The Detroit times., 1911-05-09
DETROIT's ALLEYS
IN DIsGRACEFUL
CONDITION
Tour BY Members Of Housing Com.
mission Reveals Them Uttered
With Rubbish and Serious
Menace To Health.
Swell Residence Districts About As
Bad As 0thers-Blame Seems
To Lie With D. P. w.

To the world outside. Detroit is
known rs the city beautiful and one
OF the cleanest towns on this or any
other continent. That is the impress
sion visitors get and carry away with
them after tour OF the parks and
bouleyards and run out Jefferson Or
Woodward.ayes in luxuriously-fur-
nished touring car, but II they could
see what the Detroit Housing com
mission saw Monday afternoon, when
the members went on an alley inspec'
'tion tour, they would probably be In.
clined to qualify their compliments.
The members of the housing com
mission saw both sides, the good and
the bad, and the contrast was both
striking and interesting. One fact
> stood out Observation-Disclosures al
leys are unsightly and, in many in
stances filthy and dangerous TO health.
This condition is not confined to
any particular section or sections. IL
is general, the only difference being
in the degree OF filth and unsightli-
ness. Not even is the ultra.fashion-
able Indian Village" exempt from the
abomination West OF Seminole-ave.,
between Aggressive. and Champlain-
St, for instance, the commission found
an alley badly Uttered with unsightly
heaps of ashes AMI dead brush, while
In front were well-kept lawns and sty-
lish.looking fronts.
Plotted by Luther 4. Lovejoy, gen
eral secretary OF the commission. the
party started out from the Board OF
Commerce about o'clock. in two
automobiles II included Milton A.
McRae, president of the Board Of
Commerce: J l.. Hudson, Tracey Nc
Gregor Rabbi Leo NJ Franklin, OF
Temple Beth FL. the newspaper men
and a battery OF photographers.
Mayor Thompson had been invited to
go along but other business detained
him.
The east side was covered first, and
the party had proceeded but short
distance before striking some bad al
leys. not far from the heart OF the
downtown district. These were back
of Congress. Larned and Champaign
SITS, in the vicinity OF Beaubien and
ST. Antoine-sts., and they were mostly
paved alleys at that where there Ia
little excuse for lack of cleanliness.
IL was up In the Ghetto that the
prize specimens" were found, how
ever. One OF the worst encountered
on the entire tour was that between
NapoIean and Winder and st. Antoine
and Hastings. while the section lying
between Hastings and Rivard was
just as bad. The alley was so filled
with ashes, decaying garbage and
rubbish of all kinds as to be almost
impossible 20 teams, while the aroma
was anything but pleasant. Here an
interesting contrast was present. On
one side OF Hastings the alley was
paved, and on the other II vas un
paved. and one would naturally eX-
pect TO find the paved alley fairly
tidy, but In this instance there was
no difference. One section was as
bad as the other.
This alley is in the neighborhood
OF the Bishop school. the largest pub
lie school in Michigan. a fact that did
not escape the attention of the hous-
ing commission.
Another prize exhibit was found on
Hastings. between Warren and Han
cock-aves. Here were great piles of
ashes and rubbish reaching TO the
tops of the fences and extending in
an almost unbroken line as far as
1.-THE eye could see. This was such an
interesting sight that the members or
the commission got out for close
range view and the battery OF cam
era men snapped them as they were
poking away with sticks In the heaps
of rubbish.
The question arose here as to
who was to blame for the condition.
The residents apparently had done
their part, each keeping his ashes