Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-20
CLEANING Up SLUMS
District Officials Carrying on
an Active Campaign.
KEEP TAB ON CONDITIONS
Nothing New in Pulpit Statement by
E. w. Oyster, It Is Declared.
MANY BUILDINGS TORN DOWN
Over Two Hundred Insanitary Alley
Houses Raced During the
Present Year.
KEEP TAB ON CONDITIONS
MANY BUILDINGS TORN D0Wl

! District officials declare that there is
| nothing new in the information given
| from the pulpit of Peoples Church yes
/ terday by f. w. oyster of the Petworth
Citizens Association. On the other hand,
| ii is pointed out that the conditions are
| known, and, Furthermore, there is an
| active campaign going on all the time for
i the alIevia ton of such conditions as were
/ pointed out yesterday as deadly and dis
| graceful.
Roy +. Haynes, secretary of the board
| for the condemnation of insantarN build
| ngs. showed to a Star reporter this
/ morning that 30 insanitary slum houses
1 have been torn down during the present
! year. Altogether nearly 1850 have been
! removed since the board was established.
| Not only is the beard demolishing build
| inss where disease can flourish easily and
where the death rate is higher than 1t
should be, but slum houses and tene-
mentS which need repairing are attended
| to daily.
According to Mr.. Haynes. the figures
for repairs run about parallel with the
figures for demolished buildings, so that
the aggregate of sum houses touched by
the board reaches about the two-thou-
sand mark.
Getting Underneath to Uplift."
Commissioner Rudolph said this morn
ing that he had been studying slums for
fourteen years, and had done a lot of
active work personally and in connection
with the Associated Charities among just
the people who are hit by the high death
rate. He said that he believed that a
large part and an effective part Of the
public is already working hard to relieve
slum conditions, but that unless worker
could get down in the same level as the
ignorant sum jewellers there could be no
general uplift. In other words, In up
lifting. get underneath
I'VE can't go and tear down a section
of houses and leave the people home
less" he said, but as fast as new houses
can be put up / think you will find that
the bad places are being wiped OUT
Reports on insanitary houses reach the
District building from various sources.
The health Office sends in special re-
ports from the house-to-house canvass
that is going on at all times, the build
ing inspectors make reports, the
plumbing inspectors furnish data almost
daily that lead to demolition and bet
tering of conditions. Another source of
information is frequently found in the
SUM jewellers themselves. Every now
and then landlord presses little too
hard for back rent due, and the tenant
complains to the District building that
the house is not fit to live in. Sometimes
the plant rings true, and the wreckiDg
wagon calls within a few days and tears
the shack down.
Mr.. Haynes said this morning that a
peculiar feature of the alley conditions is
that landlords of slum- property seem to
show more concern over alley houses
than street houses and keep them In bet
ter repair. The reason for this is be-
cause the law prohibits the erection OF
any more houses in alleys. Once an alley
house is torn down there can be no per-
nit issued for another house on the same
location
Maps Being Prepared.
Maps are now being prepared showing
the ratio of population, death, disease
and crime in the alleys. Those which are
nearly ready cover such lanes as Blag-
denis alley. Click alley. Willow Tree all
ley. Armory court. Goat alley and Lin
gers court.
Mr.. Oyster spoke from the pulpit of
the Peoples Church on East Capitol
street yesterday morning, using the
health officers last report and figures
from the vital statistics department of
the health Office for his text and much
of his information. He said that the
high death rate among the slum dwell
ers in Washington is looked upon with
a general apathy bys the public who
are more fortunate than those who
have to live in tenements. He sug
gested a treatment that a bond is
sue of $5.000O00 or more be issued so
that the slums could be wiped out abb
solutely.