The San Francisco call., 1904-12-07
Capital of Tation to
BE a H2oael City
District of Columbia Legislation
Should Serge as an
Example.

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 legisla-
tors. In the first place, the people of
this country should clearly understand
that no amount of industrial pros
perity, and above all no leadership in
international industrial 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
unskilled labcrers, the small shop keep
ers, make up the bulk of the population
Of any country; and upon their we'll
being, generation after generation, the
weH-belng OF the country and the race
depends. Rapid development in wealth
and industrial leadership is a good
thinS, but only if it goes hand in hand
with Improvement, and not deteriora-
ton. physical and moral. The over
crowding 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 il is provided by law
that the population of towns shall not
be allowed TO exceed a very limited
density for 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 hav-
ing great avenues or parks within il.
The death-rate statistics show a ter
rible increase in mortality, and espe-
cially in infant mortality. in over
crOWoed tenements. The poorest
families in tenement houses live in
in
these one-room tenements the aver
age death-rate for a number Of
given cities at home and abroad is
about twice what il is in a two-room
tenement, four times what il is in a
three-room tenement, and eight times
what il is IN a tenement consisting of
TOUR 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
tality, with the decrease in the number
or rooms used by the family and with
the consequent overcrowding is start
ling. The slum exacts a heavy total
or 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 Chicago, but in the
alley slums of Washington. In Wash
ington people cannot afford to ignore
the harm that this causes No Chris
tian and civilized community can af-
ford to show a happy -go-lucky lack of
concern for the youth of to-day; for,
IL so, the community will have to pay
terrible penalty of financial burden
and social degradation in the to-mor-
row There should be severe child la
Dor and factory inspection laws. 1t is
very desirable that married women
should not work in factories. The prime
duty Of the man is to work, to be the
breadwinner; the prime duty of the
woman is to be the mother, the house
wife. All questions of tariff and finance
sink into utter insignifcance when COM
pared with the tremendous the vital
Importance Of trying to shape condi-
tions so that these two duties of the
man and of the woman can be fulfilled
under reasonably favorable circum-
stances. II a 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 de-
c3dent and no heaping up of wealth,
no splendor or momentary material
prosperity, can avail in any degree as
offsets.
The Congress has the same power of
legislation for the District of Colum-
bia which the State Legislatures have
for the various States. The problems
incident to our highly complex modern
industrial civilization, with it's mani
fold and perplexing 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 il is easier to deal with
the various phases of these problems
in Washington. and the District of Co.
lumbia government should be model
for the other municipal governments of
the nation, in all such matters as su-
pervision Of the housing of the poor,
the creation of small parks in the dis
tricts 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 careful study Of what has
been accomplished in such States as
Illinois and Colorado by the juvenile
courts. The work of the Juvenile court
is really a work of character building.
1t is now generally recognized that
young boys and young girls who go
wrong should not be treated as GRIM
inals, not even necessarily as needing
reformation, but rather as needing to
have their characters formed, and for
this end TO have them tested and de-
veloped by a system of probation. 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
profting by the experiences Of the diff
ferent States and cities in these mat
fers IL would he eaav fo rrovida q oood
code for the District of Columbia
Several considerations suggest the
need for a systematic investigation
into and Improvement of housing con-
ditions in Washington. The hidden res
idential alleys are breeding grounds of
vice and disease. and should be opened
into minor streets. For a number of
years influential citizens have Joined
with the district commissioners in the