The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-01-09

IeSSloA Wlth Lueila! am sorry, out
don't think / can ever grant it. As
say, your demand is unreasonable. /
don't object so much to the reform
business have heard you discuss, but
there are extremes l cannot sanction.
1iwould never wish to see my daughter
Hope House."
81 have not come to ask you to make
any intercession for me, Mr.. Marsh.
The matter between Luella and myself
has been settled by her own refusal,
and l am not going to trouble her or
you by any pleading"
''Why-why''- Mr.. Marsh seemed
the occasion, and John said calmly:
What came to see you about, Mr..
Marsh, is a matter connected with GER
tain tenement property on Bowen street,
in the Waterside district, near Hope
House. l have been making certain in
vestigations there, and in the course of
them l find that you own or control
tenements Ms. 81 and 81"
Mr. Marsh struck bell on his desk,
and when a clerk appeared he asked
him to bring volume from the safe.
When it was brought and the clerk had
gone out, he turned over the pages IN
I'll he came to a certain number.
''Ninety-one and 81. That's right.
Fronting Bowen street and ia the Wa
terSide district. Well?"
John Gordon paused moment. He
had not the remotest inkling as to Mr..
Marsh's probable action. His expert
ence with his father had given him
reason to believe that what Miss An
drews had said about the Golden Rule
in business was only too true Besides.
II that experience had not come to
him there remained the deadening fact
OF the tenements themselves. which
preached powerfully of the landlords
neglect.
These tenements, Mr.. Marsh, are
simply a disgrace to civilization. / do
not like to believe that you know the
real facts about them. and have
come here today to ask you as a man,
with q mans feelings and with
mans powers, to help right some of
the dreadful wrongs that humanity
suffers in those buildings"
Mr.. Marsh did not move a muscle.
There was not culver or change
OF color on his face to indicate to John
ferent or interested, and the first
question he asked when John Gordon
paused did not reveal to Gordon the
mans feelings.
"Why don't you go to the board Of
health and. make a couplaint?"
"Wia you go with me, Mr.. Marsh2
But I don't 60 there first because you,
as the owner of the property, can, If
you will, make most Of these wrong
conditions right. Take, for example,
the double decker. the dumbben tene-
ment No. 81. That is simply an in
stance OF the worst form OF tenement
building in existence. There is moth
eng to compare with it, not even in the
cities OF the old world. The testimony
OF as high an authority as Jacob Riis
says, The committee after booking ia
vain throughout the Sums OF the old
world cities fer something to COM
pare the double .deoaers with declared
that in their sstting the separateness
apet saeredBess of seS1e life were In
Nerfered with and evils bTru, : Yr7
and mocsl, that .conduce to the e2rrup-
tion of the, young That this Il lrue
must be evident, Mr.. Marsh, IL any
man who. Knows the construetpn Vi
these houses And ec ,oxuro. 81 ne of
them You must be more or les Ia
,miliar With tha;rg.aysle aaS T plead
with y.oufo help Iemege them al. dar as
possible
: Their was mamep4 q, worry ;;mbar-
rass;no s;,ence ussion nsr nf.r.h final
ly broke by saying:
TO be very frank with you, 'orooil'
Z must tell you / never have eeen the
property yen describe
Never saw it! And you are the
ownerp'
The lots scame into my aossession
inst hafora n wont abroad We years
900 Nv aoa,+ was instruct to put
,,,,, +e,,,o,,,o,=.s, -, a. Io+e n, e a sual
r1orl, 40, 49, ,,,hi1o r ,os lway. 1t
carto;n,y ,5.,u,, ,,o+ eo,,,,,S ,-ar,,S humane
or even businesslike, but the daci Is 1
have newer been down to look aILe- tne
property. Davis is very proE;lpl Win
his remittances, and the tenenents
have been good paying inveS tnaents.
From his specifications and 81 ans as
he submitted them from the ceiff tractor
I understood the Buildings wer9e sub
gtantial, and they certainly have
proved a source of steady aud land
some income. You ssy they are called
dumbbeIl tenements or double deck
ersY'
John Gordon sat still, looking at 9e
man in wondeyment mingled with in
dignatiOn. That business man with
the reputation OF Mr.. Marsh could ac-
tually be guilty OF such indifference
and neglect was almost beyond belief.
II was not until other events threw
light on the subject that Gordon fully
understood the shrinking that Mr..
Marsh had from contact with any form
of human degradation and misery.
As John Gordon remained silent Mr.
Marsh uttered a short laugh and said
uneasily:
.I don't wonder you think it very
queer that / have never been down
there. OF course ! have trusted Davis
implicitly. At thu same time have
of necessity been i;norant of conditions
You regard them IS bad?"
"Badl They am simply beyond any
description. 1t is Useless for me to at.
tempt it, Mr.. Mash" Gordon spoke
with tremendous arnestness, for there
was one word thai Marsh had dropped
that gave him hoe. "You said it did