Sanitary survey of the town of Lawrence / by the chairman of the commissioners appointed under a resolve of the legislature of Massachusetts, relating to a sanitary survey of the state.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary survey of the town of Lawrence / by the chairman of the commissioners appointed under a resolve of the legislature of Massachusetts, relating to a sanitary survey of the state. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    the corporation. They have been erected, not for an investment of capital on which a profitable income is to be anticipated, but as a means of preserving a proper supervision over the operatives employ- ed, and for their benefit. Boarding-houses of this kind generally afford less than 4 per cent, interest on the capital invested. Some afford no income at all, and even become an annual expense to the owners. They are kept in repair and rented to the tenants, subject to such regulations and restrictions as the company see fit to establish. The rent and the price of board are fixed by the company ; but both are subject to such alteration as the circumstances of the times, and of all the parties interested, shall render just and proper. The tenants of the Bay State boarding-houses now pay $150 each, annually, as rent, which is about three j)er cent, on the cost. The fur- niture of the houses is obtained and owned by the tenants themselves ; and they furnish provisions and other articles of consumption for the inmates. They now receive $1 25 per week for the board of females, and $1 75 to $2 00 for males. The fare provided is of a plain, sub- stantial and wholesome kind, well prepared, neatly served, and in suf- ficient quantities. Operatives are under no compulsion to board in one tenement rather than in another; it is for the interest of the boarding- house keepers, therefore, that the bill of fare should be attractive and satisfactory. The keepers are sometimes men with wives and fami- lies ; but they are generally widows, or females wTho have been accus- tomed to perform the principal part of the business of providing for their families, and who desire a remunerating means of subsistence. Applications for these situations are generally numerous, but they can be obtained by none but persons of known capacity and respectability. And whenever indications of a different character are manifested, the obnoxious keeper is immediately ejected. Males and females are not allowed to occupy the same house, not even a man with his wife, as boarders. Several classes of regulations to be observed by the inmates of these houses, are printed and placed conspicuously in each house. One code is as follows :— I. The tenants must not underlet any part of their tenements, nor board any persons not employed by the company, unless by special permission ; and, in no case, are males and te- males to board in the same house. II. The tenants must, when required by the agent, give a correct account, in writing, of the number, names, character, habits and employment of their boarders; and whether tinw- are habitual attendants on public worship. They must, also, on the first Monday of everv month, send to the counting-room, a list of all the boarders they have taken, and of all who have left their houses, during the preceding mouth. They must, also, at the same time, ren- der a list of the names of all such boarders as have required the services of a physician, on account of sickness, during the same period. III. The doors must be closed at 10 o’clock in the evening, and no one admitted after that time, unless some reasonable excuse can be given. IV. 'I'he boarders must not be permitted to have company at unseasonable hours. V. All improper conduct among the boarders, and all rude and disorderly deportment, must be prevented by the tenants, if possible, and if persisted in, must be icported to the agent. VI. It is confidently expected, that all children over twelve, and under fourteen years of age, living in the houses, be kept constantly at school. VII. It is indispensable, that all who live in the houses should be vaccinated, and this will be done, at the expense of the company, by a physician, at the counting-room, for all those employed by the company, and for the families of the tenants. VIII. The health of the inhabitants requires that particular attention should be paid to the cleanliness and daily ventilation of the rooms. IX. Neither water, nor filth of any kind, must be thrown out in front of the houses, nor be allowed to remain in the cellars, back-yards or sheds.