New-York tribune., 1901-05-19
VICE ~ THE TENENENTS.


The Committee of Fifteen viii do good work
if it forces the police to cxpel vice from the
tenement houses and keep ii out. 1t will
doubtless meet an outcry in the interest OF
Tammany against spreading vice. but that need
not deter IT, Vice is about thoroughly scat
tered as 1t can be. and its poison is injecting
the homes of the poor. where the children have
no chance to escape close contact with the cor
rupting persons who invade their quarters and
are there allowed and encouraged by the police
to carry on their immoral traffic. AS Bishop
Potter said I'm his letter to the Mayor last
November. the demand is not made that evil be
STAMPED out" Every reasonable man knows
that that is impossible In this community. But
the demand Is rs the Bishop then made ii. that
vice shall not bc shielded and encouraged by
those whose sworn duty il is 10 reprcss and
discourage il. and that work for humanity
among the poor shall not be thwarted by police
protected debauchees working in their very
homes for the destruction of the young and
innocent
The public sentiment demanding that the
poor shall have fair chance to bring up their
children TO virtue and not be compelled TO dwell
with them in an atmosphere of horrible immo-
rality. Is as strong when Bishop Potter
aroused the righteous wrath Of all honest men,
and IL will support continuing efforts TO secure
the cleansing of the tenements. 1t is generally
agreed 10y those familiar with East Side con-
dtions that the pretended housekeeping by the
police last winter merely meant the migration
of the vicious from the precinct under particular
observation into other precincts, where the same
work of corruption is carried on in the tene
ment houses. \ sincere effort On the part of
the police could not merely drive them from
the tenements. but keep track of their move
ments so far 10 see that they did not go back
into other buildings of the same character, and
that they at least went off by themselves. The
Committee Of Fifteen, which started out not TO
work off a little reforming enthusiasm. but TO
do steady. hard. long work would not be true TO
itself If it rested content with the deceptive bet
terment of tenement house conditions or was
diverted by any specious pretence from it's task
There is no need TO carry on the campaign in
a way to spread corruption. The Parkhurst
method OF enlisting young persons for investlga-
ton of the intimate facts of vice and particpa-
tion in the shameless practices OF the vicious Is
unnecessary as it is ll-advised Seasoned
detectives proceeding quietly and unsensaton-
ally. and avoiding making the details of their
work matter of public knowledge. can drive
vice from Haunting itself before the children of
the tenement houses or forcing itself anywhere
upon the attention Of the innocent They can
diminish, If not stop, the stream Of protection
money and seriously cripple Tammanys power
Excellent progress has been made In the pursuit
of the gambling combination, and there is rea-
son to believe that the Committee of Fifteen
has both the judgment and the perseverance TO
accomplish great good in the publication of the
tenement house districts.