New-York tribune., 1903-02-06
TENEMENT AMENDMENTS.
W. M. L. to Fight Against Any Not Indorsed
by Present Administration.

This is a critical period in the history of
ment house legislation" said Deputy Commissioner
Wesley c. Bush, in his address before the Womans
Municipal League yesterday afternoon AS
member of the present administration said TO me
only yesterday. our chief reliance now is puohc
opinion. backed by public spirited women once
the women of the community are aroused new h1e
will be infused into the work Numbers OF you
are. 1 know. working heart and hand in the
cause. but ii is universal awakening to the dlre
and immediate needs of the situation as IT STANDS
to-day that is required.
People say to Why. you have been work
ing on this tenement house question ever since
remember. Haven't you accomplished what
you yet? Certainly have accomplished
what we started out to do and much more than
would have been necessary to meet the require
merits of ten twelve years ago when the agfta-
ton began to take legal form. But the trouble is
that legislation can't keep pace with even the
immigration conditions. not to mention any others
OF the $4,000 immigrants reported for 1907 only
twenty-odd per cent of the intelligent class OF
Northern and Western Europeans. as against H1s
per cent of this class in 1882 Only from to
per of these found to be iiliterate. while
from q to 55 per cent of the poorer classes from
Southeastern Europe and Asia wholly unedu-
Gated And with the fact of 40 per cent foreign
born population in such cities this. as well as
Chicago and San Francisco. staring us in the face
and with this population increasing at the rate OF
half million year. do you wonder that the tene-
ment house problem is growing beyond the grasp
of the comparatively few of wnof practically
interested in 1t?
"If people would only take the trouble to &C
quaint themselves with the actual facts Of the
existing legislation hand and the facts
they stand in brick and mortar flesh and blood.
on the other. think would have a speedy IN
crease in working ranks.
The pending amendments to the law are
aimed to undermine every vital point for which we
have so long been fighting. They ask that all
buildings housing five more irstead of three or
more families shall within the tenement
commisson's jurisdiction. Also that the required
size OF shafts and skyights be reduced and other
sanitary regulations relating to the removal OF
be modified or abolished. The reasons urged for
these changes seem plausible enough to the un1nl-
uated but IL the amendments pass 1t is not too
much to say that the wellbeing of the whole city
will be menaced Public health has a definite
commercial value. and this Is matter that affects
every one of matter where or how we
live
Mr.. Bush said that upward Of ten thousand
complaints had been received by the commission
between August. 1902. and January, 1908 from
Manhattan alone, and something over three thou
sand from Brooklyn.
ITO supplement the law continued Mr.. Bush
I'VE need a general educational movement among
the tenement dwellers themselves If the ncom-
| ing foreign population could be met with decent
housing and environment at the start its rapid
increase would not prove half the menace 1t now
| is. 1t is at this point that you women and all
women can give much needed assistance"
A resolution then passed to combat by
| every possible means amendment to the exist
| ing tenement house laws which should not have
| the full approval of the present administration