UNSANITARY HOUSING 37 



tering foreigner should seek a dwelling in some locality where 

 his own tongue sounds kindly to his ears. So the Italian, at 

 whatever port he lands, hastens to Little Italy, the Russian 

 seeks Little Russia, and the Hungarian finds lodging in Little 

 Hungary. 



"Division of this sort makes housing problems in the 

 United States more complex than those which many European 

 cities show. Model tenements here cannot receive tenants 

 chosen at random in the same fashion as can Berlin or Lon- 

 don. Difference of race and type, even difference of locality 

 forbids, for the Italian from the North must have his quarters 

 separated from the Italian of the South, and one tribe from 

 that strange mixture of races called Russia may be the ancient 

 enemy of another. Evidently our attack on this problem must 

 include some selective processes." 



How applicable these words are to Canada at the present time ! 

 With these facts before us, may not the question be asked: 

 Are we making proper provision for the housing of our immigrant 

 population, to say nothing of the population by natural increase? 

 Overcrowding and slum conditions with their accompanying evils 

 are present with us. By our neglect, indifference and greed of 

 gain we have allowed to become ingrafted in the fair escutcheon 

 of our Canadian civilization a sore which is a disgrace and a shame. 

 True, it is small as compared with similar conditions in other coun- 

 tries; somewhat insignificant, you may deem it, but it is here and 

 unless grappled with now will prove a much more difficult problem 

 to solve even ten years hence. 



One is forced to ask: "Is it right that we should invite and en- 

 courage settlers to come to this country when we have not even ad- 

 equate accommodation to offer them of a more decent temporary re- 

 sidence at a fair rental?" We will not speak of permanent homes. 

 True, it is a nation in the making; but the nation must be properly 

 housed. We have passed the nomadic age of our cities. I can show 

 you housing conditions in Canada, which cannot compare, as regards 

 the comforts and conveniences of life, to those enjoyed by the tent 

 dweller in ages past. Even the Hebrews in their four decades of 

 desert wandering surpassed us in the observance of the essential laws 

 of personal and domestic hygiene. 



A fair idea of the housing conditions of the people of 

 Population Canada in 1901, may be gathered from the Census Re- 

 port of that year. The density of population as affect- 

 ing the health of the people can hardly be considered; for the popu- 

 lation of some seven or eight millions is scattered over a vast area. 



