xt737p8tb81t_604 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt737p8tb81t/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt737p8tb81t/data/65m19.dao.xml unknown 15 Cubic Feet 24 boxes, 3 items archival material 65m19 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. John Scott Lansill papers Newspaper article, reprinted from The Washington Post, titled Government Clerks Cant Have Homes with captioned images and cartoon drawings text Newspaper article, reprinted from The Washington Post, titled Government Clerks Cant Have Homes with captioned images and cartoon drawings 2023 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt737p8tb81t/data/65m19/Box_24/Item_14/Multipage1388.pdf section false xt737p8tb81t_604 xt737p8tb81t D B, V
Oneof Them.

There are no homes within the reach of the avenge Government clerk
in Washington. After days of weary search. I know this to be true.
The budget experts say you may spend one~ilfth of your income for
rent. For me and my husband that means $30 a month and there are
plenty of others in the same boat, sinee something like 60 per cent of
the Federal employes in the District earn less than 32.000 a year. If by
any chance you've heeded the pleading of eminent sociologists for all
healthy and mentally competent Americana to produce 3 9 children. your
problem is just 3.9 times as difficult. But let me tell you what happened
to me when I tried to and a home for my family in Washington.
0 O O O

I began by seeking a house. because I thought it was so much better
for the children to have a yard to play in and we'd be willing to live in
a very modest neighborhood quite a way out if we could find an in.
expensive little cottage. Well, we couldn't. so I needn't have bothered
selling myself the idea. The woman who runs the home-finding de-
partment of a local newspaper will tell you she has constant demand
for small places renting at 830 to $40 a month. and in two months' time
all she's been able to unearth is one cottage for $32.50. with an outside
per)’.

I didn't want anything like that. so mentally I moved myself into
town in a cozy little apartment that might have something of a yard or
a children's playground. Some of them do. Yes. some of them. but not
for the price we can pay. But I didn't know that to begin with. so I
headed for the Northeast section. where I'd heard there are some darling
apartments built around courts. ’lhere are and they are delightful. The
inclosed court is a picture of what a lawn should be. The buildings are
neat and they face a vacant lot so that there is fresh air and sunshine.
I felt better as soon as I saw them. Of course, the rent was a bit more
than we should pal—$35 to $43 a month—but I was telling myself: "We
just won't have that work done at the dentists and I'll get along another
winter without a new coat.‘

So. with visions of sturdy children playing in a sunlit court I mounted
. _ ' the stairs to the second floor to interview the resident manager. He

“ ‘. wasn't quite as enthusiastic as I expected when 1 told him I wanted to
rent one of his apartments. He was sorry. but there were no vacancies.
Yen there was a waiting list. but there wouldn't be any use putting our
name on it. because there were only so apartments and the list already
contained over 200 names. ‘

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r). ‘ ‘

...if we caulq find an

inexpensive cottage in - ». Tolloweldasaciesofjourneya upsteps‘aansd donutsrps. "1:113? tihi:
- ' , proceaslookedatapartmentarentngfor wi ou eats wt

3 ,mdes‘ "9 ' 9M0 rh°°d heat. snatching one item after another out of our budget until all we

QUI £8 a ways out had left were two heading. w and “rent." But x needn't have

bothered. for it was always. "no vacancies." .

Finally, I decided to go straight to a firm dealing in rentals. I want
not to one. but to several. and made the dismaying discovery that rentals
of $30 a month aren't even carried on their lists. Very meekly I in-
quired how one discovers apartments renting at that figure. “I don't
think you'll find many." was the answer. “I don‘t know of one myself.
But maybe the newspapers——"

0 O O 0

Ah. yes! I bought a newspaper. Not so many listed after all. The
price eliminated most of them. “Adults only" eliminated nearly all the
rest. (Do the sociology professors know that apartments are rented to
"adults only?") Still. I must find some solution. I phoned the numbers
listed in the few remaining ads that seemed to have possibilities. only
to find they had not. Then I sought the lady in charge of a newspaper
home-finding department.

She took my name and address and started thumbing through lists of
. . . . . o r a CO 2y i i It i e , - . ‘ * apartments. I mentioned the price and she stopped. “Nothing like that

, 1 . ‘ in Washington.” I insisted there must be something and succeeded in
apa rtment on a Suni ‘ t - I . 7, ,_ ' making myself her particular problem. She gave me street numbers.
cou ft where Ch i i a ran ‘ ‘ I went forth sanguine with hope. but didn't come back that way be-
could play ‘ ' g cause I had been viewing a succession of unattached rooms spotted

. ‘ through dingy wooden houses and misnamed apartments. I had been

' ‘ ' ‘ viewing weather-beaten rooms containing a plate gas stove and the

doubtful privilege of using the ‘shared bathroom" on another floor. and

I had been viewing actual slums whose tiny windows revealed nothing
but are escapes and littered roofs.

Finally. I was convinced. Washington can't be like this. but it is.
There are no decent twroom apartments for rent at 830 a month. They
were right. all of them. I was in a mood to take advice. “Please. lady.
where do Government clerks live?“ She brightens. his is something
she can deal with.

"They board.” she explains. “in private houses or if you prefer you
can just rent a room in a house and eat out. Lots of 'em do. Now
there's a room out Northwest not far from Massachusetts avenue. That’s
a good neighborhood . . ."

0"

- -
"‘ v’,

we'

The lady was correct damnably so. It was a good neighborhood. and
it was a nice. large room. It needed to be by the time my husband. my
children and I were installed. Of course. it has its drawbacks. but what
a relief to be settled. Settled? We are practically wedged!

All we needed to make life complete was the letter from our parents
saying they were looking forward to visiting us in our new home. That‘s
a poser. Shall we return the letter marked “unknown at this address”
or should we explain that it is an old Washington custom for an entire
, .. ., _ ‘ ' family to reside in one room? 'I'hat we have to entertain guests on the

' ' ' _ sidewalk because the children are sleeping in our only room and that
‘1:-.-t.s.‘::.s?' . " . i we've run an extension to our reading lamp into the hall. so that the
‘_ 1“" .grg-fgti. _. light won't waken the baby, and besides. this givu us a vantage point
' -‘. - ‘ " from which we can watch for an opportunity to get into the bathroom.
When our landlady told us there were just two ladies to share the
bath with us. she neglected to mention that they would each do tre-
mendous amounts of laundry work whenever my husband wanted to
shave.

I can laugh about the way we live—sometimes. But when I think of
the thousands-of decent intelligent people—earning less. and or the
ugly. dirty houses into which they must crowd. I don't feel like laugh-
mg untannuwmehmmunsdumm?

Reprinted Ira the Mington Post

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OF ALL FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
iii WASHINGTON EARN
LESS THAN $2030 A YEAR

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monthly for those earning “000 a year ‘ A,
$20.33 aonthiy for those earning “200 a year '

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$23.33 aonthly for those earning since a year ' " " ' '

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$26.66 monthly for those earning “600 a year ._ . I .
$33.33 aonthly for those earning N860 a year 5 it '
$33.33 monthly for those earning $2333 a year

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