Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-31
BY BEN McKELWAY.

One Of the peculiaritieS of reform,
often remarked upon, is its tendency
to travel in waves. The waves roll in
and sometimes carry all before them,
while others lose momentum and die
out, or else dash themselves helplessly
against the bulwarks of some condi-
ton that will not be remedied by re-
form. All Of which leads to Washing.
tons alley situation and the 10000 or
so Washingtonians who still inhabit
the alleys many years after a great
reform was started to clean them up,
a reform which lost force as it trav.
eled and finally ended in some bubbles
and spray around the strong stone
walls of the courts. When this great
reform to clear up Washington's
sums" as they were called
then-reached its peak, the impression
generally prevailed that unless the re.
form was successful a dreadful dis
aster would at some time in the near
future befall Washington; that the
city would succumb before a menace
which every day grew more awesome
In its possibilities. Yet more than half
a decade has passed and the alleys
still remain, and the number of their
inhabitants Is about the same. Condi-
lions are bad-perhaps not as bad as
they were then, but still far from
satisfactory. They are improving, but
at the rate OF annual Improvement il
VIII be many years before the ailev
nuisance Is finally abated. One nat.
urally wonders what has become Of
the reform, whether it will be started
again some day, or whether the energy
which 1t required to start has been
expended, and the alleys, like SO MANY
other things, will be allowed to take
care of themselves.
There was time not so long ago
Wnen the alley situation commanded
the attention OF the whole CITY and
when the question of what would han
pen to the alley dwellers was one of
more than passing interest. During
President Woodrow Wilson's admins
tration. Mis- Margaret Wilson took
keen interest in social conditions in
Washington and much of the atten
ton concentrated upon the alleys and
the alley dwellers of Washington
sprang from her activity. The in
f1uence she loaned to the social work.
ers of Washington interested in the
alleys was perhaps the chief reason
for their success in obtaining remedial
legislation at the Capitol. The law
which resulted apparently ended the
evil at one stroke, for the law speci.
fed date upon which all thu alley
homes of Washington would be emp.
tied of their inhabitants. But the in
tervening years of war led to an an.
nual postponing of the fatal day. FL
naily there was year when Congress,
In the press Of other matters, apparent.
ly forgot to amend the law again and
the District authorities awoke one
morning to find Congress gone and a
law which left them no alternative
but to evict the alley dwellers. The
day approached. The District authori.
ties did not know how to evict the
alley jewellers, for there was no place
for the alley jewellers to go when evict-
ed, and they. decided that 1t would be
better to let them remain where thew
were rather than turn them all upon
the streets. So, instead of eviction
day witnessing wholesale turning
out OF 10000 or more persons from
their alley homes, it witnessed moth.
ing. A suit was filed in Equity Court
to restrain the Commissioners from ex-
ecuting the law, but instead of its
being test of the law, the court call
ed the attention of the litigants to
the fact that there was a remedy at
law and that the case was not one for
an equity court to decide.
X y X
The Commissioners therefore started
proceedings in Police Court against
one or two alley dwellers. The Pc.
lice Court ruled against the Commits
sfoners and the District Court of Ap.