Milford chronicle., 1906-09-14

half depict the horrors which have
been described by the pens of Jacob
Riis and William Booth. These men
are not imaginative writers. 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.
"Supposing 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
H. Spurgeon, would you not give him
a better home If you Slld? Well, that
helpless child, born in filth and power
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
a 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 plumbingI 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 vitiated air
always breed crime and drunkenness
and licentiOusness 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 a 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
man sinking in the middle OF a lake.
Help! Help he cries. 81 am drown
ing! Give me help"' With that man
rows up and says: "Well, my friend,
you are drowning. How much will
you give me If save you?" '"Ten dol
lars" "Oh. 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 1t by the shOvelful, and he
sells it at a 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 hOvel, the capitalist
usually gets 80, 40, 60 and even 100
per cent on his money invested. A dog
or a 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 a modern Shylock, demand
his pound Of flesh nearest to his vic
TINS heart because the poor man could
not help himself As Solomon said
long ago, ''The destruction Of the poor
is their poverty" They are kept poor
by being poor.
GSOd Tenements Wanted.
Has not the state a 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 not in
business for his health. He is not
philanthropist You cannot demand
that he will put up a building which
is to be a 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 G. Clark tenements and
the Riverside tenements of Brooklyn
and the Mills houses Of New York.
There must be no more such lOokeries
built as the Mulberry Bends" and the
Bone Alleys" and the Cat Alleys"
and "Seven Dials" and Give Points"
And, Furthermore, you must remember
that when we stamp out the bad tene-
ments we do not demand a charity in
it's place. Jacob Riis in one of his
books declares that every tenement
house b1ilt on the Mills plan or the
Clark plan or the Riverside plan Of
Brooklyn has given a legitimate return
for the investment from the very start
The city poor are not paupers. They
nay enD1gh taxes for their Dublic