The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1904-12-06

device whatever be transported at a
| less rate than that named in the
| tariffs published by the carrier must
| be enforced.
Steamship companies engaged in
interstate commerce and protected in
our coastwise trade should be held to
a strict observance Of the interstate
commerce act.
City Of washington.
In pursuing the set plan to make
the city of Washington an example
to other American municipalities sew
| erai points should be kept in mind
by the legislators. In the first place.
the people of this country should
clearly understand that no amount of
industrial prosperity. and above all
no leadership in international indus
trial competition. can in any way
atone for the sapping of the vitality
of those who are usually spoken Of
as the working classes. The farmers,
the mechanics. the skilled and I'M
skilled laborers, the small shop keep,
ers, make up the bulk of the popula-
tion of any country; and upon their
well-being, generation after genera
tion. the weli-being of the country
and the race depends. Rapid develop
ment in wealth and Industrial leader
ship is a good thing. but only If it
goes hand in hand with improvement,
and not deterioration, physical and
moral. The overcrowding of cities
and the draining of country districts
are unhealthy and even dangerous
symptoms in our modern life We
should not permit overcrowding in
cities. In certain European cities it
is provided by law that the population
of towns shall not be allowed to ex-
coed a very limited density for a
given area, so that the increase in
density must be continually pushed
| back into a broad zone around the
center of the town, this zone having
great avenues or parks within 1t. The
death-rate statistics show terrible
increase in mortality, and especially
In infant mortality, in overcrowded
tenements. The poorest families in
tenement houses live in one room,
and it appears that in these one
room tenements the average death
rate for a number of given cities at
| home and abroad is about twice what
| 1t is in a two-room tenement, four
| times what it is in a three-room tene-
! ment, and eight times what it is in
] a tenement consisting of four rooms
| or over.
| The congress has the same power
| of legislation for the District of CO.
| lumbia which the state legislatures
| have for the various states. The
| problems incident to our highly COM
| pick modern Industrial civilization.
with it's manifold and perplexing ten
denotes both for good and for evil,
| are far less sharply accentuated in
| the city of Washington than in most
| other cities. For this very reason
| It is easier to deal with the various
| phases OF these problems In Washing
| ton, and the District of Columbia
| government should be model for
| the other municipal governments OF
| the nation. in all such matters as
| supervision of the housing of the
poor, the creation of small parks in
| the districts inhabited by the poor,
in laws affecting labor, in laws pro-
viding for the taking care of the
| children. in truant laws. and in pro-
| vidng schools
| In the vital matter of taking care
| of children, much advantage could
| be gained by careful study of what
has been accomplished in such states
as Illinois and Colorado by the juve-
nile courts. The work of the juve-
nile court is really a work of char
acter building. 1t Is now generally
| recognized that young boys and
young girls who go wrong should not
be treated rs criminals, not even
necessarily as needing reformation,
but rather as needing to have their
! characters formed, and for this end
to have them tested and developed by
II system of probation. Much admir-
able work has been done in many of
| our commonwealths by earnest men
and women who have made a special
! study of the needs of those classes
VI Cllllultl WHICH tHt
est number of juvenile offenders. and
therefore the greatest number of
adult offenders; and by their aid, and
by protiting by the experiences of the
different states and cities in these
matters, it would be easy to provide
n good code for the District of CO.
lumbia.
special commission on housing
and health conditions in the national
capital" would not only bring about
the reformation OF existing evils, but
would also formulate an appropriate
building code to protect the city from
mammoth brick tenements and other
evils which threaten to develop here
as they have in other cities. That
the nations capital should be made
a model for other municipalities Is
an ideal which appeals to all patriotic
] citizens everywhere, and such a spe-