The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-17
TUBERcU1os1s IN NEW YORK.
Alarming Conditions in the TeHe-
ment House District.

NEW YORK. Nov. 17.-Conditions truly
alarming. and to be remedied only by
radical reforms in the construction Of,
and sanitary arrangements in, the tene-
Inent houses of this city were brought to
light yesterday afternoon at the first pub
lie hearing of the State Tenement House
Commission which Was held in the As
sembly Hail Of the United Charities Build
ing, Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second
Street.
The subject of yesterdays hearing was
The Relation OF tuberculosis TO the
Tenement House Problem - and a number
of witnesses, most Of them physicians
working among the poor in the tenement
house districts, were heard
The first witness DR.. John H Pryor, CT
Buffalo, said that practically there vas
neither light nor fresh air in the New
York tenement houses. There were prob
ably twenty thousand eonsumptives in this
city The majority OF the people living
in The tenement 0uses had tuberculosis
in some form. There was no place pro-
vided where a consumptive could go for
treatment if he is without money. He
said that in every tenement house there
should be at least six hundred cubic feet
changed, would be sufficient; if not often
changed, insufficient. Some tenements
were so infected that they ought TO be
demolished. There should be legislation
prohibiting the building of tenement kous-
es on twenty-five foet lots.
He saiG one of the largest items of ex-
pense to the Department Of Charities
came from the survivors Of persons dying
from tuberculosis, as most deaths of Ibis
IN Fo-x hcr-4
cen and thirty-five. when the patient was
the bTeadearner. It would be cheaper to
provide some place where co1sumptiyes
could be treated, as the disease of late
had been proved to be eurabls
The next witness was DR. Herman NJ
Biggs. who. as consulting physician Of
the Health Department has given this
subject great deal of attention He
said there were about $500 deaths from
consumption in this city annually The
causes Of tuberculosis resulting IN death
in SO many cases were the unSanitary
conditions in the tenements. the over
crewding, the poverty of nhabitants and
the infection of the houses themselves
He specified certain blocks in the lower
part of the city where the death rate
from the disease was as 30 to every l 600
inhabitants annually. In Cherry Street
were three houses within $50 feet OF one
twenty-five persons had died in each
These were bad enough to be demolished,
but were still standing He recommended
a change in the construction of tenement
houses. More fresh air and more light
were required. The danger from tubercu-
lesis was greater than the danger from
fire, and no restrictions should be pI7c ed
in the way of erecting tenement houses
where conditions could be sanitary and
rents still so cheap as to be within the
reach Of the poor. Fifeproof regulations
and limits in the height of structures
should be Withdrawn in order to secure
the construction CT such dwellings for the
poor.
Among other witnesses heard were DR..
Fraenka1, Manager Of the United Hebrew
Charities Dr. Anna Daniels, of the New
York InfrmaFy for Women and DR. s
Knopf. Other hearings will be conducted
IN this city OF November %. Is. IS. and
possibly on other dates