Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-02-20
ALLEYS MAR CITY
PLAGUE SPOTS STILL EXIST IN
TIE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
situation Not as Bad as u Used TO
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'. He
turned Washington inside out" few
years ago and went back to New
lork's east side for breath OF fresh
sir. says the New York Sun.
Things have taken turn for the
better since then, but the whited
sepulcher is still likely metaphor 10
DO used in connection with the ma
tion's City Beautiful. Last spring
President Roosevelt got SO stirred up
over some reports of the Washington
alleys that he appointed 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 ESQ of
them. and they harbor n population OF
10000 persons. when Jacob Riis de.
ciared that Washington had a rotten
spot at the core he added:
II mean that. for have I'm mind the
hidden back alleys. so 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 II harbored within"
Perhaps If he had known the names
or some OF those pestilent byways no
might have suspected their nature
Ambush court is one Blood alley ia
another. Jonah row is another. and
there are Pig alley, Splash alley. Cat
alley and other names full OF sIgnin
canoe.
But the name is not an unfailIng
guide. Otherwise Snow alley would not
DO the tortuous. filthy lane which II
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
IL did for years, n labyrinth OF dirt
disease and immortality.
THE alleys" says Charles f. Weller
Of the Associated Charities OF Wash.
tngton, ARE hidden inner worlds
standing often in close proximity TO
Inc 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 Queens
court, and II was only recently that
after years Of war upon It. It's novels
were torn down. Some OF the acplora
bic 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. II is hardly 1T 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
or labor collected for several years OF
fetal statistics of cities. In it's bnl
lstin for 1902 Washington was shown
az having the highest death rate
among the SO largest cities I'm the
country.
1t was particularly strong in typhoid
ieVer tuberculosis, grip and malaria
Some OF the causes certainly are not
far to seek, no further I'm fact than the
inside OF many fair appearing city
blocks.