The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-01

tories and business houses have
and into the heart of the
rooming house district from
more obviously commercial
| streets like Halsted, Twelfth,
and Jefferson.
The whole territory, between Hal
to the North branch, has been
awaiting the invasion. The Chicago
School of Civics and Philanthropy,
which some time ago published ten
pamphlets on housing in Chicago,
says of this district, "In the mean
time, while landlords and dealers
wait, poor people continue to live
in insanitary houses, tuberculosis
breeding there, and children grow
ing up in dark, ill-ventilated rooms,
without proper place to play.
Alley Houses.
Unfortunately, The clearing Of
areas where improvements were
made, has not meant the destruc-
ton Of the old frame houses which
occupied them They h2ve been sold
at very low rate and the enter
| prising neighborhood landlords who
bought them moved their old houses
to the rear and placed the new ones
in the front spaces thus vacated"
1t might be incidentally remarked
that Chicago is about the only city
| in America which would let the
landlords get away with such a
practice, which is so obviously a
menace to the health of her work
ers. These houses which have been
moved back to make room for an
other in front have caused the men,
ace of the alley or rear tenement,
which all housing Investigators
agree is one of the most character
istic of the bad features Of Chicago
housing. Hardly another city in the
world would allow these old rear
shacks to go uncondemned.
"The alley houses" says an expert
investigator, "are not only objec-
tionable because the windows look
out on the dirty, ill-smelling alley,
but because they are old, in poor
repair, and in general without ade-
quate sanitary provisions. The al
lev house is much more frequently
dependent upon yard water closet
or privy than is the newly built
house."
''Little Sicily" Disease Hot-Bed.
In the district known as little
Sicily 80 per cent Of all the houses
are fronting on alleys. The ma
jority are frame houses, dark and
in poor repair. Because of these
rear tenements, according to the
University survey, Hundreds Of
people in the lower North side are
| living in houses where the condi-
tions not only cause great disconn-
fort, but are frequently dangerous
to the health of the tenants. One
of the worst features Of the condi-
ton Of the houses is the damp walls.
Frequently the roofs leak, destroy
ing the. ceiling and flooding the
floors. In numerous cases the sinks
are frozen and the water supply en-
tirely cut off. The landlords refused
to make even the most necessary
repairs. Some of the cellars are
SO damp they cannot be used. Often
they are in a condition which makes
them not only dangerous to those
! living in the cellar apartment, but
to the other occupants Of the
house. With the dilapidation Of the
buildings goes a general lack Of
cleanliness in the yards and alleys"
| Speaking of the region south OF
Polk street, a Hull House writer
saws. "Rcar tenements and alleys
form the core of this district, and
It is there that the densest crowds
of the most wretched and destitute
congregrate. Little idea can be
given of the filthy and rotten tene-
ments. the dingy courts and tumble
down sheds, the dilapidated out
houses, the broken sewer pipes, the
piles Of garbage fairly alive with
diseased odors, and Of the numbers
Of children filing every nook, work
ing and playing in every room, eat
ing and sleeping in every window
sill, pouring in and out of every
door, and seeming to pave every
scrap of yard"
1900 In Chicago Blocks.
'In the Slovak district Of the
Twentieth Ward" student Of the
Research Department Of the School
Of Philanthropy and Civics tells US,
"a house set on the rear Of the lot
means invariably two houses on the
lot, and between them q small court
or yard, sometimes only the width
Of narrow passage. This becomes
an abiding place for rubbish, even
for scraps Of rotten garbage. Water
seeps down from the higher level
of the street or alley and stands
here often in stagnant pools.
Twenty-Five per cent Of the houses
Of this district are rear or alley
tenements, and over 1000 little chill
dren live in four blocks in this
neighborhood."
mot only are the houses old,
and therefore EXEMPT FROM
| COMPLIANCE WITH OUR PRES
/ EMIT LEGAL STANDARD but
most of them are wooden. and hence