The New York herald., 1867-01-28
Teueneut Houses and Internal Improve
ments.


drawn to the question Of improvement in the
tenement house system of this city, and we
have . right to expect that it will receive due
consideration. 1t is subject which affects
not only the inhabitants of these dens Of dis
comfort, danger and disease, but, as sanitary
question, enters largely into the interests Of all
classes Of the community. There is really no
substantial reason why New York should be
so far behind the large cities of Europe in pro-
viding wholesome dwellings for the working
classes. We have fewer poor to take care of
than Paris or London. The earnings Of our
laboring population are on an average greater
than the same class in Europe. yet in many
portions Of this city we find them compelled to
live in tenements more wretched than any
known in the capitals of the Old World. In
London the average number of people dwelling
in one house is about twelve; in New York 1t is
twenty-five. If our property owners who have
frequent opportunities to visit London and
Paris would only devote little Of their time
while On their travels to observation Of the
dwellings where people Of moderate means nre
domesticated, they might learn lesson which
would be profitable to themselves Il,
instead of constructing buildings where
a large portion Of their inhabitants live
under ground, in damp cellars they would
build houses four and five stories high, with
ample provision for light and ventilation by
means, say, of skylight conducting light and
air through the centre of the building, and
furnished with ear modes Of ingress and
egress by stone or iron staircases, large de-
gree of comfort could be ensured to the occu-
pants, the danger OF infectious diseases would
be avoided and the community would be
spared those horrible recitals of death by fire
and suirocation which almost daily comprise
part of our newspaper reading.
1t is true that we are somewhat confined
for room on Manhattan Island and can hardly
accommodate our fast growing population ;
but there are many ways by which to remedy
this evil. One Of them is to build higher
tenements in the lower part Of the city, with
suggested. Another is to make the thousands
of acres of waste land which surround the
city and its suburbs available by some system
of drainage which will give us, for building,
agricultural and other purposes, a vast area
now lying idle because of the tidal fow, which
leaves them wholly improbable, and as easily
reclaimable by the aid of little enterprise
and capital as Holland was reclaimed from the
sea, and portions Of England were converted
from worthless swamps into fruitful farms and
gardens
There is no necessity for the miseries en-
dured in cellars and filthy tenements, the dan
gers to human life, the germs of contagious
disease which the cramped and crowded con-
dition Of the city entails upon us, while we
have ample space around us requiring only
the application Of little energy and capital
70 render it available for useful purposes and
make it afford us relief in the most effectual
way. The Legislature, while it is employed
upon providing a remedy for the evils of the
tenement house system, might profitably divert
its attention to these points.