The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-12-15
Harlem Flat Dwcllers Have Grisv-
ance Because Of the Shutting up
of the oellcatessen
Shops.
BUT THE SALOONS SELL
People In Flats and Tenements Have
No Way of Stocking up With
Supplies From Saturday
to Monday.

NEW YORK, Dec. t4-DweIlers in
the Harlem Flat and the west side
tenement have met on common
ground, by way of mutual grievance
of large proportions 1t Is not mat
ter of the higher cost of living, this
time, but of how to live at all, on
Sundays Their grievance concerns
domestic economy and vitality affects
the householder's pocketbook.
They are asking themselves by what
process of reasoning the police author.
tiles have reached the conclusion that
the delicatessen shop open on Sunday
is menace to public morals. And il
not how do they Justify themselves
for raiding the delicatessen shops and
closing them up, particularly when
their efforts might so we'll be directed
toward other Sunday Industries? Their
| pent up indignation has led them to
4 specializing on the subject and they
are wondering il the movement was
/ inspired by the mayor or by the pc
llice commissioner.
The police department has been
closing delicatessen shops all over
! Manhattan on Sundays, declaring them
to be violators of the Sunday closing
/ laws, yet the Sunday customers, as
we'll as the police, know that the side
door of practically every saloon Is
open.
Flat dwellers declare that the cor
ner delicatessen means much more to
them than most people think Their
tiny apartments OF two or three rooms
and kitchenette are not equipped
with facilities for the storage or re-
/ frigeration of food. Many of the lit
tie flats have not even accommoda-
lions for keeping enough food to last
over one day, and therefore to buy
enough on Saturday to last until Mon
4 day Is not practicable. Milk and
cream cannot be kept sweet; butter
melts; bread becomes stale and meats
spoil.
/ AS a result, the flat dwellers are
forced by circumstances, to resort to
delicatessen shops To tide them over
Sunday, and when the police close
them up, their patrons are reduced to
hardship. The average fiat Is nO
1 equipped with any cellar space for
4 vegetables, and the living rooms are
so small there the householders rarely
buy enough food for more than twenty
four hours.
In the tenement districts, the clos
ing Of the delicatessen stores works
even greater harships. Such houses
have not even ice boxes. and where
rooms, it is impossible for the house
wives to keep on hand enough food
i supplies to last over day. Then.
too, the tenement dwellers largely are
supported on meagre day wages, and
can afford to buy only nickels worth
i of butter or dimes worth of roast
beef at a time.
There is still another large element
Of New York's population OF five mix
I lions that is dependent upon the del
icatessen shops for food. This is the
so-called furnished roomer" who by
force of circumstances has been driv-
en- to Tight housekeeping. They
can be numbered by the thousands in
this large city spread out through all
of the five boroughs. To this class in
the community the shops have Sic
ceeded the kitchen range. The "furn-
ished roomer'' practically lives on
food from the delicatessen shop and
, is dependent upon it for every meal.
The novelty of the life appeals to
some of them, but in most cases they
have been driven to it by reasons of
economy With the shop hard by, !.
is not necessary for them to bother
with ice, fuel or ashes No cooking is
required and there is no servant girl
, problem
The proprietors OF the shops them,
selves do not appear to be half as
much exercised over the police prop.
osition as are their customers Some
, of them are willing to be compelled tc
close ON Sunday, but all of them are
emphatic in declaring they will pro
test if the police attempt to play
: favorites, closing up some districts
: and allowing dealers in others to dc
6 business.
.