The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-06-17
STARTLING
DISCLOSURE

walk to it. sometimes hundreds of feet
from their shelters. 1t is not possible t.
describe the character and condition o.
the toilet arrangements where there ar,
no water and sewer connections. In the
point of decency the sanitary arrange
ments of many of the Washington al
leys, apparently. are all that any on,
more.
1t is natural that only those who care
the least for decency and morality, OF
are forced by economic conditions t.
seek the least expensive shelter, SHOULD
be willing to accept these hidden abid
ing places as a substitute for whole
some homes. Here are gathered men and
women, whose lives are menace to so
ciety, and here children are brought uI
amid surroundings which almost invar.
iably serve to perpetuate the conditions
The hiding of these conditions at the
capital is characteristic of capitalism
which ever seeks to cover the conditions
it fosters. Roosevelt's Homes commits.
sion, speaking of the conditions OF
Washington, under the very nose of the
president, naively intimates that it
doesn't care so much for the workers
but that it is menace to "the best
families"
"The regeneration of the housing con,
ditions and the removal of the sluma
does not concern few well meaning cit
zens alone, for the germs of TYPHOID fe-
Ter may be carried by flies from pa
tient inhabiting one of the alley houses
often situated in the interior of a fine
residence block, and contaminate the
food and drink of neighboring homes
The contagion of diphtheria, scarlet fe-
yer and tuberculosis may be spread by
servants from these plague spots to the
very best families.-Page 2l22,
Living Conditions of the Poor.
THE poorer people OF Washington,
unlike those of most other cities, live
mainly in small one-family houses. OF
2,l5l families visited 1854 occupied sep
arate houses. These houses are nearly
all two story brick or frame buildings
without such modern conveniences as
hot and cold water, bath rooms or in
side water closets. Cases of Overcrowd-
ing were common, as many as eight or
ten people occupying one bedroom at
night In general where apartments We're
small and families large, all available
space, even the kitchens, were used as
bed rooms. While the number of families
keeping boarders or dodgers was compar-
ativelv small, not few cases were
found where members of families of
both sexes, old and young, slept in the
same room with dodgers. The moral and
sanitary effects of such conditions are
obvious. Page 2S7.
I'm the case of l,2l7 families, 470 $50
per cent? had family income of less
than $500; l39 (l3 per cent? had an in
come of from $500 to 5000; l53 Q2h
per cent? from 5000 to 500; 80 Z per
cent? from $500 to 5000; % Is per cent J
from 5000 to $1,000. Page 2s7.
And this is the city where the cost of
living is so very high that the presi-
dents salary was raised to $4,000 a
year to enable him to live in comfort .
Was it of such conditions Roosevelt was
thinking when he said "Not so much
as the first step toward real civiliza-
ton can be taken until there arises
some development of the right to pri-
vate property"
Vice Diseases in Washington.
Or. Henry c. Macatee, of Roose-
velt's Home Commission, has made a
special study of the prevalence of So
called vice diseases in the District of
Columbia The period covers nine years,
except in the ease of Providence hospi-
tai, Columbia hospital and the Children s
hospital, for which institutions the data
cover only two years. From this table it
appears that out of a total of 274,6ll
patients treated 3S,lS3 cases were vice
diseases, 9,S6S syphilitie affections, g.
CAB cases of chancroids and l4,435 cases
of gonorlheal affections, In addition to
the 27,947 cases of sexual diseases there
were treated 0,5l0 patients for alcohol
ism, 400 for delirium tremens, 256 for
the opium habit, and G. for the cocaine
habit; an average of 4l,243 cases per
anum of vice diseases, or nearly one
seventh of all the cases treated in the
city hospitals. As matter of fact, 1856
per cent of all the cases treated in
Washington Asylum hospital and 3l.6
per cent of those treated in the work
houses were vice diseases. The major
ity of the patients treated in the hos
pitfalls belonged to the dependent class
es."-Page 2l5.
Was Roosevelt thinking of these cap
italist conditions when he said: "They
must be opposed to all those principles
through which, and through which alone,