The Washington times., 1906-04-01


The Right Rev. Henry Yates Satter-
lee. bishop of Washington. whose letter
To Senator Gallinger renewed interest
IN the question of aDoJishing the sIums
of Washington, is emphatic in his state
ments that these pest holes of the Cap
ital City rival, if not surpass. the dread
ful conditions to be found in the west
OF London and New York in the abode
OF the unfortunate and wretchedly poor
Several years ago the bishop made a
tour of Washington alleys and sIums,
and the conditions he discovered there
were as he candidly expressed it. really
too repulsive to print" Friday at the
Capitol the bishop appeared before the
House committee calling upon the con-
science of the people of Washington to
eradicate this evil When seen by
Times reporter yesterday the bishop
talked at length on the situation. Among
ether things he said:
Alleys Seat of Evil.
1T is well known that the city blocks
of Washington are twice as large as
those of New York and other American
cities In consequence alleys run down
the center Of the blocks. In these alleys
are the dwellings of the poor. and some
the worst houses are thus brought into
close proximity to the largest and hand
soonest residences of the city, producing
The same conditions that one can see in
the west of London.
Several years ago / visited with Miss
Octavia Hill some of the back alleys
of West London, but though there were
NTH ard disease there. / never in all my
life have seen such rickety. tumble
down abodes of human beings as I have
seen here in Washington.
Herded Like Cattle.
1t is true that in New York or
London there is more overcrowding. the
houses are higher. but they are brick
or stone while in Washington they are
seldom as high as three stories and of
The fiimsiest kind of wooden structures.
in many cases more like cattle barns
than human dwellings
As il is several years since / made a
tour of the worst of these alleys, can
not speak of very recent developments.
At that time, l went into many homes
where the whole line of door and roof
were out of plumb. the plaster had fall
en- from the walls, where human beings
huddled together many in a room and
the atmosphere was absolutely suffo-
eating. There was no plumbing and
often the water had to be carried some
distance, and the condition of the out
houses beggars description; worse than
that Of any stable l have ever been in.
Explains High Death Rate.
When 1 saw the miserable. tumble
down houses and condition of many of
these houses, for example in Freedmen's
alley. Louise alley. Willow Tree alley.
and Timbuctoo alley. it was an easy
explanation of why Washington's death
rate is so high
Il could not help feeling that these
places were exactly the same as where
disease has always bred In the past
When great pestilence has visited
cities it is in such places as these that
the plague began and after the plague
was over the very worst thing the au-
thorities invariably did was TO fail to
remove such breeding places.
Do Not Await Visitation.
1T is hoped that the city of Washing
ton will not wait for a visitation he
fore 1t awakens to a sense Of respon-
sibility in regard to these unsanitary
dwellings Nearly ten years ago 1 was
told that they could not be torn down
without a special act of Congress. but
that the feeling was so unanimous the
act Of Congress would soon be forth
coming. That was at least eight years
ago. Since thai tine Jacob Riis has
made a careful visir of these very back
alleys. declaring nothing in New York
itself could compare with them, and yet
Congress has not as yet granted the
District authorities the power needed to
take action. in which there is as far
as l know, an absolute unanimity of
opinion. The only opposition L ever
heard to the removal OF these unsani-
tary dwellings has come from those
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