New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-25
THE SEAMY SIDE.
GREAT SOCIAL PROBLEMS ILLUSTRATED.


Tenements Of New-York. BY Jacob A: Rils. Win
Illustrations. svo, PIP. 3o4. Charles scr'onef
Sons.
The studies of Mr.. Rs among the tenements OF
New-YorlS take the reader into strange places anu
bring him into contact with startling condi''onS
but among all the problems now pressing i'i
solution there are none so grave or SO aiincui' DO
those upon the fundamental facts OF WHICH o'e'e
pages throw light. The author has mace " '"oi-
ough exploration Of the great city, ana mas pr
Guced series Of pictures which illustrate sum
ingly the many phases Of life concerned. III '''e
tenement house. which is no less necessity Una"
an evil terminate host OF mlscmeis' pu' '"o
whole story of the prisoners oil poverty 10 'naO
which arrests attention first and holds IL ,ohees'
II is one of the conditions OF cxstlhg ciNlii~a"o"
all over the world that pressure of population ac-
comnanies what is called progress. and from the
nressure arises competition which. in despite OF
oil legislative remedies forces the poor into a
moro desnerate and breathess struggle Tor bread,
ond ICONS down the wages Of labor as nearly as
,,oss;ble tn the starvation point But 1t must at
once be seen that in New-iork the na'urai
pressure Of population upon the wage-iuhu 10
enormously increased by agencies when are Pro-
duced artifcially: and that SO long as these
agencies are maintained the incidence OF poverty
here must he sharper than it is elsewhere. MI
Riis shows plainly that the steady lnhuA
Of Russian and Polish and Bohemian Immigrants
all Door and all absolutely compelled to take inc
first work that offers, at no matter wnat Pii0o'
renders IL impossible to mitigate, to say no'fhne
of removing the evils and suffcrinss tnat Iesui0
from the sweating" system, for example
The facts given in these pages illustrating the
conditions of life among these foreigners more
over prove the impossibility of any competition
with them on the part of American men anu
women without degradation. There are III Is
estimated, 10000 girls and women here earhine
their own living, and the average earning Oh e'''
of them is sixty cents day. TO Keep pooS ah"
soul together scores of thousands OF THESE WOMEN
have to work from daylight to 10 or IL ciocA "O
night, and even then they can only make enous
60 provide dry bread and tea for themselves "a
curious circumstance is that the wages OF the Guy
workers are kept down by the compettion OF tiie
country women. who are in no sense obliged 10
do such work. but who undertake 1t merely 10
supply themselves with probationary. Inc %
or Ga q week these earn is all extra income 10
them: but they help materially to Tx al uhe
lowest point the wages of the city operatives 10
whom So or "a a week is everything. Inc tehe-
ment-house problem has but an 1ndirect bearing
upon this one. OF course, those VINO earn ii,~e
can pay little for rent. though Mr.. hils SHOWS
that the rents paid by the tenement residents are
in proportion among the highest IN The Guy. Inc
moor man suffers always through his poverty. He
paws sl2 ton for COAL because he can only puy
it by buckctfuls lie pays in like manner for
nearly everything, and the poorer he is as rule,
the more easily and the more remorseessly is he
imposed upon The green immigrants are bounced
upon and exploited by their own countrymen, VINO
beat them down to the lowest notch work them
almost to death, and only desist when the new
corners have gained experience enough to realize
that the law here gives them some rights
Naturally, the most hclpless body is that of the
working women, and while the little progress
made in organizing this class already shows that
something may be done by that system, 1t remains
a fact that the majority of them are too desper-
ately engaged in the struggle for mere existence
to be able to stir finger to help themselves
When young girls and women are forced to work
seventeen hours day for wage of between SIX
and seven cents an hour. it cannot be expected
that they will have any energy left for agita-
tion or organization and this, too, when their
diet Is dry bread and tea. 1t may be asked what
good tenement-house reform would accomplish for
this large class What they need is better wages
and shorter hours; but neither of these can they
hope for SO long competition continues as fierce
as it is to-day and unhappily there is no ground
for believing that the existing pressure will dmin-
ish II certainly cannot be while the United
States continues to invite all the poor Of Europe
to come here, and while these foreign poor, in
stead of scattering through the country and set
Ting on the land, leave so large proportion OF
their numbers in the port of Decentralization A
secondary consequence of the extraordinary force
of local competition among working people IS
that foreigners coming here, and Immediately
plunged into engrossing work, find no time to
learn the language of the country. Mr.. Rlls en-
countered foreigners who had been here ten years
and could not speak word of English What
kind of American citizens can such people make !?
and what can they know of the constitution and
laws and spirit of the Republic? Such considera-
lions may not seem important just now, but they
are liable TO become at any time, and with the
growth of discomfort and Socialism, they must be-
come So
Mr.. Rs has explored all the foreign colonies
which are embraced in this great city, and his
descriptions of them and their distinguishing char
acteristcs are highly interesting, though there is
something not altogether reassuring in the way
these foreign groups remain apart, and though,
when we look into the nature of the machinery
which seems their only connecting link with the
body polite, the resulting facts do not tend to
restore confidence. For the connecting link re-
ferred TO is everywhere the saloon. That is the
nexus of New-York politics That is the organic
ing agency that put the votes of the foreign cle-
ments at the command Of the kind of who
govern us. As compared with the saloons, the
churches are nowhere. Their influence does not
count The saloon, too. is the evil genius of the
tenementhousc for it makes bad worse. Yet it
will not do 10 charge everything to one account.
The tenemeut-house itself is direct cause of
drunkenness, and no one who examines its hor-
rors can wonder that those who condemned
to live in such conditions fly to drink as to a
refuge. The city itself has in the past been re-
sponsible for great incentive to drink namely.
the lack of proper water supply in the tenement
house districts. 1t is hoped that with the OPEN
ing of the new Aqueduct that complaint, at
least, will be removed But so long as men and
women are forced to crowd together without air
light it is folly to expect civilized ways from
them. In the first place a very large proportion