GLASGOW'S LODGING HOUSES.

THE TRAGIC SIDE OF LIFE.

HAUNTS OF VICE AND CRIME

A most tragic side of Glasgow, life has been revealed by a committee of the Glasgow Presbytery of the Church of Scotland, which has been inquiring •into the common lodging houses and farmed-out houses of Glasgow. " The report stated,"' says the Glasgow Herald, " that the committee had collected evidence from the most trustworthy sources, and their inquiries convinced them/ that the lodging houses in Glasgow, and especially the farmed-out houses, constituted a grave social problem and a social danger. Dealing first with the lodging houses, they found that the larger -ones were in a more satisfactory condition than the smaller ones, many of the latter being simply disgraceful. The corporation raised the standard ot lodging houses when they erected theirs, but private enterprise in some cases had now gone beyond the corporation. In the majority of lodging houses there was a lack of moral supervision, of social uplift, of refining and restraining influences. WASTAGE OF HUMAN LIFE.

"The great and saddening; impression one received from a visit to the average common lodging house was the awful degradation and waste of human life. Yet the lodging house seemed to be a necessity.of motierri civilisation. In so far as it supplied a felt want they did not complain, but it was notorious that even our model lodging houses were being abused and taken advantage of by certain classes of men for whom they were not built—among them some earning 50s arid 60s a week,' who ought to have houses of their <Ara and pay rates, instead of wasting their money on drink. These^ houses were also the' resort of the (ins and outs,' who live there when they were not in the poor house hospital recruiting after a debauch. The committee thought that the ' ins and outs' and wastrels generally should be ;shut Sp for a period of at least two years', o power of detention existed at present, and until the streets were cleared of these unclean undesirables little could be done in the way of genuine social reform. APPALLIND FACTS. "A very objectionable feature of the men's lodging houses was the number of boys who frequented them. There they rapidly qualified for a career of vice and crime. In six lodging houses 120 boys were found from 14 to 18 years of age. The committee strongly. recommended that it should be made an offence for any lodging house keeper to admit a boy under 18 or'2o years of age. They regretted that the evidence showed some of the women's lodging houses to be in a shocking condition —centres of corruption, and the means of ruining many you ( tig women. Farm servants, domestic servants, and others who came to the city seeking situations, missed their train, got 1 stranded, arid were taken" to one of these vile places by some degraded woman, and introduced to a life of in- j famy. Many of these poor girls fourid i their way afterwards to the Church's Rescue Home, and many of them, from 16 to 18 years of age, were walking the streets to-day. This appalling sacrifice of young womanhood was a ! horrible fact which should rouse the Church and the municipality. Surely something could be done to prevent it, and it should be done soon, for the condition of matters \vas serious in tlie extreme. • ' FARMED-OUT HOUSES, , "As to the farmed-out houses, out of which it is said enormous profits were' made, these seemed specially designed for the encouragement of vice. There was no separation of the sexes. They presented an even greater problem ; -than the lodging houses. They vastly increased the labours and anxieties of the sanitary, police and poor law authorities. The evidence laid before the Glasgow Housing Commission showed j the farmed-out houses as a general rule to be haunts of prostitutes and cesspools of iniquity, and this was corroborated by the evidence heard .by the committee. They were again reminded of the great fundamental fact of human sin, for were it not for, drunkenness and prostitution it was almost certain that. farmed-out houses | would be non-existent. And neither of these sins was a crime nor an offence in the eyes of the law. Importuning was an opence, "drunkenness with dis""orderly conduct was an offence; but j some day it might be found necessary j to make- drunkenness and prostitution in themselves police offences. These places were, also centres of physical disease and danger. DANGER TO HEALTH OF BAD HOUSES. , "During the half-year ending November 15, 113 men arid women, suffering in many cases from loathsome and contagious diseases, were sent to the poor-law hospitals. Farmedout houses were therefore a menace to the health of the community, a still greater moral danger, the means of ruining young men and women, and offered a highway to the prison cell. The committee recommended that the definition of a farmed-out house should be extended so as to include houses of any size similarly used, that farmedout houses should be licensed, the license to be renewed annually. The owner would then have to appear in person, and produce a certificate of character. When the owner was convicted of keeping a disorderly house imprisonment should be substituted for afine, and persons found making immoral use of a farmed-out house should be proceeded against as well as the owner. They also suggested that the corporation should carry out their own resolution arrived at after the Housing Commission reported, and erect a municipal model block, .where families thrown out of a home through misfortune or their own fault might be housed on reasonable terms under proper supervision and in sanitary and morally safe surroundings. Meanwhile, the existing by-laws, excellent so far as they go, should be vigorously enforced. With regard to the lodging houses, it did not appear that further legislation was required. The problem was how to improve them, and at the bottom it was a moral problem. The churches must unitedly grapple with it. SUGGESTED REMEDIES. "The Committee recommended that a chaplain or chaplains should be- appointed to1 look after the moral and spiritual interests of the inmates of the lodging houses. They were assured that lectures and concerts would be welcomed. Further, they should do something more than hold services in the lodging houses. There should be a place in the church itself for these men and women. They should not be .treated as outcasts. They should be invited to attend the regular services of the sanctuary. Cards might be hung up in the sitting rooms giving a list of churches in the neighbourhood i where these people would be welcome, j

It was quite right that they should send the Gospel abroad; it was not right that they^ should neglect those at their own door,"