Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-23
SAYS BAD HOUSING AIDS
MANS THREE SCOURGES
Cause of Much Disease, Poverty and
Crime, According to Tenement
Commissioner.

The three great Scourges OF mankind,
disease, poverty and crime, are largely
due to bad housing, according to John
J. Murphy, New York's tenement house
commissioner. whose official task 1t Is
to study and remedy as far as possible
improper housing conditions in New
York city. Mr.. Murphy. who is the
only tenement house commissioner in
the United States, attended the national
housing conference in Minneapolis and
read a paper on housing conditions,
based on his Investigations in this and
other large centers of population, In
which he said:
There can be question that the
three great scourges of mainland, d1s-
ease, poverty and crime. are IN large
measure due to bad housing IN It's
broadcast sense. 1ntemperance IN many
of its most repugnant forms may be
traced to the fact that SO many cltlZens
are obliged to live in homes in which
they can take neither pride nor comfort
and which make the saloon seem de-
sirable by contrast
Detrimental to Children.
bad housing is especially detr1-
mental in its consequences to the chill
dren reared under its influence In many
cases the evil influences of environment
can never be eradicated. The need for
the erection of institutions for the blind
and hospitals for the child victims OF
tuberculosis. spinal meningitis ana
other diseases of like character Is
greatly intensified by bad home conol-
tons The enploye living in mouse
inadequately lighted and ventilated Is
unable to perform his task with proper
energy and intelligence. women COM
PEELED to live in such houses deVelop
tendencies to irritahility. which ire
,,Yafi
bad housing tends to increase tne
tax burdens of community by requir.
ing larger expenditures for remedlai
service, which might otherwise be elm
and decency in the exterior and inte-
rior of houses tends to reduce the self
respect of the occupants Note now
eagerly the family which has even
ing seeks buildings with more attrac,
tive exteriors and better decora -
rooms. 1t will also be found tnat as
families descend in the social scale one
Of the pangs most keenly felt is the
necessity for the occupancy of quarters
in buildings whose general appearance
indicates that they are occupied by the
Iaiserably poor.
Excepting Up Appearances"
'It may be said. therefore, that there
IL no plane of human existence in So
not touch There is no form of vice,
crime, debility or shiftlessness which
bad housing does not tend to nurture
Keeping up appearances its often de-
cried, and deserves much of the re-
proach cast upon it when 1t simply
means unwarranted extravaganza to
maintain position which ones In
come does not justify, but among the
Door it is an ever-present aid to the
maintenance of sef-respect and is to be
encouraged rather than decried.
During his campaign for the presi-
dency the late Benjamin Harrison ut
tered an epigram which made him the
target of much criticism. He said: "A
cheap coat makes a cheap man. and
this statement, which was intended to
epitomiZe his views on the protective
tariff was twisted into meaning that
people whose clothes were cheap were
purchasable. This was not true. and 1t
would be no more true that bad hous-
Ing made bad citizens under all circum-
stances But, next to an inadequate and
,unwholesome food supply. poor hous-
ing does stand as the most deletrtous
element in our civic life. Sanitary re-
search shows how important Is the re-
action of adequate light and ventila-
tion on the health. stamina and moral
character of individuals Bad housing
furnishes the fruitful nurseries OF dis
ease germs of all kinds. while at the
same time creating conditions Whlch
prevent the building up of resistance
to their inroads."