The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-05
SANITARY INSPECTOR NEEDED.
Tenements of San Juan Crowded and
without Modern COnveniences.

If one comes from other island towns to San
Juan, or better yet, if one comes from the
average West Indian port to San Juan, San
Juan will at first seem clean in comparison.
This because the streets of Porto Ricos cap
ital are for the most part very well paved
and are kept actually fairly clean. A com
parison can be made to a shiny steel tire on
very muddy wagon wheel The city streets
are for the most part Clean but the houses
and the numberless interior courts and con-
Meeting alleyways are indescribably dirty. If
you ask what should be done for the san-
tation Of the city you will very likely be
answered everything" There is no doubt
but that the question needs very thorough
handing, ana one can Well say that every
thing must be done for nothing to speak of
has been done in the past, and of their own
VIII the people will do nothing to-day.
San Juan city is built on the western end
OF a long and narrow island that runs al
most due East and West across the northern
side of San Juan harbOr. The northern side
of this island is the highest, being sixty or
seventy feet above sea level and from this
ridge the land slopes evenly to the south or
harbor side of the island. The harbor is
large and has an eastern and western en-
trance, the western entrance only can be
used by ships, the eastern entrance is shall
low. But there is fair current of water
through the harbor with each slight raise
and fall of the tide. The prevailing winds
are from the north.
CROWDED TENENENTs.
A noticeable feature of the city streets is
that the first floors, in cases where the
houses have two stories, are either given
over to offices and warehouses or are in
habited by the poorer classes. Every one
knows that it is healthier to live above the
ground floor, consequently all those who can
afford to do live there A doctor Of this city
man who has studied the question of the
city's health. has declared that in order to
be cit oIa
poorer classes, mostly composed Of negroes.
should be driven away to the country This
dctlon ne considers imperative for the lasting
success or any measures toward city sanita-
tlon. AS one walks through the streets one
C|tcnes Silmpses OF interior courts that seem
ahVe with people; enter these courts and
YOU are impressed with the great number of
peopS VINO I'VE IN small spaces and are de-
prlVed of air and light Americans have
wondered how this city could house the 80 900
inhabitants attributed to it: a visit to the in
lerlorS OF the houses would quickly inform
them. In these tenementS the sanitary ar
fangements are practically nil. There are
amount of clothes that is weekly washed in
TINS, as in all Central American cities, is
oone IN tnese houses. Alleyways halls and
CROWDED rooms are forever hung with damp
clothing; dirty water stands in foul tubs and
IS emptied into drains that probably do not
drain. The houses are crowded with naked
children, food is cooked over charcoal fires
IN any corner, and all water comes from un-
foreground reservoirs in the yards that catch
/
the city has to-day is cstern water The
mai doors from these many tenements blow
out into the streets and rise to the people
who live above. 1t is almost impossible to
| find to-day in San Juan a second story for
| living purposes under which there do not
| is here described.
| Whether these people can be driven to
the country is a question. The negro would
| prefer to live on eight square feet of dirt
| in the capital than in the fresh air of the
country, ana such tenement property is
hlghIy profitable to the owner here as else
| Where. You cannot drive the negro to the
! open fields unless you there provide shell
| ter for him and even if you told MIN he
| must move within three or six months he
! would make no effort 90 find himself quar-
| ters elsewhere. 1t would be necessary TO
| build houses for him in the country and
| there make him remain. Any sach move
| property owner.
While theoretically this action would BRING
| the best lasting results, It's practical aiph-
| cation will be found difficult In case it
| cannot be done, the cleansing of the city
| must be considered with these people still
! in their homes. The natural conditions of
| the town make good drainage system pos
! sible. There is ample fall from all points
| into the harbor. Whether there is sufficient
| harbor flow to carry away the matter thus
| drained has never been determined. If there
| is not, the eastern entrance might be suffi-
GENTLY enlarged to bring this about.
The Spaniards long ago started work on a
| system of water supply to be brought from
! the country through aqueductS, and this
| system very nearly completed when
| the war came on. Unfortunately the Span
iards obtained for their auueduct condemned
pipes from Demerara, and to supply the
amount of water needed for San Juan these
| pipes should stand a pressure of $50 pounds.
| They have never been tested for more than
| Is pounds, and it is probable that the higher
| pressure would prove the pipes to be value
| less and necessitate new ones. However,
| this may be- much has already been done
| toward getting ample and good water to
| this city, and this matter is of first impor
| tance to the city's health.
MUST BE TAUGHT HOW TO LIVE.
If the undesirable first floor negro is to
stay in town he must first be taught how
to live properly, and then made to do
1t is not sufficient to post instructions on
tenement house doors; sewers must be built
and until that time all washing of clothes
should be done in proper public lavatories;
| there must be ample and good water proper
and hygienic living must be made possible,
| and then the people must be severely pun
| ished for each infraction of the rules; only
thus can they be handled and effectively
| taught. 1t will be useless and farcical TO
attempt to force them to live properly with
out giving them the means so TO do.
The situation can be summed up thus
shortly: The city to-day is overcrowded,
there is not sufficient water and what there
is is bad, the soil is impregnated and
| poisoned with the accumulation of years
and centuries and there are no sanitary ar
engagements, such as sewers and drains;
The question can be handled radically and
straight out from the shoulder, in which
case the population of the tenements will
have to be thinned out. Or the matter can
be temporized.
The cleaning of the city is now in the
HANDS of the City Council. Since the Ameri-
can occupation they have been attempting
to do something in the matter but they
clearly lack the ability to grasp and handle
the question. They have no idea as to what
a clean city according to our American
ideas should be. None of them has ever
been intimately acquainted with one. At
recent meeting of the Council when this
subject came up for discussion, one men,
Der pompouSly remarked: Let US show the
Americans that we can keep this city clean
as we'll as they can" Insomuch as we have
before US the result of several centuries
of their efforts in this direction the remark
appears ridiculous.
The matter of the sanitation of this city
needs American handling. 1T calls for a.
North American to run it. It is the purpose
of the present American military authori-
ties to allow the Porto Ricans to administer
within certain limitations, their own affairs.
Well and good but this matter of health
which affects every American resident in
the capital should be energeIically admin
istered by an American. 1t is manifest that
a Porto Rican cannot do it as it should be
done.
On the northern ridge of the city of San
Juan is long line of old Spanish fortifca-
tons. There are walls many feet thick
broken by embrasures for cannon and old
sentry boxes. In picturesque rregularity
they stretch along above the breakers from
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