The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-07

Of the town. this zone having great avenues
 or parks within 1t. The oeatn-e
 tistics show a terrible increase m "or'e"'s,
 I and especially in infant mortality m over cro,A.1 ,.nsm.nts The poorest families | in tenement houses live in one room. ana "
 appeara that in these one-room tenements
 tthe average death rate for humoer o' | given cities at home and aoroao is suouS ttwice what 1t is In two-room teneneh-
 four times what 1t is in three-room tene-
 ment, and eight times what " IS m .ene
 ment consisting of four rooms or over. ThesS
 lffxurcs vary somewhat for different citieA
 but they approximate In each city those given above; and in all cases the increase
 of mortality. anJ especially of infant mort Iatity. with the decrease in the number or rooms used by the family and witn the con
 sequent overcrowding is starthns the rIum exacts A helvy total of death from
 those who dwell therein: and this is the I case not merely In the great crowded siums
 of high buildings in New York ana Chicago' but in the alley slums Of Wasnin8ton. Tn lwashington people can not afford to ignore the harm that this causes No Cnristian and civilized community can afford to show ta happy go- lucky lack of concern Tor the youth of today: for if so. the community will have to pay a terrible penalty of finan- cial burden and social degredation in the to- morrow. There should be severe chiid-iapor and factor inspection laws. It is very de- sirable that the married women should not l 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 housewife. All questions of tariff and finance sink into utter insignifi- | canoe when compared with the tremendu- l ous, the vital importance of trying to shape | conditions that these two duties Of the man and of the woman can be fulfilled
 under reasonably favorable circumstances. haxy nf n. I or # the children do not grow up. or If when I they grow up they are unhealthy in boov | and stunted or vicious In mind, then that | race is decadent. and no heaping up os
 wealth. no splendor of momentary material | prosperity, can avail in any degree as off, sets.
 The Congress has the same power of legis- Iation for the District of Columbia which | the State legislatures have for the various | States. The problems incident to our highly complex modern industrial civtliza- l ton. with it's manifold and perplexing ten- iencies 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 1t is easier to deal with 1 the various phases of these problems in Washington. and the District of Columbia government should be model for the other municipal governments of the Nation in all
 such matters supervision Of the housing I 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.
 l In the vital matter of taking care of
 children. much advantage could be gained | by a careful study of what has been accom-
 piished in such States Illinois and Colo
 rado by the Juvenile courts. The work of the Juvenile court Is really work of char | acteF building fa
 nized that young boys and young girls who l 20 wrong should not be treated crirnn- | als. not even necessarily needing re-
 formation. but rather as needing to have their characters formed, and for this end | to have them tested and developed by a system of probation. Much admirable work has been done in many os our Com l monwealths by earnest men and women who have made a special study of the needs of those classes of children which furnish the l greatest number of juvenile offenders. and therefore the greatest number of adult off, | lenders; and by their aid. and by profitins 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 q systematic investigation into and im- provement of housing conditions In Wash | ington. The hidden residential 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 vain endeavor to secure laws permitting the condemnation of unsanitary dwellings. The local death rate. especially from pre- ventabe dseaces are unduly high as to | suggest that the exceptional wholesomeness | of Washington's better sections is offset by bad conditions in her poorer neighborhoods | special Conn iaSfon l Health Conditions fin 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 Ma
 tion's Capital should be made model for | other municipalities is an ideal which ap- peals to all patriotic citizens everywhere
 and such special Commission might map out and organize the city's future develop | ment in lines of civic social service just l as Major LEnfant and the recent Park Commission planned the arrangement of her
 str>ats and parks
 If is mortifying to remember that Wash fngton has no compulsory school attendance
 law and that careful inquiries indicate the habitual absence from school of some twenty Ter cent of all children between the
 ages of eight and fourteen. It must be evil problems neglected child life or the benefits of com
 pulsory education in other cities that one of the most urgent needs of the National Capi- l tal is law requiring the school attend | ance of all children. this law to be enforced
 by attendance agents directed by the board of education.
 Public play grounds are necessary means for the development of wholesome citizen
 ship in modern cities. It Is important that
 the work inausurated here through voiun-
 tary efforts should be taken up and extend ca through Congressional appropriation of funds sufficient to equip and maintain nu-
 merous convenient small play grounds upon
 land which can be secured without purchase or rental It is also desirable that small vacant places be purchased and reserved as
 small-park play grounds in densely settled sections of the city which now have no pub- nc open spaces and are destined soon to be oullt up solidy. All these needs should be
 met immediately To meet them would en- taii expenses: but corresponding saving could be made by stopping the building of
 streets and levelling of ground for purposes l largely speculative in outlying parts of the | cty There are certain offenders, whose eriminality takes the shape of brutality and cruelty towards the weak, who need A spe- cial type of punishment. The wife beater Tor example. is inadequately punished bv | imprisonment: for Imprisonment may often
 mean nothing to him, while it may cause hunger and want to the wife and children who have been the victims of his brutality would be the most adequate way of meeting this kind of crime. Agriculture.
 The Department of Agriculture has grown into an educational institution with A fac VI nd