The municipal authorities and those interested in charity estimate that there are at this time in New York 35,000 unemployed men. That means that 35,000 men are in need of food and lodging who are unable to earn it. Yet the Municipal Lodging House is not full more than one or two nights a week. There is a curious prejudice against this institution among the homeless -- a prejudice which did not exist against the old station-house lodgings. It was not so many years ago that the homeless poor were allowed to lie down in the police stations to sleep. Of course the conditions were most unsanitary and an investigation of them with the writings of the late Josiah Flynt and others brought about the establishment of sleeping place for the homeless under sanitary conditions. The Lodging House in New York takes in anyone who applies. The lodger empties his pockets on his arrival, registers and is taken to the bathroom. Here he strips and puts his clothing in a net bag. This bag is taken to a fumigating plant where it is thoroughly treated and in the morning the clothing is returned to the lodger. Meantime he is thoroughly washed under a shower bath, dries himself and receives from the attendant a clean flannel night gown. Then he goes to the dormitory and is assigned to one of the bunks which stand in tiers about the room. In the morning he receives bread and coffee before he leaves. There a has been some discussion of the advisability of requiring a certain amount of work of the lodgers as it is generally believed that the fame of the lodging house is so widespread that with the continuance of hard times, an even larger number of poor than usual will be drawn to New Yor.

Bain, George Grantham, 1865-1944 · [ca. January 1908]

[Information from item housing] Lodging Houses