The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-12-18
Some Of the Conditions Which Pre-
vail in Portland.
The Landlords of Some
Houses Are To Blame.
For Much of the Misery and
Suffering Which Prevail.

The monthly meeting of the Associated
Charities yesterday afternoon was made
Interesting by discussion of the tene
ment house question. After the regular
business had been sransa acted and the re-
port of the secretary, Mrs. Moore read,
Rev DIR. Blanchard opened the subject
which was set for the afternoons discus
sion. He said In part that whoever
wishes to be a Christian should pray not
to own a tenement house. There are tene-
ment houses in Portland which are over
crowded and nothing bnt Iookeries. He
had hoped that there were no buildings
of this character in the city, but on look
ing into the matter little he had be-
come convinced that there were some
houses on York and Commercial streets
WHOM are as bad as any which could be
found In the greater cities. He spoke of
one in particular In which there are now
living forty one families where there is
not room enough for more than four.
The question is how can we get rid OF
these places. The board of health has
record OF every house in the city in which
contagious diseases have occurred and
where the sanitary arrangements are not
what they should be. The question
might be asked why should not these
houses bs condemned or closed. The
reason is that insome cases the owners are
too poor to fix up their houses properly
while in other cases the city will not act.
The place to go for information on this
subject is the board of health. The board
hak a ta a ~ IN nd
the circumstances, but they do not have
money enough o do all that needs to be
DONE They have ample authority hut
the means for carrying out their ideas Is
lacking. What can the Associated Chari
ties dof They can attend to the individual
cases and keep in touch with the beard
OF health and the authorities. DIR.
Blanchard said that when he was pastor
OF church In Brooklyn, Mir. Albert Il.
White built a number OF tenement houses
that wera fit for psoDls to live in and the
experiment was success in every wav.
Dr. Blanchard said that he believed IL
was possible to change the conditions and
he hoped that this would soon be dons.
He went on to say that the chief mis-
sion of visitors to the tenemeDts was 10
reach the hearts OF these people who live
in the tenements and try and lift their
souls to higher plane. One of the
plans which has been suggested ana
which has worked well In other places
was to divide the city into districts and
give to each church district to Look af-
ter. When conditions which were not
proper were found in any OF these houses
the thing to do was to report them nrst
of all to the board of health and then to
the pastor of the church which had
charge of the section in which the case
was found.
Another speaker who followed DIR.
Blanchard said that her work was almost
entirely among the worthy poor and she
knew little about the tenement house
conditions. Recently she had visited the
sIums and she had been every much
shocked by what she saw there. One
place she visited was In Carleton court,
and what she saw there was beyond de-
soription. The place was not ut for
cattle to live 1t and all who could do SO
were moving cut at the first opportunity.
The floors were wet, the roof leaked and
there was one suit OF two rooms in the
house furnished with a table and few
chairs which was leased for S! a week
Many OF the tenements had to pay as
high as $40 month for these miserable
quarters.
The next speaker, q woman, who asked
that her name be not made public, said;
"rhe chairman has asked me to answer
so far as j am able the following ques
tions: How Ear are tine builders, land
lords and board of health responsible, for
the existing conditions OF tenement
houses?
ut may be safely said tnst the builder
is in no way responsible, nor should be
blamed for existing conditions. He con-
tracts to build according to plans given
him by the owner, such plans having
been approved by the building inspector,
who is appointed by the City Council ex-
pressly to DO this work. The builder is
obliged to do his work In accordance
with plans and specifications having been
su omitted, and approved by the Board
of Health. This Is required by City
Ordin ance approved June 9TH, 1898
How far is the owner responsible for
unsanitary oonditionsf
Certainly the moral responsibility is
very great when we remember that people
who are very particular that the houses
where their children live must be very
clean and wholesome, and free from all
eders and all dreaded germs; If the same
time they own and accept money for che
uss Of miserable death-traps which other
children are obliged to call home.
I DO not mention at fhfs meet
Ing the names Of those owning
such inisarabIe tsnsments. am always
particular 70 know the names of owners,
but with shs present theory Of disease