Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-07-20
LIFE IN THE SLUMS.
Nigh Rents Paid BY New York'e Poor -
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You will return from your first visit
to the slums with two strong impress
sions: One. Of the utter hopelessness
Of trying to do any thing; the other. Of
the necessity for doing something i'm
mediately, lest the heavens fall. Per-
haps you have evolved in your boudoir
some beautiful scheme of ameliora-
ton; it has occurred to you that If ten
rich men of the city could be persuaded
to give 500. 600 apiece. not as a charity
but as an investment, to build ten tene-
ments each to accommodate seventy
families, it would be great and glori-
Gus thing. But. as you stand in 1.-THE
Bend, IN Mulberry strv1t and gnzs
about you, it win be to say in despair.
81, 900. 600. ten tenements. 700 fami-
lies! OF what possible use to plan such
an infinitesimal oasis Of relief in this
universe Of misery and degradationP"
You have never before seen people 50
hived. Above you, below you. behind
you, in front Of you, to the right, to
the left, in the rear, in the distance.
crowded against each other, behind
each other, above each other. are hui
man beings. They swarm ON the side
walks, they are entering and issuing
from the doorways, they lean out the
windows. You have always supposed
that in the homes Of the poor
you would be filed with pity for the
hard work you would be seeing them
do; women bending over wash-tubs OF
ironing-tables, cobblers cobbling, tail
ors sewing, seamstresses running ma
chimes, tinkers mcnding. children
weeping bitterly, as they, too, turn a
machine or try to make . shoe; every
body toiling for dear life for mouth
full Of bread. too busy to look up. even
IS you pass. But the first impression
made upon you in the slums is that of
. horrible leisure. What are these
people doing? Nothing. What are
they capable Of doinga Nothing. What
do they want you to do for themi
Nothing. What can you do for them!
Nothing.
Nothing 10 more astonishing. in in
vestigating the slums, than the dis
covery Of the enormous prices the poor
are paying for the most wretched &C
commodations. One man boasts that
he draws IS per cent on his tenement
investments. Mr.. Alfred Whites ex-
periments with improved tenements
have been carried ON for ten years,
and have been made in the city which
- the third largest in the United States,
20 that he has certainly had to Crap
pie with al the problems presented
by = large city; and he states that
for e1.60 week you can give tenants
two light. airy rooms. with separate
sink, scullery and arrangements for
coal, etc, and draw 6 per cent. on
your investment; yet you viii find
families paying Is . week for two
rooms with right to NE IT, hallway
for some Of their .'things;" and in the
same house . woman with three chill.
dren paying q . week for one room in
the basement, where she lives. cooks,
eats and does washing for . living,
with dark closet and one bed where
she and the three children sleep. In
. semi-circle Of sheds occupied BY rag.
pickers one. woman pays q . week for
the end Of one shed.
Halt Of the trouble IL caused by the
willful cruelty. but half BY the care
less thoughtlessness, Of the landlords.
Awise writer has said recently: 'sOften
Jon don't need to say to . man. Why
do you do sof II You can show him
what he II doing. It IL often enough to
rouse him to reform" I have faith
enough in human nature to believe
that IL we could organize . procession
Of landlords and compel them to wall
through the tenement districts. they
would begin to reform themselves
Hall Of them do mot know what they
arc doing; trusting the care Of theil
property to agents, whose interest 1t Il
not to trouble them with demands fcl
repairs or any lessening Of income. -
Ars. A. " Rollins. in F6rssm.