The New York herald., 1874-08-04
SANITARY SHORTCOMINGS.

NA~s~~ ~AAo4 oAAOAs4 OCA4AAv00s
Disgusting1y Filthy Condition Of tho
East sids--'sThe Barracks'' Described.
While police and sanitary oGaciais consume their
waking hours IN discussing our Mephistophelean
Mayor and grim Gardner, the ungrateul Dis
becker and the GubernatOrla Dix, and the-well,
the one thousand and one small questions that agi
tate sidewalk politicians eager for unwilling to
lose political pap. the city itself is unswept, un-
cleansed and rapidly becoming pestilerous. This Is
a grave and solemn accusation; yet the tacts Of
the case entirely warrant It. That this densey
populated island Is not decimated by the pestilence
that walketh in darkness scourged by epidemic
IN the form Of fever cholera is certainly not ow-
ing to any sanitary precautions that municipal
wisdom has lnaugurated. 1t is no figure OF speech
to assert that as o
MJASMATIC PARADISE
the east side OF New York. nom Fulton to Forty
second street. has no compeer in Europe or Amer
ica. In their worst days, twenty years ago. the
squaid regions OF st. Giles, Seven Dias and Petit
coat lane In the English capital, never could CON-
Dare with our Cherry Water and Hamilton streets
at the present writing. There are stenches to be
inhaled; there are nauseating cesspools to be
WINGED at there is, in fact diversity and prodi.
gality Of filth to be expeIienced-yes, expe-
rienced-in these streets That it never entered
into the heart of man to imagine the olfactOries
OF man to conceive. This sweeping statement ar
raigns the Health Board and The constituted au-
thorities. Let them be arralgned. Let them
travel from Printing House square, say down
Frankfort street and along Vande water. In
this short march, within three minutes Of the
City Hall. they will sights and smell smells that
shall test the toughest stomach OF the hardest
political hummer that ever talked obscenity on q
street corner or obstructed gin-ml sidewalk.
In Vandewater street there is q public school
which happily at present has a holiday; yet the
milk distributing agency situated in the lowest
and flthest portion of the block Is perennial
fount whose rivers need the early attention OF the
headquarters chemist But why linger by the
ways Franklin square and Oak street are within
ha 1.-THE latter graced by Police Precinct No. 4,
and whose adjacent gutter yesterday was only
half cleaned and supremely OdorferOus. The
whole OF Oak street forms yearning field for
present it is the home OF dpntheria,
and the happy, but often unremunera-
the noe genus oanne Of quacks. Roosevelt and New
Chambers are seething with nlth and strewed
with decayed vegetable matter in an advanced
stage or decomposition, the stencil OF which must
be snfred to be appreciated. Yet although
neither shovel nor broom seem TO invade these re-
'''"'' '"' % W DEE pExoN OF FILTH,
q awatering cart bearing the legend, ~. Buckbee,
% ga Allen n, street." was threading Its weary way
1t to saponaceous mire instead OF removing it,
II James street has not been heretofore men,
quainted with It's unutterable fOulness would WILL
ingy essay the task of describing it. The reportO
are in James street sights and smells to
which II Is unequal. Opposite ST. James,
a Roman Cathode church is q glum, tan, sodden-
capes, comprehenoing densely populated yards
behind and garrets above. several hundreds OF
wretched caravansarS day ana night and overflow
on the side walks and into the cutters. The build
and from the basement OF the barracks" dense,
pungent and searching odor salutes tne wayfarer
ness.
pox marked guide to the reporter.
wherever are you going ?" asks the latter, rs
he sees the man descend damp Shiny spiral
.'Come on, SUI, !" he says.
The descent Is wet, ietid and disgusting. The
dure. Nothing 10 Dante's .'IniernO" surpasses the
loathsomeness OF the scene revealed. All the walls
ana doors are wet and stained and feeling OF
MINUTES contemplation OF the place.
~ Yes sur; kipt place there wunce, an it was
Catharne, Cherry and Hamilton streets were
next next visited: The cutters OF an OF them are filed
mere ana a for several
That Is offensive In the extreme. Hamilton street
is inexpresslbly filthy. The pavement is bad !;
vegetable decomposition Is everywhere going on !;
the atmosphere is filled with stencil. and the only
panaeea IRON the atmospheric poison seems to be
found in 'distlery" near, where hall pint OF
Denzine can be procured for five cents.
The moral influences OF this and sur
rounding streets are fearful to contem-
plate. Self-respect under such circumstances
Is impossible, and every sentiment and ,nstinct OF
rs soon as born. general ail-pervadlne stencil
permeates the streets OF the east side as Stanton,
Essex, monroe, clinton, BroOme, Houston and
Fourteenth street, are reached. With lew excep-
mons the cutters are filthy and the streets bear
James, Clinton and Hamilton streets are the
worst but In such disgraceiulv filthy neighbor-
hood as the whole east Sue. from Fulton to Twenty
third street and from the Bowery to the East
River, comparisons are almost useless. lmme-
diafe action on the part OF the sanitary authorities
Ia imnAratlVAlH naAdad