The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07


 lenged and after full hearing found to be unreasonable to decide, subject to judi elai review, what shall be a reasonable rate to take its place; the ruling of the commission to ike effect immediately, ana 10 obtain unless and until It is re- Nersed by the court of review. The gov ernment must in increasing degree super N1se and regulate the workings of the railways engaged in interstate commerce, ana such increased supervision is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other. In my : Judgment the most important legislative act now needed as regards the regula- tlon of corporations Is this act to con Ter on the interstate commerce commits sion the power to revise rates and regu- lations. the advised rate to at once go Into effect. and to stay in effect unless and until the court of reviews reverses il.
 Steamship companies engaged in Inter state 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 several 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 international in- dustrial 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 me- ehanics, the skilled and unskilled labor CTS the small shop keepers, make up the bulk of the population of any country; 1 and upon their well being generation | ha xtfal ha country and the race depends. Rapid de- Yelopment in wealth and in industrial leadership is good thing, but only if 1t goes hand in hand with improve ment, and not deterioration, physical and moral. The overcrowding of cities and the draining of country districts are un- healthy and even dangerous symptoms In our modern life. We should not permit oVercrowding in cities In certain Euro l pean cities 1t is provided by law that the | population of towns shall not be al- lowed to exceed a very limited density for given area, so that the increase in density must be continually pushed back Into broad zone around the center l of the town, this zone having great av- enues or parks within 1t. The death-rate 1 statistics show great increase in nor tality, and especially in infant mortality In overcrowded tenements. The poorest families in tenement houses live In one | room tenements the average death rate l for a number of given cities at home and abroad is about twice what it Is in a two-room tenement, four times what | it Is in a three-room tenement, and eight times what 1t Is in tenement consisting of four rooms or over. These figures vary somewhat for different cities, but they approximate in each city those given above; and in all cases the increase of mortality, and especially of infant nor l talty, with the decrease in the number of rooms used by the family and with 1 the consequent overcrowding is startling. The slum exacts a heavy total of death from those who dwell therein; and this Is the case not merely in the great crowded slums of high buildings in New York and 1 Chicago, but In the alley slums of Wash 1 ington. In Washington the people can not afford to ignore the harm that this causes. No Christian and civilized com munity can afford to show happy-go- 1 lucky lack of concern for the youth of today; for, if so, the community will have to pay terrible penalty of financial bur 1 den and social degradation in the to- morrow There should be severe child labor and factory inspection laws. It Is very desirable that married women should not work in factories. The prime duty of l the man is to work, to be the bread winner; the prime duty of the woman Is to be the mother the housewife. All questions of tariff and finance when com pared with the tremendous the vital inn portance of trying to shape conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the woman can be fulfilled under reas- onably favorable circumstances. If race does not have plenty of children, or If the children do not grow up. or if when they grow up they are unhealthy in body and stunted or vicious in mind, then that race is decadent, and no heaping up of wealth, no splendor or momentary material prosperity can avail In any de- gree as offsets.
 The congress has the same power of legislation for the District of Columbia which the state legislatures have for the various states. The problems incident to our highly complex modern industrial civilization. with its manifold and per plexing tendencies 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 Washington. and the District of Columbia government should be a model for the other municipal gov ernments of the nation, in all such mat ters 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 providing for the taking care of the children in truant laws, and in providing schools.
 In the vital matter of taking care of children. much advantage could be gained by q careful study of what has been accomplished in such states as 1li- nois and Colorado by the juvenile courts. The work of the juvenile court is really work of character building. 1t is now generally recognized that young boys ana young girls who go wrong should not be treated as criminals, not even necessa- rily as needing reformation, but rather as needing to have their characters formed, and to thls end to have them tested and developed by a system of pro- hation. Much admirable 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 of children which furnish the greatest number of juvenile offenders, and therefore the greatest number of adult offenders; and by their aid, and by profit ing by the experiences of the different states and cities in these matters. 1t would be easy to provide good code for the District of Columbia.
 Several considerations suggest the need for systematic investigation into and improvement of housing conditions in Washington The hidden residential al- leys are breeding grounds of vice and disease, and should be opened into minor streets. For number of years infiuen- tal citizens have joined with the district commissioners in the vain endeavor to se- cure laws permitting the condemnation of insantary dwellings. The local death rate. especially from preventable dis