New-York tribune., 1912-01-09
COLD, SNOW AND SLUSH
Weather's CapriceS Puzzle Mr..
scarr and Annoy Citizens.
LANDLORDS ADD TO MISERY
Tenants Driven Into Streets for
Rent Arrears - Association
Cares for Is, $50 Persons.

The caprices OF the weather Yesterday
brought CONSERVATION to the Weather Bu-
reau's best efforts at predicting conditions,
and AT the same time II brought a welcome
relief TO the suffering poor OF the city.
While the weather man was foretelling
snow and r return of the cold snap, the
thermometer jumped IL degrees I'm two
hours. going from the scarcely comfortable
poInt OF 27 degrees at p. M to the COM
J parativeIy balmy temperature Of Al degrees
,, at & o'clock. The cries OF the freezing poor
were still begging the charity organizations
for coal and warm clothing when the Jump
came and brought them the comfort that
/ the charity folk could not give.
Snow. instead Of rain. also was In the
PROMISES OF the weather man. ana the
street Cleaning Department was marshall
ling its forces to keep traffic open. But
before enough of the white stuff had failen
70 make an attack necessary the rain came
and did Il all I'm its own way. AS result
M snow Gangs were sent out last night.
The rain. though, made the pedestrian lot
= hard one The snow that fell during the
afternoon melted rapidly when the rain ana
the warmth struck It, and 1t was not lohs
before the streets were turned into rivers
ord tho sidewalks crowded with puddles.
c,.rning an solid looking spots brought
many a plunge ankle deep in slush' ana
the automobiles went sputterlns throusn
the streets. with many shower oath iof
unwary pedestrians.
Cold Wave Coming Back.
The weather man. however was some
what Of a killjoy for those who were linu'
ing comfort In the moderation III tenn,
ueraturc lie declared that to-day the co'u
wave would come back with all It's pitlhs
vlndictiveness. and that Tomorrow there
v.ouId no q gale TO drive II along Inc
range OF temperature yesterday was unity
degrees The thermometer registered IL ue,
grecs at 43O o'clock In the mornihg' anu
by II o'clock at night the mercury hdo
climbed to e degrees.
The dav opened with plenty Of foreoodins
for more and continued misery among l"''
moor and homeless. Charity orgamauoh'
engaged In the work of relief for the desu'
tute reported that their task was selu"s
bcyord their ability to handle. IL was q
cumulative problem as one officer expressed
II. that grew every hour, as more ana
more families were forced into a state OF
dcpeudency as their scanty resources De-
came exhausted.
The harshness OF landlords was reported
as adding greatly to the problem the re-
lief workers had TO tackle. Coming as IL
did right after the first OF the year, many
who found themselves unable 20 pay the'r
rents were forced into the streets
During the first hour this morning we
had as many applications for assistance
as we ordinarily have in whole day.
said W. 7. Capes, assistant general agent
of the Association for Improving the con-
diton of the Poor. And about the same
rate. forty an hour. continued throughout
the day. A distressing feature of the WORK
is the number Of dispossessed families ask
ing for aid. The landlords are having no
mercy even In the face Of bitter conditions.
We look upon dispossess cases as emer-
gency cases, and see to it that quarters
are found for the families"
Association Cared for 1880.
To show how much worse than former
wears present conditions are Mr.. Capes
quoted figures. Yesterday there were 1880
persons under the care of the association.
and on the first day of the year there were