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CHAPTER VII.

HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS.

General housing and living conditions-Rent in its relation to standard of livingBoarders and lodgers-Size of apartments occupied-Size of households studiedCongestion-[Text Tables 687 to 698 and General Tables 394 to 405].

GENERAL HOUSING AND LIVING CONDITIONS.

In describing household conditions the different races may be classified in three general divisions. The first division includes the native whites, English, Welsh, and Scotch. The second, the Poles, Slovaks, South Italians, and negroes, and the third, the Greeks, Bulgarians, and Macedonians. There are material differences in the systems of living practiced by these three classes.

The greater number of native whites employed in the territory immediately adjacent to Birmingham are skilled laborers. The unskilled labor is composed principally of the South Italian and Slav races and the negro.

Household conditions among the Americans are far superior to conditions prevailing among the Slavs and South Italians, and it is, of course, unnecessary to compare this class with the negroes. Modern facilities for comfort and sanitation are in much more extensive use. The home is more spacious and is furnished in comfort if not in a slight degree of luxury.

In the outlying towns of this locality the proportion of Americans employed in bituminous coal mining and unskilled labor is much greater than in the territory immediately adjacent to Birmingham, and many of the mines are operated exclusively by native white and negro labor. In these environments the home of the native white laborer is frequently devoid of the more modern equipment and sanitation, though there is no lack of material comfort. His house usually affords space for a separate dining room and kitchen, and separate living room, in many instances. The front room or parlor, reserved for the entertainment of guests, is an almost invariable feature of the home.

The boarding-boss system, practiced by the South Italian and Slav races, is unknown to the natives. Occasionally a few boarders on the American plan are found.

Approximately 90 per cent of the negroes employed in this locality live in rented houses. Where company houses are not available the negroes usually settle in that section of the town where, because of the absence of improved streets, water, or lighting facilities, or for other reasons, the house rent is reduced to a minimum. This tendency is also characteristic of the South Italian and Slav races.

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Two rooms are usually sufficient to as living room and bedroom, and t room combined. This is frequently larger families. It is not unusual, adults to sleep in the same room. bedsteads, split-bottomed chairs, and articles of furniture in these houses. of the house not infrequently presen ance with the floor cleanly swept and t but the general impression is usually dence, the fences, steps, and porch b and the yard littered with rubbish. practically unknown.

With the advent of the Slav and So boarding boss and his group of lodge omy previously unknown to this lo other industrial communities, the b here to its greatest extent in the cen venient to the large cities. The pro to each family decreases in number a populous cities increases, which is ind unmarried Slav and South Italian im important centers of population. In system is practiced principally by the 1 In the company houses of one of the near Birmingham, South Italian famil fifteen boarders or lodgers. Among th ceeds eight or ten. There is very lit holds. To accommodate as many 1 frequently placed in every room in the b used as a dining room, bedroom, and b most essential articles of a cheap and i used. The bed clothing is soiled and in the house presents an untidy and slove

Where the boarders or lodgers are less of the immediate family, conditions a some of the smaller towns in this secti and South Italian steel workers and co houses and in houses rented from other In these homes where none or only a lim kept, the furniture is more substantial a presents a much neater appearance. It in these homes any but the most esse There are no separate living rooms or dining room are usually combined and t as a bedroom also. Modern devices for s room and flush toilet are conspicuously system is not practiced by the English, the Birmingham district. Household co compare favorably with conditions among

The Greek, Bulgarian, and Macedonian are largely unmarried men; of those who entire number have left their wives in Eu

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as many of the unmarried South Italian immigrants, have adopted a method of living usually designated as the rooming group system. In the company houses of one of the large steel manufacturing corporations near Birmingham, several hundred of these laborers live in groups, varying in number from two to fifteen individuals. The smaller groups occupy only one room, while the larger frequently rent an entire house, four or five men occupying each room. Where a group is composed of as many as five individuals the most intelligent of the number is usually chosen "boss," who acts as disbursing agent and pays the bills for house rent, light, and fuel, the other members contributing equally to these expenses. Various methods are followed in buying and preparing the food. A member of the group who possesses superior culinary ability will sometimes act as cook for the entire number, his pro rata amount of the grocery bill being paid by the other members as compensation for his services in this capacity. In other groups a common fund is maintained for groceries and each member acts as cook for a certain period. Where a group is composed of only a few members it is frequently the practice of each individual to buy and prepare his own food. Many of the Bulgarians patronize restaurants conducted by members of their race.

Some semblance of order and neatness is maintained in many of the houses occupied by these laborers, but some of the larger groups live in more squalid surroundings than are seen among the Slav and South Italian boarding groups. The furniture is confined to a few benches or chairs and bedsteads and the personal belongings of each individual. These consist of a few cooking vessels and pieces of bed clothing. The latter is sometimes used constantly by both night and day shifts of laborers.

The section dealt with in this report, including the city of Birmingham, Jefferson County, and various counties in northern Alabama, represents industrial activity in various forms, but all related or tributary in a general way to the iron and steel industry, the chief factor in the prosperity which has thus far attended this region. Bituminous coal mining, while an independent industry, is closely interwoven with iron and steel, in the first place through the ownership by these companies of many important coal mines and, second, through their consumption of the product of mines in which they are not financially interested. In discussing housing conditions, it is possible to treat of employees of many of the different industrial enterprises in the same report, as the same general conditions obtain throughout the entire district.

In comparing housing conditions of the different races employed in this locality, a general division is easily made into skilled and unskilled laborers; the skilled laborers are composed principally of the native whites with a very small proportion of Scotch, English, and Welsh, while among the unskilled laborers is found a wide diversity of races, the principal types being South Italians, Poles, Slovaks, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Macedonians. The English, Welsh, Irish, Scotch, and French races are represented in small numbers about equally divided between the skilled and unskilled labor.

Housing conditions among the high-priced or skilled laborers, which class as previously stated is composed principally of the native whites,

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races; the contrast is especially notic the South Italian, Greek, and Slav ra The ordinary type of "company h quirements of the skilled American more comfortably housed either in the owned houses, fairly well equipped wi and sanitation, while in other cases the better type of house. In Bessemer, for the rolling mills occupy two-story hou struction than the average company h

Approximately 90 per cent of the wh races live in rented houses. Where c able, these laborers usually congregate town most convenient to the place of e which can be obtained for the lowest re is a small colony of Slovaks employed in have purchased homes and are living frame cottages, but property owners general rule very infrequent. The ty frequently seen in the focality adjace story frame building containing from room houses being frequently divided buildings are usually provided with a weatherboarded and finished with dre whitewashed. They are usually devoid such as bath or flush toilet, and in conse proximity to the steel, iron, or coke ya employed are without a yard or gard impression of housing conditions amon ployed by the most important industrial may be obtained from a description of ployees at the steel plant at Ensley, Al miles from the city of Birmingham prop limits by virtue of a recent legislative and races represented here are fairly typi the territory adjacent to Birmingham.

The company quarters here are located outskirts of Ensley, adjoining the yards o rates the quarters from the principal bus of the town. The races represented are S Roumanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and rates the quarters of the negro and im of company houses is not a condition pre in selecting a home the immigrant is usua siderations, viz, house rental, presence proximity to place of employment. The the greatest influence and has resulted in of the immigrants occupying the compa tomarily rented to them at a lower rate t other sources.

The houses occupied are of the familis boarded, frame structures of one story, di of two rooms each, finished with dressed lur

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with small porches. Provision for heat for each apartment is made by a chimney erected in the center of the building. Water is obtained from hydrants outside the house, one for every three houses. Water-closets built of rough lumber are placed in the rear of the buildings, one closet being provided for every twelve houses. These closets, which are flushed by running water, are divided by partitions into twelve stalls or sections. A public bath for the use of the employees is also maintained. A monthly rental of $10.50 for each house, or $5.25 for an apartment, is charged.

Among the Polish and South Italian races where the boardingboss system prevails, one family frequently rents an entire house and sometimes two houses, the extra space being used in housing lodgers, who vary in numbers from ten to fifteen to a family. The Bulgarians, Roumanians, Greeks, and Macedonians are practically all single men and live in groups, varying from two to twelve individuals, each group occupying one or two rooms usually, but sometimes an entire house, the members sharing equally in the house rent. In the company quarters occupied by the negroes, the houses are smaller and less substantial in construction. Many are finished on the exterior with rough lumber, to which a coat of whitewash is applied. Only dry closets are provided and there is no public bath as in the immigrant section.

In the outlying coal and iron-ore mining towns there is a greater diversity in the types of shelter provided for employees-the buildings varying from substantial four and six room houses to nondescript clapboard shacks and cottages designed to satisfy the requirements of transient and migratory class of laborers who value their wages more than the comforts of a modern home involving increased rent. The American devotes more attention to material comfort than does the immigrant and usually provides himself with a comfortable home. Even where the same type of building used by the immigrant is occupied, it presents a more attractive appearance than the house occupied by the South Italian or Slav laborer in the same grade of employment.

RENT IN ITS RELATION TO STANDARD OF LIVING.

The rent payments of the households studied in the Birmingham district, as in the case of other localities, have an important bearing upon the cost of living, but owing to the crowding within the immigrant households in order to reduce the rent payment per capita, these payments are chiefly significant in the index which they afford as to standards of living and general living conditions. The first table submitted in this connection shows, by general nativity and race of head of household, average rent paid each month per apartment, per room, and per person.

48296°-VOL 9—11—16

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