Evening star., 1932-12-19
Asks Concerted Action by
Citizens Toward Wiping
Out "SIum" Areas.
REGIONS ARE CALLED
MENACE TO CAPITAL
Reconstruction Into Minor Streets
Suggested as One Method Of
Dealing With Problem.

Concerted action by citizens and pub
lie officials toward wiping out Washing
tons alley homes, where crime and vice
and misery and disease find protection
against the safeguards and efforts Of
civilization" was urged today by Lieut.
the National Capital Park and Planning
Commission. in radio talk broadcast
by Station WJSV under the auspices of
the tuberculosis Association.
Pointing out that the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation was specifically
authorized to lend funds for the recon-
struction OF slum areas, Col. Grant
asked:
Are there not enough persons in
Washington who have the will and the
determination to grasp this opportunity
Tor bringing to successful conclusion
the efforts OF so many years."
The slums of Washington, the speak
er said, are less extensive than those
of other cities, but it is a fact that the
conditions existing in them are as bad
as anywhere in the country, If not
worse. The slums here are largely con-
centrated in self-contained little COM
munities or in the alleys within the
squares over the residential areas of
the city.
Criminals Declared Shielded.
Because of their hidden character
and freedom from observation, they af-
ford especially favorable hiding places
for criminals and for those elements
of the population which most want to
escape notice" Col. Grant said. While
in individual cases other slum condi-
tionS may still be found outside the
alleys, they are mostly due to poverty
and are to greater extent temporary.
In the alleys, slum conditions are
permanent and hav: held their own
against every effort made for over 60
years to rout them out"
Since the majority of the alley habi-
tationS are In the interior of many good
residential and first commercial squares
the speaker asserted they constitute a
menace to the city at large. Such
conditions should not be allowed to
persist in any civilized community" he
declared
much could be accomplished toward
wiping out alley dwellings or recon-
structing alleys into minor streets.
Discussing the matter from the
health standpoint, Col. Grant praised
the efforts of the Association for the
Prevention Of tuberculosis against these
conditions Of overcrowding filth, i'm.
proper housing. bad nourishment and
pad company" favorable to the spread
of tuberculosis and other diseases.
Death Rate High.
"The last complete survey" Col. Grant
said. showed the astounding prevalence
of disease and a death rate OF 80 per
1000 in the alley dwellings, as COM
pared with 1756 per 1000 in the street
population or nearly double. The death
rate for infants under one year was
373.49, as compared with 1886 per
1000 in the street population. When
We come to transmittable diseases, We
had a death rate from pneumonia Of
3109 per 100 900 among the white peo-
pie in the alleys to 117.9 outside. and
Of 1929 among the colored alley dwell
ers to 1881 outside: the corresponding
comparative figures for tuberculosis were
1865 to 1912 for the whites and 62l3
to 433.7 for the colored.
The city health officer within the
last two years gave the comparative
figures for deaths from tuberculosis as
$50 per 100000 in the alleys, TO &c IN
the rest OF the city. While the total
alley population has decreased very
slowly as buildings have become entirely
unserviceable or reconstruction has been
justified for garages and other COM
mercial use, the worst alleys have per-
sisted and the relative sanitary condi-
tions have become worse"