New-York tribune., 1918-01-23
Possibility of Disease In
creases as Pipes Burst in
Homes and Plants
Risks Increased
On 40 Buildings
Workers, Ill, Forced to Stay
i'm Flats Where Condi-
tions Are Worst

The danger of epidemics and fire
menaces New York to-day as at no
time since the coal shortage first set
in. Water pipes all over the city
within the last forty-cight hours have
been bursting like firecrackers. Meters
have been following suit. Nearly one
thousand sprinkler systems in the
heart of the most congested factory
districts are out Of commission. with
little hope of immediate relief in sight.
Sanitary conditions, particularly in
the big loft buildings in the silk and
lace section along Fourth Avenue and
among the small factories of Grand,
Wooster and Canal streets. have
reached the danger point.
The damage already done to water
systems alone" said prominent
realty man last night, will cost the
property owners of the city in the
neighborhood of half million dollars
not counting the further deprecia-
ton which inevitable delays will en-
tail"
Insurance Rates Increased
AT the same time. the underwriters
are preparing substantial boosts in
the rates to landlords; To-day, the
upward trend is to be started with in
creases on forty loft buildings. Be.
fore the week is out probably hun
dred more will have been added.
"The insurance men are forced to
this action to protect themselves" said
d. II. Lester, chief engineer for the
John A. Eckert Company, 55 John
Street. at is all very we'll for the
Fuel Administrators to issue orders on
remains that the general recourse to
gas and oil heaters imperils the city
as never before.
"Many sprinkler systems, from Brook
lyn clear up to Harlem and The Bronx.
have been frozen tight since the sud
den cold spell of a fortnight ago. There
is simply not a big enough force avail
able to get them in shape. Under or
dinary circumstances sprnklers could
the menace Is constant and imminent.
Since the new year the number of
small fires in the greater city has in
creased about threefold. The recent
100000 fire in Wooster Street fac
tory was directly traceable to the freez-
ing of the sprinkler there. Accidents
are almost unavoidable where rickety
heaters, possibly with defective tubing,
are placed in rooms in which twenty or
thirty hands are at work. There have
been no $1,000.000 fires vet, but it is
more good luck than anything else
that accounts for that
"The companies are doing all in their
rover to meet the situation. but with
the shortage in laborers of this sort it
Is pretty slow work. People should be
warned everywhere to use the utmost
and strictest care"
A similar labor shortage is affecting
the sanitary situation. Plumbers are
at premium. and frequently will not
stay on the job even at the prevailing
famine rates.
Buildings Without Water
Along Pearl Street fully 90 per cent
OF the loft and factory buildings arc
without water.
Through the cloak and sui. district
conditions are. if possible. even worse.
Three of my girls" said a fore
woman in Fourth Avenue concern YES
terday. "stayed at home sick day and
] am terribly worried, but what can one
do ?"
That is the general question. It IS
echoed, too, by Mrs. Helene Ingram, su-
perintendent of relief for the Associa-
tion for Improving the Condition OF the
Poor.
'Tha conditions in the tcncmcnts. >,
She declared, "are quite as serious as
IN the small factories. Everywhere the
pipes are frozen or broken. Washing Is
getting to be almost a forgotten rite
and nth and dirt, under the crcum.
stances, arc accumulating alarminglv."
Visits to these houses named bv Mrs.
ingram developed in every case one
story unwashed women. children un-
kempt and grimy beyond all the usual
standards. piles of unwashed plates
with decaying bits Of food strewn over
tables. and always an overpowering
odor of filth.
Health Department officials arc
working overtime, but here, too, the
the extraordinary situation produced
by the combination of fuel shortag,
and unprecedented cold.
Weeks to Restore Conditions
Nor is this necessarily the ent 4"
sn'd K. r. Leigh, plant engineer for
'harles r. Noyes & Co., one of the
largest 'rms dealing in factory and
lott property in the city. Even IF
coal should begin coming in now the
problem is not altogether solved. 1t
VIII take weeks to get the city bacl,
INTO sanitary shape. even under the
most favorable conditions.
IN dozen buildings pipes that VIC
hnaily got mended after the freezing
o.; or ;.I Two weeks ago have burst again
withln the asst two days, putting us
pach Just where we were. In the big
office buildings we have special details
OF men taking preventive precautions,
put even there danger is not altogether
absent" 9
MIR. Leigh also fears that if the
threatened boost in insurance rates be-
comes widespread rents will have to be
correspondngly increased.