Evening star., 1925-02-01

| lnuch whether the law is constitu-
| tIonsi or whether the interpretations
| OF corporation Counsel Stephens car
ry out the intent Of Congress. but
what their course shall be If the
| courts rule that the alley law should
pe placed into effect. They would
SIMPLY be confronted with the thank
! less task of throwing out of doors
| several thousand alley dwellers--with-
/ out providing them with other
| shelter
1t is interesting, in discussing the
| aI4eN question, to look into how the
! problem of housing those who can
not pay more than the cheapest of
rentals has been met in other com
| munlUeS, for at some time or an
other Washington will find itself face
TO face with this problem.
Few Available Places.
Carrying out the law Will throw
slightly more than 5000 persons out
OF their homes in a city which, ac-
cording to figures presented to Con-
greSs within the last few days, has
relatively few houses At for habita-
tion at the low rentals dwellers in the
alleys can afford to pay. There
are nowhere in or near Washington
groups Of homes built by the Gov
ernment during the war TO meet war
are III various cities throughout the
East, where the war machine called
for thousands of people in a hurry
who had to be housed and who today
are buying or have bought the homes
put up 10 house them during the war.
Various suggestions have been
made to solve the problem of where
the tenants of alley dwellings will go
II evicted. One proposal has been
made that a certain portion of the
alley homes should be closed each
year, a progressive system of closing
that would give the alley home occu-
pants more time to find homes
In most cities the process of elimi-
mating alley homes has been far less
drastic and slower than the proposed
method here, according to DR.. John
NJ. Cries. chief of the division of
ho'@'ing of the Department of Com
m zee, a man thoroughly conversant
":th housing developments here and
elsewhere over many years of eX-
perienCe.
Other Cities Experiences.
II know of no city. save Washing
ton" DR. Cries said yesterday which
has attempted to have all, or even a
major part of such houses vacated at
once or ordered TO be torn down In
most cities the process has been less
drastic and slower. the local board of
health condemning the worst houses"
DR.. Cries said alleys were pro-
vided for in the original plan or lay
out of many American cities, to serve
as means of entrance CT egress to the
rear of houses and to stables He
added that the alley dwellings in
Washington ARE largely a hang over
from the days when the family living
in the house facing the street pro-
vided shelter for its employees per
forming personal services, on the
rear Of the lot or on alleys" The
alley problem in Washington, he said.
is in most respects unlike that of
other cities, although 1t does resem-
bic in many ways the problem found
in some of the larger Southern cities.
DR.. Cries regards the alley problem
OF Washington as so different from
the problems of the same character
confronting most of our large cities
that discussion of solutions at
tempted and agencies through which
the work was done seems of little
value.
Special study Advised
Boston and Cambridge, Mass, have
condemned some of the worst struc-
lures" he said. Troy, n. Y, made
a survey under the direction of the
local chamber of commerce which re-
suited in some improvements, the
business organizations of Troy build
ing new homes for many Of the alley
dwellers The department of public
works or street cleaning department
in some cities, such as Detroit has
taken UP the alley problem rather
vigorously. devoting its attention
largely to the paving and lighting of
alleys. Many other cities have taken
up their own peculiar problems and
made some headway. The Washing
ton situation, being exceptional, re-
quires local study, followed by action
depending on the facts disclosed.
through a study Of proceedings in
other cities, but in the main the
problem here must be made sub
ject of special study and treatment.
Those attempting to improve Wash
ington conditions might secure in
formation of value in a study of
attempts made to solve similar prob
lens in some of the Northern cities
as we'll as European cities.
Liverpool, England and Dublin, !
Ireland. have demolished huge areas
In later years new houses have been
built before the old houses were de-
molished. Failure to build in advance
greatly increased the crowding and
later many returned to the old houses. |
The division of housing of the Indiana
State Department of Health is pro-
ceeding to condemn some of the worst
houses, probably a few of these being
alley dwellings,
Gradual yacating Plan.
A committee of the American Civic |
A
tigation into the alley situation in
Washington. This investigation was
made by committee headed by John |
Ihlder of the Chamber of Commerce
of the United States, and its report |
suggested that new law should be
enacted providing a practicable meth |
cd for the conversion of alleys ca
pable of such conversion into streets, !
and for the gradual and progressive
vacation of dwellings, in other alleys. !
For many years public-spirited res
identS of the District have sought to
secure the vacation OF alley dwell |
ings," the report said. They have
made measurable progress through
securing the enactment by Congress
of laws prohibiting the erection of
new alley dwellings and the demoli- /
ton of such existing dwellings as
have become unfit for human habita-
tion. BY these means the number of
alley dwellers has been gradually re
duced In 1912 an investigation dis
closed 1881 houses in 275 alleys, in
habited by approximately 10000 per-
sons. A police canvass in April, 1920, |
gave an estimate of 94S5 alley dwell
ers. Alley dwellings now standing
are usually the most substantially
so they win continue to
be inhabited for a generation to come
unless additional means are found to
secure their vacation.
Bill Hastily Passed.
"A committee of citizens repre-