The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-02
CHARITIES PLAN
 UNIQUE CAMP A|GN
 FOR BETTER HEALTH McGrath Says City Has Some Real Tenement House
 Problems to Solve
MAKE CAREFUL SURVEY
 OF SOUTHERN SECTION
Directory Shows 1771 Families Living Between Railroads and Avenue Ebay Nursery May Be
 Observed

The Associated Charities Is now prepar- ing to tackle the real social problems of the city of Birmingham After six months investigation in Birmingham," said Secretary w. H. McGrath yester- day, q have come to the conclusion that Birmingham has just the same district and tenement house problems that the larger cities contend with, only, of courso on smaller scale.
 Because this is young town there has been a tendency to ignore these cir cumstances, but I have found a number of cases where conditions exist that are intolerable. In some places in Birming- ham as many as three families live In two rooms, and there are often eight or nine people in one room.'
 |. In order to find out just what condi- tions are the Associated Charities is pre- pairing to make a. complete and minute survey of that district which lies south of the railroad tracks to Avenue F, and from Eighth to Thirtieth streets. The city directory shows that within these limits there are I'll families. The object of the Associated Charities will be to get d Noicihi itSOiu Ol tiiC tohditlOil Ol tdNH one of these families. Blanks have been prepared for registration of name, ad- dress, names of everyone in the house, places of work, employers name, wages, school church, amount of insurance, con dition of health, physical defects, name of physician, condition of the house, number of rooms, number of windows, number of families in building. total amount of family income and neghbor- hood conditions.
 Two other questions are asked upon which special stress is laid. The one is 'Who has died within the past year, and of what oomplaint?" From this the loea- tion of epidemics and their causes may be located and remedied.
 The other is 'Is the mother absent from the home during the day? If so. to what extent? What Is the attitude toward a day nursery?"
 If, at the termination of the survey, 1t is found that a goodly number of moth CTS in the district are away from home at work during the day, leaving small children unattended. or tended by children over 10 years of age. who should be at school, the Associated Charities proposes to establish a day nursery at some con venient point on the Southside where mothers may leave their babies and younger children during the day and call for them on the way home at night.
 This will enable the older children to go to school and will insure safer and more sanitary care for the young ones. They will be given two good meals each day, will receive the care of a good physician, have their clothes washed, and be kept perfectly celan, while allowed to play un- der careful supervision.
 This system is worked in the larger cities, and in New Yorp it is down to a fine point. manipulated in connection with the parks
 It is a noticeable fact that there is no public park in any way connected with this district, one of the most thickly set tied in the city, and one which pulls up the death rate of Birmingham more than any other The association feels that It's present work Is in that neighborhood and will do everything possible to alleviate conditions.