Substitution of a standard of superficial area for one of cubic capacity in small houses / by John Honeyman.

  • Honeyman, John, 1831-1914.
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Substitution of a standard of superficial area for one of cubic capacity in small houses / by John Honeyman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    him; for you at once reduce his income from 20s. to 16s. a week. If in addition to this you compel him to live in a house of such size, and fitted with such sanitary appliances that he cannot pos- sibly get it without paying an additional Is. a week of rent, you practically deprive the man of one-fourth of his total income, and to that serious extent reduce his ability to provide proper food and clothing for himself and his family. There is a popular del usion that legislation, which must bring about such results as these, is good for the working classes; but I have no hesitation in saying that that is an absolutely false idea. No legislation which disregards economic consequences can possibly be beneficial to the working classes, or conducive to the wellbeing of a community as a whole. It is evident, then, that in all sanitary legislation we are bound to take this into account, and so to regulate our demands upon the common fund of individual right that we shall interfere as little as possible with the ordinary course of things, and with the freedom and responsibilities of individuals. Hence, in the matter with which we have now more particularly to deal—the securing of a certain amount of space for each occupant of a dwelling—we have to consider, first, what is the smallest amount of space which experience has proved to be sufficient under favourable condi- tions ; and, second, how is that minimum of space to be secured for all members of the community with the smallest amount of interference with the interests of individuals. There are many sanitary reformers who aim at obtaining compulsorily what is desirable, rather than what is necessary, and I must say that I have no sympathy whatever with them. The desirable must be obtained by other means. Practically, the minimum will be largely exceeded, and the supply of the desirable will, without compulsion, follow the demand, without the drawbrack of econo- mic disturbance; and therefore, in this matter of space, in fixing a compulsory minimum either by one standard or another, we must, as I have said, be content with the smallest amount which will serve our purpose. In the present instance it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at this amount, but as Parliament has within the last week determined that it should be 400 cubic feet, we may take that as an approximation to the space required in houses of the usual construction in Scotland. Assuming it to be so, then—although personally I don't admit it—we have next to consider the question, How is this to be secured on the most favourable terms ? If there are several ways of doing it, and one is more favourable both to the owners and to the occupiers of houses than the others, we are bound to adopt that way, bearing in mind that preventible economic disturbance will always be most unfavourable to the very class we seek to benefit. I insist upon this the more because in much of our recent sanitary legis- lation it has not been sufficiently taken into account. There is a l