Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-02-06
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. it's 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
forE's east side for n 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 Ia
be used in connection with the ma
lions City Beautiful. Last spring
President Roosevelt got so stirred up
over some reports OF the Washington
alleys that he appointed a commission
to devise 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 population OF
10000 persons when 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. so we'll hidden that
j 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 IL he had known the names
or some OF those pestilent byways he
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 signifi.
canoe
but the name is not an unfailing
| guide. Otherwise Snow alley would not
be the tortuous. filthy lane which IL
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.
sngton, ARE hidden inner worlds
standing often I'm close proximity TO
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
tndescribably bad"
Chinch row was an arm OF Queens
court, and II was only recently that
after years of war upon Il. its novels
were torn down. Some OF the dcplora
Die houses remain, however, so near
the fashionable center OF the city that
the contrast is startling
The ordinary newspaper does moi
print the sort OF reading which the
descriptions OF many OF these allevs
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 IL is hardly 10 he won.
dered at that the health authorities OF
the city are always fighting typhoid.
Prior TO 1908 the government bureau
OF labor collected for several years Of
hcial statistics OF cities In it's bul.
letin FOR 1902 Washington was shown
rs having the highest death rata
among the 80 largest cities in the
country.
1t was particularly strong In typhoid
1eVer' tuberculosis, grip and malaria
Some OF the causes certainly are not
far to seek, no further In fact than tho
INSIDE or many fair appearing oity
blocks