Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-08-10
By LAUREL c. THAYER.

Are Overcrowded homes in Indianapo-
lis responsible for cases of delinquent
girls" Or. Herman g Morgan, sec-e-
tary of the board of health, was asked
yesterday.
Here is Or. Morgan's reply:
There can be no high moral standards
in the over-crowded home. nor in those
communities where there is over-crowd
ing. when two or three families live in
a house large enough for only one indi-
vidual privacy is impossible This herd
ing together makes everything conducive
to lax moral conditions, There are such
places in Indianapolis today because of
the housing shortage
Saving the girl means eliminating the
causes Of her failure to conform to the
laws and customs established for the
good of society. That is. the causes for
which we, and not the girl, are respon-
sible.
II O65 WOMEN
WORK IN CITY.
Look ut the kind of home you have
given me-" would be the cry Of many
hayward girls, could their voice become
articulate.
There are in indianapolis industries
II ,965 women. Although many Of these
do not live at home. the fact remains
morals by the places they live in. IL
still remains true that it is In small
buildings that the great mass OF the
working people are housed in most Of
our cities.
Eight years ago, the writer found that
from ten 10 eighteen foreign wOrkmen
were sleeping on the floor Of one room
In many Of the mems boarding houses
then located in and near West Washing
ton street and in Haughville The win
dows, if any, were usually nailed shut.
She saw men living in wooden shacbs
not much larger than chicken coops;
she found a sick woman living in an in
side room in which there was no win
dow. The pump in the back yard served
for six families
There We're many three room houses in
which children lived where the middle
room had no window. the doors opening
only on the front and rear rooms. There
was much typhoid IN the district and the
families were helped by many charity
agencies.
1t is fortunate because of housing con
ditions, that among the foreign population
at that time there were only a few women,
the wives being IN the old country.
But there were young girls in homes
where the star" boarder was not only
have been brought into court because Of
the bOarder whom their parents were
forced to keep in order TO pay the rent.
MARRY FOREIGNERS
RETURN TO EUROPE.
But what OF conditions today?
Dr. Morgan is optimistic. He states
first there is less OvercrOwding among
the foreign population than eight years
ago, because during the war, many re-
turned TO their homes in Europe.
Second, education has taught tenants
they could not insult their neighbors BY
keeping unsanitary premises, and that
sanitary regulations have played a part
In this general education.
Third. property owners are more con-
siderate in the matter Of keeping up re-
pairs and attending to sanitation.
But Dr. Morgan is authority for the
statement also that there are still some
DARK ROOMS in Indianapolis; that
there are two and three families living
wnere only one ought to live.
The hair pulling quarrels of children,
the gang" fights Of the older boys. the
back-fence gossip Of neighbors. as well
as the sorrows of the poor, make our
covered drama. in which tragedy holds
the center of the stage.
While the old type of insanitary dwell
ing and business block Is gradually dis
appearing, according to DR.. Morgan, In
-nspOlis still has a housing problem.
Every city has a slum mucous; perhaps
many. What is the remedy?
The answer is the old one-ed ucation
-4ducation of the landlord, the tenant,
the community.
As to the landlord. it is only fair that