The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1906-09-13

oVAAO VA tAO AAODACo va tnO ROolt ~ anu
read the books of Jacob RiIs entitled
How the Other Half Lives" "The
Battle With the Slums," THE Peril and
the Preservation Of the Home" Read
General William Booths "In Darkest
England and the Way Out" Read
Robert Hunters Poverty" Read
Jack London's "The People Of the
Abysa" The simple fact Is truth Is
stranger than fiction" No tragedy
ever written by playwright genius can
half depict the horrors which have
been described by the pens Of jacob
Riis and william Booth. These men
are not imaginative writer's. They
simply describe the filthy novels which
they have visited and the malodors and
repulsions amid which they saw chill
dren and men and women herded.
Surprising your children were born
amid such places of filth and dark
ness," says the street arab to us as the
little orphaned boy spoke to Charles
III. Spurgeon, would you not give him
A better home IL you could? Well, that
hNfPACoc NAAhnr DoAh AZ MIN anu ROGCA-
ty, Is me- Yes. that child is me-"
The Practical Question.
Now come the practical questions:
Are we as intelligent Americans going
to care for our neighbors' children.
born In filth and dirt? Are we going
to give them public parks and public
Fairgrounds and free bathing places
and free docks, where the poor can get
breath of the sea air In the hot sum-
mer months? Are we going to furnish
them model tenement houses. properly
ventilated and lighted and with healthy
sanitary plumbing? These are vital
questions which the American people
must solve. These are not luxuries
which the poor are demanding, but
necessities. And If the poor do not
have these physical necessities, then
they will pay us back In our own coin.
For filth and darkness and yitiated air
always breed crime and drunkenness
and RIGHTEOUSNESS and brutality and
sins Of all sorts. AS the black plaques
of Europe always started from the vile,
stenchful quarters of the congested
cities of the east, SO the plaques of de-
bauchery and ignorance and crime
thrive best in the filthy quarters of the
poor of our large cities, where the sun
light cannot get into the homes and
where the little children have no parks
or Fairgrounds in which they may de-
velop BEAUTIFULLY, as all children should
develop.
Furthermore, | was struck with an
other fact when reading about the phys
ical necessities of the poor. The poor
are not paupers, as we conceive pau
pers. The poor are willing and able to
pay just return for their necessities.
But the trouble is when man becomes
poor then he becomes helpless. Then
the capitalist robs him of the little he
has, however small that all may be.
Let me illustrate what | mean: Here is
a man sinking In the middle Of lake.
Help! Helpr' he cries. II am drown
ing! Give me helpv' With that man
rows up and says: well, my friend.
you are drowning. How much will
you give me II l save your Ten dol
lars" ooh, no; that is not enough.
You must give me your all. You must
work for me through life, and when
you get through will let you be buried
in just the rags you have on your
back" That Is the way the capitalist
treats the poor Of our large cities.
When he sells the poor man his coal,
he sells it by the shovelful, and he
sells 1t at ruinous price. He charges
the poor man three times the price at
which he sells it by the ton to the rich
man. When he builds the poor man
his miserable howell, the capitalist
usually gets 80, 40. 90 and even 100
per cent on his money invested. A dog
or q wild beast would not live In
some of the filthy dens In which
the poor of New York used to be
housed And yet for every one Of those
dark cellars and back rooms in which
the sunlight never comes the capitalist
would charge the most astounding rent
and, like modern Shyiock. demand
his pound of flesh nearest to his vic
TINS heart because the poor man could
not help himself AS Solomon said
long ago, 1.-THE destruction OF the poor
Is their poverty" They are kept poor
by being poor.
Good Tenements Wanted.
Has not the state right to step in
and demand that our capitalists shall
not build insanitary tenements for the
poor? "Oh, no." some man says; that
Is not right! The capitalist is noe in
business for his health. He is not a
philanthropist. You cannot demand
that he will put up building which
is to be losing Investment" No, my
friends; we do not demand that. but
we DO demand that the tenement build
ing that the capitalist erects shall be
one with such modern Improvements
as the Alfred C. Clark tenements and
the Riverside tenements Of Brooklyn
and the Mills houses of New York.
There must be no more such roOkeries
built as the Mulberry Bends" and the
Bone Alleys" and the "Cat Alleys"
and Seven Dials" and Five Points"
And, furthermore, you must remember
that wheR we stamp out the bad tene-
ments we do not demand charity In
its place. Jacob Riis In one OF his
books declares that every tenement
l. 10, FafO