New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-09-16
REFORM OF THE TENEMENT SYSTEM
How workingmen T1ay Become
Rouseholders.
A Church Industrial Community.

provement taking date from familiar wretchodness and
decentralization heye asserted their right TO the upper
most Of public attention This s not only the With
the dsorcanized labor OF the South. but with the old
and CRYING disease OF crowded living nearer home
Four years In which the ecpscd all other thoughts
and interests, have developed pressure upon philaH
thropy and reform. vhch the disconnected public may
recognize with new wonder and anxiety.
THE TENEMENT SYSTEM.
Mucb has boen sa,d but little done. Many would ca.
legislation to the of the eviohers woaic leave IL
10 the slow fury Of the world large and to the selfish
interests Of landlords who may, perhsps como 10 sn""
that IL bread and butter dear. pestience may be
bought very cheapy. But If profit to "ndioFd'' 'ne
tenement system as tits untold cost to the city and
State. Can legislation. which once IN WINE Gun w
something for sheep aud cae. In the animal interest
Of the food which eat do nothing to keep tue poor
from being packed like herring in barrel Just In the
selfish interest If the air breathe and the taxes We
have to pay invariably for filth aud misery of every
kind taking Departing refuge In ainS'honse-' noe
pitfalls prisons station houses, guiteTsf iet'rm t'e
tenement system its boring AZ matter OF ord'
nary and even becgarly justice aud there VIII oe hr
less 10 hook TO in alms-houSes and prisons-among
the few things which goodfor nothing Legislature
bDund to inspect. Cannot We save tue poor man ;
house from being his jai The imagined horrors OF
some Of the kinds Of prsonfe are far surpassed
by the fostering existence passed from day to day IN
some II the tenement hives. IL is absurd to suppose
chat the mass Of poor choose this way Of living Tor
themselves and it equally folly to presume that laws
cannot interfere between this hdeous stock breeding o
vice. crime and misery and tho landlords who make
their 20 or 80 per cent out Of IT, There Is another cues
ton Can archi,o,u,s do nothing for reformi In de-
fault OF little legislation philanthropy and public
spirit have everything TO do.
HSEMEyr ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CELLAREANs.
Fifteen thousand five hundred and eleven tenement
houses abounding in this center Of civilization are
packed by ;Ol. "a persons or more than half of the
census population OF New York. Fifteen thousand two
hundred and twenty four people live In cellars. how
many Of which are nothing than human batteries.
may be left reflective curiosity. In the Sixteenth
Ward 24H persons I've underground. many in state
Of moral burial from which resurrection 10 allowed
by tie social law. EXCEPT In such stated appearances As
make lmbos Cor election. and put dead maoi titles
on the side Of disorder ia the siokly tenement pur
liens clean streets are never or seldom
known Garbage of and refuse rot In Ihe alleys and
byways corruption engenders indoors. the plaques oil
Egypt are within the compass Of house or two. and
now that think Of Sumner angry mothers sun them
selves In the heated consgon that beathes from oor
ner to corner and proane unkept children contrVe 10
sport In the polluted air Where such ever1sh connu
mites live i. place Of peculiar trial to the nerves nos
,rils and morals Of more fortunate passeroy-ith'
however the element OF those condemned miserabes
whose meat is another mans poison. Words are I'M
possible TO convey such as are daily encountered
in the human hives aud feverbeds OF New.York their
fruit however every day. brought In handsfu to the
Police Court 80 that from fertile index the not over
penetrating public may guess the ways and means py
which the owners OF tsnement-houses overstock the
crine market II our cirys hot.bsd were ar elegant
kept on purpose TO delight the eye or
rich congregation Of all the most subtle posons bot
uss might ish to bring together for the purpose oil
experimenting on grand scale 10 hat extent death
would support e it could not be managed with greater
or more fatal care The vlainous careessness OF the
tenement sy stem amounts than deliberate crime
sgwgRLEss TENIMgNs.
We are not done with the tenement statistics Out Of
the more than Is 900 tenement houses 92 are without
severs aud lO673 persons inhabt them that 1t is
impossible to discover how they live (and yet have no
being) without violating decency. Large as 1t s the
death rate in these localities should be larger 1t s no
comfort that thousands Of people manage to live in
them-that is to say keep from dying. Hundreds. whom
poison feeds glory in Q botcbed prosperity-s misery
which II mus. be impossible for them to appreciate
But, aside from all bills Of mortality. 1t rs the "e'"s
d.stl and tho contagion Of example. which the public
mu,t guard against II is Herculesn task 70 clean
our Aueeau stabes and thers is doubt about the
OF the legislation which we would employ 70
wash them ont. We send missionaries to the Five
Pointsf we could only send them among Tue
landlord.i We complain Of our drainase-what an I'm
mense drain upon 10 the tenement SYSTEM WHOM naS
10 drainage at all
4 TENEMENT HOUSE.
strsnucrs have tradition that there Is but one way
70 the great Gotbsmitc Pureatory or rather impufga
,orv fas I, should be called with more moaning and
that through Baxterst But thare are nundrsd ways
IN Wait the tenement systcm In Its many SIDED horrors
Turn down court here arc many such courts. count
nr scores Of wan and haggard children BY the door.
and look up at the tenement guarded at the door
~ q, two dragons OF gnshops This Is in the ne igh
,o,ho,J OF what is known Aurderers Alley A
rbol, family. numerous a. tenement families are. oc.
,upy q space Of nine by thirteen feet serving for
,tchcn parlor pantry, dining hall and washhoue an
inner apartment, somewhat smaller. being used for
reueral bedroom From a 50 to e5 aHe paid for such
iwellngs Us these which recently dissected In
eres of graphic pictures by the artist Of Frank Les
ie Six doube-houses fronting wcst Gotham Court,
zach contain ten families; back of this. In the same
block. fronting on the court, u . like number o.
Sreched houses. holding the same number OF families
n all 24o Each family averages five members 80 tna'
II block are no less than 100 people hudoieo
sehsr We need not point to the consequences sue.
state Of things. New.York. which pays mo'o oa' y
to pocket than perhaps any city in the world ana
he rumpe. of progress for all tho rest Of the
q the most uncomfortable city in the world. Cen no