Evening star., 1934-06-24
Coodby, Alley Ugliness!

condemned and razed hundreds OF
such shacks was permitted to pass out
of existence when Congress enacted
the law establishing a permanent
commission form of government.
This omission was bitterly deplored
by DR.. Smith Townshend, District
health officer, in his report for 1880,
when, pleading for re-enactment OF
the language of the regulation, he
wrote:
IF it is considered advisable to
have houses in which people live,
congregate or assemble deficient in
the provisions essential to health,
then we are certainly working in vain.
If leaky roofs, damp walls and un-
healthy rooms are not prejudicial to
health in houses and it is not neces-
sary to have them free from filthy
and offensive matter, then I am sure
the yards and surroundings could also
be left to foul accumulations and de-
fective drainage"
Unfortunately. Congress was not
sufficiently aroused at that period to
the evil consequences of unwholesome
housing conditions. The recommenda-
ton of DR.. Townshend fell on deaf
ears and for a period of II years
the cause of housing reform, while
possessing adherents, made no prog
ress Under such circumstances con-
ditions in the alleys became worse
and a crisis was reached in the early
nineties, when Washington sensed
the social welfare movement which
then had begun to make itself evi-
dent throughout the country. Pioneers
in the local housing crusade, seizing
the opportunity to improve living con-
ditions in the alleys, successfully
urged on Congress the crying need of
remedial legislation to prevent the
further spread of alley dwellings in
Washington.
Acts Passed in 1892.
In 1892 the National Legislature re-
sponded to the agitation for housing
betterment in the Federal City by
three separate enactments. One of
these prohibited construction of dwell
ings in alleys less than 80 feet wide
and not supplied with sewers, water
mains and lighting facilities. Erec-
tion of residential buildings in blind
alleys was fatty forbidden. The Sec
ond of these laws authorized the Dis
trict Commissioners. under certain
conditions, to open. widen and
straighten alleys This act was
amended in 1894 to allow the Com
missioners to convert alleys into minor
streets.
In addition to these laws Congress
approved a joint resolution comforting
on the Municipal Government heads
extensive powers to make and enforce
police regulations deemed necessary
for the protection of lives, limbs,
health, comfort and quiet of all per-
sons and the protection of all prop
erty within the District of Columbia. y
These early efforts to correct the
growing menace of the alleys proved
inadequate. Their operation was so
hedged about by legal restrictions that
the good accomplished was largely a
matter Of negation. The laws did
check the increase in the number of
alley dwellings in certain quarters, but
tied the hands of the Commissioners
in effecting a clearance of the con-
cealed slumS. Congress recognized the
shortcomings of these laws in 1905
when a revision of the statutes af-
fecting the alleys was undertaken.
The resolution permitting the Com
missioners to exercise regulatory power
in the interests of public safety and
comfort was not Immediately eval-
uated at its real worth Not until
1897 did the city heads use the power
thus given them to promulgate a
series of regulations concerning the
occupancy Of buildings and grounds
On these regulations the Health De-
partment relies largely today in its
efforts to allay the worst aspects OF
bad housing conditions and to prose-
cute persons failing to maintain SAINT
tary conditions in and about their
dwellings.
Civic Center Launches Study.
Undoubtedly the most energizing in
huence in the better housing cam
paign of the nineties was the organi-
zation of the Civic Center. a group
of public-spirited Washingtonians who,
in 1894, Immediately after the forma-
ton of the center, undertook an in
quiry into alley conditions. This in
veStlgation continued until 1896 and
covered 19l dwellings in 35 alleys.
The report of the Committee on
Housing aroused public Indignation
against the alleys. For the first time
in the history of Washington an as
sociation of private individuals had
dragged the ugly truth about the al
leys into the light. The alleys were
shown to be the fountain-head of
crime, vice, disease and juvenile de-
linquency in the District Housewives
were warned that their waSherwomen
and the maids who attended little
children lived under conditions con-
ducive to contagion. Thinking people
were alarmed and angry. The spirit
of INDICATION had not subsidized in 1897
when DR.. George M. Kober, as chair
man of the Housing Committee of the
Civic Center, stated:
THE attention of capitalists should
be drawn to the fact that no class
Of realty pays as well as alley prop
erty in this city, and that there is q
splendid field for investment in the
erection Of sanitary and comfortable
alley houses on a business and hui
manitarian basis,
The Commissioners answered the
outcry against the alleys by the issu.
ance of the health regulations pre-.
viously mentioned, and by the ap.
pointment of committee to examine
housing conditions of the poor anc
report back plan for permanent re.
lief
Gen. George NJ Sternberg, as chair.
man of the subcommittee directly ir
charge of this inquiry, made a prompt
report, in which the need for proper
municipal authority to condemn unfit
housing was stressed. Following thu
submission of this report, the Civic
Center called a public meeting to dis.
cuss the housing of wage earners.
This assembly assisted materially ii
cryStallizing the sentiment of the al.
ley reform workers. The twin object.
of the crusade became clear, the elm.
ination of unfit housing and the cree.
ton of sanitary, low-cost dwellings fol
the poorly paid. The latter cause wa!
served by the organization in 1897 o.