Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1908-03-18
IMPROVEMENT OF LOCAL
CONDITIONS

ter railway mail service betwee
Lexington and Washington for tn
speedier delivery of mail at Lex
ington, but most of all rejoice a
the early prospects of having eli
tablished in our midst free ma
delivery, is it not now time to pu
our heads and hands together an
see if we cannot improve man.
other local conditionsP There ar
many conditions in Lexington
which, with little money and 60
operative work, could be improved
and thereby render the old tow
more attractive as well as NOR
healthy. And as this is intended
as home chat, face to face, W.
will speak plainly. So many Of
the dangerous diseases are known
now in science as filth diseases
and it has been demonstrated over
and often of late years that the
only successful way to combat
these filth diseases is strict obser-
vance of the laws of health.
Science teaches that the laws OF
nature are immutable, and no.
where in ell the kingdom of science
is this truth more thoroughly il
Illustrated than in the laws of
health. Yellow fever, the most
dreaded of all American diseases,
has teen almost stamped out by a
practical and scientific observance
of the laws of health.
Pure air, pure food and pure
water are said to- be the bed rock
foundation of all health. Expo
sure to cold and storm, TO leaking
houses and poorly equipped tene-
ments, are conducive to suffering
and disease. Many of the tene-
ment houses of Lexington have
been fearfully tested during the
past cold winter. To begin such
a winter in a house with a cellar
door gone, holes in the floor of che
living room, many glass gone from
the windows, admitting the vino
in its mad rush from the noun
tains the coolest nights of the
year, tfese are conditions thai
nc ust necessarily make for dissat
isfaction on the part of families
cou PEELED to live in such houses.
Such conditions do exist to some
degree in Lexington. To have a
laboring man poorly housed and
xrect of him efficient service is
not a fair deal. When the cold |
pinches through such neglect OF |
his house and be is compelled to
draw more heavily or his mesger
salary for yictuals and clothes,
the laboring man learns to dis
trust the property owner. And
especially is this true where the
property owner is amply able t.
make sucE improvements as are
necessary fer comfort.
Families are living and have
lived for years under such condi
lions in Lexington. Children are
born and reared to manhood and
under such conditions;
and when they come to take their
,lacs among the men and women
II the world, their only remem-
FRANCE of their child life is that
heir father was renter, that the I
ioor-knob at the old home was +
tring, that the windows were s
more paper than glass and that all
ther environ ments were equally
ad and distasteful. Now is it
ny wonder that people born and (
cared under such conditions learn q
0 look upon the property owner
nth distrust2 And this distrust
J so ground into the young of the +
.bcring class that it Is hard ever v
D relic, them of it. In this way
greet gulf is made to rise be-
ween the rich and poor as broad q
nd as deep as that impassible q
ne that existed between Lazarus a
nd Dives.
There is nothing In all the world !
lat increases the self-respect Of NJ
~ man like improving his living b
and the converse of cl
lie proposition is equally true. E,
ow cannct the property owners =,
the town OF Lexington see this CO
'ct in its true light and at once 81
to work to improve and correct nj
, evil of long standing? There pr
no way to improve and renew :,
D Old town like Lexington unless n
10 most modern civic methods are la