New-York tribune., 1903-02-23
JANITORS PROTEST.
.SWEA TSHOP PETITIONS.
Hosts Marshalhng to Fight Iene-
ment L07C amendments

The East Side campaign of protest against
the proposed amendments to the Tenement
House law goes with undiminished ardor.
Yesterday an enthusiastic meeting of the Jani-
tors Society of New-York took place at the
society's rooms, No. 103 Attorney-st. Addresses
in Yiddish, German and English denounclhs
the amendments were delivered by l. Bashein,
president of the society; DR.. David Blaustein,
superintendent of the Educational Alliance;
Henry Moskowitz. of the Downtown Ethical
Culture Society; DR.. Radin, chaplain of the
Jewish Prisons Missionary Society, and others.
The following protest and resolutions were
unanimously carried:
We the Janitors, Society. do hereby protest
against the proposed amendments OIL the tenement
fnasmmcb as we reside in the midst of the tene
the ev results of the old system
poor ventilation and sanitation It Is hereny re ~
ars aeSeIYea Sa1 and sa should be fought: and
% at the the Side
that II makes for better lighted and healthier
an' That we request Mayor Hon Seth
Low; to oppose the SAID sald amendments WIN MS
# was crowded meeting of the Janitors'
Society last night Ebon-locked women janitors
In red worsted shawls or imitation furs, German
tanitors with bristling mustaches and fercely
forkinp chin tufts, bewhiskered and olive
skinned Hebrews in plush skull caps, made
picturesque and enthusiastic audience.
Mr. Moskowitz began his speech by reviewing
the arguments advanced by those legislators
who favor relaxation of the Tenement House
law in regard to Brooklyn. because it is not so
crowded as Manhattan. He maintained that the
normal increase of the population in Manhattan.
tho facilities contemplated by the introduction
of rapid trasnit and the numerous bridges
-, course of erection would inevitably
iudu k
1vn and other boroughs. The argument
of those legislators if for only this one reason,
ras he declared thus proved untenable and
obsurd Continuing and speaking as an actual
resident of many East Side tenements' ne
mentioned the trachoma, palor and general
sickliness that are SO characteristic Oh ihe
tenement house children. ana which uoO'0i7
ia a;rectlv at the door of those conditions
which the amendments sought to revive ne
.1eo sroke of. the soliciting to be witnessed III
tho tenements before the Introduction Oh '"e
nresent law soliciting which was iii'i.a'e'
+, oil Innocence by the little children
,rbo saw II in the halls. Why dld teneiileh'
children dislike their homes? he asked. why
- .tra that tragedy of the East Side. that
oro+ion of father and child? Why were there
80 ,,onv pickpockets among the dweliers on the
East Side? Why the numerous East 0lue so
,oope cafes and never empty prisons! Dho
NOT an uncongenial, dirty, alrless' unit
unsanitary fetid home go lar to"d u
,hine an answer to all their questions? The
aosad amendments to the Tenement House
-. Of the very roots of religion decehcy'
Ia health and social purity The East olde
,,.as nor go ignorant as politicians might tnihK-
-. +ta politicians realize that they were elected
- ~, ,9aon,A and that the people were aroused
- > o,,,d tolerate no tampering with the law.
md the amendments would be defeated
=. meeting of the Peoples Institute heid
,, evening at Cooper Union. at which over
ine+een hundred persons were present Charles
e.nrac,,e Smith the director of the institute,
moved a resolution against any change OF the
nresent Tenement House law The resolution
was carried by rising vote
Similar resolutions have been passed by JUS
,tca Lodge of the order B'nai Birth, by the
Council of Jewish Women, the Thomas David
son Society and many other organizations in
This city A mass meeting of protest and Pc
tition under the joint auspices of the Civic COM
rnittee OF the Union Club and the Era Club will
take place at No. ISL Eldridge-st- on Thursday,
and numerous other meetings have been
planned
The Associa tion of Neighborhood Workers.
representing fifty societies who work and live in
the tenement districts of Manhattan and Brook
lyn. has sent out pamphlets and handbis call
ing attention to the attempts that are being
made at Albany to destroy emasculate the
present Tenement House law The pamphlets
contain a digest of the nine amendments intro
duced, and explain just what these SIGNIFY. lhey
say in part
The members of the legislature are being strongly
importuned by the building interests and by many