Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-16
A MENACE TO HEALTH
Blind Alleys and Their Effect
on the Community.
VIEWS OF JACOB RIIS
ADDRESS BEFORE LARGE AUDI
ENcE LAST EVENING.
Remarks by Charles F. Weller, s. W..
Woodward, Commissioner Macfar-
land and John Joy Edison.

l
health and are breeding places of vice and
crime They kill the home life and the
home spirit, and where you kill home you
! kill family manhood and patriotism.
Jacob Riis, who has done so much to bet
| ter the condition of the poor in New York.
| made these sta tements in an address at the
| annual meeting of the Associated Charities,
| held in the First Congregational Church
| last evening.
The big auditorium was crowded with a
| gathering of men and women representative
| of the national capital. Many persons were
| unable to get within. Those who listened
| to Mr.. Riis earnest words went away with
| a kindler feeling in their hearts for the
F! poor of the city, many Of whom by force
| of circumstances exc out an existence with
in the environments that degrade and de-
| bauch.
| Former Judge A. B. Hagner presided and
| among those who occupied seats on the
| platform were Bishop Henry Y. Satterlee.
| Commissioner Henry B. F. mcfarland,
| Surgeon General Walter Wyman of the
marine hospital and public health service.
| Commissioner Henry L. West. Mr.. B. T.
| Janney, Mr.. Charles P. Neill, Mr.. John Joy
Edison, Mr. s. w. Woodward and Mr..
| Charles Il. Weller, general secretary of the
| Associated Charities.
| The Introductory Address.
| Following prayer by Bishop Satterlee Mr..
Weller spoke briefly Of the work that is be-
ing done by the Associated Charities.
| 1--WE need to improve the alley condi-
| TONS" he said. I'VE want legislation that
will permit the condemnation of houses
unfit for habitation. We need public play
| grounds for the children"
He said the Associated Charities was not
bound up in red tape Its paramount work
| was dealing with individual needy families
Immediate support was provided and In
such way as to make the persons so
| helped interested in making themselves
| self-supporting. More than $500 families
were helped last year, he said
Mr. s. w. Woodward of the board OF
managers spoke of the system of charity
work carried on in Washington. He said
| the death list here was altogether too high.
| The death list of children under one year
! old was, he said. nearly twice as great as
| In New York city, with all the latters
evils.
Fully 25 per cent of the deaths, he de-
clared was due to preventable diseases, or
could be traced to preventable diseases, such
as find a breeding place in the blind alleys
of the national capital. 1t was desirable. he
said, to convert the hidden alleys INTO minor
streets.
"The Commissioners of the District of
Columbia" he said, need and have asked
for an appropriation from Congress. Twen-
ty-flve thousand dollars was appropriated,
but that is not enough. The blind alleys
are a blot on our national capital. They
contribute to the work of the courts. They
intensity all the social problems
Mr.. John Joy Edison, treasurer of the AS
sociated Charities. said that $4,000 was
spent last year for the better housing of the
poor and for Fairgrounds for the children.
1--WE are now in need of funds" he said.
1.-The treasury is low. We have few hun
bred dollars left. 1t is the best work In the
way of charity that was ever organized. It
tends to rid the streets of Objectionable
characters and prevents pauperism
Election Of Officers.
The committee on nominations appointed
by Judge Hagner at the beginning Of the
| meeting reported the following officers for
the coming year and they were declared
elected:
President Judge A. B. Hagner.
Vice presidents, Rev. w. E. Parson. D. D.:
Rev. s. M. Newman. Rev D. J. Stafford.
D. D.: Mrs. T. B. Wood and I. L. Blout
Treasurer, Mr.. John Joy Edison.
Secretary Prot. c. p. Neill.
Members of board Of managers, term to
expire November. 1905. F. L. Moore, Prof.
C. P. Neill, Col. George Truesdell and Mrs.
Alfred Clifford Barney.
Mr.. Macfarland's Remarks.
Commissioner mcfarland, then being
called upon. spoke as follows:
Intelligent philanthropy, that not only
helps the poor, but helps the poor to help
themselves; that gives the needy not only
the money that Is easy to give, but the
| care, advice and sympathy that cost, Is
seen in all the work of the Associated
Charities.
1.-THE old-time. indiscriminate giving.
which took twice as much money. did less
| than half as much work. and pauperized
and demoralized many who received 1t. is
being steadily supplemented everywhere by
| the wiser and better methods.
THE national capital, thanks to the de-
voted labors of the managers of the Asso-
| ciated Charities, is level with the 'front.'
| rank cities in this respect. The Commits
| siOners who have, by recommending legis-
| lation to Congress and in other ways
| sought to improve the insanitary and other
| evil conditions here, value highly the active
support of the Associated Charities, which
| is arousing the whole community to see the
necessity for improvement.
Its annual meetings are all Of marked
educational value. 1t is fortunate that to-
night 1t has brought to us the leader Of the
movement in New York for better condi-
| tons for the poor. He had to fight at
| times not only the SlumS, but the author
| tiles.
Fortunately. here the authorities and the
| reformers fight side by side In the effort to
| benefit the whole community by lettering
| the condition of its poorest member.
THE Commissioners believe that our
| friends In Congress are now fully alive to
the Importance of their recommendations
| for legislation to condemn insanitary dwell
ings and to make minor streets. and to
abate nuisances, and that we may expect
early. action at the Capitol: But nothing
will bring 1t sooner than the earnest ex-
p-essions of public opinion"
Mr.. Riis Introduced.
Everybody was anxious to hear Mr..
Riis, and he at once entered into his SUBJ
ject with zeal.
My visit to Washington this time," he
said, has been saddened by two circum-
stances. Firstly. by the death of my dear
| friend, John r. Proctor. No stouter heart.
no purer soul ever existed
Later I have been saddened by the
sight of the blind alleys of your city;
alleys whose existence is hidden from the
world and unknown to the people living
in the blocks and handsome homes that
surround them.
You cannot suffer these places toecon-
tinue in existence and do your duty to
your city or to yourselves. The influences
| they exert threaten you. for the hand
some block in whose center lies the fes-
| tering mass of corruption is rotten to the
| core.