The dominant note in the conference was the proposed amendment to the present Tenement House Law of New Jersey which Professor George B. Ford referred to as “the best law of its kind in America when enacted in 1901 and not far behind the best laws of its kind at this time.” The delegates were agreed that the present law should be amended to include two family houses, many of which it was agreed are in worse condition than the tenement houses. Another proposed amendment which practically all the delegates favored was to require that all tenement houses three stories high be equipped with fire escapes. The law at present reads that outside iron fire escapes be provided on all non-fireproof tenement homes more than three stories in height. It was stated that the enactment of the proposed amendments would necessitate a considerable increase in the staff of the Tenement House Department and the delegates pledged themselves to use every effort to secure a larger appropriation for additional inspectors and clerks. In his address Col. Franklin J. Murphy, Jr., called attention to the fact that the city of New York, with 104,000 tenement houses, spends $800,000 annually for the tenement house department, or $7.69 per house per year, while in the last fiscal year New Jersey allowed $51,000 for the tenement department, with 71,000 houses, or seventy-one cents per house per year. The purposes of the association as set forth in the constitution adopted by the conference are as follows: 1. To improve housing conditions in every practical way. 2. To bring to the attention of each community the importance of right housing conditions and the consequence of bad conditions. 3. To study in various cities and towns the causes of congestion of population and bad housing conditions and the methods by which such conditions may best be remedied. 4. To aid all local housing committees by advice and direction and to encourage the formation of such committees where they do not at present exist. 5. To act as a clearing house of information for such agencies and committees and to furnish advice and suggestions to those interested in housing reform and generally to promote popular interest in the subject. 6. To aid in the enactment and enforcement of laws that will a—Encourage the erection of proper types of dwellings; b—Secure their proper maintenance and management; c—Prevent the erection of unfit buildings; d—Bring about a reasonable and practical improvement of the older buildings; e—Secure reasonable, scientific and economical building laws. 7. To aid in defending such laws when enacted and in correcting and amending them from time to time to suit changing conditions. IOWA’S REMOVAL LAW