The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-12-24
ROTTEN HOUSING
] CAUSES DEATHS
IN FATAL FIRES
Workers Hold Protest
Mass Meetings
BY ROSE PASTOR STOKES.
Especial to The Daily Worker)

NEW YORK, Dec. 23.--At the very
moment that the Russian Soviet gov.
eminent had opened several of the
most beautiful palaces as homes for
the tired mothers and little children
Of workers, children and mothers OF
the working class were compelled in
capitalist America to sacrifice their
lives in flretrap tenement to satisfy
the greed of the landlords.
The fire occurred at 10 East 98th
ST., where six lives were lost, one
family being entirely wiped out. Out
side, the tenement stands as tho moth
ing more were the matter with it than
bad case of broken windows. Inside,
the rotten stairways are burnt to a
crisp. The stairs and Railways are
the charred witnesses Of the death.
trap conditions that prevailed before
the fire broke out.
The fire had just started when 2
devoted friend and neighbor cried the
alarm to a woman on the second
floor.
I'm coming" she replied, and il
seemed that there would yet be
plenty of time to escape. But The
house was built-not for the safety
OF the workers but, for the profits Of
the landlord. / saw three collins to-
day, in one of them the charred re.
mains OF the mother who had cried
II am coming!" The others contain
ed the bodies of the father and the
daughter, All Of them burned beyond
recognition.
l talked with a man, the father OF
a family who lived on the ground
floor. With a broken, quavering voice
he tried to tell US how some Of them
were saved. He shook his head. Eyes,
yes, it was not safe place but, what
can we poor people do? Everywhere
we go, they ask always more and still
more rent. We lived in these rooms
for ten years, yet we had to fix every
thing ourselves. The landlord would
never do anything necessary to make
the house safe or comfortable or
clean. Yet he always raised the rent
Ia few dollars at a time. Every.
time tenant moved we saw him ask
ten or twelve dollars more for the
rooms.
Don't you think" l asked him
that if the workers got together and
established government only for
workers (for there are millions Of
workers to only thousands of bosses
and landlords) a government of work
ers, like Russia, that we chould
change all this for ourselves and dc
as the Russian workers are doing?'
"Yes," he replied, I'VE could.
have been in this country for over
forty years. AS worker, was al
ways union man. l know what il
means to be on strike for many
long months. / know what it is tc
go hungry. have been in the strug
gle and know that we could dc
everything for ourselves If we would
only get together and beat the CAPT
talists. I'm an old man now, but
hope the younger ones will do what
every worker knows we need to do
A protest meeting against the fire
trap tenements has been arranged
for Friday. Dec. 26, at o'clock. The
hall, Ga East 104th St., is in the
neighborhood of the fire. The meet
ing is to be held under the auspices
of the women's committee of the
Workers Party and the United Coun
Gil Of Working Glass Women. Already
much local interest has been created
in the meeting and large audiences
Of men and women of the workinl
class is expected. There will bt
prominent speakers. Also, plair
mothers of the neighborhood will have
something to say.