Evening star., 1915-02-06
Small Home Owner Also
Should Be Protected,
Says BorIand.
SEES EVIL IN MEASURE
PASSED BY CONGRESS
Chance of Tenements Hazarding
Value of Wage Earners' Property.
Addresses Club Federation.


A vigorous plea for the rights of
the small home owner as we'll as for
the rights of the alley dweller was
made this morning by Representative
Borland of Missouri. who spoke be-
fore the Federation of Women's Clubs
at a meeting held in the Public Library
on THE Rehousing of Washington's
Alley Population"
Representative Borland declared that
If the plans embodied in the bill passed
last summer by Congress are carried
out the people now in the alleys will
be turned loose on the streets.
The result would be one of two
estate man would meet the condition
with new slums. or the ousted alley
dwel1ers would go into homes on the
streets. dividing one house between
several families. The result will be
that the government clerk and other
small owner will find himself next
tenement. And your householder, and
your government clerk, who has spent
the best years of his life getting a
home. is going to find his life work de-
stroyed!
Entitled to Protection.
"The rich can always look out for
themselves. They can move away from
a neighborhood II they do not like 1t.
They can even move out Of city. If
need be. But how about the wage
Garner? He Is entitled to as much pro-
lection, in a city OF homes, as is the
slum element
There are two great classes. One is
the poor and helpless. The other is
the self-respecting wage Garner, who
is the backbone OF the republic. No
u q fIa hot 70 ka nj
spect both these great classes"
The only solution of Washington's
alley problem, in Representative Bor-
lands lands opinion is to provide e. sanitary
tary homes that have been permitted
to grow up. The speaker declared that
1t is a mistake to think that homes can
be rented to alley dwellers for SIS a
month. He declared that there are but
sos homes in the District renting for
that sum, and that of this number 448
are in the alleys. leaving only 119
homes available elsewhere to house the
Don't think the remedy can be left
to private initiative" warned the rep
resentative. That will merely create
a slum where no slum now exists. The
man that can meet the demand of the
alley dweller for home will sell him
the least he can get him to take. That's
commercialism."
Solution Of Problem.
Representative Borland cited the
Sanitary Housing Company as the So
luton of the problem, and advocated
the Borland-Pomerene bill. which. he
explained. aims to loan to such housing
companies sufficient funds to construct
proper homes. the plans to be submitted
to the District authorities.
IF you have right to herd boys and
fpI fnfn INV i1a 81
speaker. warmly. you have a right to
pay to rectify those evils before they
start. If you have a right to pay
health officials to go into alleys and
try to make healthy conditions where
they cannot, you have right to use
the strong arm of the community to
go in and clean 'em up"
Representative Borland declared that
public utilities are limited. in some
minds, to the town pump.
clared. will be polluted with typhoid
after the town has passed the 1000
population mark. You drain the filth
Of city into the alleys and refuse
any social plumbing to take it out"
Exists in All Cities.
The alley problem in Washington, the
speaker pointed out. is simply a phase
Of the slum problem which exists in
all great cities.
TT is a worldwide problem of civili-
zationy' he said. Under the organiza-
tion Of the District government your
problem is easier Of solution and freer
from complication than in other cities
In approaching the problem in Wash
ington your problem is simpler and
more direct. and. I hope. more effective.
"A city is both home and a work
shop" declared the speaker. ut exists
and grows as a workshop. and out of
that phase of city life arise most of
its problems. But a city Is more than
a workshop. 1t is home. And it is
that feature of city that's now begin
ming to attract public attention most
of all. Men can be depended upon to
see to the workshop side of city life
The women must see to the other side"
Public men often make the mistake
of regarding individuals as merely SO
many units in industrial relations, al
though public men. believe. more
often have the human heart in their
bodies than they are given credit for
But as a matter of fact each indus