New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-06
MORE BREATHING SPACE.
Charity Worb'ers Begin Crusade to
Remedy Catharine-st. Wisery.

Settlement and mission workers want breathing
space on the very lowest East Side They have
their eyes a block bounded b. CatLariue. Mon
roe. Marker AID Hamilton SIS. and a rove-aent
has been started 10 get the municipality 10 put a
park playground there. petition has been placed
before the Board of Estimate and Apportionmsnt.
and a hearing mas been set fer this month The
recommends OF the Board OF Aldermen. Of the
Board Of Local Improvement and of the Commits
siorer Of Parks are necessary pre,iminaries Inc
Commissions is outspoken IN his approval 1t
ROW seems probable thar the Board Of Aldermen
will favor the scheme and the approval of the
Board Of Local Improvement vii. then lie assured.
There is an acre ard 2 half in the square desired
for the playground. In the six blocks immediately
adjoining are l2.7sS people. II the one hundred
acres bounded by the East River the approach 20
the Brooklyn Bridge the New Bowery. East Broad
way and Pike-st 800 people, popula-
ton equal that OF Norfolk. Va: Water
bury. Conn; Fcrt Wayne. Ind: Dallas. Tex. or
Lincoln Neb. For all this population there is no
"out Of doors" except the street striking state
ment # the park playground needs Of the neigh
borhood has been prepared by Miss Lillian Brandt
statistican Of the committee on the prevention CT
tuberculosis of the Charity Organization society
Writing in the current issue OF "Cnariues. Miss
BranGt says part:
an index to the general character of the houses
alteration issued against them by the tenement
are nu-nt rous \ catalogus of the changes re-
quired bring house INTO conformity with the
law is sufncient fO- illustration Ihls house as It
happens. is located OF the site OF the proposed
PfFA &ne has Been no %fT an to ] yS
TO the school sink TO remove the OH WOOD
work from around the sink in the hall or each moor.
TO cut windows in ten rooms, to enlarge the WIZ
dows in eleven Other rooms. to concrete the cellar
floor, and plaster the cellar ceiling: All this Is
required TO make it half way mt Tor human haol-
tatiCn.'
On both sides Of Catharine-st; there is over
cTowdng. The average number OF persons an acre
in the + ourth Ward IN 1880 80. while the aV-
erage for the island Of Manhattan was only 100.
East OF CatharIne-st the density is SUI greater
The Seventh Ward had in 1880 an average deIislty
greater than that OF the Fourth now By 100 II IL
had increased TO AIS persons per acre IN ouIS
three other wards-the Tenth, the EieVenJn ana
the Thrt tie density of population sreateI
and in other below Eighty-sIXth-st- mas the IN
crease been great.
The Fourth Ward had in 1870 the highest general
death rate in the city and the highest deatn rate
for children under ave years of age Wiule IN re-
gard to tuberculosis that scourge OF the
Il ranked second only 10 the Sixth Ward All thIeS
of these death rates twice the average LOT ne
city, and. what is still significant, pOth lne
general and the infant mortality are mere dSilE,
while for the city 4 whole they are notlceaoly
falling.
Such. then. is tl4is particular city where's
spot Of congestion, disease and crime. 10 SuCI an
Inheritance more than thousand babes ats poIu
every year; in such surroundings are growing w
fifteen thousand children.