The Detroit times., 1909-07-31
TEN THOUSAND LIVE
IN sQUAL0R IN
DETROIT
Startling Conditions Discovered By
Board of Health in Waging vigor-
ons War Against Unsanitary
Conditions in Sluma.
Inspector finds Al People Housed IN
Cottage in Hungarian District, and
10 Occupy Shack of Four Rooms.

Ten thousand people in Detroit are
hving In quarters that are unsanitary.
This Is the cause OF the crusade
which the health board Is wag.ng
with extra vigCr al this time to im-
prove conditions In the city Already
many places have been condemned
and many torn down. but Health Of
fcer aud Sanitary Engineer William
son tind themselves still confronted
With o problem that is extremely SER
ious.
Enough people to populate a small
city are living here In conditions
which do not conduce to health. NOR
ality or their best advancement as
citizens. In wiping out these condi-
tons. not only the law but the nelp
OF public sentiment will be required.
About half OF the ten thousand per-
sons whose living places are bad are
inhabiting the old, tumble-down rock
cries which disgrace the central por-
tion OF the Third, Fifth and Seventh
wards and other scattered localities
about the city. The remainder. chief
ly In the foreign quarter are cooped
up In small houses In which there arc
y
house.
Poverty Is the answer To the ques-
ton as 10 why these conditions pre-
vail People i've IN old shacks ana
crowd together in tenements be-
cause they are trying to live In the
cheapest places possible. Clannisli-
ness among foreigners may also have
TO do with this condition But as the
Mo a.. lsl.
officials believe that new quarters viii.
be found to house the unfortunate.
Statistics collected In the health
board cffice show that disease Is far
more prevalent I'm these quarters
which harbor filth and where the COM
mon decencies OF life are forgotten.
They are always dangerous spots for
the breeding OF contagious diseases.
Since July / Sanitary Engineer
Williamson has had the assistance OF
an assistant, John Clarken, In the
cleaning up campaign. The reports
brought In by the later show the pad
housing conditions and overcrowding
which exist In Detroit
The district between Beaubien and
Dequindre-sts from the river norrn
to Bc-ton-ss., is the place where most
of the trouble is found. Other bad
spots are In the north end OF the
city near the car shops. in the Dump"
district out Michigan-ave., and in old
Delray below West Jefferson-ave.
These are the real slums OF Detroit,
but every energy is being exerted by
The health officials 10 change them.
In places where overcrowding Is
found. notice is being served on the
landlords TO make a number of their
tenants move; where old shacks are
found, they are RACED or condemned.
as was the case with the Japanese
village and the House of All Ma
tons; where unsanitary surround
ings exist. changes that will protect
health are ordered.
| II is great task and will require
time and probably larger appropria-
tons
In a single six-room cottage In the
east side Hungarian quarter. Clarken
found Al persons living-37 men, one
woman and three children. In four.
room cottage there were Is men and
one woman. The italian district along
I.arned-st has been almost as bad in
overcrowding. and the Syrian quarter
along Woodbridge and Franklin-sts.
is being purged.
In the Syrian district were found
places where the back portion OF lit.
tie store had been walled OF and the
resulting back room lined with hunks.
Here men. women and children, ate
and slept. children were born and sick
persons lay suffering.
Some OF these rooms were SO dark
that lamp had TO be lighted in them
to get light even at midday. No ven
ulation had been arranged for except
the passage OF air through the doors.
and 9th added to bad smells. A num-
Der OF such places have been con-
demned
A strict inspection OF the cheap no
tells along Jefferson-ave. Is now being
made. There are many dark, unvsn-
tilated rooms In these which the
health officers find unit for habita-
ton. These will be closed and the
proprietors punished IL they use them
for sleeping apartments.
Tin Can Alley" notorious for It's
sQualor. IL undergoing a process OF
regeneration. This backway near st.
Antoine-st. is TO lose a number OF it's
old shacls which have been ordered
torn down. Other old houses which
are not in such bad repair are TO he
raised and new foundations snd new
sanitary conveniences, drainage and
water connections provided for.
II has been found that In many In
stances the tennements and shacks
where the worst conditions were
1 found were owned by wealthy estates
or managed By trust companies
D. |