver- age length of life has also increased. GETTING INDIVIDUALS AND THE COMMUNITY TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY FIRST : WHAT THE INDIVIDUAL SHOULD DO TO IMPROVE THE community's HEALTH If you are interested in athletics you probably score yourself often. Score yourself on this Health Score Card. People who have studied this matter of health a long time have come to certain conclusions as to what is good for us and what is not. Of course they may not have learned the very best things to do in all respects ; people are learning more every decade, and before you are an old man or woman much more will be known about health and how to get it than is known now. But in the score card on the next page, the things that people now think we ought to do to keep well have been brought together. A certain num- ber of points is given for each item. If you sleep in the open air or with all bedroom windows wide open give yourself 10 points. If you leave the windows open only half way give yourself less, say 5 points; if you sleep on a mattress with no feathers, 1 point ; with a small pillow, 1 point ; if you clean your teeth at least in the morning and at night 5 points. Go clear through the list in this fashion. If you do every one of the things listed, you earn 100 points! What would that mean? It would mean that you were now doing everything day and night that specialists think you should to keep yourself well. fBm f533 Kja rm^ mA R^a d^js ca3 eh \tim KEi Bia caa csa csa szca inro rar?i coa ca^ ni^a Fig. 131 Do you think that sleeping with windows open is a good thing for people ? Why ? lUsed by Andress, J. M., in "Health Education in Rural Schools." 68 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Are You a 100 Per Cent American in Health?^ How Much Can You Score? SCORE CARD TO MEASURE YOUR HEALTHi Sleeping in the open or with all bedroom windows open (screened in warm weather) 10 Mattress (no feathers) 1 Small pillow 1 Bed clothing aired 1 Rise regularly at seven or earlier 2 Light exercise on rising (five minutes) 2 Cold bath, unless ill 3 Hair brushed 25 times or more 2 Teeth cleaned at least morning and night . 5 Individual towel 2 Glass of water on rising 1 Hygienic Breakfast: Thorough chewing 2 At least one item from each of three classes of food. Class 1: fruit. Class 2: bread, cereal, baked potatoes. Class 3: eggs,; : bacon, milk, fish, cheese 3 No candy or other food bet^veen meals : 4 No active exercise for 20 minutes after hearty meal 3 Carry books at arms' length and change hands often \. 1 Get best possible light at school 'J^-l. 2 ^ Use fully 20 minutes for lunch. (Not 5 minutes eat and 40 run.)___ 3 Hygienic Lunch: <■ Thorough chewing . 2 At least one item from two classes. Class 1: bread and butter, crackers. Class 2: milk, soup, cold meat : 3 Two glasses of water in afternoon 2^;^ Vigorous exercise (tennis, baseball, running, etc.) 30 minutes .__ — 5 Rest 20 minutes before dinner . — 1 Hygienic Dinner: Attractive table, 1; chew well, 2; eat moderately, 2; at least one item from three classes, 5; Class 1, potatoes, bread, macaroni, rice; Class 2, soup, stew, roast, baked beans, cheese; Class 3, fruit, vegetables lO Study two hours (read if lessons are easy) 2 Light behind, above, and sufficient 2 Light exercise before retiring 2 Retire regularly before ten P. M. 10 Glass of water before retiring 2 Clean hands, face, and mouth before retiring 2 Hygienic clothing 2 Correct posture 3 Hands and finger nails kept clean 3 All meals at regular times (not to vary more than an hour) 2 100 Use of coffee or tea, deduct 2 per cent. Use of alcohol or tobacco, deduct 20 per cent. On your score card 10 points were given for sleeping with windows open. Perhaps this seemed a good many to give to this. If so, study Fig. 13. 1 From "American City," Vol. 18, page 222 THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY 69 second: What Should the Community do to Improve THE Community's Health? Examples of Health Standards and Conditions a City Ought to Work For. How Shall They be Gained ? First: An Attractive Well Kept Community Good pavements, sidewalks, shaded streets, gardens on vacant lots, and playground and parks should be provided. Fig. 141 iFrom Hutchinson, W. : Op. cit., Frontispiece. TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Second: Clean, Neat Homes Clean, attractive frame houses can be provided even for the poorer classes of citizens. Fig. 151 Third: Opportunity to Play Parks and open spaces for pleasure, rest, and play are absolutely necessary to maintain good health. Fig. 162 1 From Kenngott, G. F. : Op. cit., pag-e 62. 2 From Hutchinson, W. : Op. cit., page 25. THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY How Health Departments Are Trying to Educate THE Communities What do these posters do? Are they Effective? WARNING Pneumonia, consumption and other diseases are conveyed in spit. Please do not spit on the sidewalk or in other public places. It is against the law to do so. For each offense the penalty is a fine of one to five dollars and costs. Join the anti-spitting crusade. John Dill Robertson, Commissioner of Health. An Anti-Spitting Crusade in Chicago. HEALTH DEP'T "LIFE LINES" Become a fresh-air crank, even at the risk of being disliked. Better a live fresh- air crank than an almo^ lifeless hot-house invalid DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, CITY OF NEW YORK Fig. 171 1 "American City," Vol. 18, page 236. 72 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA ^LtaNTUWobH£flLTH-m i\fV Fig. 181 How THE City of Philadelphia Advertised its Clean-up Week MAiCE.OUR a-TT BRIGHTEPif APR! L 20th TO 25th GLEANING UP JXYS WAGONS WILL CARRY AWAY ALL RUBBISH ON f?EGULAR ASH COLLECTION DAYS - 4 (general Cjean-up 5P/CfS Everyb<%Hgip' Fig. 192 1 "American City," Vol. 18, page 236. 2 Cooke, M. L. : "Our Cities Awake," page 212. City, N. Y., 1918. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY Some Results of Philadelphia's Campaign Fig. 201 how PHILADELPHIA GUARDED THE HEALTH OF ITS CITIZENS BUREAU OF WATER Notice to Householders BOIL YOVR WATER Boil all water for drinking: purposes at least five minutes, until further notice. An accident compels the Bureau to supply this neighborhood with raw, unfiltered water. Typhoid fever is caused by taking typhoid germs into the body with food or drink. These germs are most generally carried by means of water, and this warning is given you that you may protect yourself and family by boiling all city water used for drinking and cooking until further notice. 1 Cooke, M. L.: Op. cit., page 212. 74 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA What a Newspaper wrote about the Services of One Health Commissioner By example and precept he has made people take an interest in hygiene and look after their health, and that was half the battle. His bulletins in the shadow of epidemics, like the influenza, were read by everybody. How to avoid in- fection and what to do before the doctor came, he dinned into the consciousness of the most careless. No precaution was too simple to be neglected in the Copeland propaganda. He talked, lectured, was in- terviewed, and after a while the whole country knew who was Health Commis- sioner in New York. He has told mothers how to bring up their children, and preached dieting to their husbands; he has attacked over- crowding in the slums and proposed so- lutions of the housing problem; he has insisted upon dentistry for the poor; he has denounced immigration abuses, and urged aid to the starving in European countries; he has called for cleaner res- taurants and urged that everybody who handles food for consumption shall be licensed ; he has inveighed against reck- less automobile driving on the east side; at Christmas time he has made appeals for gifts of toys and clothing for the chil- dren of the City's sanitarium at Otisville. Once, as Health Commissioner, he threat- ened to seize and operate the business of the dairy companies when their men were on strike.^ A City Exhibit is also Effective in Teaching the Citizens How to Promote Health A Municipal Health Exhibit at Dayton, Ohio Food Values Were Demonstrated by Charts, Pictures, and Lectures. Fig. 212 iFrom an editorial in The New York Times, February 2, 1923, concerning- the ■work of Dr. Royal S. Copeland, Health Commissioner in New York City. Dr. Cope- land was elected to the United States Senate in November, 1922. He has resigned the Health Commissionership, to take effect March 4, 1923. 2Rightor, C. E.: Op. cit., page 70. \ THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY 75 A Clean Dairy means Pure Milk. Daytonites were Taught by Models and Lectures to Demand the Proper Protection of the City's Milk Supply. Fig. 221 How the City Protects its Water Supply One of the most important things that each city must protect is the water that the people drink. Here are six things that a city does to see that the water that its citizens drink is pure. 1. The water is "aerated," — that is, all the water is run through pipes. These pipes have openings every five feet and pressure is applied so as to force the water to spurt up through the openings fifty feet into the air. In mixing with the air harmful orders, vegetable organisms, and gases are re- moved from the water. 2. Small quantities of alum mixed with the water remove the mud and clay. 3. Other harmful germs are removed by a chemical-chlorine put into the water. After these things are done the water is filtered, — that is, it is run over sand beds. Through this process all other impurities are removed. 5. The city employs chemists who analyze samples of the city water each day to see that it is free from harmful germs. 6. One other thing that the city has to guard against is the danger of people throwing refuse into the source of the water supply. Men are em- ployed to patrol city reservoirs to prevent this from happening. iRightor, C. E.: Op. cit., page 70. 76 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Make a survey of the water supply system of your community? Find out how many and which ones of the six safeguards listed your city uses to protect the water supply. How the City Protects its Milk Supply Have a section in your survey on this topic. Find some pictures, if you can, to show how the city has your milk in- spected before it is delivered. Illustrate other points also by pictures. If you write the milk companies, they will no doubt be glad to supply you with advertising material from which you can get the pictures you require. Make a Food Survey of Your City Does your city protect the food that goes to the people in the same way that it protects the water and milk supply ? Are there food inspectors? How many? What are their duties? See what kind of a survey you can make of this aspect of your community life. See if you can get records of food inspections made in your town. Here is the record of a food survey made by the health officers of one city. What One City Found When Health Officers Made a Food Survey Groceries and Markets Bakeries Wholesale fruit and produce Candy and Ice Cream Stores Drug Stores Number of stores inspected _ -147 Items found in "Good" condition 145 "Fair" condition _ _ 586 17 132 77 22 5 31 24 2 5 24 11 2 44 333 141 11 Refrigerator food in "Good" condition 66 9 4 4 Exposed goods Bad — 4 3 Food Screened Fair _ _____ _ 5 Poor 1 Not Screened _ _ _ _ _____ 25 1 Flies Present Many _ — _ _ 10 Some - - 9 Few - 10 None 4 THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY 77 The Health of the children in a city must be safeguarded ; many- cities hire doctors and nurses to make frequent examin- ations of all pupils in school. In such places either doctor or nurse visits every school every day. Fig. 231 The work of doctors and nurses in examining school children is import- ant. Surveys show that children from fine homes need such examinations as much as children from poor families. The next table lists physical de- fects found in a school situated in a district where there are excellent homes and where good medical service is available. The next table shows the number and kinds of defects found in 55 children who were examined. They are serious handicaps tut could easily be corrected. Table IIP 55 children examined Per cent, of total number Defects No. Children of children examined Eyes 5 9.1 % Hearing 2 3.6% Breathing 44 80.0% Teeth 50 90.9% Other 5 9.1 % Total 130 Defect per child 2.4% lAyres, L. P. and May: "Health Work in Public Schools," page 20. Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, 1915. 2 Schneider, F.; Op. cit., page 68. 78 TOWN AND CITY LlFli IN AMIiRlCA Is the health of the people of your community endangered in summer by flies? Do you have many flies in your town? Do your restaurants buzz with them? Is the meat in your markets covered with them? Do they infest your bakeries? For more than a generation our people have known that serious diseases are spread by flies. In several states "fly weeks" have been appointed in the spring. The Governor, the educational authorities, and the health authori- ties have joined hands to exterminate the fly. In such "weeks" villages, towns, and cities hold rousing meetings. Exhibits are arranged showing the dangers incurred by letting the flies live. Contests are held to see who can kill the most flies. All the people go into their attics and kill the flies that have been breeding in warm places through the winter. This is a particu- larly easy way to rid the town of flies. In the schools contests are held to see who can write the best composi- tion about the dangers of flies and the best ways of getting rid of them. The next quotation provides an excellent illustration of what can be done by pupils. Prize Composition Written by an Eleven Year Old Girl ^ why is the house-fly dangerous? ^ "Won't you come into my parlor?" says the spider to the fly. "No," says the fly to the spider, "I will bring you all kinds of diseases such as typhoid fever and tuberculosis." "Well, I'll take the risk," says the spider. "No, 111 not come in, but, if you will listen, I will tell you my history, and then I am sure you'll not want me," replied the fly. "Well, my mother told me this much. She said I came out of a little egg laid with many others in a manure pile. . . . "I always lay my eggs in manure or other filth. The people are screen- ing it and burning it and burying it. They try to kill us by carbolic acid and sticky fly-paper where so many of my friends have ended their days. "People have some stuff, too, that they put in water and put in their bedrooms. They call it formalin, but I keep away from it, as it is sure death. "The worst trouble I have is where the people screen their houses and keep their yards clean so we can't get anything to eat. "Our worst danger is not the carbolic acid or fly-paper and such things, though, for after we are once hatched they can never kill us all off, but if THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY 79 they start out to destroy our breeding-places, the manure pile and other filth, we will soon be gone from the earth. I hope men will never find that out, but I fear they will some day."^ Have you ever used the "fly catechism" in your school? It tells very clearly indeed the dangers of the house-fly. FLY CATECHISM^ 1. Where is the Fly born? In manure and filth. 2. Where does the Fly live? In all kinds of filth and he carries filth on his feet and wings. 3. Where does the Fly go when he leaves the manure pile, the privy V vault, and the spittoon? He goes into the kitchen, the dining-room, and c the store. 4. What does the Fly do there? He walks on the bread, fruit, and ^ vegetables ; he wipes his feet on the butter and he bathes in the milk. 5. Does the Fly visit patients sick with consumption, typhoid fever, and cholera infantum? He does and he may call on you next carrying the in- fection of these diseases. ^ 6. What diseases does the Fly carry? Typhoid fever, consumption, ; diarrhoeal diseases, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and in fact any communicable viJ^ disease. ^ 7. How can the Fly be prevented? By destroying all the filth about ^ your premises ; screen the privy vault ; cover the manure bin ; burn all waste matter; destroy your garbage; screen your house. Either man must kill the fly or the fly will kill man. Prevent the fly. Now that you have completed this preliminary study of the way com- munities try to guard the health of their people, organize a health survey of your own town. Appoint a committee to draw up a plan for the survey. To do that each pupil ought to do some more reading on the problem. For the names of books refer back to pages 27 and 28 and find the ones that have to do with "health." In doing this reading and in planning your survey have in mind such points as the following: A. GENERAL 1. Examples of the work of the city health department such as inspec- tion. 2. Average death rate per 1000 population in American cities. What percent of the deaths are infants under one year? Ways in which a city may cut down its death rate. 1 Quoted from Andress, J. M.: "Health and Education in Rural Schools," page 163. 80 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA 3. What does the city do to make certain that its water supply is pure? 4. How does the community protect the food that the people eat? 5. Have in mind that poor housing and living conditions threaten the health of the city. 6. What is done to safeguard the health of pupils in schools? 7. Make a list of at least ten health standards that each city ought to insist upon. (Check these when you investigate your own community. How well does your city measure up to them?) B. AMOUNT OF SICKNESS 1. Find out from the city health officers or city health reports the chief kinds of illness in your community. 2. Find out if there have been any serious epidemics of influenza, small pox, typhoid fever, etc. Have the causes of these epidemics been remedied? How? 3. Find out the proportion of children in your school who are out on account of sickness in October, in January. C. WATER SUPPLY 1. Where does your city get its water — from wells? from lakes? or from rivers? 2. What is done to make certain that it is pure ? (Find out if the city has people employed to test the purity of the water supply.) 3. Find out if there are any families who depend for water on private wells; if possible, find out the conditions of some of these wells. D. FOOD SUPPLY 1. Does your city have milk and food inspectors? If so, find out about the work of these inspectors. (Interview such agents or get their reports.) 2. See if you can find any examples of good or bad conditions in respect to the sale of food. (Look for cleanliness in stores, and absence of dirt, flies, etc.) E. HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS 1. Walk through one of the better sections of your city and then visit a section where the housing is poor, (a) Estimate the number of people living per house in each district, (b) Are the houses in good repair? (c) Is there sufficient air and sunlight or are some of the rooms dark? (d) Is there yard space about the houses for play and air? (e) Are there disease- breeding conditions in the neighborhood? What ones? (f) Are there THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY 81 bad odors or noises in the neighborhood? (Get any other facts you can from your city health officials and his reports as to health conditions.) 2. Also notice the health conditions of the different sections of the city. Are the streets paved? Are they clean or filthy? Are they shaded with trees ? Is there park or playground space in the vicinity ? Are there places v\^here flies and mosquitoes could gather? 3. Does the city remove garbage and refuse? How? 4. Are there vacant lots with refuse on them ? F. PUBLIC BUILDINGS 1. Are public buildings kept clean? 2. Are theaters kept clean and ventilated? 3. Does any city official inspect such buildings? If so, with what re- sults ? G. SCHOOL HEALTH 1. Are school buildings kept clean? 2. Do you have a school doctor or nurse, or both? If so, what do they do? How does their work help you? 3. Are the seats in your class rooms adjustable to the heights of indiv- idual pupils? 4. Are the rooms well lighted ? 5. How large a playground do you have? Compute the space per pupil by estimating the number of square feet in your playground and dividing it by the number of pupils in your school. 6. Does your school have sanitary drinking fountains? H. HEALTH REGULATION IN FACTORIES 1. See if you can find out whether factories and stores have to obey any laws in respect to health. (Ventilation, light, cleanliness, etc.) If so^ find examples. 2. Find out if any factories employ doctors and nurses. If so, what do they do? To the Teacher: Much of this information can be gained from the reports of the city Board of Health; or if the pupils will prepare a short list of questions (about 10-15) they can probably get the answers to them in a personal interview at the office of the Board of Health, or from some interested doctor — possibly the school doctor. SECTION IX. WHAT THE POLICE FORCE DOES FOR US Is There Much Crime in Your Town? In the Cities of America There is an Enormous Amount of Crime "For the year 1920 Cleveland, with approximately 800,000 population, had six times as many murders as London, with 8,000,000 population. For every robbery or assault with intent to rob committed during this same period in London there were 17 such crimes committed in Cleveland. Cleve- land had as many murders during the first three months of the present year as London had during all oi 1920. Liverpool is about one and one- half times larger than Cleveland, and yet in 1919 Cleveland reported 31 robberies for each one reported in Liverpool, and three times the number of murders and manslaughters. Practically the same ratio holds between Cleveland and Glasgow. There are more robberies and assaults to rob in Cleveland every year than in all England, Scotland, and Wales put to- gether. In 1919 there were 2,327 automobiles stolen in Cleveland; in Lon- don there were 290; in Liverpool, 10."^ De we need police departments in our American communities. One has only to scan the headlines of the newspapers of any of our medi- um-sized or large cities to discover that such a community cannot exist without a police force. Murders, assaults, robbery, violations of motor laws, of street laws, disorderly conduct, peddling without a license, neglect of side-walks in front of one's property, misdemeanors and crimes of all sorts and kinds and of all degrees of enormity are set before the public in glaring type. Why so much more crime in America than in England? For several reasons, probably. Of course America is a much younger and more rapidly growing country. Cities have been springing up here at a rate unheard of in the modern world. No doubt when people crowd together at such start- ling rates as in the past century in this country misconduct is bound to be more general. New country though it is, however, there is one great reason why American cities have been such unsafe places to live in — the ineffici- ency of the police and the courts. Of the two it is hard to say which has 1 Criminal Justice in Cleveland: Reports of the Cleveland Foundation Survey of the Administration of Criminal Justice in Cleveland, Ohio, page 3. The Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. THE POLICE FORCE 85 been more at fault. Now we shall soon take up some typical examples to make clear the point that has been made. But first we must study a bit about the difficult conditions under which the policeman works. For the individual policeman we must have a great deal of consideration indeed. It is the system under which he works that we must be very critical of, and it is to the system, not the policeman, that our proposed changes for the better must be directed. What does the policeman *'on the beat" start when he makes an arrest ? "Whenever a policeman makes an arrest he starts the whole machine of law going. When the policeman says, 'My friend, you are under arrest,' he pushes a button that starts the machinery. "He opens the signal box, calls the station house, reports the arrest. The chauffeur of the patrol wagon puts out his pipe, cranks his engine, clangs his bell, rumbles out of the garage, rings his way up the street to the box where the officer and the dazed prisoner are waiting. Into the Black Maria [the prisoner] steps, down the street he whirls, into the station house he goes. There he goes before the high rail and gives to a gruff lieutenant his narrie^ address, occupation, and various other facts. Into a cell then, and he hears the ominous click of the lock as the doorman shuts him in. After a few hours' waiting the patrol wagon again gets into action and he goes to court. Here he is turned over to an entirely new machine and is taken in charge by the court officers. He stays in some sort of detention pen until his turn is reached ; probably one or two shyster lawyers symphathize with him and, for a suffi- cient emolument, tell him how easy it will be for them to clear him. Sud- denly he is haled before the judge and finds himself confronted again by the same policeman who took him into custody. The policeman's story is told; he tells his story. The judge holds him for trial before a higher court. "Behind the bars again, to stay there perhaps for months — perhaps more than a year, unless he manages to find someone who will go bail for him so that he can be free pending trial. Then the appearance before another judge, the impaneling of a jury, the consultations with his own lawyer, the impatience when he feels that his case is not being handled as well as it should be; the intricate legal machinery with judge, stenographer, court officers, jury, spectators. And then the trial ends, and the jury may dis- agree and he have to go through the whole thing again, or he may be joy- fully acquitted, or he may be found guilty and sentenced to go up the river for months or years. "All this machinery, all this drab sequence of events, was started, or was not started, according to the decision of the policeman on the post as to whether or not he should make the arrest. If he makes the arrest, the whole operation must follow. It is as inevitable as is the roast beef when the 84 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Steer first puts his nose inside the high gates of the packing-house; or as is the little motor car when the bar of steel first is swung into place in the big factory."^ Do you see what a responsibility the policeman has? Every day, hour after hour he has to be a "judge" as well as a patrolman. He is supposed to observe everything that goes on in the street, in the houses and buildings, noises, automobiles standing or passing — all the rigmarole of city streets and neighborhood life. And through it all he is supposed to know all the thousands of national, state, and municipal ordinances and to be able to ''judge" instantly whether there is a violation or not. Each year the state legislature passes many new laws applicable to the city which the policeman must know. Each year the city council grinds out new ordinances for him to enforce. And his decisions as to what law to enforce and how to enforce it has to be made in the hustle and bustle of the city out-of-doors, not in the quiet of a judge's study or a court room. "In the confusion of the scene or because of the puzzle of the point at issue a policeman may easily overstep his rights under the law, yet if he does so even by the fraction of an inch, 'even in the estimation of a hair,' he at once loses his immunity, becomes a plain ordinary citizen like the rest of us and is personally liable under either criminal or civil action like any other civilian. The law permits him, for instance, to use force, and all the force that is necessary in order to perform his legal duty, but he must be able to demonstrate that it actually was his duty, that force was needed, and that he did not use one ounce more than was absolutely necessary. A policeman is therefore apt to be cautious and to refrain from taking action if there is doubt. And there is often doubt. What should he do when he walks through the heart of the tenement district of the city on a sweltering August night and sees a pale, driven mother sleeping on a fire escape with her five children, trying to get a trace of a breath of fresh air which they could not find in their stuffy room? The law forbids this use of fire escapes; but the police- man will hardly have the heart to enforce the law by driving these unfortun- ate people into agony again. What is his 'duty' ?"^ What is the policeman's duty in this case? "Two excited men may come out of a hotel entrance, one, the hotel clerk, demanding that the officer ar- rest the other. 'If you don't arrest him I will see the Commissioner and have your shield taken away. This man tried to beat the hotel out of his bill, he tried to slip over a phony check on me.' " 'If you arrest me,' answers the other, 'I will sue you and stay with it till I've got your year's salary. There was nothing phony about that check. I just happened to let my account get overdrawn for a day or two.' 1 Woods, Arthur: "Policeman and Public," pages 41-43. Yale University Press, New Haven,' 1919. 2 Ibid., pages 28-29. THE POLICE FORCE 85 "Again, what is the policeman to do? If the man never had an account in the bank he would be guilty of larceny ; if, on the other hand, he had had an account and simply overdrew it, he would be guilty only of carelessness. But the policeman has no time to make an examination at the bank. He has to decide right then and there whether or not he will make the arrest."^ It is a difficult place to put one of our public servants in, isn't it? He learns to be cautious and to decide carefully what to do. And no wonder, for in a free country — in a democracy like ours — each citizen has certain lib- erties which he prizes very dearly. For more than a century America has marched steadily toward democracy, fighting decade by decade for certain fundamental liberties. These, her citizens feel, must not be encroached upon even by the policemen whom they help to hire. Here is a list of some of the more important liberties of all American citizens. 1. No person shall be held for a crime unless an official charge of the crime is presented by a grand jury. This charge is called an indictment. 2. In all criminal cases the accused person shall be entitled to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury in the district in which the crime was committed ; to be informed of the crime with which he is accused ; to hear the witnesses who are brought against him and to have the assistance of the Court in compelling witnesses who can testify in his favor to do so; and, if poor, to have lawyers to defend him without cost to himself. He cannot be compelled to testify against himself or be tried again for the same offense if once declared innocent of it. 3. Government officers may not search a citizen's home unless they have a paper called a "search warrant" signed by a judge, properly sworn to, that states that evidence of violation of law is in the home. 4. No person shall be deprived of his liberty, life, or property without a legal trial by our courts. 5. No law may be passed to interfere with the right to speak and write freely. Citizens have the right to worship God in any way they wish ; and to meet in groups to discuss things of interest to the group. 6. No person shall be imprisoned for debt. (This liberty was not estab- lished until the middle 1800's). 7. All elections shall be open without hindrance to all qualified citizens. 8. No law shall be passed which injures citizens for acts committed be- fore the law is passed. 9. A person accused of crime, except certain very serious ones, may be released "on bail" — that is, by some person of¥ering a sum of money fixed by our courts as a guarantee that he will appear for trial when called. 1 Woods, Arthur: Op. cit., pages 33-34. TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA To the Teacher: If you can arrange it, make an ex- cursion with the class to your local court roonn when simple cases are being tried. By all means discuss this plan with school and court officials. It may not be feas- ible to do this, but if it can be arranged, it will teach your class in a very effective way how your city protects its citizens, not only against those who violate the laws, but also how it protects accused persons against infringe- ment of the liberties that we as a people enjoy. Examples of efficiency and heroism on the part of policemen. So you see the police are faced with very great difficulties and very great responsibilities in a new democracy like ours. Here are some examples of their efficiency and heroism. "A number of years ago a Gamewell signal and alarm device was in- stalled in the Berkeley police station, and switchboard and automobiles work naturally together in police service, neither being capable of getting the best results without the other. Many things are gained by the com- bination, but chief among them is speed — that all-important factor in police work. . . . "From the alarm boxes on the street each patrolman reports to the central station once an hour. He calls his name and the number of the box, the location from which he calls being confirmed by a telegraphic tape which runs simultaneously with the indicator alarm box. The tape registers the number of the box and the hour and minute of the call, and the system keeps officers and sergeant in close touch. "Whenever a policeman is needed between calls, the desk officer presses an electric button, and on the street a red light flashes, so many times for the man in one district, so many times for one in another. In case of mur- der or other great crime, all the police lights of the city are turned on in a steady blaze, and in less than half a minute the men begin to call in — as swiftly, in fact, as they can motor to the nearest boxes and unlock them. This means of quick communication, coupled with the automobile service, makes it possible for the full force to be at work in an incredibly short space of time. "The first man to report may be sent speeding after the automobile in which the criminal is making his escape; the next may be assigned to cover the nearest street car to which the fleeing man might transfer himself ; others are sent to the scene of the crime itself. Even the inspectors use automo- biles, and finger-print men are on the scene while the finger-prints are fresh. Often the victim of the crime has his life saved by means of the first-aid outfit which every officer carries in his machine, and, if the injury be not too severe, the sufferer is taken direct to the hospital without having to wait for an ambulance. . . . THE POLICE FORCE 87 "Recently a woman telephoned that she had heard a shot and had seen a man, whose description she gave, running away from the vicinity. A man from the station, a finger-print expert, ran out, jumped into his car, and went speeding towards the junction nearest the scene of the crime. He ar- rested a man answering in a general way to the description given, who was running for a car which would have taken him to another city. "The fellow was turned over to a patrolman, and the arresting officer went to the scene of the crime, where he found the body of the victim, who had been murdered. He also found a dagger, dropped in the haste to flight by the murderer, whose first intention had evidently been to use it instead of the gun. Before anyone else had an opportunity to touch the dagger, the finger-print man was able to develop the latent prints upon it; at the sta- tion the finger-prints of the arrested man were taken — and they tallied with the impression on the knife. The New York World February 10, 1923 "ROOKIE" COP BRAVELY RESCUES COUPLE IN FIRE He Modestly Neglects to Report Heroism "Probationary Policeman Edward Cos- grove of the Stapleton, Staten Island, Precinct had a busy morning today, but nobody would have known much about it if it had not been for Battalion Chief Dunn of the Fire Department. Cosgrove saved at least two lives, those of Mr. and Mrs. William Mahlman of No. 121 Van Deuzer Street, Tompkinsville, and saved a lot more from danger. "Passing the three-story frame house at dawn, Cosgrove saw smoke coming from the second-story windows. He broke in the front door and hustled the family living there out into the street. Then he ran to the second floor, broke in the door and found the place all ablaze; the ab- sence of furniture assured him the flat was unoccupied. The fire had gone through into the stairway, so he could not reach the third floor. "Cosgrove ran out to the street, sound- ed a fire alarm and ran into a lumber yard across the way. There are always ladders in a lumber yard. He found a twenty-foot ladder, dragged it back to the Grant Street side of the house, propped it; against a third-story window and climbed up and in. "He found Mr. and Mrs. Mahlman asleep, with little tongues of fire just: creeping in through the panels of the door of the apartment. Uncerimoniously, he dragged Mrs. Mahlman out of bed, wrapped her in a comforter and started down the ladder. "Fireman Edward Wise of Engine Co. No. 54 met him half way and took Mrs. Mahlman from him. Then both of themi went back and brought down Mr. Mahl- man. "Cosgrove at the end of his tour turn- ed in a memorandum that he had turned in an alarm of fire from No. 121 Van Deuzer Street.' A few moments later Chief Dunn came along and requested the desk sergeant to enter on the blotter a notation that Cos- grove and Wise were entitled to credit for life saving by quick wit and bravery. Then, to his surprise, he was informed that Cosgrove was a younger brother of State Senator Thomas Cosgrove." 1 "The American City": Vol. 18, pages 41-43. 88 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA An Illustration of Another Service of the Police: THE detective SERVICE 'One moment, please,' said a fussy lady who was buying a loin of pork in a Brooklyn butcher shop. 'I am anxious to know just how much the meat weighs. Six pounds and thirteen ounces. Thank you. What a wonderful scale you have! A hundred dollars! And it even does the com- puting for you! May I see how it works? It must save a lot of time for you? Does this string on the beam have anything to do with the weighing?' "The interested purchaser casually laid her package of loin on the scale and practiced weighing while carrying on the conversation with the affable butcher. After she had examined the scale to her satisfaction and was ap- parently about to depart, she remarked to the butcher: 'I believe I'll take this scale along with me. Do you know I really think it registers six ounces more than the true weight every time you use it? I'm from the Mayor's Bureau of Weights and Measures.' "On being asked if the foregoing story were true and if the case were typical, the Commissioner of the Bureau replied : " 'Yes, it is substantially just what happened in that case. I can give you the names and addresses of the parties concerned. There are many similar cases. We have nine thousand retail butchers in the city, and it is a re- grettable fact that they are not all honest. . . . Complaints arc filed with The City Bureau of Weights and Measures inspects all scales and meas- ures used in selling food. Merchants using false scales and short meas- ures are arrested and punished, and the scales and measures are confiscated. Fig. 241 iRightor, C. E.: Op. cit., page 126. THE POLICE FORCE 89 us in person, in writing, or by telephone, and we immediately send our in- spectors out to investigate. In this particular case we secured the convic- tion of the man and his clerk. The employer was sentenced to be fined $100 or thirty days in the workhouse, and the employee was sent to the workhouse for ten days."^ The Police Have Become Traffic Officers in All Cities This picture shows how the traffic is regulated in New York City. 60,- 000 automobiles and probably hundreds of thousands of pedestrians cross this intersection of 42d Street and Fifth Avenue every day. To prevent accidents is one of the great tasks of the Police Department. Policemen are stationed at all corners to prevent people from crossing until the signals in this tower are given. While the yellow light is on all traffic moves north and south on Fifth Ave. ; when a red light appears, the movement of vehicles stops still until a green light signals for the current of cross town east-and-west traffic to resume its fiow.^ Fig. 25 Our Police on Guard to Protect People at Street Crossings. "Say, you, step back on the sidewalk and stay there until I say you can cross over." So spoke a traffic "cop" to an impatient youth who had started to "take his chance" in threading the maze of swiftly moving automobiles at 14th St. and Broadway, (one of the New York's conjested corners). "Do you want to get killed, — that's the way it happens," continued the cop. "Ev- eryone in a hurry." he added to a man standing by, "not a day goes by that some "guy" does not get hit for just such tricks." 1 Courtesy of The Outlook, issue of January 21, 1920, page 116. 2 Courtesy of The Outlook. 90 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA "Safety-First! Why Necessary? In a hurry to pass this street the driver goes to the left of the cars and meets another car coming toward him. It is against the law to drive on the left side of a street car. When the law is disobeyed what this picture shows is likely to happen. Fig. 26^ WE HAVE STUDIED THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE STORY. NOW LET US TURN TO THE DARK SIDE: THE MISCAR- CARRIAGE OF JUSTICE IN AMERICA. How America's Handling of Law So Frequently Defeats Justice 1. Criminals Go Free through " Technical" Mistakes . . In the first place, our legal procedure with its red tape and tech- nicalities is fantastically employed to aid the criminal. When a verdict of murder is set aside because the word 'aforethought' is omitted after the word 'malice' ; when a man convicted of assault with intent to kill is freed be- cause the copying clerk left out the letter / in the word malice; when art indictment for rape is held defective because it concluded 'against the peace and dignity of State' instead of 'against the peace and dignity of the State* ; when another murderer is discharged because the prosecution neglected to prove that the real name of the victim and his alias represented one and the same person; when a horse-thief is released because the indictment ended in the words 'against the peace and dignity of the state of W. Virginia, *" 1 From "American City," Vol. 18, page 440. THE POLICE FORCE 91 instead of 'against the peace of the state of West Virginia' — briefly, when in a manner utterly unknown in Europe, such absurdities can be spun to defeat the ends of justice, it is not surprising that the police are slack and careless. The morale of the best police organization in the world would soon be broken down in such an environment. 'It's small satisfaction to catch the crooks,' a chief of detectives told me, 'when you know all the time that some sharp legal trick will be used to turn them free.' "A member of the Alabama Bar, addressing the Bar Association of that State, said : 'I have examined about 75 murder cases that found their way into the reports of Alabama. More than half of those cases were reversed and not a single one of them on any matter that went to the merits of the case ; and a very few of them upon any matter that could have influenced the jury in reaching a verdict.' This same story comes from all over the country. ... "In a single year in Oregon — to use an illustration that could be dupli- cated everywhere — there occurred 56 homicides. Forty-six of the offenders were arrested. Of these, ten committed suicide and 36 were held for trial. Of the 36, only three were convicted at all, and of these only one for murder in the first degree. In 1913 in the City of New York there were 323 homi- cides, 185 arrests and only 80 convictions. Of the 80 convictions, ten re- ceived death sentences. In 1914 in the same city there were 292 homi- cides, 185 arrests and 66 convictions. Of the 66 convictions, six received death sentences. In 1917 in New York there were 236 homicides, 280 ar- rests and 67 convictions, of which nine received death sentences. In 1918 in the same city there were 221 homicides, 256 arrests, and 77 convictions, of which six received death sentences. In Detroit during the fiscal year 1917 there were 89 murders, 104 arrests, and fourteen convictions; in the fiscal year 1918, there were 71 murders, 147 arrests and 22 convictions. The annual homicide calculations of the Chicago Tribune, which, after careful checking, seem to be as accurate as any criminal statistics can be under our present system, indicate the following facts regarding culpable homicide in the United States: Total number of Total number of Year culpable homicides legal executions 1916 8,372 115 1917 7,803 85 1918 7,667 85"! 2. How Justice is Defeated through Delays "The delays of the courts furnish another reason for the failure of our administration of justice. A random examination of almost any volume of appellate court decisions will fully substantiate this charge. For example. 1 Fosdick, Raymond B. : "American Police Systems," pages 29-30; 31-33. The -Century Co., New York, 1921. 92 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA in Illinois one Sam Siracusa was tried for murder in October, 1913, and pleaded guilty. On a writ of error the case was carried to the Supreme Court of Illinois where judgment was affirmed exactly three years from the date of conviction. The case was not finally disposed of until three months later when a rehearing was denied. Dominick Delfino was convicted of murder in Pennsylvania in October, 1916. One year and three months later the judgment was affirmed. . . . Oresto Shilitano in the same state was convicted of murder on March 6, 1914. Judgment was affirmed two years and two months later. Similarly, Leo Urban was found guilty in New York of robbery in the first degree on December 14, 1915. Judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals July 3, 1917. These are not unusual cases. They are picked at random from miscellaneous law reports. . . . "Radically different is the situation in Great Britain. Under the Eng- lish law appeals to the Court of Criminal Appeal must be taken within ten days after conviction. Ordinarily the court renders its decision in from seventeen to twenty-one days, although in murder cases involving the death penalty this period is often shortened. An appeal never postpones execu- tion in a capital case by more than three weeks. Thus, William Wright was convicted of murder at the London Assizes on February 2, 1920; his appeal was filed on February 10, was denied on February 23, and he was hanged on March 10. George Lucas was convicted of murder on January 15, 1920; his appeal was filed on January 17 and was dismissed on Febru- ary 2. Andrew Frasier was convicted of murder on February 19, 1920; his appeal was filed on February 27 and was denied on March 8. "In this fashion it would be possible to quote case after case from the records which the Registrar of the Court of Criminal Appeal kindly placed at the writer's disposal. One gets the impression of a swiftly moving, silent machine— the embodiment of the certainty of justice in England."^ 3. How Police are not Supported by Prosecuting Attorneys and Courts. ". . . On no point are policemen throughout the country so unani- mous as in their emphatically expressed opinion that they are not fairly or properly supported by the prosecuting attorneys and the courts. And it must be admitted that the charge is not without considerable substantia- tion. From Massachusetts comes the authenticated story of the county at- torney who on the last day of his term quashed 200 cases without consult- ing the complainant officers. From the police in many other states there are allegations, often with specifications, of prosecuting attorneys conniving at the acquittal or inadequate punishment of criminals. Indictments remain iFosdick, Raymond B.: Op. cit., pages 34-35; 36-37. THE POLICE FORCE 93 untried and accumulate on the calendars of the courts, often dating back as far as three and four years, with the result that witnesses leave the juris- diction and evidence disappears. The abuse and misuse of the bail system are notorious. Cases are often postponed to wear out the patience of the police. 'There are instances on record,' said former Police Commissioner Woods of New York, 'where a case has been postponed and re-postponed until the patrolman has been obliged to come to court twenty-six times be- fore it actually was called to trial.' "In some jurisdictions, moreover, it is not unusual for committing mag- istrates to throw cases out of court for frivolous and sometimes capricious reasons — because the officer is late, or because his hand-writing on the com- plaint is poor, or because his coat is unbuttoned. Often, too, the sentences imposed are absurdly inadequate. Dangerous criminals with long records are returned to civil life after undergoing minimum punishment. Some- times they escape punishment altogether. Occasionally this is the work of politics ; more often it is due to haste and carelessness or to a failure on the part of the magistrates to realize the true significance of the struggle of society against crime. 'One of the most discouraging things about police work,' former Commissioner O'Meara of Boston told me, 'is to work for weeks and months getting evidence on a particular case only to have the court let the defendant off with a $25 fine. Then we have to begin our work all over again.' The annual report of the General Superintendent of Police of Chicago for 1910 carries a paragraph equally significant: "An honest effort has been made to reduce all gambling to a minimum, and many arrests and raids have been made, and the best results have been obtained that were possible under existing conditions. The average fine for gambling ivas $4.20."^ Have enough examples been cited to show you the way justice is so frequently defeated in this land of freedom of ours? What do you think should be done about it? What can be done about it? The story is not finished, however; another aspect of it is very bad indeed — the "grafting" that has been done by dishonest police, by prosecut- ing attorneys, and by courts in league with politicians. In the section on how communities are governed, examples are recited that show how in times past the local governments of our cities were honeycombed with political "graft." Dishonest politicians openly robbed the great cities through con- struction contracts and franchises. Now, in the same way the police, the attorneys, and the courts were engaged in illegal and vicious practices, too. Here is a statement from Colonel Arthur Woods, who was Police Com- missioner of New York City: iFosdick, Raymond: Op. cit., pages S9-40; 41-42. 94 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA "In the old palmy days when there were no newfangled notions about this sort of thing, the police force was simply part of the political machine. Other parts were judges, prosecuting attorneys, racetrack men, gamblers, . . . saloon keepers, and all others who expected to earn an honest living by violating the law. The clamor in a particular case would have to be very loud and long sustained for a member of the machine to be arrested by his colleague, the policeman, or prosecuted with any vigor by his col- league, the public attorney. If things came to the worst and the case were driven to judgment, he could rely upon a favorable charge to the jury, and if the jury proved recalcitrant, upon certainly as light a sentence as could be imposed. It was a powerful machine; it poisoned everything it came in contact with; it throttled with its grip of vice all that was good and true and sound and strong in the community which might stand betweeen it and its plunder. Probably there is not much of this sort of thing in its undil- uted form in this country nowadays. It was a system so profitable to its managers, however, that it accepts defeat bitterly. . "In one of our largest cities, the story is told of a talk some years ago be- tween the police head and a political machine leader. The former had con- ceived the idea that he could run the force himself, without the usual politi- cal guidance. He was a strong man, and was getting along rather well, so well that the leader was worried. So he called to see him. The proposi- tion he put was roughly this. The police would do far more for him than they would for their chief. The chief, therefore, would get the best re- sults if he ran things through the leader, who was ready to undertake the job. If certain places really had to be cleaned out, he would see that the police cleaned them ; if there 'got to be' too much 'holler' about anything he would have it attended to. So the chief needn't bother, and wouldn't have any trouble. All he need do was make promotions and transfers as speci- fied by the leader, and otherwise keep his hands ofil . . . "... A few years ago a private citizen was being 'shown the town' in one of our large Western cities. Among other points of interest he was taken to a saloon in the Red Light District which had notoriety through- out the country as being kept by a man powerful in both political and crim- inal circles. As the visitor stepped up to the bar to take a drink of good- fellowship he noticed that there were two patrolmen in full uniform content- edly partaking of the glass that inebriates. "Turning to his guide he asked, 'How in the world do these men dare to take a chance like this, drinking in a saloon in full uniform in sight of every- one, and the sergeants around?' " 'Oh,' the guide said, 'they're not taking any chances ; the cops have enough 'on' every sergeant in the city so that no sergeant could afford to get after them.' "i 1 Woods, Arthur: "Policeman and Public," pages 132-134; 155. THE POLICE FORCE 95 These examples are illustrations of the large amount of "grafting" that was going on between the politicians and the police in earlier years. Prob- ably, as Colonel Woods suggests, things are not so bad as they were form- erly. Yet every few years in our larger cities rumors of more dishonesty in the department of justice crop up, newspaper articles dealing with them follow, gossip accumulates, and finally the legislature or a commission of the City Council starts an ''investigation." Scandal results, officials are in- dicted, trials are held; and occasionally both officials and politicians are convicted of crimes and imprisoned. Then the City settles back into a kind of routine assurance that all is going well again with the police and the administration of justice. In our larger cities at least it appears to be very difficult to provide for the protection of citizens and their property without dishonesty and ineffi- ciency creeping in. MAKE A SURVEY OF THE POLICE In making your survey of police, you will want to find out how many policemen there are in your town, the proportion of policemen to popula- tion, the kinds of services they do, ways you think they could be more ef- fective. What are the qualifications a man must have to become a policeman? Do you think the best policemen are secured by the present method of selecting them? Why? Are there any women policemen in your town? How many? What are their duties and their services? Find out the average number of arrests made per year. How many people are in your jail or jails most of the time? For what kinds of offenses are they there? What is the average length of time they remain in jail before trial comes up? Is your town a county seat ? What does that mean ? How many county seats are there in a state? Is there a court-house in your town? More than one? How many judges are there. For what district unit is a sheriff appointed? What are his duties and powers? To whom is he responsible? Questions for You to Debate 1. Resolved, That graft can be eliminated from the police force. 2. Resolved, That our system of delaying trial is a criminal offence against the prisoner. To the Teacher: If there are other questions you pre- fer to have the children debate, feel free to substitute them. Since there is no teist for this section, there should be two debates. SECTION XI IS YOUR COMMUNITY SAFE FROM FIRE? No matter what size of town you live in, it surely has a fire depart- ment. And your citizens are proud of it, are they not? We hazard the guess that the fire department is one of the city departments in which your community feels the greatest confidence. Towns and cities have grown so rapidly in the past 75 years that many departments of municipal govern- ment have been open to severe criticism and have received it. In a later section of the pamphlet — one on municipal government — examples of the bad management of dif¥erent cities is shown, but there is very little criti- cism indeed of the carrying on of the fire departments. Modern Communities are so permanently built that they must be Protected from Fire. You see one thing we have done pretty efficiently is protect our prop- erty, and in these days of modern cities property has become very valuable. What a loss occurs when a city block burns down! And if one goes, how easy it is for whole streets and sections of a city to burn up. Cities have grown only by putting buildings closer and closer and by erecting them higher and higher into the sky and deeper and deeper into the earth. As they are set close together and built taller and deeper, the fire risks increase. To offset these added risks people have learned how to build of steel and cement, and gradually they have made their buildings more and more fire- proof. Fire Departments have Become Very Efficient in Recent Years. Business blocks, fine streets with their shade trees, attractive homes, costly apartment buildings — all these things that grow out of people's liv- ing closely together — must be carefully protected, of course. So men have spent much time and energy inventing new apparatus and appliances to put fires out quickly and they have succeeded admirably. America's Craze for Speed Helps Make Her Fire Departments Efficient. A Fire Department Must Work Quickly. Fairbury's fire department was being shown to the city fire commissioner of a foreign city. The visitor first examined the fire station and observed the motor trucks, spick and span, ready for instant service. "We got rid of the last horse last year," explained Fairbury's fire chief. "These automobile engines are so much quicker. We have been able to do away with two district fire houses because we can cover so much more ground with the trucks." HOW SHALL WE PREVENT FIRES 97 Just then the gong began to ring and the hand of a great indicator be- gan to move. Men from above slid down the long pole and were on the truck in an instant. The great doors swung open; everything was ready. The fire chief motioned hurriedly to his visitor to get aboard his private touring car. "27," yelled Mike, the signal box man. A roar and the truck, ladder, and private car of the chief were out of the door and on the way to Box 27. They were back in the chief's office four hours later and the English visitor was marveling at the efficiency of the department. 'What I am wondering, said the foreign visitor, "is how long it takes your men to get started to the fire at night, when they are upstairs in bed." "Well," said Chief Marshall, "we have a fire whistle that works the indicator. When a box is pulled in we have to wait until the number is rung around once. (It rings the number four times.) Now a number like 89 takes longer because seventeen strokes have to be rung — 8, a pause, and then 9. Box 12 rings in 11 seconds. That is our quickest alarm. Now the men have their trousers in their boots beside their beds when they sleep. One motion is all that is necessary to get their clothes on, a slide down the pole, and their coats go on after they board the truck. The time it takes to ring Box 89 once is about 1 minute. They have to wait for Box 89 to fin- ish its ring and are delayed perhaps 10 to 20 seconds in starting. Thalt answers your question. How long does it take you?" asked Chief Marshall to his bewildered visitor.^ . "Oh, our rules require inspection. The men dress, brush their clothes, shine their shoes, look after the horses, shine the harness, and the wagon; — then, the roll is called, and then we start for the fire." This was reported to be true! Can you imagine such a thing? From Hand Tub to Motor Fire Truck ; Think how much improvement has been made in fire apparatus! In colonial days all towns required each householder to have a ladder for use in case of fire and for the purpose also of cleaning his chimney every few weeks. Each citizen was a volunteer fireman for the community; it was an understood duty. When a fire broke out each man took his fire-bucket, which the town law required him to own, and joined the bucket brigade of fire-fighters. Two lines formed from the nearest well or pond. Buckets were filled with water and passed up one line, the water thrown on the fire, and the empty buckets handed back down the other line to be refilled and started over again. 1 Based upon the statement of a fire chief in an American city. 98 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Before the automobiles came into wide use, cities were proud of the work of horse-drawn fire engines. By 1860-70 most cities maintained paid firemen. Fig. 282 1 From American City, Vol. 18, page 15. 2 From Kinlon, J.: "Fires and Firefighters, pany, New York, 1913. page 318. George H. Doran Com- HOW SHALL WE PREVENT FIRES 99 Automobile equipment such as this enables our firemen to get to fires very promptly. Fig. 291 While American City fire departments have the record in speed of get- ting to fires and are unrivalled in putting out fires, the cities of other coun- tries win over us very much in the more important work of PREVENTING FIRES THE GREAT AMERICAN BONFIRE Each year we burn up over $200,000,000 dollars worth of property. Im- agine a long avenue with homes one after another on each side of it, stretch- ing all the way from New York to Chicago. In one year we burn up as many homes as that would be. In every fourth house of this Fire Avenue you would also find some citizen burned to death. The cause of this waste of life and property — what is it? Mostly carelessness. One third of this loss is from fires that could be prevented. Probably 75% of all our fires could be prevented if we were not so careless with the articles of modern life that easily cause fires. If we adopted also the rigid fire inspection of other countries, thousands of fires would never occur and hundreds of people would be saved from burning to death. 1 From American City, Vol. 18, page 425. 100 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA What causes fires? Study this chart. Isn't carelessness the chief cause? What One City Does to Prevent Fires^ 1916 No. of inspections made 16,879 18,132 No. of complaints received and investigated 1,359 1,282 No. of inspections found defective 5,450 6,050 No. of inspections found in good order 11,429 12,082 No. of chimneys repaired or rebuilt 4,277 978 Furnace pipes repaired or rebuilt 366 236 Cellars cleaned 915 816 Gas leaks reported and corrected 143 435 1 From "American City," Vol. 18, page 389. 2Rig-htor, C. E : Op. cit., page 116. HOW SHALL WE PREVENT FIRES 101 V^ichita. Kansas Yes 2 times a year No 2 times a year Same as Cedar Rapids Fire escapes, chemical tanks, many inspections No Schools only Yes Chief of Fire De- partment Topeka, Kansas Yes 2 times a year No 4 times a year Same as Cedar Rapids Fire escapes, chemical tanks, many inspections Yes Schools only Yes Fire Department Kansas City, Kansas Yes 2 times a year No 4 times a year Same as Cedar Rapids Fire escapes, chemical tanks, many inspections No Schools only Yes Two fire inspectors Huntington, W. Va. Yes No Never. Few buildings have them None Not at all Description, not a diagram Schools only Not required, but many places have them No one Houston, Texas Yes 12 times a year No Except against plan- ing mills 12 times a year Same as Cedar Rapids Fire escapes No Schools only Not required except in schools Janitor of school build- ing Galveston, Texas Yes No Once a year Same as Cedar Rapids Not at all No Schools only No. Some- times have them School Board Fort Worth, Texas Yes, 2 times a year and upon com- plaint Yes City homes 2 times a year Same as Cedar Rapids Not at all No Schools only No No one Des Moines, Iowa Yes No 2 times a year Same as Cedar Rapids Fire escapes No Schools Voluntary with stores and factories No, but fire insurance companies require them No one rDallas, Texas Yes Occasion- ally No Occasion- ally Same as Cedar Rapids Only as owners see fit No Schools only Yes No one Cedar Rapids, la. Yes 3 times a year ■ No Once a year All walls in fire limits must be of stone, brick, or iron. Chemical tanks, fire ascapes, fire drills Yes Schools only No No one Are buildings inspected ? How often? Are there special laws against trades with high fire dangers ? How often are fire escapes inspected? What laws are there about fire- proof buildings? How are factory employees protect- ed against fire? Do you keep rec- ords of fire haz- ards in factories, stores, theatres, etc. Are fire drills required in schools and factories? Are fire extinguish- ers required? Who is responsible for seeing that they are installed and kept in shape? 102 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA The table of page 101 tells what 10 representative cities do and do not do to prevent fires.^ Great Progress Has Been Made. Much More Remains to he Done. How Efficient is Your Fire Department? Now that you know just a little about fire departments find out about the department in your own community. Perhaps you could appoint a com- mittee to make a survey and report to the class. Very likely your class should take an excursion to one of the principal fire stations. Have your committee arrange for the visit in advance. Perhaps the Chief can take the time to explain to you how the department works and to show you all the different kinds of apparatus and appliances. It may be that your local fire officials have preserved the apparatus used in earlier times. If so you can get a fine idea of the way modern depart- ments grew up. Your committee can also find books in your city library which give illustrations of fire-fighting appliances used in the early and middle 1800's and stories of fires. Appoint several members of the class to report on that part of the work. They should bring in for class use books, pictures, accounts of the history of fire departments, and stones of thrilling and heroic work done by firemen in saving lives and property. In the class time work out a list of questions to guide the Committee in making its Survey. Then have a round-table discussion of the merits and defects of the community's fire protection. Finally, the class might prepare a list of conclusions and recommendations for improving the situation in your community. Books and Magazines from Which You Can Get Interesting Information and Stories refer back to the list of references in section V National Fire Protection Association, 87 Milk Street, Boston. Numerous pamph- lets may be secured from this association. United States Census, Bureau of Statistics of Fire Department of Cities Having a Population of Over 30,000. Supt. of Documents, U. S. Census, 1918. A pamphlet. 1 From Bruere, H.: "The New City Government," D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1912. HOW SHALL WE PREVENT FIRES 103 The following magazine references are suggestive of the type of articles you will find : Value of an efficient fire-fighting organization, American City, 26:233-4, March 1922. Complete momdern fire alarm system. American City, 26:433-4, May 1922. Million-dollar fire cracker. American City, 26:545-6, June 1922. Lessons from the Montreal City Hall fire. American City, 27:41-2, July 1922. Fire prevention and fire protection campaigns. American City, 27:103-106, August 1922. Fire regulations undergoing changes in many cities. American City, 27:142, August 1922. Police and fire alarm cable circuits in representative American cities. American City, 27:117-19, August 1922. Fire record system of Boise, Idaho. Aynerican City, 27:206-8, September 1922. Volunteer fire department and its problems. American City, 27:344-5, October 1922. Maintaining the efficiency of a volunteer fire department. American City, 28:36-7, January 1923. Smoke-chasers. St. Nicholas, 49:644-7, April 1922. Motor truck vs. horses in fire fighting. Scientific American, 126:273, April 1922. Cost of fires: their prevention in factories and homes. World's Work, 43:222- 224, December 1921. SECTION XII HOW DO SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS MAKE PUBLIC OPINION IN YOUR TOWN? Some one has said that if two Americans should find themselves standing together on a desert island the first thing they would do would be to ORGANIZE. They would start a club or association or lodge or fraternity — an organization of some kind and they would make themselves charter mem- bers of it. If by chance one of them proved to be a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Columbus, a Red Man, Moose, Elk, or what not, he would no doubt proceed forthwith to initiate the other one. If they both proved to be mechanics of the same trade, a new "local labor union" of that trade would be born then and there. And if wireless communication could be established with the land of Uncle Sam, the new ''lodge" would promptly be christened as the "Desert Island" Local of the Grand Lodge of so and so, the Sandy Isle Local of the American Federation of Labor, or whatever the National organization happened to be! We Americans are "Joiners," aren't We? Probably that's one of the finest things about our democracy. Is there any more healthy sign of a free and independent population than the organi- zation of millions of people into social groups? Why does it happen? Why are there so many organizations in America? Why does every town of any size have its Masonic "Temple"? its Knights of Columbus? its I. O. O. F.? itsB. P. O. E.? its Kiwanis? Rotary Club? Why the Lyceum ? the Community Forums? the Chautauquas? Why the Sons of the American Revolution? the Daughters of the American Revolution? the Grand Army of the Republic ? the American Legion ? the World War Veterans ? We are "joiners" indeed. Why is it so? First and foremost, people like to be with people. We humans are "social" beings — we like to do things together; we dislike being alone, From the time we are little childen we become attracted toward other human beings. How many "Hermits" are there in your community? Not many, we venture ! Are there any people at all who really live off by themselves — who don't associate at all with others ? Try to find out. Now and then one hears of a person, a man or woman, who has built a hut in the woods, or by a lake, and SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 105 lives in it all alone. Such people cook their own meals, and wash their own clothes, and come into town only when the bare necessity for food or cloth- ing drives them in. Such persons are regarded as very unusual in America aren't they? Sometimes people consider them ''cranks" or "crazy." This is not always just, however. Sometimes people become so weary of the rush and roar and hurry of city life that they want to get away and live quietly by themselves. They enjoy the calm of the woods, the songs of countless birds in the trees, the beauty of shaded lakes and ponds — most of all they enjoy the opportunity to think leisurely about things of life. We can appreciate their desire to live away from things when we see how we Americans hurry in the cities. Practically all foreigners who visit America say that the first thing they notice about us is that we are always in a hurry. One French visitor said, "You Americans — oh, you hurry so much to get there — then you wait!" Stand on a street corner of any American city for a few minutes and watch the autos, pedestrians, street cars, elevated trains go by. They are all rushing on the fast schedule time to get some- where. Where? Oh, the people are just going to the office, or the factory, or the store to shop, or the theatre, home to lunch or to dinner. No matter where — they are always in a hurry. And the trains are rushing along sta- tion after station to pick up more people who are in a hurry. Now what about these "hermits" who go off by themselves to escape the "hustle" and confusion of the city? Well, the fact is there aren't many of them. Most people like to be with their fellows, not alone by themselves. And that big notion really helps to account for our rapidly growing cities. But Why So Many Social Organizations? To answer that question, let us briefly answer another: How do the American People spend their leisure time? How much leisure time do the masses of our people have? What is their working day ? What is the working day of most people in your commun- ity? Right in your class will be children of carpenters, masons, plumbers, store-keepers, clerks, bookkeepers, real estate salesmen. You will find all sorts and kinds of occupations represented. How many hours a day do the people engaged in each one work? Carpenters 8 hours in many places. How many for the masons, plumbers, etc? Do the clerks in stores work 9 to 10 hours? What about the locomotive engineers? Stenographers? Chauffeurs? Make a table on the black-board showing these facts. Be sure to include the length of the working day that your mothers as house-keepers have. This is very important, for there are millions of them in our country. 106 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA About what is the "average" working day in your community — from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, and half a day on Saturday? Let us see, then — how much leisure time do the people have? When can families be together, and when can working people be with other social groups? At breakfast and at the evening meal most families can be together — not so many at the noon meal because of the absence of one or both parents at work and children at school. Then there are the summer evenings — seemingly longer than the short winter ones, especially with "daylight saving time" — to give an added hour of quiet out-of-door. There are Saturday afternoons, perhaps, and Sundays and holidays and yearly vacations. What do our people do with themselves at these times? How do they spend this out-of-door time? For even this may not be "leisure." If the parents own houses they have odd jobs to do about the home, repairs to make in doors and locks and household appliances. If the parents of any of the pupils in the class are mechanics, those pupils can tell the others what kinds of work their fathers have to do about the house. How about the women who work in the different trades? During the few hours they are at home, of course,. some time has to be given to mending and freshening up clothing — perhaps to making new clothes, for most of our people do not earn enough to hire others to do their laundry and mending. Both men and women, then, have work to do at home in out-of-work hours. But frequently in the evenings they have leisure to be with people. That is when they turn to their lodges, their unions, their church socials, fratern- ities, and what not. Then, too, when the day's work is over people go to the Lyceum or the Chautauqua ; they turn to a political "rally" or to hear Gren- fell lecture on Labrador or Judge Lindsey on "Boys." They go to the Firemen's Ball, or to the meet at the Seventh Regiment Armory, or to the lodge to give the "third degree." What Social Groups are there in Your Town? Make a list of them. These groups play such a very important part in our community life throughout the country that it will be well for you to study those of your own town. Very likely the pupils in your class hear enough at home about the different organizations so that you will be able get together considerable information and have a discussion of it. First — Prepare a blackboard list of all the organizations the members of the class can suggest. Include in the list any kind of organization you may have in your town — trade associations, fraternal organizations, lec- ture and study clubs, church societies, neighborhood clubs, political clubs, ;and others. Second — Divide this list into classified lists: (I) Put the business and trade associations into one list. This will include such groups as Chambers SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 107 of Commerce, business men's clubs, labor unions, etc. (2) Into another list put the fraternal societies like the Masons, Knights of Columbus, Elks, Odd Fellows, etc. (3) Make a list of the Civic Clubs, Improvement soci- eties, boosters clubs, leagues for good citizenship, etc., and the like. (4) Very likely your town has local branches of patriotic societies, organizations that are made either of people that were in a war or of their descendants. The D. A. R., S. A. R., Grand Army of the Republic, The American Legion, the World War Veterans, the Spanish War Veterans, the Women's Relief Corps are examples of this type of organization. Work out a list of these. (5) Most American communities have charitable and relief soci- eties whose purpose is to help those who are not economically independent. Some are church affairs, some general community co-operative groups. Make your fifth list complete with this kind of organization. (6) Lecture and study club. The homes represented in your class must have connections with a number of such organizations. Circulating book clubs would be included in this list. (7) Neighborhood Clubs that are purely social, like card clubs and dancing clubs. (8) Associations of public officials. For example, educational organizations, associations of mayors, of city engineers, of city managers, of police and fire officials. Such groups as these cover a wider territory than your community, but your community is represented and very much influenced by the conventions and by the publications issued by them. There, then, are suggestions for beginning the study of the societies and organizations of your town. Are they important? Do they wield a large influence in the lives of your townspeople ? How can you find out? One way is by studying how large they are. How many people belong to them? What proportion of the community belong to them? How can you find that out ? Well, of course, for most of the secret societies probably you cannot find out the exact numbers. But you do not need to know ex- actly — a fairly close estimate will do. For example, you wish to know the answer to such a question as this: About how many people are actually doing some- thing for the improvement of the community? You are interested, then, to find out whether a third or a half, or two- thirds, or perhaps only a tenth, of the people belong to any organization that deals with civic affairs. About how many are joined together to promote co- operation between employers and workers ? About how many take an active part in the political affairs of the community? You would like to know also to what extent people's opinions on community and national matters are determined by what they say and hear others say in lodges, Rotary Clubs,, labor unions, card clubs, and the like. 108 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA It probably would be worth while in this case to try to draw up in class a list showing in rough figures the numbers of people in each of the various kinds of associations. Very likely no accurate statistics are available. When you go home tonight you could ask your parents to tell you about how many members there are in each of the different organizations they belong to. Only very general estimates are needed, tell them. Tomorrow, then, com- pile on the blackboard-list of organizations you made the numbers brought in by all the pupils in the class. Can you get some idea from that of the size of the different organizations in the community? Ask your parents also how often they attend meetings of their organizations and about how many people they meet there each time. A Still More Im'portant Question is: Which of these Organizations Really Make people Think About Important Problems of Community Life? As you grow older and begin to help decide how your community shall be carried on you will hear more and more about something we call public OPINION. In brief, public opinion is what people are thinking and feeling and saying about matters of the day. It's what you hear men say to each other about the ''high tax rate the property owners are paying," or about "the goings-on at the Lake Park," or about the bond issue for the Fifth Street Bridge," or "the abolishing of that bad grade-crossing at the sta- tion," or "the settlement of the machinists' strike," or "the need for a higher tariff, or "the high prices of everything these days," or getting "better water supply," or the "town's taking over the gas plant," and so on. It's what you say and hear on the street cars, in the barber shop, the pool rooms, at card parties, at dinings out with friends, at the vaudeville or in "Topics of the Day" on the screen, at the lodge meeting, or the Church social. It's in the headlines that glare at you an inch deep across full pages of the Even- ing Journal, or the Plain-Dealer, or The Globe, or the Courier, or the Post- Dispatch, or whatever your morning and evening papers may be. Public Opinion is a vague, unthought-out sort of thing — it's pretty largely people's feelings about matters. Many careful students of public opinion maintain that most of our people really do not think about the mat- ters of the community and the nation. They tend to be impulsive and ex- press themselves on any matter whatsoever without asking for all the facts or really mulling the facts over in their rninds. They tell us that when a strike occurs we line up in favor of strikers if we are labor people and on the side of factory owners if we are employers. They tell us that we believe in a high tariff because we are "Republicans" and a low tariff, or none at all, because we are "Democrats." We are for things that favor us personally and against those that do not. They tell us we do not study "immigration," "public ownership of utilities," or other important problems — that we have SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 109 prejudices about those things and make up our opinions without really hav- ing the facts and without thinking the questions over carefully as we should. Sinclair Lewis in his novel "Babbitt" gives an example of the loose, im- pulsive way people have of making up their minds about community and national matters. He tells how George F. Babbitt, prosperous real-estate man of the town of Zenith, drove his car away from his house in the suburbs one warm spring morning and on the way casually exchanged views about national politics with different acquaintances he chanced to meet. The first was with his next door neighbor, Professor Littlefield. " *Is that a fact ! Say, old man, what do you think about the Republican candidate ? Who'll they nominate for president ? Don't you think it's about time we had a real business administration ?' " 'In my opinion, what the country needs, first and foremost, is a good, sound, business-like conduct of its affairs. What we need is — a business administration!' said Littlefield. " 'I'm glad to hear you say that! I certainly am glad to hear you say that ! I didn't know how you'd feel about it, with all your associations with colleges and so on, and I'm glad you feel that way. What the country needs — just at this present juncture — is neither a college president nor a lot of monkeying with foreign affairs, but a good — sound — economical — business — administration, that will give us a chance to have something like a decent turnover.' Driving down town he found he must have "gas," so he engaged the mechanic at the filling station in conversation. "Politics," being in the air at the time, the same theme came up as in the talk with Professor Little- field. " 'How much we takin' today ?' asked Moon, in a manner which com- bined the independence of the great specialist, the friendliness of a familiar gossip, and respect for a man of weight in the community, like George F. Babbitt. " Till 'er up.' "'Who you rootin' for for Republican candidate, Mr. Babbitt?' " 'It's too early to make any predictions yet. After all, there's still a good month and two weeks — no, three weeks — ^must be almost three weeks — well, there's more than six weeks in all before the Republican convention, and I feel a fellow ought to keep an open mind and give all the candidates a show — look 'em all over and size 'em up, and then decide carefully.' • " 'That's a fact, Mr. Babbitt.' " 'But I'll tell you — and my stand on this is just the same as it was four years ago, and eight years ago, and it'll be my stand four years from now — 1 Published by Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York, 1922. 110 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMltRICA yes, and eight years from now! What I tell everybody, and it can't be too generally understood, is that what we need first, last, and all the time is a good, sound business administration !' " 'By golly, that's right!' " 'How do those front tires look to you?' " Tine! Fine! Wouldn't be much work for garages if everybody looked after their car the way you do.' " So it goes through the day's work and play. Chance remarks dropped on the street, the statements of one business associate to another, a newspaper editorial, or a signed interview with a prominent politician, family gossip at the evening meal — all are typical ways that the opinions of the people of an American community are made up and passed on. Of course, the newspapers have a good deal to do with people's opinions for we do tend to accept what we read in papers as well as magazines and books. We'll study the newspaper question a little later. The important point for us to get now is that most of our people are . NOT THINKING carefully about matters that concern them very deeply. They are letting their prejudices and their feelings determine how they will act instead of using their minds about things. In your Social Studies work, you are studying the facts about important matters of industry, of town and city life, of na- tional and international affairs. You are learning how to use the facts to form sound opinions. Should not Grown-Ups in the community do the same thing? Is there anything more important for the older people of the community to do than to read widely and think carefully about the serious problems of- today? And things are very serious, aren't they? Take Europe's smash, for example, and what part we in America are going to play in it. It's a bad tangle — one that it is very hard to get the facts about and difficult to form a correct judgment on. Yet most of our citizens have no hesitation in giving an opinion as to what is best to do. That is because they haven't really thought about the problem. The more one thinks about complicated things the less cock-sure of his first opinions he is inclined to be. So now see if you can find out what organizations you have in your community that get people to read and think about and dis- cuss problems of the community and of America. Do the lodges do this? the fraternal organizations? Ask your parents. Do the Business Men's clubs — the Rotary, Kiwanis, etc? Or are they just social groups, too? Are they interested as clubs in anything outside of busi- SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 111 ness, buying and selling, costs, prices, manufacturing, the tariff? See if you can find out. In many cities they exert a big influence toward civic improvement. Read what a prominent engineer who was Director of Pub- lic Works in Philadelphia says about that matter : "Such city-wide organizations as chambers of commerce, city clubs, ro- tary clubs, and the like, have unlimited possibilities for helping the city. The results depend almost entirely on their desires and their methods. Such citizen agencies can accomplish almost anything but only because they assume that they can — and act accordingly. Elections will not 'just come out right' naturally ; there must be effective organization to accomplish results. Given a properly organized fighting machine, any bill providing for a reasonable civic improvement can be put through the legislature or city council. The old idea was that you must wait for things to crystallize. The real secret is organized action. We must make things happen. "The 'Boosters' Club' of Fresno, California, a town of about fifty thous- and inhabitants, is continually on the job for a better town. They not only plan but they organize a campaign in every instance that spells and assures success. Nothing succeeds like success, and the Fresno Boosters have cer- tainly once again demonstrated the truth of the old saying. From a 'Clean City,' a 'Visit Your Neighbour' excursion of two or three days, a 'Public Christmas,' and a few dozen other special activities to a continual energetic boosting of Fresno as a raisin centre, this club and its band make public boosting one grand carnival of successful achievement. . . . "Very often individual business men filled with genuine civic spirit are able to bring their city's virtues to the attention of those with whom they have business relations in other cities. One large private concern had the following announcement at the top of its letterhead : " 'Columbia is an educational centre — and more. Missouri University and five other advanced schools create a distinct local atmosphere. An ideal home enrivonment is the civic crown of clean, courteous Columbia.' This particular Columbia happens to be in Missouri. I am not at all sure that this wide-awake business man is not helping his own business more than Columbia by this method. Good customers — the large ones — like to deal with human concerns. Everyone who receives one of these letterheads im- mediately decides that the owner of that business must be a broad-minded citizen, and just as probably a thoroughly trustworthy man with whom to do business. "A live business men's association usually acts as an effective adjunct to the city's inspection service. The condition of the streets, lighting, police protection, behaviour of city employees, and in fact almost everything in the catalogue of municipal activities comes in for comment from the men who make the city's industries and commerce and trade. 1 Cooke, Morris L.: "Our Cities Awake," pages 309-310; 313-314. Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New York, 1918. 112 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Such examples as these show that some business men's organizations and ' civic associations do help improve their communities. Certain problems of that kind evidently are studied and worked on. How many people in your community take part in such civic organiza- tions ? Do the majority of them ? How about Lecture and Study Clubs to Make People Think? Do you have them in Your Town? Are there lecture or study clubs in your town that try to think about the political, industrial, and social problems of the day? Try to find out about how many people in your community belong to such groups as these. Is the number a large proportion of all the people in town? What can you think of that could be done to make more people thoughtful about our important problems? The Movies What do the movies do to give people important facts and help them to think about them carefully? A very large proportion of all our people go to the movies — some one or more times, a week, some less frequently. There in the dark of the theatre a thousand or more people sit together reading the same announce- ments on the screen at the same time. Does this give you an idea of a way that the movies could be used to teach the people the facts about their important problems? Discuss this in your class and try to think up a plan of using the movies for this purpose. Is there a community forum in your town — a place where citizens meet to discuss community and national matters? If so, find out what it does — what the lectures and discussions are about. Can any one stand up in the forum meeting and ask a question or discuss something that has been said ? That is what you do in your class — you talk things over; you make points and argue about them, don't you? In that way you are getting practice in thinking about matters of importance. Your class, then, is an "open-forum" — just like a community forum should be; it is a place to exchange ideas. Do you see how important it is that com- munities have the kind of places to practice thinking about questions with an open mind that your class-room provides you? You have a great ad- vantage on your father and mother in that respect for they have very little opportunity to debate about matters in which there are differences of opin- ion. When people do not agree they should sit down together and talk things out, shouldn't they, particularly when the matter in question con- cerns so many. They should have a Forum. But they must be sure to have SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 113 the facts before them in order to decide things intelligently. They are bound to form opinions just on their prejudices and impulses if they do not have the right facts. That, of course, we do not want, opinions arrived at in that way are not of much account. Now as a result of all your readings and discussion can you tell what the different organizations of your town do to help form sound opinions about public matters? I. The following organizations in our town are national organizations: .^__J._'X-C_ ______ .-JlU^^ MiK 11. The following organizations in our town are local organizations; i__^_L ; ___^^_^___^ ; III. Give an example to illustrate the statement which you think is true. (a) The American people make up their minds about community and national matters after carefully thinking about all the facts. :::^':>--^J:i^^i.^'l-.>.-^-. . . L 1r^_f4r^.Ii_.LC-_^- — — J. (b) The American people act on impulse and on prejudices when deciding on community and national problems. IV. Give an example to illustrate the statement which you think is true. (a) The best way for citizens to bring about changes in their community is to just wait until the new idea is naturally accepted by everyone. (b) The best way for citizens to bring about changes in their community is t© organize an active group and get to work to put the change through. :::::::::::EEE±:::S:2S:SEES^ V. Complete the following statements. (a) Public opinion is (b) An open forum is ,__.. .--I^X_^:-'_-^l^___^tZt2xd^__/^^ .J (c) Prejudices _ are ^_ -------L.-V-^: -^•-fc-----A'_L-__Jl_^.Li •■^ (d) Public Opinion is formed by . — 1 (what agencies?) (e) So many organizations have been formed because people -__.^.^_ . „___^^ — ^_ ^.|^^ cQ.^}^ 114 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Magazine References for Supplementary Reading on Social Organizations refer back to the book list in section V Cincinnati Civic and Vocational League. American City, 21:434-6, November 1919. English City Department does promotional work. American City, 23:69-70, July 1920. How rotary works. American City, 26:599-603, June 1922. Why Mrs. Elliott's Civic League went to pieces and how she pulled it together again when she found out what was wrong. Ladies Home Journal, 36:101, May 1919. What the Woman's Club can do this year. Ladies Home Journal, 36:53, October 1919. Women's Clubs today and tomorrow. Ladies' Home Journal, 39:27, June 1922. Biggest classroom in the world. Ladies' Home Journal, 39:24, September 1922. Civic sightseeing. Re'vieiv of Reviews, 64:529-30, November 1921. America's club women in convention. Remeiv of Revieivs, 66:191-3, August 1922. Civic bodies and civic progress. Survey, 47:588-9, January 14,1922. Does the Study Club in your community decide upon its program of study or does it follow such suggestions as the following two pamphlets provide? Your public library may have these. Stozfus, A. : "Group Study Programs on Social Welfare of the Community." Uni- versity of Texas, Austin, Texas, 1918. A pamphlet. Davidson, C. : "Active Citizenship." H. W. Wilson, New York, 1921. A Pamphlet, 50c. The following are pamphlets you may be interested in writing for: American City Bureau. "Achievements of Successful Chambers of Commerce." The American City Bureau, 154 Nassau Street, New York, 1920. A pam- phlet. Evans,A. M. : "Women's Rural Organizations and Their Activities." United States Department of Agriculture, Supt. of Documents, Washington, D. C. 1918. Pamphlet 5c. Should you wish to write to the headquarters of any of our national organizations for material giving the purposes for which they are organized, you can secure the address from your local chapters. We are including a few from which you could get such literature. Freemasons. Masonic Publishing Company, Bloomington, Illinois. General Federation of Women's Clubs. 502 Forest Avenue W., Ypsilanti, Michigan. Loyal Order of Moose. Headquarters, Mooseheart, Illinois. Modern Woodmen of America. Headquarters, Rock Island, Illinois. Order of the Eastern Star. Eastern Star Dial, 227 Arcade Building, Utica, New York. SECTION XIII THE NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS How do you and j^our parents find out what is going on in your com- munity? From the neighbors on the street? in the stores? in the kinds of social organizations we just talked about? In the churches? Do you depend altogether on such ways of learning about community affairs? Do the newspapers help in this respect? Do you take a daily newspaper in your home? How many of them? a morning paper? an evening paper? Do you take just a "local" paper, or does the family have in addition a "metropolitan" paper — that is one of the "dailies" from the nearest large city? If you live near New York, is it the Times, or the World, Sun, Globe, Post, Mail, Telegram, that you take? If near Boston, is it the Transcript, Globe, Herald, or Post? If Chicago, is it the Tribune, News, Journal, Post? If Cleveland, is it the Press, or Plaindealer? Is the Daily Newspaper the Only Reading Most Americans Do? Do you believe that the daily newspaper is really the only thing that the great majority of Americans read? People who have studied that matter very carefully maintain that it is so, — that American ideas of things, so far as they come from reading, are obtained from the newspapers. That is a very important matter to investigate, isn't it? If their statements are cor- rect, it means that our newspaper editors should be very careful indeed as to what they put into the papers. Study the question in your own community. Do people read much of anything beside the newspapers? Your class should make a little "survey" of this matter too, since it is so very important. Have a committee appointed to direct the study. Then the whole class should enter into the work because it will take many people to collect the facts that each boy and girl should know about such things. Here are some suggestions to guide your committee. 1. Each pupil should make a list at home of the kinds of reading matter read regularly in his or her home. a. If no reading is done day by day, say so; this means no news- papers, no magazines, no books. It is important to find out how many families do practically no reading. 116 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA b. Bring in a statement of the names of daily and Sunday papers that your family takes regularly. c. The names of weekly magazines which the family subscribes for or buys regularly from the news-stands. d. The names of the monthly magazines (and bi-weeklies and quarterlies) that are either subscribed for or bought regularly. e. Are library books taken out of the library by any members of your family? How many members of the family take out books? How many books each week ? or each month ? f. What kinds of books do they take out? Are they books of fic- tion? biography? travel? education? engineering? science? Get some representative titles to tell the class the kinds of books that are read by your family. g. Are books bought by the family? About how many each year? What kinds of books? Narne a few representative ones. 2. Each pupil should bring into class all the facts called for under (1) and make up a blackboard list which will show how many families repre- sented by your class / (a) take a local daily paper regularly. (b) " " metropolitan " (c) " " Sunday (d) " weekly magazines (e) " monthly " (f) books from the public library regularly. (g) buy books regularly. ^ 3. Then make up a blackboard list to show the kinds of books and maga- zines which are read. That exercise should show you for the thirty or forty families repre- sented in your class the answer to the question ; Do the people of your com- munity read much of anything besides the newspapers? Are the families of your class fairly representative of the whole com- munity? Think that over carefully. Are they much like the ^'masses" of the people? If they are not you should extend your study in some way. Perhaps from a class or two quite unlike yours-^— in another part of the city, maybe — you could get the same kinds of lists of the reading done in their homes. In that case you could compare them with yours to see if the conclusions were about the same. Can you think of other ways to check up your results and see how representative your families are of the "general public." It is very important in making a survey from just a few families in a community to be sure that they are really representative of the whole community. NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 117 Let us put the same question another way : Do Americans get much of their information about their community and the world at large from newspapers? We believe it is fair to say that they do. Will you agree to that? If so, then it is very important for us to learn what kinds of things the newspapers tell people about. If your information about community and national life comes mostly from the newspapers, what do the newspapers talk about? Do they give just local happenings — news items about persons and social organizations in the community? People are very much inter- ested in such items in small towns and medium-sized cities — yes, in large cities too. In each of our great cities, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc. you will find little local newspapers which tell the neighborhood news of the different districts of the city. Scores of such newspapers are printed and distributed in New York City. People who live in a certain neighbor- hood of "the Bronx," for example, or in a part of Brooklyn, want to read about the little "personal" events of their friends and neighbors. So within the big cities you find these "small-town" newspapers. Here are some typical examples of "locals" from a paper in a medium- sized New England community. Do they read like those in your local paper ? — At the meeting of Camp Guanica, U. S. W. v., to be held March 22, the regular monthly social will be held. Supper will be served at 7:30 and A. E. Vincellette will give an illus- trated lecture on "Big game hunting in Alaska." At the last regular meeting a committee was appointed to make arrangements with Col. Ed- mund Rice camp of Leominster for a card tournament. — These officers were elected at a meeting of the Everglad club at its hall, 801 Main street, Tuesday night: President, Hjalmar Hill; vice-president, Aina Pera ; treasurer, Henry Fisher; correspondmg secretary, Elsie Niemi ; financial secretary, Agnes Kempainen ; marshal, Into Jarvela; auditors, Helmi Mylly- kangas and Lauri Hannula. — The annual thank offering meeting of the Woman's Missionary society of the First Metho- dist church was held Tuesday afternoon at the home of Mrs. W. H. Eaton, 15 'Cross street, vice-president. The program was in charge of Mrs. Frank A. Rowley,' assisted by Mrs. W. E. Henry, Mrs. A. P. Lesure, Mrs. Walter Scott and Mrs. William Brazier. Plans were made for an apron and cake sale Saturday afternoon. Delicious refreshments were served by the hostess. By the way, have you noticed in your newspapers whether the space which is given to a happening to a person depends upon how well known he 118 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA is? Look through copies of your local paper. What kinds of people get the headlines and long articles? What kinds get the small notices? Which kinds furnish the best news items for the papers? To get into a newspaper you must be "news." What do Your Newspapers Talk About? Aside from news of persons known either to large or small numbers of people, what do the papers discuss? This point is so very important that it too is worth your personal study. Make a ''survey" of it from both your local and metropolitan newspapers. How shall the survey be made? Here is a guide to help you, in case you have never studied this matter before. 1. Each pupil should bring into the class a copy of some newspaper. Have as much variety as possible. Try to get 30 or 40 different issues alto- gether. Be careful not tp get them all for the same week or month. Ap- point some pupils to get papers for this week, some for last, some for two weeks ago, three weeks ago, four weeks ago, and so on. Try to get some even farther back than that — two or three months back if possible. Some pupils might go to a newspaper office and ask for some sample papers of three, five, six, eight, or even ten months ago. Why do we suggest that you do that? Well, newspapers talk about things that are happening just at the time the papers are printed, and of course events that happen during one month are not just the same kind as those that occur in another month. So to answer the question, What does a newspaper talk about, we need to study the issues of several months. Do you agree to this? Do the papers talk most about sensational things, like murders, suicides, and accidents, or about political affairs, like elections and ''graft"? Or do they talk most about strikes and strike-breaking, or about international mat- ters like wars and quarrels of other countries? How very important this is, for after all it is what the newspapers tell us that we know — that, and not much else! Now to really answer the question accurately one would have to do more than you and your classmates will be able to accomplish in the time you have for this work. It would be necessary to study very carefully and compare precisely the kinds of material in the newspapers. You would probably have to measure up the columns of your papers with a ruler to find out how many inches of space were given to the different kinds of hap- penings. You might find on careful measurement that out of every hundred inches of column in a newspaper 40 were devoted to scandals, murders, accidents, and the like, and that 21 more were given over to trivial afFairs of the day, NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 119 leaving only 39 per cent for really worthwhile news. One prominent edu- cator did that for all the issues of one New York City newspaper for three full months and found just those percentages of space. You can get considerable notion of what the newspapers talk about just by studying the ^'headlines." In those the paper tries to tell you in a suc- cinct way — often in a startling way — what the articles are about. What do headlines tell? To serve as an illustration of a study you can make, we have had photo- graphed (Fig. 31) the top strip of an issue of each of two papers. One is the oldest paper (established fifty years ago) of a New England city of 40,000 people — in many ways still a "small-town" in spite of its rapidly growing immigrant-industrial population. The second is from a New York City paper established in 1901 and regarded as one of the solid, substantial, conservative metropolitan papers of the country. These issues are selected at random and represent the two papers fairly well. There are 7 columns in the medium-sized-city newspaper. Five out of seven of these columns have headlines dealing with either law suits or a hoax. One column headline deals with a tennis game in which the King of Sweden happened to be playing, and one with the very important inter- national events in the Ruhr coal valley in western Germany. Would the tennis match have appeared in the headlines if a ''king," — that is, one who happened to be born son of a "king" — had not been playing? Was he a leading player? Why feature the match in the first-page headlines? What reason do you think? Now study the eight columns of the conservative metropolitan daily. Four deal with matters of international interest, one with an attempt to prevent the destruction of a town, one is a "news" item about postal affairs in the local community, one a "suicide," and one discusses a movement to change the transportation system of the locality. Which paper uses the largest type? What is the purpose of that large type anyway ? Why should headlines stretch over two. or three columns, or even clear across the page? Is it because the readers have eye trouble? Is it necessary to have such "scare-heads"? Why do the editors put them in? Of course if we chose other papers we'd find enough particulars in the headlines. But strangely enough, perhaps the tendency in the case of one paper would be to play up in large type the sensational things — suicides, scandals, the freakish or unusual, murders, serious accidents, while in the other paper the headlines would, in the long run, continue to be small, one column wide, and would deal much more with serious problems of the com- munity, of the nation, and of other countries. 120 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA CM . CM >^ = o< S b u O U ^ 00^ CO S On ^ C3 OC s S U CO J-s □3 ««w 12 l-lji^ii ill 33 3 oJl . nil 3 CL, S '"^ -Q - 3 (U ^1~ D 3 O t S S ^11 ^ TJ -a -go io I - i^c S £ 5 2 i> o ^ o a OS o c NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 121 Use these suggestions to help you plan a study of what your own news- papers talk about. One way to do it is to compare headlines on the first page, and on other pages too, much as we did. Count the headlines in your paper (all pages) and make a table on this order: 1. Murders, accidents, burglaries, and the like. 2. Trivial things but of such freakish nature as will arouse interest 3. "Locals," like those illustrated in this section. 4. Serious problems of community life like improvement of water system, street rail- way, gas and electric system, parks and playgrounds, schools, libraries, the health of the community, etc. 5. Problems of state and national government. 6. Problems of International interest 7. Notices of affairs of social organizations.-. 8. Add other classes that your study shows you need to. Each pupil should work on one newspaper and make a table something like the foregoing one on the blackboard for the class. As a result of your study, what do your local papers talk about most? What least? What do the metropolitan papers talk about most? What least? Is there any difference in this respect between the different papers? Are there differences between what your "local" papers (if you live in a small- town or medium-sized city) and the metropolitan papers discuss? What are the chief ones ? What Determines What Goes into the Newspapers? Do the editors and their reporters determine what goes into the news- papers? Yes, but on what basis? Why put in the scandals and prize fights and murders, and the trivial sensational things? What is it that decides the editor to print one thing and not another? 122 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA "items must be news" in order to get printed This Means That Papers Print What Their Readers Want to Read A newspaper cannot live without readers. It could not earn enough to continue to do business. Perhaps you are thinking that newspapers make their money from the advertisements they print? That's true, they do in- deed. If they depended just on the pennies they get from the sale of the papers they would be bankrupt in a short time. Even a metropolitan news- paper with a "circulation" of 100,000 or half a million cannot run just on the income from the sale of the papers, two or three cents each ! Advertising brings in the largest part of the newspaper's income. Did you know that a full-page advertisement in a single issue of some of the great city papers costs $5,000 or more? It does. Turn through your newspapers. Estimate roughly what part of the paper is given to advertisements and what part to news. Perhaps some one in the class will know how much it costs per page, half page, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, to advertise. If so, you could get a rough idea of how much in- come is taken in by the owners in advertising alone. Perhaps too, you can compare that with the income taken in from the sale of the papers. (You would have to find out the circulation ; it is printed on many metropolitart newspapers. ) Now the more people that read a paper, the easier it is to get advertise- ments. (Do you see how this would be true? Explain it.) The greater the number of advertisements the greater the income. So- you see the income of the newspaper does depend on the readers, don't you?* That means that the editor feels he must give readers what they can understand and, more important still, what they enjoy. Several prominent men have written on this question. Here is what Mr. Hadley, former President of Yale, said about it : "If we are to have responsible newspapers, the reform must begin with the readers themselves. Most of the men who edit newspapers will give the people the kind of newspapers they want. There will, of course, be ex- ceptionally good editors who will make their papers better than their readers demand, and try to educate the people up to a higher level; just as there will be exceptionally bad editors, who will make papers worse than the readers want, and be the instruments, whether they try to or not, of edu- cating the public down to a lower level. But the average editor will work: for the average reader. He cannot be any more independent of the man- who buys his goods than the manufacturer or merchant can be. A manu- facturer who refuses to produce things that the people want, because he NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 123 thinks they ought to want something better, will be driven out of business, and so will a newspaper editor. People sometimes talk of 'yellow journal- ism' as if the editors of the yellow journals were solely responsible for their existence. They are responsible to some degree ; but to a still larger degree the responsibility lies with the public that will buy and read their news." Consider again the headhnes we quoted and the ones you have studied from your newspapers. Why did some emphasize sensations and others more serious "problem" sorts of things? Were the kinds of readers who read and enjoyed the "sensational" papers the same as those who enjoyed the more serious papers? If they had both been printed in the same city— and they well might have been — would the same people have been appealed to by the two papers? Do you often see one person in a city reading "yellow" sensational papers and the more serious type as well ? How do you account ior that? Which Kinds of Newspapers Have the Largest Circulation? Perhaps you can get an accurate answer to that question. Many of the papers print their circulation in some conspicuous place — they are so proud of it. All of them have to publish their circulation once a year, as the Fed- eral laws require it. In case you cannot get accurate statistics, you can be sure that the "sen- sational" papers have many times the circulation of the others — at least in our large cities. That is not difficult to understand, is it? Knowing that they give more space to startling things and that the vast proportion of our people like that sort of "news," we can understand why the editors give it to them and why their newspapers prosper. They prosper, sure enough, for as their circulation increases, their advertising increases. That increases the size of the paper and brings in more money. The circulation increases still more, and brings more advertising, and of course more money. Many people have come to call such newspapers "yellow" because they 'do not print the wholesome, serious news ; instead they play upon the baser •emotions of our people, — so it is maintained. Do not forget that in the long run the "reading public" determines the kind of news that the newspapers print. If the citizens of your community really want better newspapers they can get them by refusing to buy any that are below standard. So say stu- dents of the problem. How do you think such a procedure would work •out in your community? 124 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Criticisms That Have Been Made OF THE newspapers The newspapers of large cities have been very severely criticized during the past fifty years. As cities have grown larger and larger the newspapers have increased in size too. With that increase has come great power. Since such a large proportion of our people read nothing but newspapers, you can see what a great influence they exert in helping us to make our opinions. Most people are not well enough educated to be fully informed on mat- ters of citizenship, foreign affairs, etc. They constantly have to be given new facts with which to form opinions. It probably is true also that most of our people have not practised enough in thinking over problems of citi- zenship so that they can make up their minds from the facts themselves. They are inclined to take their opinions ready-made from others; it is the easiest way. Opinions, we fear, are passed on from person to person in such fashion rather than worked out independently by each of our citizens. If this is true — and most students of the matter agree that it is — What an Influence the Newspapers have in Forming People's Opinions! You can discover evidence on this question by just sounding people out on what they think after reading certain newspaper articles. Articles which are partial to one side in a controversy will in the long run make people who don't have strong prejudices on the subject think their way. Of course it is very important to remember that most of us do have prejudices about many things, and that when we read articles on those subjects we are apt to use the facts given to strengthen our established beliefs. Since the newspapers have come to have so complete a monopoly on the purveyance of information about public affairs, many people have been and now are very suspicious of them. Let us study some of the charges against them and see if we can really understand the situation. Some people Charge that Newspapers Suppress the News. . . There has been in a few cities a suppression of news because of fear of advertisers, but it has always been fraught with great danger to the local press. Mr. Villard [formerly of the New York Evening Post] has admitted that the press of Philadelphia 'has never recovered from the blow to its prestige when it actually refused to tell the story of a crime of the member of one of the large drygoods houses.' Yet this omission proved the impossibility of suppressing news, for the story appeared in New York papers which sold rapidly in the streets of Philadelphia. The story was taken up and told all over the country through the pages of the monthly magazines NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 125 and the literary weeklies. The suppression of the news did more harm to innocent members of the firm than had the Philadelphia papers given a whole edition to the story of the crime. The publicity given this incident would indicate that such suppressions are rare. "A controversy arose later between this same mercantile establishment and the city of Philadelphia over the question of fire prevention appliances, etc., required by city ordinances : it came from a movement started by the Alumnae Committee of Bryn Mawr College which was studying fire pre- vention in factories, shops, and stores where women and girls were employed. The Bryn Mawr Committee once complained that it had wrestled in vain with the Philadelphia papers to take the matter up and that the local press had refused to mention the store save in the way of kindness. The press of Philadelphia again received rebuke at the hands of publications of national circulation. In commenting on the accident. The Outlook, of New York City, called attention to the serious social danger from the muzzling of the newspaper by powerful advertisers. ... "Yet Philadelphia, strange as it may seem, furnishes tht honest and conscientious editor with positive proof that readers will not stand any interference on the part of the advertiser in an attempt to control editorial policies. During the heat of the Presidential Campaign of 1912, the page advertisement of a department store, a rival of the one to which reference has just been made, was withdrawn one Friday night from a Philadelphia newspaper. No intimation had previously reached its editor that such a step was contemplated and the action was unaccompanied either by word or letter to throw light upon the subject. Advertising solicitors were in- structed to make no inquiry as to the cause of the discontinuance of the advertisement. The editor instructed the staff to make no explanations or comments about the matter. He then left for his old home to visit his mother. He was absent about a week. Upon his return he was notified that the page advertisement would be resumed the following Monday. "The absence of the page for a whole week not only attracted much attention, but caused much comment. Readers of the paper thought that they saw in the absence of the advertisement an act of reprisal against the paper on account of its editorial attitude on national politics. Subscribers put their own interpretation on the disappearance of the advertising and inferred that the paper had been threatened with a loss of advertising unless its editorial policy on politics was modified. Letters and telegrams of pro- test in large numbers poured in upon the owner of the department store. Their writers threatened to refuse to trade at the store unless the advertis- ing was returned to the newspaper. The advertising was sent back without any condition suggested or implied. The editorial policy of the paper was 126 TOWN AND CITY LIFJi IN AMKRICA not changed one iota, although it may have seemed to the public that it was a little more vigorous than ever before."' So you see that while the first quotation showed how newspapers tried to suppress news, the second one shows a case where a newspaper honestly stands up for its own views, irrespective of what the department stores do. The next quotations illustrate another angle of the matter: "Not long ago the owner of a large department store failed in business. There w as a pretty well founded rumor that conditions had not been just right at his store for some time. Because the New York papers did not give any publicity to the matter till the failure was a legal fact, they were ac- cused of suppressing the news because of the advertising revenue derived from the store. Such critics overlooked the fact that such publication might have made the newspapers financially responsible for the failure. During the panic of 1907 a New York newspaper printed a story that a certain business establishment, was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was, and later failed. The owners brought suit against the newspapers and collected heavy damages on the ground that the failure had been caused by the publication ♦ of the item. Courts, as Whitelaw Reid, of The New York Tribune, pointed out in his lecture on 'Journalism' at Yale University, have been rather harsh on newspapers for publishing items of this character and newspapers cannot be blamed for the use of ordinary common sense in such matters. . . . **In another city conditions were quite like those in Boston, only there had been several similar incidents, though less disastrous in results. A large store had moved farther uptown and with its larger quarters it had been forced to employ green detectives who frequently made errors. In fact, they made so many blunders that managers of other department stores went to the press with the request for publicity in order that the evil might be corrected. One newspaper publisher told the representatives from the stores, 'You can't get publicity for such stuf¥ in my paper, even if all of you withdraw your advertising.' He w^as quite right. This makes it clear that newspapers have suppressed the news. Some- times it has been done improperly and the papers should be called to account for it. On the other hand, the papers have probably just as often had per- fectly good and justifiable reasons for not printing the news which they withheld. Department stores do the heaviest advertising in the metropolitan newspapers. What do these advertisers think of the newspapers. "... A little investigation shows that department stores feel that they have not been treated squarely by newspapers. They assert that a man 1 Lee, James M. : "History of American Journalism," pages 431; 432-433. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1917. -L.ee, James M. : Op. cit., pages 435; 4 36. NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 127 cannot have a harmless fit in their buildings without some account getting into the newspapers, while he may have as many fits as he chooses in a smaller store without a single line in the newspapers to record the fact. Department stores maintain that every time their delivery wagons have an accident the fact is made known in the press with the name of the store to which the wagon belonged printed conspicuously in the account, while horses attached to wagons of smaller stores may run away and do considerable damage with newspaper readers none the wiser about the event. Depart- ment stores feel that the newspapers might render a little editorial assistance in matters of public convenience and public safety such as a bridge joining two buildings occupied by the same store: they assert that the newspapers are unwilling to endorse such enterprises lest the charge be brought against them of being influenced by advertising. Almost every department store has its tale of woe about the lack of co-operation from newspapers in an- nouncing the welfare movements started among employees. On the whole, department stores present just as strong a case against the newspapers as do the critics. Did not this condition obtain, there would be more reason to suspect truth in the charge that advertising possibly influences the news ^ and editorial columns."^ What the newspaper managers say about the control of papers by advertisers Don C. Seitz, business manager of the New York World says this i ''I have been for twenty years in the business office of The New York World and I do not recall a half-dozen attempts on the part of advertisers to influence it, and of these attempts only one was a matter of public con- cern about which there were two very fair opinions. We did not accept the advertiser's view. It is some five years since I have had an advertiser ask me to do anything, even in his personal interest, unless perhaps to print a wedding notice, or the mention of some social af¥air, and in this I rather think the editors treated him more shabbily than if it had been some one else. Good editors are not interfered with on great newspapers. If they were, there would be neither good editors nor great newspapers." Examples of Business Men Trying to Dictate Policies of Newspapers . . When Bryan was nominated for President on the Democratic ticket in 1896, there was great consternation among bankers lest his election should disrupt existing monetary standards and ruin the country. While there was no concerted action, independent bankers holding notes of news- papers did have several heart to heart talks with editors and proprietors ^Lee, James M.: Op. cit., pages 487-438. 128 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA and threatened to demand immediate payment of financial obligations if Bryan was supported. Be it said to the credit of editors who conscientiously believed in the silver standard that they told bankers 'where to get off,' that editorial policies were not subject to mortgage or demand notes and that they would welcome the issue if it were presented. They said that they would publish the facts in the case for their readers and were positive that they could raise enough money through popular subscription to continue publication. In other instances editors informed bankers that a suit to col- lect notes might cause a reduction in the size of their newspapers, but they had funds enough to print handbills stating the reason for change in form. No such drastic action, however, was necessary, as bankers soon saw that the chief asset of a newspaper was its independence."^ A very interesting illustration of the honesty and independence of cer- tain newspapers is given in the next quotation : ''A large advertiser in a certain metropolitan daily did withdraw his advertising because the paper supported Bryan in his presidential aspirations, but later, on finding that he was losing business on account of the absence of this advertising, he tried to have it inserted again. The newspaper in- formed him very plainly in w^ords to the following effect: 'You have tried to dictate to this paper through a threat of withdrawal of advertising. You need to be taught a lesson. You are now out, and out you stay for one year, that the lesson may be forcibly impressed upon your memory.' Not until the year was up was he allowed to resume advertising.^' Other Ways Besides Newspapers Through Which Citizens Find Out About Community Affairs As cities grow larger and larger, more and more difficult does it be- come for a citizen to grasp the problems of the community about which he ought to have an opinion. He has to choose men and women to "represent" him in the "city-council" or the "commission;" he has to help select a mayor, a school board, and other officials. He must make up his mind whether he wants to have the city issue another million dollars' worth of bonds to build a new high school, or whether "Fairview Park" shall be enlarged and so on. When the town is a little compact community everybody knows everybody else and a good deal about the community problems that come up. But in the big city, both people and "problems" are lost. Everything becomes im- personal and people become indifferent. The greatest problem of the public official is how to educate his community to what the needs of the community really are. How shall he do it? 1 Lee, James M. : Op. cit., page 439. NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 129 The Annual Reports of city officials are generally huge uninteresting volumes which no citizen reads. Have a committee of your class go to the city hall and get copies of the official reports, say the mayor's report, the report of the city engineer or "public works" department, of the department of streets, of the city treas- urer, comptroller. Board of Education. Then each one of your class mem- bers should look through them. What do you make of them ? Can you read their pages of statistics and description with any enthusiasm? Do you think citizens read these in their homes in the leisure hours of the evening, to make up their minds about im- portant community matters? Can you find out from these Annual Reports what is really needed in your town in the way of community improvement ? Can you discover what the problems of taxation are in your community? Can you discover what ought to be done to save money on water or what ought to be done about street railways, or gas and electric light companies? Here are some examples of city reports that are made more interesting and written in a readable way for the citizens of a community. For example, would you not be impelled to look into a report which had a foreword like this?i DEAR READER Please forget that this is a public doc- ument. Read it rather as a study in home-making— as the record of one year of effort to make of Philadelphia the best place in all the world in which to live. This report of the Director of Public Works to the Mayor of the city is really a story of the stewardship of 4,000 city employees working for the other 1, 600, 000 citizens. MORRIS LLEWELLYN COOKE, DIRECTOR. P. S. — At least look at the pictures. M. L. C. — 'i 1 Cooke, Morris L. : "Our Cities Awake," page 205. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, 1918. 130 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA Educating the Public with Pamphlets The more intelligent and progressive city departments are now issuing little pamphlets, each of which discusses a particular problem. In this way they are trying to teach citizens in large cities about the matters that vitally concern them. Here is a foreword from a pamphlet on "Real Estate and Its Taxation in Philadelphia" made by an engineer, Morris L. Cooke, that tells how important and how difficult it is to tell citizens about such matters. "The subject of this pamphlet is of vital importance to every man, woman, and child in Philadelphia. It matters little whether the particular suggestions set forth in the following pages are wise or unwise. The urgent matter is that taxpayers, real estate men, builders, members of building and loan associations, and indeed, all thoughtful citizens, should familiarize themselves with this subject ; look into it carefully, each from his own point of view and discuss it in public and private. If this is done, a proper solution of our present difficulties will soon be forthcoming. To aid in such intelli- gent study and discussion, I gladly take the opportunity of giving publicity to what I know to be a careful, conscientious, and informing study of meth- ods of assessing real estate for purposes of taxation."^ TEST Write a T before all statements that are true and an F before all state- ments that are false. ~\~\. The newspaper in a democracy is an important agency because it influences public opinion in so tremendous a way. W.'The great majority of people of America do not read the yellow journals. ( 3. If we wish to be well informed on the questions of the day, we should read the "better" weeklies, monthly magazines and newspapers which give the most space to community, national and international problems. 4. One of the chief sources of income for the newspapers is from advertisements. 5. The small village papers of America give a large amount of space to national and international problems. 6. The American's ideas of things, so far as they come from reading, are obtained from the newspapers. \ T 7. One job of our public officials is to educate the community to see what the needs \. of the community really are. The department stores have in the past influenced the papers. Each citizen thinks over the facts he has on a question and then forms his opinion. ^ 10. The department stores are the heaviest advertisers in the newspapers. 11. The circulation of a newspaper is not an important source of income for that paper. 12. There have been cases where the newspapers have suppressed the news. 13. Most of us accept opinions ready-made from other people or from what we read. 14. The only method of improving the newspapers of America is for the heavy advertisers to patronize only the "better" papers. 1^ 15. In our newspapers, the most space is given to a discussion of community problems. 16. The kind of news printed in the newspapers, is the news the readers like to read. 1 Cooke, Morris L. : Op. cit., page 206. / NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 131 f 17. In our newspapers, the least amount of space is given to personal news of the community. 18. The newspapers with the widest circulation get the most advertising. >— ^C:^ 19. Newspaper editors have found it good business to print only such news as their advertisers want them to print. 20. The newspaper in a democracy is an important agency because it keeps the ^ public informed concerning foreign affairs. ' 21. One method of improving the newspapers of America is for the public to refuse to buy the "yellow" journals. 22. A large percent of Americans read little aside from the newspapers. 23. The newspaper in a democracy is an important agency because it keeps the public informed on the personal happenings of the community. 1-24. The "yellow" journals give a great amount of space to community, national and international problems. SECTION XIV WHAT KIND OF CITIZENS WILL YOUR SCHOOLS MAKE? For six years, perhaps longer, you have been going to school — five days in the w^eek from half past eight or nine in the morning until three-thirty or four in the afternoon. For nine of ten months of the year you have been in the charge of the government — either that of your local community or of the state or the nation. You have learned to read fairly w^ell, to w^rite so that people can read what you write, to spell certain words that you need to use in writing, and to add, subtract, multiply, and divide with whole num- bers and with fractions. Probably you have had a chance to read stories about the history of America and to study a bit the geography of your own country and of other lands. Perhaps you have learned to draw simple things, to use the common carpenter tools in the workshop. You may have studied something about the birds and flowers and trees and the out-of-door world. Now how has this been done, alone or with class-mates? How many pupils are there in your room ? Thirty, forty, fifty perhaps? Or do you have the good fortune to live in a community where the people believe in spending a great deal of money on the education of their children and so provide teachers enough to have very small classes, of say fifteen or twenty pupils? Has any one in the class ever been in a school where each class has only about 15 pupils? Find out in what kind of school it was. A public school? If so, it was a very unusual one indeed for most of the classes in public ele- mentary schools have thirty or more pupils in each one. The average size of such classes for the twenty million pupils in American schools is 35 ! Think over what that means. What do we mean by an "average" of 35? We mean that about half of the thousands of classes have more than thirty- five and half have less than 35. Remember that way of telling what an "average" means. But while the average size is 35, there are hardly any classes in city schools smaller than 25. Is it important to keep the number of pupils in a school class as small as possible? Why? Would your teacher be able to help you individually most in a class of 35pupilsorinoneof 20? 15? 10?5?2? 1? Why do you think so ? Would SCHOOLS AND GOOD CITIZENS 133 this be true no matter what you were studying? Suppose you were learn- ing some difficult new thing in arithmetic, or mathematics, as for instance how to find per cents or how to use letters to represent numbers. Could she teach you most easily if you were alone, or with 10 others, or 20 others, or 30 or 40 others? In which case could you ask questions best and really make progress fastest? What size of class would be best for such kinds of work? Be ready to tell your reasons. Now suppose you were going to take a spelling or arithmetic test, or practice in arithmetic or writing. Which size of class would be best for that? Could the test be taken just as well with 30 as with 1 in the class? With 50 ? If you were the superintendent and were trying to run the schools just as well as you could and at the same time as economically as you could (to save the community's money), how many pupils would you want to put into a class for the testing and practice work? Why? There are other kinds of school work that are very important. One is the kind you are doing in the social studies. In such work you have consid- erable reading to do. This, of course, you do by yourself. It is an mdiv- idual matter, for of course you read silently so as to get the ideas from your reading. All your class-mates do the same thing. Reading for this purpose should not be done aloud, should it? Since you do not need an audi- ence you do not need to work as a class. In addition to the reading you do individually there are exercises to be done. Maps have to be made. Graphs must be constructed. Reports about reading that you have done have to be written and presented orally before the class. All of that sort of thing is your own individual work, too, isn't it ? But then comes what is perhaps the best part of your work — the class^ discussion. The whole class comes together and talks over the reading that has been done and listens to individual reports on particular topics. In this work you need others to talk to about your work. You need to be in a class, not just by yourself as when you are learning something difficult and new in mathematics say, or science. There will be points to be argued. It will be fine to have debates and to exchange ideas with other people about the things you have been reading. You need to go on excursions in your com- munity. You need to work with class-mates in making the surveys of hous- ing and of health, of social groups, of newspapers, etc. in the community. For all such work in the social studies and for like kinds of work in the English and science classes you need to be a part of a group, of a class. How large a class is best ? 50 ? No, clearly that would be too many. 30 ? Per- haps. Ask your teacher what number of boys and girls she would prefer in a class in order to have the best discussions. What do you think? Would the desirable number be 5 ? Could you get different points of view well represented in classes of 5?. How about 15? or 20? Discuss this matter thoroughly so as to arrive at some conclusion about it. 134 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA What is your answer now to the question : Is it important that the num- ber of pupils in a class should be as small as possible? What are your reasons ? Since you are surveying your community, your next problem should be to find out how many children there are in the separate classes of the schools of your town. Where will you go to find out? Will you have to ask the principals, or the teachers, or inquire at the superintendent's office? No. you will find such information in the annual school report of your Superintendent of Schools, published by the Board of Education. Appoint a committee to bring several copies of this report to your class. It really would be a good thing to have quite a number of copies of the last report in your room in order that members of the class may refer to it as they will need to from time to time. Perhaps the Superintendent may have published a separate pamphlet to inform the citizens about such matters. Many superintendents are doing that nowadays to make the material more readable and interesting so that it w^ill be more widely read by the people than the reports usually are. What- ever the reports that may have been published, look up the facts about the number of pupils a teacher has to teach. Do this for the elementary schools and for the high schools separately One committee should get this information on the elementary schools and another on high schools. In American schools we have formed the habit of making elementary school teachers teach more pupils than high school teachers. On the average the high school teacher has only 25 pupils in a class where the elementary teacher averages 35. Be sure that you know what the differences are between elementary schools and high schools. How many grades are there in your school building? Eight or six? or perhaps nine? If there are 8, then you are in an eight-grade elementary school. When you complete the eighth grade you can enter a four-year high school. Very likely your school system has twelve grades — 8 ele- mentary ones with the pupils divided among a number of small buildings scattered over the community, and 4 high school grades in one or a very few high school buildings. SCHOOLS AND GOOD CITIZENS 135 It may be, on the other hand, that your seventh grade class is in one of the new "junior high schools." About 1,000 communities in America have organized these new kinds of high schools. They are not always of the same type, but in general they comprise the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. Sometimes only the seventh and eighth grades are put together. In other communities that do not believe in breaking up the system into so many schools, there are two kinds, a six-grade elementary school, and a six-year high school comprising grades 7 to 12 inclusive. Which kind of school is yours? Next find out what the chief differences are between them. In the first place, how many different teachers teach youf One, all day long? Do you have the same teacher in all subjects — reading, arithmetic, social studies, spelling, etc? Or do you have a different one in each subject- — one for mathematics, another for social studies, another for English? That is the first difference. The high school generally arranges for special teachers in the different subjects ; an elementary school provides one teacher for a grade room, and she teaches everything. Can you think out which scheme would be better? It is very difficult to know because there are arguments on both sides. Get your teacher to discuss it with you — she will know the different arguments. She will tell you whether she thinks it better to have a teacher really know one or two subjects well and spend her time on these subjects; or, on the other hand, whether if one teacher taught all subjects she could not relate the work of one to that of another better than separate teachers could. Ask her about such points. Challenge her with questions, if her reasons are not convincing. There's another difference between the two kinds of schools, and that is in the number and kinds of school subjects taught. Make a blackboard list of the "subjects" you study in the elementary school. Begin, say, with the sixth grade ; arithmetic, spelling, etc. Make a list now of those you study this year. Your teacher will make a list of those you will study in high school. Notice that one difference is that in the elementary school each pupil is required to study all the subjects. In the high school certain ones, like English, mathematics, and languages, are studied by all pupils while other subjects are chosen according to special interests in them or expected need for them in future work. For example, one pupil may need advanced mathematics because he is going to be an engineer; another, on the other hand, will need stenography or bookkeeping; while a third may require Latin or some modern foreign language. There are other differences between the elementary and high schools. Discuss them with your teacher and when you have finished, make a black- board summary of them. It may be that your Board of Education has been considering the question of changing the grades and putting in "junior" 136 TOWN AND CITY LIFE IN AMERICA high schools. If so, it would be a good thing to appoint a committee to find out all about it — the reasons for which the Board of Education finally de- cided to put them in, if they have decided to do so, and the arguments for them and against them in your community. If the Board members decided against junior high schools, find out why. In case the community (if it is at least a medium-sized community of 20,000 or 30,000 people or more) has not considered the matter, your class might raise the question for discussion. Even though you are only 12 to 14 years of age, remember you and your classmates are rapidly approaching the time when you will be citizens of the community and yourselves help to determine these things. Begin now to take part in the public afiEairs of the community by gathering information and making yourself familiar with these problems. Why are so MAny Pupils Taught in One Class? Why ARE THE Classes Not Made Smaller? No doubt, by this time, that question has been running through your mind. Why should you not be permitted to study in small groups or even to work alone much of the time as an individual ? There is one important reason : American Communities Have Been Unwilling to Pay the Necessary Money for Smaller Classes. If the thirty pupils of one class were put into two classes of 15 pupils each the community would have to pay nearly twice as much money each year. How does that happen? Well, it means two teachers instead of one, doesn't it? And about three quarters of all the money spent for education goes to pay the teachers. Look up in your latest school report the proportion of all school money that went to pay the salaries of teachers. Such a change, furthermore, would mean more school principals and it would certainly mean more buildings. Not twice as many buildings, it is true, but probably half again as many. All in all the one reason why you and twenty million other children in America are taught in large classes is the American communities have been unwilling to spend the necessary money to have smaller ones. How Much Does Your Community Spend Each Year PER Elementary School Pupil? per High School Pupil? The answer to that question also you can find somewhere in your latest annual school report. See if you can find a statement telling how much all SCHOOLS AND GOOD CITIZENS 137 your schools cost per pupil. If you can get this information, then you can compare what your schools spen4 with this brand new figure just published about the schools in the state of Massachusetts. SCHOOL COSTS 10 YEARS AGO AND NOW These statistics show the enormous increase in educational costs through- out Massachusetts during the past 10 years: Increase ITEM 1911-12 1921-22 Percent General control including salaries and ex- penses of school committees and superin- tpnrlpnflfil«l 7-ecwRD OF HEALTH J2-CITY COLLECTOR 17-BOARO OF APPEAL ie-ClTY PKVaWAN iT-MUPtd COMMITTEE JJ-OML IttSPtCTOR ' 3