New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-25


mains to be ascertained whether, without compui-
sion. the whole body of tenement owners can
be induced to follow lead which obviously III
wolves n certain sacrifice of profits; or whether
any scheme of coercive legislation can DC oe
vised which would not create a ne" oruer vi
abuses in removing the old ones vi coursc "V A'e
bottom this like all other social prooicns, Is "
question of the welfare Of the community. "ha'-
ever can be proved to be most conclusive 10 'na'
end must eventually prevail; ana as neips !"
intelligent conclusions on this head inc chapoei'
in this book which deal with the relations OF 'he
tenementhouse to crime and lawlessness may DC
proftably studied.
Anglo-Saxon civilization is founded upon the
family. Healthy family life is directly oepenaenU
upon the possession of home. home means
q separate domcile. wherein light, cleanliness,
comfort and sufficient space are to be had NOW
the tenement is the very reverse OF nome
! IT, is in fact O sham and a makebelleve. when
under pretence of furnishing home destroys
and denys every true Characteristic OF that lnsttu
ton Neither privacy, nor quiet, nor cieahihhess'
nor room to breathe, nor decency, Is among us
contents What it engenders are disease anu
death and drunkenness and immortality and law
nessness and crime and despair and degradation.
Look at the horrible barracks here described the
foul and reeking courts and alleys that form their
purlieus the swarming rumshops that lie In walt
all about them to catch the victims their sights
and stenches have prepared; and then CONSIDER
whether il is surprising that vice and crime should
flourish under such conditions, and whether the
community has or has not direct and vivid
interest in the removal of these places kead
the chapter in which the author treats Of the
gangs" that literally belt the city, maintaining
on the waterfront and for some distance inland
n kind of guerilla warfare upon civilization, and
reflect how much the tenement has to do WIN
the evolution of the New-York tough" The
species is not unique, perhaps. All great clties
can show it's parallel or analogue. But that Is
because all great cities of the present day eAlst
under similar general conditions The tough
is everywhere the natural product of homeless
existence and the tenement is the great destroyer
of home influence and training Alone IL Is
mighty for evil; when in alliance with the rum
shop it is well-nigh omnipotent.
Yet, since the fact must not be lost sight Oh
that the geographical position of this city neces-
states, and must always necessltate, crowdlhg Oh
the population Of Manhattan Island 1t is clear
that the tenement principle will have to be re-
tained whatever befals. What is required, then
is to improve it: to amend its bad features to
make of it civizing instead of demoraiizihs
agency That this can be done, and done not
only without loss. but with profit, has already
been demonstrated, as witness the description OF
the Brooklyn tenement-houses given by Mr.. Riis
But it must not be blinked that when the best
attainable has been secured in that direction only
half the battle will have been won so long as
the saloon evil remains untouched. That IS the
deepest and understanding evil in modern So
ciety beyond question, and it is most formldapiy
cntrenched Still it will sooner or later have TO
be met and conquered or it will conquer The
community that tOlerates il. And even then thc
question is not to be regarded as settled, for
what can tencment-hOuse reform do for the
thousands who are crushed under ever-increas-
inc competition and to whom the conditions OF
life render it not worth living? What OF the
hundred and fifty thousand women who earn on an
average sixty cents day? They are not cor
rupted by the saloons, nor is their misery caused
by the tcnements, save in the most indirect way.
Apparently the only thing that can relieve them
is a diminuton in the pressure of competition;
and how is such diminution TO be brought about?
| Little vice and less crime emanates from this
| patient and brave band of workers, but who can
measure the despair, the agony Of mind, the
hopeessness which belong to such an existence
as they are condemned to? The worst of it IS
that before this problem philanthropy stands
helpless. To give aims is often impossible and
always dangerous Nothing so demoralizes the
recipient Nothing so defeats every prospect OF
Improvement. Moreover to offer money to most
Of these moor creatures is to insult them. They
are honestly independent. The American girl
never winners" is one of the sententious say
ings Mr. Riis learned during his researches. But
the American girl sometimes goes mad with the
misery of her lot or kills herself, or dies OF
simple starvation, and pride can prevent any
one of these catastrophes.
1t is some relief after after these gloomy re-
Elections to know that at least beginning has
been made in several directions; that active
benevolence and trained sagacity are at work upon
many. if not ALL of the problems presented; and
that the experiments thus far conducted afford
genuine announcement for the future. Not that
there is ANYTHING in the attempts at alienation
which have been made to Justify the conclusion
that private enterprise alone can carry to sue
cessfu issue any great scheme of social regenera-
ton. But when private enterprise has pracucany
solved the question how to do certain things,
| great step in advance has been taken. Thence
| forth half the dependence of the defenders OF
abuses is gone: thenceforth the friends of reform
are furnished with concrete illustrations of their
| subject. To provide decent housing for the poor
at reasonable rents is obviously the first consld-
| Grafton. When this has been done for some OF
the Door the way to accomplish it for the rest lies
open, and the question thcn RESOLVES i'seh ih'o
| one of means The influence of object-teaching
| is always powerful, and successful practical ex-
| amples do more for any cause than any amount
| of argument Here lies the strength Of the re-
form position at present, and while unquestionaby
| the difficulties to be encountered are still mani
fold and great there is ample room for encourage
ment
| In the pages of Mr.. Ris's valuable hook will he
| found elaborate descriptions OF every phase Of life
| in the other half" of New-York. The gangs
| by the water-side the curious but by no means
hopeless class of street Arabs the African colony
(of whose progress the author is enabled to give
a really cheering account, the strange, busy,
money seeking residents of Jewtown," the GRIM
inal haunts of the historic Bend" the horrors
| of the stale beer dives" and the low lodging
houses, the waits and the tares of the city, the
wrecks and victims of rum the sweaters, the