The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1908-10-08
MANY ALLEY SLUMS'
NATIONAL CAPITAL WITHOUT A
PARALLEL IN THIS RESPECT.
Jacob Riis Declares City "Rotten at
the core"-2o,ooo Persons Liv.
ing in squaIor-Breedins
Ground for Disease.

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" This phrase is Jacob Riis'. He
turned Washington inside OUT a few
years ago, and went back to New
York's East side for a breath OF
fresh air.
Things have taken a turn for the
better since then, but h white
| %sepulchre is still a likely metaphor to
| he used in connection with the ma
tons city beautiful. Last year Presi'
dent Roosevelt got so stirred up over
some reports of the Washington al
leys that he appointed a commission
to devise a way of removing the lit
eral and moral stencil from the peo'
pies nostrils.
In any other city. There are 2S6 OF
them, and they harbor a population OF
q 1000 persons. When Jacob Riis de
clared that Washington had a rotten
spot at the core he added: 81 mean
that, for l have in mind the hidden
back alleys-so well hidden that
passed them day after day, pleased
with the fine front the block was
making and without the least suspi'
cion of what it harbored within"
Perhaps if he had known the names
Of some Of these 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 signifi'
canoe.
But the name is not an unfailing
guide. Otherwise Show 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 investigator, as
1t did for years, a labyrinth of dirt,
disease and immortality.
The alleys" says Charles F. Wei
Ter, of the Associated Charities OF
Washington, ARE hidden inner worlds,
standing often in close proximity to
and culture. Chinch row, not seven
blocks from the White House and only
three blocks from Dupont circle, was
ipdescribably bad"
Chinch row was an arm Of Queens
| court, and it was only recently that,
after years of war upon it, its novels
were torn down. Some of the deplor.
able 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 al
ley houses have either water or sew,
erage connection, and 1t is hardly tC
be wondered at that the health au
thorities of the city are always fight
ing typhoid.
Prior to 1903, the government bu
reau of labor collected for several
years official statistics of cities. In
it's bulletin for 1902 Washington was
shown as having the highest death
rate among the 80 largest cities in the
country.
1t vas particularly strong in typhoid
fever, tuberculosis, grip and malaria
Some of the causes certainly are mo-
far to seek, no further, in fact, thar
the inside of many disappearing city
blocks.