Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-31
VICTORY OF SUNLIGHT
JACOB RIIS TELLS OF THE coz
QUEST OF THE SLUMS.
Rout of Darkness and Disease in the
Crowded Tenement House Dis
tricts of the Metropolis.

Jacob A. Ris described the "Buttle with
the Slums' last night at the Wesley NJ E.
Church. but his lecture might appropriately
have been called the Victory of Sunlight"
In his lecture on How the Other Half
Lives delivered here some years ago, Mr..
Ris told of the squalor in which the sub
merged population of the great metropolis
exists. Last night he exhibited some pic
lures of misery but throughout his lecture
there sounded tone of triumph over OBJ
stacles overcome and mountains moved
away-mountains of municipal sloth.
Mr.. Ribs was heard by a large and greatly
interested gathering, who frequently mani
tested their sympathy with him and their
approval of his work. He paid a warm
tribute to President Roosevelt. the man
who does things here and elsewhere" he
said-and his glowing words were greeted
with sincere applause. Interesting as Mr..
RiiS' talks always are, they are more valu-
able than mere entertaining lectures. They
are stimulating to every community to
which they are addressed. He tells of the
work done in New York, but he does not
stop there He tells his auditors that they
have a work TO do, that they cannot dis
miss their obligation with the query Am
my brothers keeper" Twenty-Five years
ago, he said many might say this but
now the public conscience has been SO
stirred that he thought very few would
ask such question.
Lack Of Sunlight and Air.
Mr.. Riis told of the dark rooms in New
York where neither sunlight air ever
penetrated He described the efforts to let
in the sun and the air until legislation was
obtained and 10000 windows were cut In
10000 rooms. He showed pictures of mar
row, dark and gruesome alleys where dis
ease and crime We're bred, where one-third
of the babies born died. Then he told of
10 ipnnrDyp1 conditions that followed the
work of destruction.
Create ideals in the people of the slums."
Mr.. Kiss exclaimed, and half the battle
is won. Then you are no longer fighting
for the people. but with them. What do
they know about ideals? Living in those
dark and noisome holes they live in list
less despair dropping their hands Imply in
their laps. The only hope is in the children
and there is hope in them"
After showing a view of a narrow
passage areaway between high tenements
where the sun never entered and from
where filth was never removed, he pre-
sented the picture of beautiful school
house just opposite on the same street.
Politicians Objected.
THE politicians he said. made a great
howl over the erection of such costly
building in the Sums but we believe that
the worse the neighborhood is the better
the building should be- Those little chill
dren with their starved souls are given
something In those clean and spacious
rooms, with pictures the walls and
stained glass windows and flowers every
where, that they never had before. They
are given ideals"
In connection with his story of the ses-
tabisment of the recreation parks and
Fairgrounds in the slums Mr.. Riis gave
utterance to a belief that has been iustt-
fed.
IF you want the boy to respect your
rights when he grows up give him some
rights when he is a boy. Don't ignore
him until he is twenty-one and expect
him to come TO mans estate with wings
sprouting on his shoulders. y boy is like
q steam engine with steam always up. Any
engineer can tell you what will happen if
you sit on the safety valve. Give him
place where he find vent for his
steam
Mr.. Riis described the Christian tene-
ments, whose owners were content with
from to per cent return on their
money. The rents were no higher than
in the old rookeries, but the rooms com
pared as palace and hovel.
But there are some men who are will
ing to barter their souls for the extra
80 per cent" remarked Mr. Riis
Though Mr.. Riis is gratifcd at the ac-
compIishment of so much in New York, he
realizes that the work is not over. The
work must go on" he says. Il may not
be here to see its results, but others will
take it up'-the ira Of the revolution
of peace.