Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-07
ABOLISH THE SLUMS
Citizens Associations to Take
Up Alley Conditions.
HERITAGE OF CIVIL WAR
Maj. Hodgson Discusses Causes That
Have Put a Blot Upon
the Capital.

There should be no 'Slums In wash
ington, the capital city Of the greatest
nation on the globe
With these words of a leading citizen
as shibboleth, several of the citizens
associations have arranged to take up
the matter Of minimizing the dangers
that arise from the densely populated
alleys and tenements in the District. The
question will be taken up at the next
meeting of the Randle Highlands Citi-
zens Association. and it is the expecta-
ton that other organizations will follow
suit.
Maj. Fred S. Hodgson Of the Mount
Pleasant Citizens Association is taking
an active interest in propositions for bet
tering the conditions that exist among
the submerged tenth of this city.
''The elimination Of the Washington al
ley sum-" Maj Hodgson said today, lis
a problem which Congress should solve.
as the slum denizens were brought to our
city by authority of the federal govern
ment. The capital slum is a product of
the civil war and a legacy Of that period
to the people OF Washington. Prior to
81 there were no alley slums In the Dis
trict of Columbia. True. there were a
few alley dwellers, but they consisted Of
Industrious white and colored people, who
worked as whitewashers, drivers and la
borers. The first years of the war brought
to Washington many thousands of ex-
slaves. 'contrabands' they were called.
who were temporarily housed and fed by
the government. 1t was common sight
to see long wagon trains loaded with black
men, women and children arrive from
adjacent states.
Causes of the Change.
LAS I remember those unfortunate peo-
pie, they We're docile, inoffensive and law
abiding. They seemed humble and ex-
tremely polite to the white citizens they
met on the street, greeting them with:
Good mornin, masser, howdy, missy
No acts of thugs were charged to those
eE-SlaveS, none were accused of pocket
book snatching: those accomplishments
were reserved for the influence of the
environment Of cultured Washington. the
seat Of literature and learning, the fount
of moral law. Whatever evil influences
slavery may have impaired to the slave,
he manifested no criminal tendencies on
his advent in the National Capital. The
conduct of the freedman during his first
years of freedom in Washington indicated
a moral training in slavery days. The
the ex-slave in Washington, through no
fault of his, are too numerous to relate.
The two principal causes of his de-
moralization were in giving him the right
to vote and taking away that right. AS
a voter he was carried to dizzy height
by the political spellbinder. Little prov
ender was required for his existence,
and somehow he acquired the idea that
freedom. as a new order OF things. meant
relief from drudgery. His idleness was
tolerated, as there was not sufficient
work for the entire new addition to the
population of the District. He lapsed
into committing fndiscretions.' but these
petty misdemeanors were condoned. So
municipal elections that the white peo-
pie of both political parties petitioned
for change in the form of government
for the city.
The Governments Responsibility.
1.-The Acknowledgement Of the people of
the District Maj. Hodgson averred.
"was a proceeding beyond the compre-
hension of the cOlored voter. His political
usefulness gone, he was left to seek his
own salvation. The petty misdemeanors
formerly condoned became crimes for
which he was punished. The workhouse
was soon filled to overlooking with men
and women. Some rebelled and were
compelled to work upon the streets with
ball and CHAIN many expressing wish
for the good old slavery days in Dixie
In freeing the slave and bringing him to
the District the government assumed a
guardianship over his destiny, and had
justice been accorded the unfortunate
freedman the jewellers of the filthy alley
slums might have today been living in
healthy localities bearing such names as
Capitol Heights, Mount Pleasant, Floral
Hill, instead Of being the miserable oc-
cupants Of Bloodheld, Murder Bay and
Hells Bottom.
Individual effort has been made in be-
half Of the eX-slave. Howard University
has served noble purpose in the inter-
est of the colored race. But this splendid
institution has been the means of pulling
up from the top rather than pushing up
from the bottom. Howard has graduated
many good lawyers who have remained
in Washington and have all the practice
they can attend to in defending the ac-
cused dwellers of the alley slum: while
the same disease-bleeding source sup
plies patients for the colored doctor. AS
long as the alley dens Of disease and dirt
exist. where children grow up surrounded
by sin and degradation, so long will
moral and physical contagion flourish and
crime increase, demanding more police
men and larger prisons. Better defer
building the proposed million-dollar
monument to the old Black Nanny of
the white children until her black OFF,
spring is reclaimed from the shackles of
the alley slum.
But the inhabitants OF the alley dens
having been brought to Washington by
authority of the federal government. Con-