New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-08-08
THE WORK IN DETAIL.

The reports which have appeared from day to day
In The TRIBUNE concerning the condition OF the
tenement-houses in the Seventeenth Police Precinct
have been descriptive of the work of The forty
young doctors and civil engineers who were APP
pointed for the special purpose of getting lnforma-
ton as to the sanitary condition. size OF rooms,
and population of tenement-houses. with
view TO the enforcement of the new Tenement
House law. There are other regular IN
tpectors I'm the employ Of the Board whose
duties are more general in character Also there
are physicians appointed to care for sick children
in the tenemeDt-house districts The two
latter classes made their reports yester-
day to the Board of Health. These re-
ports are of much the same tenor as the detailed
reports of the forty new inspectors. They mention
esnecially the bad condition of the closets in the
yards of the tenement-houses, and the lack of
proper sewerage facilities The new law is not
sufficiently explicit or liberal to the tenant
I'm its provisions concerning the duty OF
landlords TO provide suitable accommodation for
the removal of filth and refuse and the drainage Of
tenement-yards 1t is said that the Board of
Health is framing new act to cover tins deficiency.
Now that rapid transit makes the crowding to-
cether Of families not so much q public necessity,
it is believed that effort will be made to stll fur
ther reduce the number of tenants who may be al
The inspectors are continually meeting with
street scenes that strike the stranger TO tenement
house districts as curious or interesting The blind
fiddler led by his dirty but very knowing spitz dog
receives very little attention on Broadway. He was
seen ON East Thlrd-st. yesterday, surrounded by a
crowd of children who brought many pennies from
their parents 10 drop in his hand. pitiful sight
was seen in Avenue-C, near Houston-st. In hall
way sat weak and omaciated mother In her lap
Law an infant not many weeks Old whose pretty
dress contrasted strangely with its mothers
clean. but well-worn apparel The child was
very small and pale, and looked as II
If hadn't strength to do anything more than sleep
Around the corner Houston-st., was noticed
a little girl Of a different complexion. Evidently
she had been too healthy for her good. The bright
faced little maid under four years of age, sat on the
door-sill of secondhand furniture shop. One nut
brown leg and foot was to be seen. The other foot
was gone. and the stub of an ankle was done up IN
HANDBAGS and sphnts. She was chrping with some
little friends and appeared TO be the gayest OF the
party with no visions of long, sad, one-tooted
future.
Tenants are beginning to make complaints more
felv IN the inspectors. In the last few days they
have evidently talked the D'dter over among them
selves They frequently point out nulsances such
as fouI meat market ana estaDnSEments Tor pre-
sIdDics tudl a SOURCE VI "hhNJ-
Zee TO the nechborhood concerning which the
inspectors are not required to make an lnveStga-
ton. but they do, nevertheless. report the com.
plants to the Board of Health. Complaints are
made against the ovefondness of some of their
neighbors for cats and dogs. They all seem very
lenient toward the children. In a major
fly of the houses the inspectors hear com
plants concerning the closets, which are usually
in the yards. and sometimes in the cellars Filthy
closets aud defective drainage are the source of
nineteen tbs of the bad smells that haunt the tene
ment-houses and make life In them so unsavory.
Where the regulation requiring soil and closet pipes
to run up above the roof Is complied with, other
things are neglected which render the pipes almost
worthless. Occasionally a tenement-yard is found
adorned with rare plants aud choice flowers. Not
uufrequently animals and men are crowded together
without apparent detrment On the first floor OF "A
U0ustOn-st. tenement seen Yesterday clean,
sweet-smelling meat market two sleek horses were
standing IN their stalls eight feet from the rear
door which was open, and a geutlemanly-l
goat was taking a slesta IN the clean hallway.