Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-05-26

1t is always easy {" iiud interesting sta
tistiCS ia relation to- the poor people ri u
country like ours. There are over ~
cheap lodging huuo,.s in New York Most
of them are below Fourteenth street The
sanitary laws IiN their legal ~heiirI1ug ca
pacity al about 9WT dodgers per night.
but almost every night from IUuu To- r.
90 dismal souls are crowded into them
Ii is estimated that there are from OUU tn
5000 poor males and females who find
shelter al the free-lunch saloons. the stale
! beer dives and the police stations About
Chatham square and in the streets which
traverse the slums and sluughs of New
York these unfOrtunateS have show by
working as sitters in the low saloons They
cluster around the stove in cold weather
and excite the sympathy OF transient Gus
toners. During the holiday season. about
election time, and when great parades are
going on this dodge of the needy worker
and the salOOn-keeper works to the advan-
tage of both. At such times the sitters
are enabled to keep comfortably filled up.
to the advantage Of the house
In some saloons which encourage sitters
they are let in in relays BY working up
a regular route a tramp can manage to
fill up his time all night. The way many
of these people keep clothed is a study.
One that have heard of has preteusiOns
in this direction. Every day he watches
the death notices in the papers, and when
ever the demise of a man is announced he
promptly calls at the house with a piteOus
appeal for cast-off clothing. People are
tender hearted with death in the house,
and he rarely goes away empty handed. A
student Of the tramp question has Classi-
fled the different grades of cheap dodgers
and sitters. He finds from long expert
ence that 20 per cent. of them are victims
Of intemperanCe, - per cent. are vagrants
from sheer laziness, ~ per cent. are will
ing TO work but can't get it to do and
per cent are unable to work ON account Of
some mental or physical defect. Upon
this basis Of say lj,UOO Uut-and-Out out
casts III New York city, 800 are drunk
ards, l,IjO are indOlent knaves, 1900 de
cent poverty-strioken people out of work,
and 80 invalids ard unfortunates.
IN THE RoOKERIEs AND sHANTIEs.
The next class Of poor people, but little
better off. are the dwellers in the rOOkcries
and shanties and meanest tenement
houses There the condition becomes
somewhat better, hut never satisfactory
The evils of the tenement house system
are apparent. This huddling together of
large numbers of men, women and chill
dren under one roof breeds vice and dlss-
patton. But the growth of this system in
New York has been remarkable. The
first tenement house was erected in lS;ss
On Cherry street. In 1865 there were ij 3UJ
:enements in this city. Now there are at
least 5000, including apartment houses
and flats. In quarter of Il century the
system developed, and during the last
twenty five years has more than doubled
III extent In 1915 the average number Of
inhabitants i'll each tenement house was
thirty-tive. The average to-day is fifty.
New York has double the number of in
mates 10 house OF any other Gity in the
Union, Philadelphia the leasts Out of the
1921 houses in the Quaker city, there
are only six inmates to each dwelling. in
the 80, S33 houses which make up Balti-
more there are are six and one half people
TO each residence; st. Louis, with 1905
houses, has eight people to each home;
Chicago, with 81 ,G69 houses, has eight and
quarter people; Brooklyn, with 62, 233
houses, has nine people to q house; New
York, with 73,6S+ houses. has sixteen and
and a half people. The figures Us u this
city are deceptive, because there are fully
H,UU tepements proper which aCCOmmo-
date fifty people On an average, Gr a total
of l,OOO,OO0 souls. This demonstrates that
more than twQ-thirC.s Of the population Of
New York are dwellers of tenement houses
proper, among which flats and apartment
houses are not included What a singular
study these figures are! No city in the
Union has half as many houses as Phila-
delphia, and vet Boston has nearly two
thirds Us maay a. New York, and Chicago
almost as many. Truly these statistics
justify Philadelphia in its claim of being
the city of homes, and Chicago and Boston
follow very closeIy.-Frank Burr in Chi
cago News