co-operative ownership in industrial housing are big indeed; both on the social and the financial sides, co-operative ownership may well prove to be the next important advance in housing technique. At Bayonne, however, it was not thought desirable to carry the first experiment so far, and the apartments are rented to the wage-earners.
Economy of operation
Coming now to the matter of operating cost, it is evident that the garden apartment is economical in operation. Since its production cost is lower, it has the benefit of lower carrying charges. The upkeep also is lower, as explained in previous pages.
The economy of the garden apartment may be best summarized by stating that it effects a saving of about a fifth to a third over its nearest competitor which is the speculative builder's apartment houses with rooms of the same size. And, as compared with the individual or row house in which the tenant provides his own heat and hot water, the Bayonne apartments are much more economical.
A new type of management
As to the vital factor of management, this Bayonne group of garden apartments enjoys greater efficiency and economy in its operation by a small force of janitors, firemen and cleaners, under the supervision of an executive who is experienced in real-estate management, than would be the case if it were split into 149 small unit houses with 149 heating plants and 149 hotwater heaters, all maintained by 149 families.
It may be well to point out here that the garden apartment in industrial housing requires an entirely different type of management from the ordinary tenement house property. Just as the garden apartment itself is superior to the old type of tenement as a motor car is superior to an ox-team, so is its management a new conception. Proper management of the garden apartment is based on business principles in which the good-will of the tenants is paramount. One often hears the complaint that tenants in tenements are incapable of good-will, but, if we be honest, can we say that the usual tenement is a fit object of good-will? And is the typical tenement management, vainly
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