The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1906-02-01
Famous New York Stun Worker
Lectures Before the Students
Of kemper Hall Wednesday
LAUDS PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
Speaker sDeclares That the President
is the "Greatest American" and
Friend of the Poor.-Lecture
is Received With Cheers

Jacob Riis Of New York, who has
won the title of "Friend of the Poor
by his work for the improvements of
the slums of Greater New York, was
the guest Of the students of Kemper
Hall Wednesday evening, and ad-
dressed crowd of three hundred
students and residents Of the city, at
the Simmons gymnasium. The COM
ing of the well known settlement
worker was one of the great events of
The year at Kemper Hall and his visit
will be one long remembered by the
students.
Mr.. Riis spoke Of the work closest
to his heart and in course of his re-
MARKS he paid fitting tribute to
President Roosevelt, which was re-
ceived with cheers by the students of
the Hall. Standing they voiced their
admiration of the president and Mr..
Riis when he left for Washington this
morning, stated that he would hold
conference with the president on
Saturday and at that time he would
present to the nations head executive
a hearty greeting from Kemper Hall
and Kenosha.
Mr.. Riis spoke Of the subject "Slum
conditions in New York and what has
been done to improve them. He
| opened his remarks with speaking of
| the old tenements of New York, show
ing pictures of the famous old tene-
ments which stood for years as one
of the greatest disgraces Of the great
est city of the nation. He showed
pictures of the old tenements with
| their dark rooms and of the filthy
narrow alleys which surrounded them.
He had views of the pinched and
weakened faces of the Inhabitants of
these old rookeries. In comparison
with these pictures he showed pictures
of the model tenements which had
been erected in New York since the
slum workers had become organized
and spoke of the fact that there was
not tenement in New York today
with sleeping room in which there
was less than four hundred cubic feet
of air for each occupant.
There was considerable of grim
hunor in his story of the syndicate
consisting of cemetery association
and an undertaken who owned and
managed one of the great tenements
and he stated that the records showed
that seventy per cent of the babies
born in this tenement died in infancy.
They were buried by the undertaken,
manager of the building ia lot sold
by the cemetery association and in
this way the syndicate received all
that could be possibly taken from the
building. He spoke of Mulberry
Bend IN the old days and showed
pictures of it as it had been improved
and converted into a splendid play
!. .ound. He told of the opening of
public play grounds for the poor of
New York.
When he spoke Of President Roose-
welt, Mr.. Riis became enthusiastic.
He told of the work the president had
done for the s1um children in his
capacity of Police commissioner of
New York and later when he became
governor, Riis declared that Roose-
welt had made possible The enforce
ment of the laws which had cleaned
the s1ums and removed the old tene-
ments to make place for new model
lodging houses for the poor.
He paid great tribute to president
as man and referred to him as the
"Greatest American and the great
est friend that the people Of the
United States ever had. The cheer
ing which attended these utterances
of the speaker was so pronounced
that he was forced to stop in his re-
marks and compliment the students
of the hall on their patriotism.
Mr.. Riis spoke Of the famous ash
dump which had been the home of
murderous gang for years which has
now been converted into pleasure
pier for the use Of the poor in New
York. He spoke Of the movements
that we're being made to secure
breathing places for the poor and
urged that it was the duty of all the
people of the nation to become their
brothers. keeper and see that arrange
ments were made for the care of the
poor by providing parks and play
grounds for their use. He spoke of
the fact that wherever play ground
was opened the gang" disappeared
and in its place came law abiding citi-
zens. Mr.. Riis declared that the
s1ums of the great cities were the
greatest menace to the national life
of the nation and that it was the
duty of the people of the entire
country to seek some means of doing
away with the s1ums at the earliest
possible time.
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