, 1875-07-10

1uo phIL Oh AOuuou RnoWn a5 IQI0DIu HhH
a population of $4,000 persons. More than
half Of them, or 5000 familicB, live md die
in single rooms. The st. Giles district con-
tains 1000 families which are In tho sa1no
pltinble plight Father, mother, children Of
all ages, aud often d lodgor or two, herd TO-
gether into one squald hole, reached by
crazy stairs and by hnils rocking with hltl,
Atfording an outlook through its grimy
windows upon dead, blank wall or fever
breeding ynrd not d home, but hell.
Cleanliness, physical or moral, is an i,npossi-
bility. Sin OF every sort grows strong and
rank out Of this mass Of restoring humanity.
Districts like these ars plaguo-apota on civili-
cation. They exist in every large city. New
York has them, and Boston, and even
tho great Western cities, whore tho
EXCUSES OF old usagea cannot 10
brought forward. There nre sections
Of Chicago which aro covered with
close-packel shansios TINT riso from shallow,
stagnHnt pools Of wator,-shantiea.w which line
underlined, nnsewered streets, which Bwnrm
with men, women, and children, and which
are and muat bo the nurseries Of ain. Tho
| horrors TINT wero strong enough to spur
CHARLES dozens jnded imagination to fresh
efforts OF creation fortunately do not yet cx-
ist west of New York. But their development
| is only question Of time, il the causes now
| at work arc left unchecked. Tho Church
cannot meet tho owl. Occasionally deter
mined effort, carried on through years Of dis
couragomont, will do q great work. like that
Of the New York Fivo-P Points' Mission, but
this lies outside the domain Of regular rolig-
ious o1ertion. GARDNER says, in his " Illus-
trated Homes" that hundred thousand
dollars will do far more towards
regenoratiug the poor II spent in
building q hundred clean and comfortable
cottages than In constructing one ornate
church. Individual philanthropy haa 80 far
been ono of tho most potent forces at work
in tho reformation of this evil. Tho PEABODY
aud BunDEr7-CouTTs buildings in London,
aud many unknown instances OF similar lib
erality on smaller scale, aro examples Of
this. But tho blessed force which JEnEssr
BExTuAM called tenlightened aeldshuega :"
Inns perhaps done most. It pays to build
cloan, hoalthy tenements for the poor; and
landlords nre finding It cut. Not only do
such quarters command higher rents, but the
rent Is paid, and tho wear and tear Of the
building are much smaller, and tho number
of parsons who can be comfortably housed
is actually much larger than the
number who can be uncomfortably
lodged. In 81. Giles, London, where tho
death-rate In thrice that Of the rost Of tho
city, tho number Of inhabitants is 40 to the
acre. The districts improved by Sir SYDNEY
WaTRn1ow's company accommodate !, 100
pessoua to the ncro, and tho death.rate in
them is said to be less than In the most fash
ionablo quarter Of London. The criminal
record, too, hns been much Lighter. The Int
tor fact has boom stzihingly shown in Gins
gov. sinca 1870, 1000 vile houses have
been torn down and replaced by decent
dwellings, In 1869, tho number Of crimes
committed was 10,809. This Las gradually
decreased pari 4aa.su with the improvement,
until it Is now but 1850.
The experiment of law is now about to be
triod- Tho Artisans Dwellings bill which Ii
passing through Parliament Is q tentative
measure which, should it succeed, will be
vigorously followed up. It provides the mn.
chinery which municipal corporations may
use II they wish, but 1t does not oblige then
to use 1t. It will attract attention, therefore
as an experiment in municipal government
as we'll as in social science,
l ...z....,..4...M46.-