The times., 1901-04-14
Good Legislation i'm New york.

The present session of the New York
Legislature will be long remembered by
the people of the Empire State-and of
the whole country for that matter-for
the excellent marriage and tenement
house measures which have been passed
| by the body recently. The new mar
riage law is a most sensible and timely
piece of legislation. The only wonder
is that the utterly loose and miserable
system of common-law marriages which
the government of the Commonwealth
has tolerated for two or more genera
tions had not been abolished long before
Under the old order of things, a man
only had to die rich in order to incur
the danger Of having a battalion Of
women-whom, perhaps, ne had never
laid eyes on-come forward and swear
that they were the cOmmon-law wives
Of the dear departed brother. Accord
ing to the provisions of the new act,
after January l next it viii be neces-
sary to the validity Of marriage that
the parties to it shall enter into a writ
ten contract, signed by themselves and
two witnesses, which instrument must
be fled within six months in the office
of the clerk of the town or city in
which the nuptaIs have been solem-
nized This Will probably go a long
way toward putting a check upon
blackmailing enterprises at the expense
of the estates of deceased citizens.
The New York tenement house law to
which Governor OdeIl has just affixed
h -ir +taf-f -
particularly as it amounts to a great
step in the direction of public care for
the interests of the laboring poor It
does away with the fire traps which so
often in the past have been the scenes
Of fires resulting in the loss Of life
under the most narrowing conditions.
1t provides for a rigid sanitary inspec-
ton Of all buildings used for tenement
purposes. 1t prohibits the renting of
rooms in tenement houses TO disOrderly
women, and so provides the children of
poverty with protection against contact
with vice. AS matters stand now, it is
said by the gentlemen who compose the
Committee of Fifteen, engaged in in
vestigation of social conditions in the
city. that there is hardly a tenement
house on the East Side which does not
harbor at least one female whose pres
ence is an insult to the childhood and
young maidenhood of the place The
new law is drastic in its treatment of
this evil. 1t provides that landlords
may be convicted of felony for renting
apartments to women Of bad character |
Another commendabIe provision is one !
which compels the landlord to supply |
each tenement-house apartment with a |
bathroom and sanitary plumbing. FL |
nally, all tenements are to be so con- |
that their inmates will have |
plenty Of fresh air and sunlight All |
the features of the act are entitled to ,
national approval and praise II is |
probable that in some respects the law |
may not be fully complied with. or |
perhaps as rigidly enforced as its
trainers intended and expected it TO be. |
Still, in the application Of the prin-
ciple Of State protection to the more
helpless element of the population, it is
4 great step in advance. The poor can
not be provided with palaces, but the
buildings designed for their occupation
and which pay a better interest as a
rule than any other form of real es-
tate investment, can be made better
han breeding places for pestilence and
shame, and that is what we feel sure
-he tenement-house law will hand
;omely accomplish.