Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-01-11
ALLEYS MAR CITY
PLAGUE SPOTS STILL EXIST IN
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
Situation Not as Bad as II Used 20
Be, but There Is Yet Necessity
for Removal OF
Slums.

The national capital, with all its
pride OF marble and bronze. its broad
avenues and green circles, is never.
theless declared to be rotten at the
core" The phrase is Jacob Riis'. lie
turned Washington inside out" few
years ago and went back to New
York's east side for breath OF fresh
air. says the New York Sun.
Things have taken a turn for the
better since then. but the whited
sepulcher is-stlll a likely metaphor to
be used i'm connection with the ma.
tons City Beautiful Last spring
President Roosevelt got so stirred up
over some reports OF the Washington
alleys that he appointed a commission
To devise a way OF removing the literal
and moral stencil from the peoples
nostrils.
These alleys are without a parallel
in any other city. There are 2S6 of
them, and they harbor a population OF
10000 persons. Syhen Jacob Riis de-.
clared that Washington had rotten
spot at the core he added:
Il mean that. for have in mind the
hidden back alleys, 80 well hidden that
| passed them day after day, pleased
with the fine front the block was max
Ing and without the least suspicion OF
what 1t harbored within"
Perhaps II he had known the names
OF some OF those pestilent byways he
might have suspected their nature.
Ambush court is one, Blood alley is
another, Jonah row is another, and
there are Pig alley, Splash alley. Cat
alley and other names full OF signlh-
canoe
But the name is not an unfailinR
guide. Otherwise Snow alley would not
be the tOrtuous, filthy lane which It
really is. And as for Queens court
not two blocks from the British EN-.
bassy--it would scarcely have shown
itself TO the shocked investigators. as
1t did for years, labyrinth OF dirt.
disease and immortality.
The alleys says Charles F. Weller
OF the Associated Charities OF Wash
ington, are hidden inner worlds,
standing often in close proximity 10
the chief centers of the city's wealth
and culture Chinch row, not seven
blocks from the White House and only
three blocks from Dupont Circle, was
indescribably bad
Chinch row was an arm OF Queen s
court, and II was only recently that
after years OF war upon 1t. its novels
were torn down. Some OF the deplora
Bile houses remain, however. so near
the fashionable center OF the city that
the contrast is startling.
The ordinary newspaper does not
print the sort OF reading which the
descriptions OF many Of these alleys
make. 1t is hardly fit for anything but
the reports of charity committees. and
even they furnish an apology with
each report. Very few OF the alley
houses have either water or sewerage
connection. and it is hardly TO be won
dered at that the health authorities OF
the city are always fighting typhoid
Prior to 1903 the government bureau
OF labor collected for several years Of
fetal statistics OF cities. In its bull
letin FOR 1902 Washington was shown
as having the highest death rate
among the 80 largest cities in the
country.
1t was particularly strong in typhoid
feVer tuberculosis, grip and malaria
Some OF the causes certainly are moi
far to seek. no further in fact than the
inside OF many fair appearing city
blocks.