The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-01-21

/ WallS-nO kltchenl no plumbing, no con-
| veniences of any kind, At the back of
| the house is swamp whose bottom
! we know not. Out in this swamp is a
! quasi sentry box, which is inaccessible
/ by reason of the green slime, from out
| Of which protrudes now and then some
! coarse weed or piece of broken furni-
| ture.
OF course. I insisted upon inspecting
! the latrine-the planks were brought
/ ana propped up so that I could reach
/ 1t without wading through the filth.
/ My experience Of life in the Slums of
| Chicago, of Canton, of San Francisco
! nothing prepared me for the smell of
| Colon. The real latrfne was obviously
| the swamp Immediately under the floor
/ ing Of the bedroom-not that the inhab-
| itants were Indifferent, but simply be-
cause the latrine in the yard was mac
| cessible, save under the greatest diff
/ culties-nOtably. in time of rains.
! Madame TheTese told me that in the
! daytime the stencil was tolerable, but
/ at night when the breeze blew across
/ the poisoned waters it made her head
ache and she could nos sleep we'll. She
said she had appealed over and over
/ again to the board of health, but they
/ did nothing to relieve her distress.
| Maybe her case is singular, you say.
/ On the contrary, she had at least a
| board walk in front of her and was
/ close to the front street, where the am
/ bulanCe parades all day.
One house which I entered had an
! upper story-elght rooms to the house,
each room representing one family,
each family representing as many as
I could crowd in. The swamp stretched
underneath as we'll as around the
premises. Little children were crawl
4 H.
SangplankS IN imminent danger of fall
ing off into the poisonous water. Some
were cooking on open fires outside the
mouse; all We're personally clean and
the rooms were invariably tidy.
l went up the outer stairway, a rick
! ETY. set of steps, to the upper stOrY-the
/ first room I entered there greeted me d
negro broken with fever. His wife was
tending him. They We're from Jamaica.
! They have four children and pay $12
silver per month. For three weeks he
has been unable to work and looked
! appealingly when referring to his
yearning TO be home once more.
But why don't you go to the hos
pital and be treated free?"
Il did try, sir" said he deiectedly,
/ but the doctor just talked harsh to me.
and gave me some medicine and told
/ be to go 'wayi"
The wife told me that they had been
/ here three months, but in that time
four people had been carried out from
/ that characterization fever. And
when I looked at the swamp in which
they were living I wondered at the ia
vorable death ratei
Mr. Taft would have felt his warm
heart ache had he been with me to see
the needless suffering to which these
conHding negroes We're subjected-driv-
en- INTO swamp because the govern
ment gave them no ground on which
TO pitch tent, and there exploited by
landlords because even this swamp be
came a prime necessity.
IN one back yard ] noted a sturdy and
active negro woman trying TO hang out
the linen she had been washing. The
only water she could procure was the
drip from the roof. and therefore she
mad 10 be painfully economical, not to
say dangerously unsanitary
But to dry this wash she had no
ground She stepped with catlike agil-
lty from one clump of mud to another
and spread the towels and sheets and
underwear with marvellous dexterity
across some odds and ends of swamp
shrubbery, sticks or bits Of abandoned
utensils which here and there cropped
up out OF the OOze. And these clothes
belonged to white engineers Of Coloni
The IaundreSs must be careful how
she complains. for otherwise a young
political inspector of medical things
viii come round and order her barrels
Of rain water poured out by way of
official reminder. Oficialism. when not
strictly controlled, manifests itself on
like lines the world over. whether in
China or Russia, Caracas or Colon.
But that is a depression which I re-
serve for another occasion.
If Colon were in the Berkshire hills
instead Of near the equator it would
still be unhealthy. Here, however, at
the ischmus, where we are officially in
Vlted to admire the sO-CaIled sanitary
system. / noted such criminal neglect
as could not be matched today in any
city OF Italy or Spain-nOt even in Tur-
key.
The lowest rents I found to be So a
month. silver, these being single rooms
almost inaccessible by reason Of the
swamp. Where the room was fairly
accessible by means of rickety tbOardS
prOpped up on stakes the price went up
to Sl2 a month Where a street was
convenient, where people could make
their way along a safe board walk, the
price went up to $50. But the moment
you applied for a single room where
the conditions of life were half way
normal, or say up to the standard of a
SUM in any American manufacturing
town, then the price was from $25 up
(silVer).
throughout my pestferous excursion
up and down this filthy city I could find
not single man or woman who had
not suffered or was not suffering from
fever Of some kind; not a single one
who did not want to go home, but was
prevented by the want of money.
Is there a good reason why we should
not have made camp for the negro
labOrerS who are doing a great service
to the United States by offering their
labor?
There are plenty of fine, open,
healthy meadows not far from the rail-
way track, where ten or fifty thousand
negroes could be CHARTERED under can
vas and where they could at least be
kent in physical health pending their
as ignment to work elsewhere.
One street running from the water
front at right angles into the swamp
town had an awning about a quarter
of a mile long stretched over a wholly
useless gutter in the middle of the
marsh.
asked what the awning was for.
Answer-To protect the workmen