A Social Study of the Russian German 33 
stepmother complains that it is too cold in the morning, but I tell 
her to lie still until I get the house aired out, and I’ll do the 
work.” 
Sanitary living conditions are not wholly dependent upon in- 
terior cleanliness of the homes and upon pure air; for in a city, 
and especially in overcrowded sections, the problem of sewage and 
water supply is vital. These, however, will be discussed in a later 
chapter under the head of health conditions and only the moral 
effects of overcrowding will be considered here. These depend 
largely upon the composition of the “families” in the over- 
crowded districts. A two-room dwelling occupied by eight people 
is manifestly an example of overcrowding from the sanitary point 
of view; but its moral effect will differ vastly as to the age, sex, 
and relationship of the individuals. The evil decreases in propor- 
tion as they all belong to one family, and as the age of the chil- 
dren is low or their sex the same. But let them be a combination 
of two families, brought about by second marriages, with ages 
differing widely ; or a group of single or married male boarders 
in a family containing girls or young women, and the problem is 
greatly intensified. Hence an analysis of the composition of these 
families is necessary to ascertain the moral effects of overcrowd- 
ing. Reserving the statistical tables for a later use, the two vital 
facts in this connection are: first, the number of boarders in the 
settlements is comparatively small; and second, the number of 
small children is comparatively large. 
The small number of boarders is due to the fact that immigra- 
tion occurs almost wholly by families and that the young unat- 
tached persons usually leave the settlement, either for work in 
other parts of the city, or for other locations. In the north settle- 
ment there were only 20 boarders listed in the census of 1914, 
and in the south settlement, 61.27 Of these, 16 were married men 
whose families were in Russia, 42 were single men; and three 
were women—one divorced and two single. About a third of 
these were boarding with relatives, usually with a brother. The 
27Tt is possible that some of the boarders in the north settlement were 
not listed, through a mistaken notion that it might affect the taxes of the 
informant. 
159 
