The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-06
DUBLINERS DRIVEN TO REVOLUTION BY LIVING CONDITIONS
Foulest Sums in the Whole World Are Found Near
 Heart of Irish Capital

Dublin, June 5.-"You cannot avoid being rebellious when you live under such conditions as these!''
 This was the declaration often made by men and women living in the slums and tenement house district of Dublin when a correspondent made in insurrection in Ireland and endeavor- ed to discover where the sympathies of the people lie.
 It does not require great power of ina agination to ascertain why many of the poor in Dublin cheered the Sim Fein prisoners on their way to England. Many of the men who had fought against the troops were rela- tives and friends of the people left behind, who regarded the prisoners as victims of a heroic effort to inn prove the conditions under which a large percentage of the poor of Dub lin live.
 FouIest Sums in the World. 'If the artillery had mot made such good practice with the shells aimed at the strongho1ds of the Sim F|ein- CTS, the Sunners might have done ex- cel1ent work by demolishing accident ally some of the foulest slums to be found in any city of the world" This observation was made by a, man evil dently of marked intelligence, who is a resident in one of the anitary dis tricts within a stones throw of Sack vile Street, Dublin's show thorough fare, the best of which was destroy i ed by shell or flame.
 | Official figures show that in Dublin whose total population just exceeds | O0,OOO-there are no fewer than l. | SIS tenement houses certified as 'fun- fit for human habitation,' but which are nevertheless occupied by 22,701 persons. Besides these there are B. l 804 other tenements which have not been so condemned and which are oc- cupied by 64,6O4 persons.
 | The conditions of existence in these 1 residences are physically and mor- | ally as bad as they can be, according to an official of the corporation. In I nearly every case an entire family of from three to six persons occupies a single small room. The entrance to the house is by a common door open night and day, while the doors of the rooms open directly on narrow pas sage or landing.
 In most instances the only water supply is furnished by a solitary fau- cet in a dingy back yard filled with rubbish. Here also is the only sani- tary convenience, which is common
 not only to both sexes but to people from the street. Despite their dis dressing surroundings, some of the in
 
 rooms neat and clean, but as the wood work is rotten, the floors out of repair and the window panes often absent, the attempt is futile.
 | Conditions Elsewhere Just as Bad. l A look around other parts of the city disclosed conditions just bad in the numerous rows of small cottages consisting of one room and a kitchen, in passages and alleys occupied by working class families. Very few of these cottages possessed separate Sani- tary conveniences, but in the vicinity the inhabitants of the surrounding area. Nearby was a water faucet for the use of all.
 The Dublin Corporation and private henterprises have made efforts within trecent years to dea1E in part at least
 with the problem of housing, but the results attained have not materially of the corporation assert that the le- gal powers and finances of the City Council are insufficient to allow it to undertake reform on a large scale
 while the' Local Government Board the supreme authority, is compelled to wait for direct complaints about conditions before it can compel the City Corporation to take action. l In the meantime, many of the peo- pie who suffer have come to hold the Government responsible for the con-
 ditions under which they live. This makes them inclined at any time tc join in a rebe1lious movement which according to their own argument, ever
 in case of failure cannot make their situation any worse than it is.
 Others, in answer to queries, assert that they knew the conditions exist
 ent in Dublin were mainly the result
 of lack of effort for the public vel
 fare on the part of the political and
 municipal wire puIlers.