The Washington times., 1938-01-04
SLUMCLEARANCE
THEORY BLASTED
BY TIMES PROBE
Writer Discovers Poor
Want New Homes
BY JULIA BONWIT

BY JULIA BONWIT
Certain persons have objected
to public, and even private spend.
ing for slum clearance, on the
theory that slum dwellerS prefer
their present dwellings. and that
even were they given better houses,
they would soon be turned into
further slums.
With the cooperation of various
local agencies, The Washington
Times has set out to discover the
basis for this theory-if any.
Results of the survey did not
Justify the objections.
WOULD LIKE CHANCE
Slum dwellers, it was discovered,
would definitely prefer to move
out of the slumS into better homes
nothing sumptuous, but some
thing comfortable.
On the second point, it became
apparent that slums are not made
by slum dWellerS, but exist for
easy profit and the convenient
absorption of people who have no
place else to live.
Given roomy, light, well-venti-
lated dwellings, for a rent they
could afford to pay, slum dwellers
would cease to exist and slumS
would disappear.
In some homes visited, where
kerosene lamps lighted up holes
in the walls and on the floors,
and where a small stove in the
middle of the room often barely
gave off sufficient heat, the slum-
mers expressed a preference for
their present dwellings-allowing
for certain Improvements.
'Ye-I, we likes it here" one
colored woman said. I'VE has
our friends and it's close to my
husbands work. Anyhow we
can't afford nuthin else"
WOULD LIKE SUBURBS
This woman represents a class
Of slum dwellers who have lived
in the slums all their lives and
who do not know that tile bath.
tubs exist for anybody but the
rich.
By and large, however, the slum
dwellers would prefer to move into
cleaner surroundings, and, if they
could afford the carfare, into out
lying sections of the city, where
their children could play with
safety in clean air.
The demands of the ill-housed
are in fact very simple. Where it
, might be supposed that movies
had filled them with a desire for
Hollywood villas, they want in
stead running water, an inside
bathroom, room for r&ore beds
and kitchen Without beds.
Sometimes they dream of al
house with a garden, but usually
they philosophically relegate such
an eventuality to the realm Of the
impossible.
DEPENDS ON TENANTS
It is thought in some quarters
that the slums are filthy and in.
tested with disease because of theI
people who inhabit them. Yet It'll
can hardly be blamed on them
that their absentee landlords per.
init the existence of ratholes and
fail to haul away trash.
1t also would be unwiSe to make
generalizationS concerning inte-
riorS of the dwellings. Some oil
them show evidence of poor house
keeping, some of them are really
dirty. and a great many Of them
are spotlessly clean.
However, those who live in well.
kept homes and who have never
seen the conditions under which
slum dwellers live might not be
able to enviSion the difficulties of
maintaining decent standards OIL
housekeeping in dark rooms, where
walls and floors are in a deplor-
able state of repair and where
there is no closet space at all.
MANY HANDICAPs
It Is quite a blow, for instance,
to good housekeeping when every
bit Of water used in the household
must be taken from a faucet pump
in the back yard and carried to a
coal stove for heating, and then
dragged to the floor where the
baby is to be bathed.
Difficulties are also encountered
when the cooking, eating, laun-
dering, bathing and sleeping are all
done in one room. And if there are
no closets, clothes must certainly
hang some placeS-on the walls or
behind doors.
Despite these handicaps, how
ever, the majority of slum resi-
dences are neatly kept.
HOW IT WORKS OUT
It would therefore seem errone.
Gus to conclude that slum dwell
ers themselves make Slums.
Slum areas in Washington con-
Sist primarily of alley homes in
the first instance, dilapidated
houses in decadent sections, and