The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-11-26
CONTINUED from page 81


, wanted to show Haggleton.
We'll look in here first" he SAID
and stopped before large building OF
First avenue. "This is the Municipal
Lodging House. They take In two OF
three hundred homeless men every
night"
How many homeless men are there
in New York;
Twenty thousand or So"
Twenty thousand homeless meny
repeated IIaggleton. "And what do
the others do, those who can't stay
here?'
"About 5000 walk the Streets" re-
piled Philip.
'Not on cold nights like this?"
ION cold nights and on hot nights.
They huddle in alleyways out Of the
wind They Crouch over gratings
above engine rooms and get the warm
= air. They stand in the midnight bread
lines and then go back to their holes"
There are 5000 like that in New
York; "a -
eyes" = ~
"And the restr
1.-THE rest pay 10 or Is cents in cheap
lodging houses. You'll see."
"What do they pay here?"
Nothing, but the same man may
not come more than three times In
month. If he does he goes to the
stone pile. So they're careful. Come
in"
The office attendants nodded pleas
antly to Philip.
Downstairs they saw these men
stripped Of their clothes (some of them
peeled off two or three sets Of gar
ments-their whole wardrobe) and
scrubbed under hot shower bath.
One mans legs were bl6tched with
sores Crom low vitality, the doctor
said), and one had deeply liberated
heel from walking on his uppers.
Philip now led the way into another
lodging house, in the opposite block.
"This place accommodates about 400,
and the men pay from 10 to % cents
night. There's no compulsory bath,
and as for cleanliness-lookr
Philip pointed out that each cot had
a small, dirty locker for the mems
cOuraged the free circulation of ver-
min.
''They get no nightgowns," continued
Philip, "and the sheets are changed
only once or twice n week. Many of
the men have loathsome diseases;
many have consumption, and there's
no doubt consumption and other dis.
eases can be transmitted from man to
man by the contamination of sheets"
"How many of these lodging houses
are thereI"
about 40, and you've seen the best.
The others are so filthy that-well, /
asked an attendant once how often
they washed the towels. and he said,
with q grin: Wash 'em? We never
wash 'em. We use 'em until they
break
They went to Grand street and visit
ed more Of these sinister asylums on
the Bowery where hunks are offered
to human wrecks at 20 or 10 or 10
cents q night or less. In one hideous
resort on Mulberry street, where the
charge was cents, they found men
neither sheets nor covers, and dozens
sleeping on the bare floor
pretty bad" muttered Haggleton,
shut what's your idea in showing me
all thist'
Its Il problem for you to solve. We
have ideas, but you'll have better
ones before you get through"
"Why do you say that?" asked Hag
gleton.
Because you have n great brain.
You know how to organize Well, or
ganize these wasted lives, find some
place for them It's up to you"
Haggleton shook his head.
I'm not responsible for these lodg-
ing houses"
"You are responsible" flashed Philip,
because it's men like you who own
them; it's men like you who take the
dimes and pennies of these poor devils
talk about tainted money-a million
dollars in lodging house money paid
every year in New York city by your
fellow graduates in poverty"
mo- no." objected Haggeton. cts
not poverty that brought them where
Iney are, IL > urllk anu laZlncsS'
Philip paused. and his eyes met the
old mans i'm steady defiance. Then he
said slowly: "No; you are wrong.
These men are products of conditions.
It's years of bad air in your tene-
ments and of underfeeding at your
wages that make them crave drink
It's childhood wasted in brutalizing
labor that has weakened their bodies
and dulled their minds. There are
10000 Of them in New York, Mr.. Hag-
gleton, who are buns, wrecks, lodg-
ing house loafers, but don't forget that
they are victims of cruel order which
for the vast majority gives poverty as
the only reward of toll"
"Nonsense." said Haggleton.