The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-22
Some Social Problems Of
The City's Recruiting
Station.
By T. L. HINCKLEY.

Cwestchester County Research Bureau, New York
We are bringing 20 light such a vast
and strange assemblage of social and
political facts that we are apt to stare
at ourselves and say, rs this the way
we really live? Is that what our ma
tional life really is?'
Until recently We have been like os-
triches-blind to criticism and secure in
our illusion that our national system
was the greatest and our national life
the best in the world. Our cities, long
our shame. were the first to get out OF
the ostrich" class. They have become
pioneers in a determined fight for a bet
ter, cleaner, and more efficient national
life.
There is another type of community,
outnumbering our cities probably ten to
one. which until now has been hidden
in the general social and economic him
terland-the village. Who has thought
about our villages? OF what significance
are they? Should they be reformed,
and. if so, how?
In the village the physical set-up is
usually defective. Streets are but par
TALLY. often improperly, paved, and there
is no street plan. Buildings are only
half kept up" Rotten tenements may
usually be found in villages, and typical
East Side" living conditions. Sewers
are apt to be defective, and sanitary
conveniences are often decidedly insani-
tary. Population is congested along
Main Street" and sparse in the rest of
the village. In contrast with English
and European villages, the American
village is often poorly articulated, even
slabsidcd; it lacks conference and indi-
Yiduality.
Village Defects Many.
Among the specific weak points in the
administration of village finance are the
following: Bonding in excess Of ability
to redeem without refunding, bonding
for longer term than the improvement
warrants; failing to estimate correctly
for a years administrative programme;
granting disadvantageous franchises,
due to personal influence or to the genera!
lack of corporate back bone"
Naturally fitted for the well-nigh Per
feet health of its inhabitants. We find
in many villages the most startling par
aIlels or urban defects: infant mortality
is usually high: contagious disease cases
are apt TO run into three figures: the
water supply is usually poorly protected
against pollution: milk is generally unan-
alyzed, nor is there any routine sanitary
inspection of food and food shops: health
records and reports are frequently in a
most uncertain and incomplete state;
nuisances often go for a long time with
out abatement
Another element which is strong in
vElages-because people are intimate and
personality takes precedence over func-
tion-is a disposition TO be easy or q
popular offender against the sanitary reg
ulations, to hold back disease reports to
central authorities because it might
hurt somebody's business"
Village social life is apt to be at low
ebb; the saloon is too often the most
potent social influence. Recreation facil-
tiles, as known in cities, are largely alb
sent, and the doubtful moving picture
show is wont to monopolize the leisure
time of the youth
The following is put forward as tenta-
live programme for village betterment: