The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-13

effect on taxpayers and tenement house
owners who have gained great profits out
of poor property and out of vice win be
incalculable. Upon the tenement house
dweller, in whose interest these laws have
been made. the good will be great. The
general effect of the law will be the re
construction of fifty per cent. of all the
real estate in New York.
Prostitution in flats and tenement
houses. which was largely brought about
by the Parkhurst crusade, Is vigorously
aimed at. The horrors of the ever noto-
rious RED Light District" shocked this
great Christian city far more than the
exploitation of venal police administra-
ton and the Official Matchmaking of gam
blers. That youth and innocence should
be daily exposed to scenes of viciousness
and debauchery shocked every parent in
the city, irrespective Of political atfilia-
lion and religious persuasion. 1t offended
every sense of common decency. In the
past it was impossible to discover the
owner of such property. The present law
compes owners to be on record at the
tenement house department. and a suit
against the owner of building can be
lodged against the building and attaches
like taxes From this, there is apparent
" no escape.
1t may be wei to settle one question at
time. Moralists, reformers and the vice
and tenement commissions have sought to
expel the lewd women from the tenement
The law, as l have stated, includes in the
definition of tenements all apartment
houses. Any building, or portion thereof,
which is occupied as the home or resi-
dence of three families or more living in
dependently of each other, and doing
their cooking upon the premises" and
having common right 10 the halle,
stairways, ETC." is a tenement. A build
ing with several apartments and a COM
mon dining room is "a hotel apartment
house" and not tenement.
EMISSIONS of the law will depend upon
the judicial Interpretation of the def
milton. Should a whole apartment house
be occupied by lewd women a brothel
and they do no cooking on the premises
or have a common kitchen and dining
room, it may be held that under the
statute, the provisions of the tenement
house law do not apply, although at the
time of it's construction it did, as 1t was
erected as a tenement house.
But that is neither here not there; the
main question is, Where shall the pros
titute live?'
The Parkhurst crusade drove them from
certain localities which were recognized
as inhabited by them. They fed to the
| fats and apartments. Building operations
| in other sections forced them TO move
on, and they settled in the tenements.
Moralists, reformers and vice commit
tees put on d stern front and instituted
| proceedings with an object in view. The
object is to stamp out vice. Looking for
ward, from their point of view, the prin
| ciple of eradication is correct. Virtue
| admits of no compromise with vice Look
| ing backward, experience shows there ha:
Iaa eraI f.o ton Int h. af~a.Y.
dispersion and dissemination. This is
| practical age, and practical measures ar,
| in order. ] do not believe the social evi
| can or will be blotted out. Thou shall
| not! is an injunction which has no weigh
OF force so long as individuals will no
| say: l will not. One may aptly sa.
with Forget Me Not. IF there were n
such men as you are, there would be n
such women as l am TO blot out tn
social evil men must be different ]
there are $1,000 abandoned women Il
this metropolis. it is no idle statemen
to say there are 100000 men in the role
| of customers.
One cannot stir filth without expecting
a stencil to arise. So it is with the socia
| evil. 1t has assumed colossal proper
tons. 1t is now menacing condition
AS such it will have to be met and deal
with, even though purists, reformers an
| vice committees rave. Regeneration o
sequestration; there is no middle course
Drive the leper where you will, he still
carries his leprosy with him.
| 1t Jars one somewhat when. speculatin;
| on the evils men do. and adjusting t.
those evils the remedies prescribed by III
wise and virtuous, to note in another col
umn Of ones morning paper the dealing
on Change. Where is gambling to b
| found to equal that daily done in Wal
street? At Monte Carlo. at Canfields, Il
the whole city of Greater New York
Why, the game in Wall street in a singh
duh half day records profits and losse
| which would make a years gambling a
| faro and roulette look like a dime to
| dollar. The privilege Of being a dealer oil
the stock exchange costs $4,000. They cal
it a seat. but legally the governing com
mittee defines 1t as a privilege. Two ant
| a half millions of stock changed hands /
the record of a days business. and ever,
| point on hundred shares is one hundrei
| dollars. 1t reminds one OF the old lin
to the effect that to kill one is murder b,
the law, but TO slay thousands needs
| nobler name-war Such is the differenc
| between the faro bank player and tn
Wall street gambling But in the eyes o
a level. common headed, morality, gamb
ling is gambling. whether played with but
tons. ivory or bank checks. The hazar'
makes the gamble
Since the consolidate ton of the elite
| great improvements have been made il
| transporta ton, and the increase OF popu
| lation has been something enormous. Thi
| has nothing whatever to do with consoll
dalton. The growth is due to the pros
perity OF New York and it's desirability a
a place Of residence. Now the cry Il
| bridgesi More bridges are demanded I
cross the Harlem and more to cross tn
| East river to Brooklyn. The new Eas
| River bridge is now in process OF com
struction, and its lofty towers and Ian
approaches are being rapidly constructed
| Three more bridges are in the prelimianr
stages. But the taxpayer realizes thes
cost money, and each year the debt limi
| is pressed to the very extreme
When II Is made clear beyond all douh
that over 5000 cases OF consumption wer
reported TO the health department durin
the year 1900, and that there are suppose
to be 10000 not reported, the crusad
against expectoration in pubic vehicles
grounded upon facts worth thinking ovel
| City magistrates are showing themselve
very rigid in Furnishing persons srreste
for violating the ordinance. Consumptio
belongs 70 the climate OF the seacoast. I
| existed among the Indians to an alarmin
extent. IL Is fostered by the very condi
| lions which modern life and habits max
| II impossible TO escape. No check tina
| can be put upon II can be too severe
what a cry goes up against q few case
! If SMALLPOX ard vet cOnaumpuon Is eve