Savannah morning news., 1885-01-25

Epidemics and Tenement Houses.
For a number of years q few philan-
thropic people in the large cities have
been using their influence and their means
TO some extent to promote reform in the
manner of constructing tenement houses.
Almost their sole idea seems to have been
to improve the condition OF the poor, both
as regards sanitary considerations and
the matter of social and moral advance
ment. On account of their limited num-
bers and lack of adequate means, they
have not accomplished very much, but
they have set people to thinking, and no
doubt the indirect results of their efforts
Will be far reaching and of great benefit
to the inhabitants of nearly all cities IN
the civilized world.
The rayages of cholera in Europe in
the districts devoted TO the homes of the
poor last year, and recent statistics of
mortality compiled by the health au-
thorities Of London and New York, have
! served to awaken the interest of the
public in the subject of tenement house
reform. 1t seems that the agitation of
the question is to be taken out of the
hands Of philanthropIsts in a large meas
ure and given over to those who are i'm
PEELED by self-interest. At a meeting in
| Brooklyn a fey nights ago a speaker
said 1--WE have to face the sanitary
problem of providing houses for the poor.
We cannot ignore the condition of our
neighbOr. With the cholera threatening
US the question is one which comes home
to the rich more than the poor. The
crowded tenement houses stand in close
proximity to the mansions Of the rich, and
the waste pipe Of the tenement is also
connected with the houses Of Jay Gould
and other millionaires."
The case is presented in a manner well
calculated to enlist the interest of thou
sands who are impervious to philanthrOpic
appeals, and no doubt general overhaul
ing OF sanitary codes will be made. 1t is
probable that the large majority Of tene-
ment houses constructed in the future
will be vast improvements on those here
tofore erected, especially as regards ven
tilation and drainage, but thousands of
old buildings will probably stand for
years, and with their squalid occupants
be a continual menace to the public
health.
1t is stated that the first tenement
houses were erected in New York only
forty years ago, and now there are over
$4,000 of various styles and sizes in that
city. Only a small percentage of these
have been built since the adoption of the
present sanitary code. The enormous
rate Of mortality in the tenement house
districts of that city has already been
brought to the notice of the public, and 1t
is difficult even TO imagine the harvest of
death that would ensue in the event of
cholera or other dread epidemic getting
a fOOthold there. Attention has often
been called to the death rate among the
negroes of Savannah. When the class of
buildings they occupy is considered, it is
surprising that the mortality is not
greater than it is. The records of almost
every city in the world show similar facts
relating to the death rate.
Reform can only be accomplished
through legislation. The building of no
new tenement house should be permitted
unless the most approved sanitary laws
are complied with. All old tenements
should be required to be remodeled, if
possible, so as to make them fill the re-
quiremer is OF the same laws, and where
this is impossible the houses should be de-
molished after, say, three or five years
notice.
The subject is OF more Importance than
many readers will Re disposed to admit.
1t is one that commends itself to every
one who is moved by considerations of
charity or regard for the health and well
fare of the community in which he lives.