The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-06-04

Recently conference was held in our
East Side. The police were there and
explained the crimes by The herdinG OF
families into single tenement buildings
where they lived together lik" animals
with children swarmnE through the
halls and made familiar with every form
OF vice and crime. Physicians were
there, and said that th"S" congCStrd dis
tricts breed diseases in old rookcrics
where children die like flies and that
from want Of air. light and exercise
many were going to pieces, n"rVouSly.
Employers of labor spoke: they said
that tn" sweat shops were n logical ne
Cessity from the crowded tenement house
regions; that the workers could not ar
ford To have their shops separate from
their homes. and that the whirr Of the
sewing machines and the distribution of
dust from the piles Of clothing produced
untOward condition for tho workers. The
social settlers and preachers and rabbits
joined in the conference. One OF them
spoke Of n room 20 30. that was used
by two families. with a chalk line
drawn through the center. that marked
out the rights OF those who rented one
room. These men traced the social evil
to the familiarity of little children with
certain subjects. about which they
should be kept innocent. Many remedies
were presented. but ut tho end OF the
discussion. il waS plain that all were
discouraged and very p"ssimistlc TO the
future.
Strange that not ono Of thcs" REFORM
ers hintcd a. TN" real solution Of AL
these perils, physical, social, industrial
and moral. Why not confess that if the
evils come from the congestion Of famI-
ltno 4, 10
that the solution must come through
some inventor who Will give us an en-
CINE that will hurl train that starts
from the Bowcry at $40 and will. within
twenty minutes. be twenty miles in tho
country on five cent fare. There ia
coal enough. water power enough,
electricity enough. To furnish the driving
power and skill enough /" build III" cars.
but just now hundreds OF thousands Of
the poor are waiting for som" man 10
apply the principal of a gasoline engine
on an automobile. Ia very light car
and distribute these families in The
country. \ little garden plot will give
the children exercise: vegetables will
make up the lack in IN" workman's
wage: plenty Of sunshine would purify
the blood Of these acncmiC children;
little solitude viii recover tho nerves or
the tired woman. Gods open air VIII
frcShcn the jadCd spirits. If tho Amerl-
can physique is being injured by the
tenement hOuS" life. then fourteen hours
in the country every day VIII tend TO
max tho American boy and girl strong
"r. healthier and handS"mcr. Missions
and Salvation Army workers and social
settlers and agitatOrS can do something.
but the real evangelist that is needed is
not a Billy Sunday. but an inventor with
genius enough To carry the poor working
man twenty miles into the country
where rents are cheap. sunshine and air
abundant. Recently IN" polio" had much
trouble with Il criminal ward. That
ward abOundcd in dark alleys. II was
poorly lighted. often the daylight re-
rcalcd body with a bullet through the
chest Finally tho police put in electric
lights. made every dark alley as bright
as noon day and criminals fled from that
ward as Wild beasts and scrpcnts flee TO
their holes when tho sun stands upon the
horizon. Dying and unconscious Goethe
cried out More light, Moro light" To- ,
day III" tenement house folks ar" crying
out, Light. Give us more light! Give ;
us moro air. Give us more exercise" ,
God send an inventor To the tenement !
house blocks in tho BowCry.