Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-22
DOWNTOWN AS BAD
AS UPTOWN DISTRICT
[Continued from First Page. !


plaster is off in spots, there is no
drainage and one hydrant in the
rear yard must do duty for two
houses. The backyard is filled with
rubbish and the poor apology for a
rear porch is fast falling into decay.
How would you like to go back
to the hospital?" asked DR.. Raunick
of half-grown girl who was max
ing a pitiful effort at ironing a dress
amid the filth. She had been under
the city's care during the time her
little brother was confined to the
hospital with infantile paralysis.
I'D like to go back to the hos
pital," was the prompt reply. I'd
be willing to get sick to CO."
at was nice out there" she added.
at hate it here"
This girl has been to public school
and she is much superior to her sur
roundings. She wants to get out of
them, but she is tied to them.
The house is typical of many of
its kind in that quarter. 1t rents
for So month and would be ex-
pensive at 50.
A Horrible Example,
Another "horrible example" is the
house at 128 Indian alley. This
house was formerly the property of
an old colored woman who died a
year ago. 1t still bears evidence of
her feeble attempts at beautifica-
ton. Struggling flowers adorn the
yard, a lilac bush ekes out a mis-
erable existence between the pave
ment an ash pile and a flourishing
Virginia creeper does it's best to
cover up the gaping seams in the
woodwork and the tattered shingling
of the roof. In the rear what was
one time the kitchen has literally
fallen to pieces, the family now oc-
cupying the remaining portion hav-
ing chopped 1t up piece-meal for fire.
wood. The sewer is stopped up
and there is no running water on the
premises, what is necessary for
household purposes being brought in
from neighboring backyards. The
owner resides in Buffalo and is inter-
ested in getting her money out of the
structure before it tumbles down
She bought it through a local attor-
ney for few dollars when it was
sold for taxes. The neighbors round
about, all of whom have war gar
dens and keep their houses in fine
trim, are threatening to take the
matter to court.
$11 a Month For Shacks
In the 100 block, South Tenth
street, the inspection party ran into
a really awful state of affairs, where
shacks that are masquerading as
dwellings" rent for as much as $11
month.
Most of these are occupied by col
ored people. The front rooms on the
first floor are generally in good con-
dition and these the occupants have
furnished nicely In many of them
there are pianos. In others pianos
and talking machines. They are
clean and wholesome. But beyond
that conditions are beyond descrip-
tion. The roofs of all of these
houses leak and the plaster and
papering as a result are falling off in
patches. 1t would be impossibleSto
keep carpets clean. so none are put
down. There are no traps to the
kitchen sinks and water leaks con-
stantly out on the floors. The
kitchens are firetraps, the chimneys
being mere pretences, and the toilets
open almost into the kitchen doors.
The spouting has fallen off some
of the roofs, but as one woman put
1t, that don't matter much for
most of the water leaks through be-
fore 1t gets to the spouts."
THE one offered to sell for $1,000"
said one woman, land he got good
and mad when I asked him il he
meant two rows of houses or just
one row. He said he meant one
house and ! near died laughing"
There isn't fifty dollars worth of
good lumber in any half dozen of
these dwellings.
All over the lower end of the city
similar conditions exist which will
receive attention in another article
of this series.
Little wonder that the women of
the child welfare committee say they
can do little until housing conditions
are improved.