Evening star., 1954-06-09
Funds 10 Fight S|ums
Listed as Must in
D. {. Budget Pleas

Appropriations to broaden the
Districts attack on slumS are a
must" in the coming fiscal year.
Health Director Daniel L. Seek
niger made this one of his chief
premises in testimony, released
today. before closed sessions Of
the House Appropriations sub
committee on the District.
DR.. Seckinger testified on May
"A that the $4,000 requested for
eight more sanitation inspectors
would help cure the horrible
conditions" now prevalent in the
broken down housing areas Of
the Nations Capital.
Another request, totaling more
Cnan $4,000 to provide nearly
20 additional building inspectors
and aides for the Licenses and
Inspections Department was
made by Col. Giles L. Evans,
acting director of the depart
ment, to further the fight on
deteriorating dwellings.
Personnel Held Vital.
Col. Evans, an Assistant Engi-
neer Commissioner of the Dis
trict, declared: 1--WE cannot ex-
pect or hope to go ahead with
any major impetus on this i'm
proved housing, the elimination
Of blight and so on unless we
do have some such personnel
assistants"
The hearings were held before
the issue Of consolidation houS-
ing inspections in the Licenses
Inspection Department was
raised.
OF the housing situation, DR..
Seckinger declared that the city
has had a rude awakening to
the prevalence of crime, disease,
the mental illness and social
evils which exist in our slums
with insanitary environment,
overcrowding and substandard
housing. :"
Look for CaSelOad Drop.
Commissioner Samuel Spencer
and Brig. Gen. Louis w. PrentiSs,
Engineer Commissioner, agreed
that, If major inroads" on the
slum situation can be made with
the help of the additional funds
requested, "it ought to be re-
flected in reduced caseloads for
the welfare, health and police
departments"
The Commissioners won at
least one congressional ally in
Representative Fernandez, DEM
ocrat. of New Mexico. Declared
Mr.. Fernandez:
"The people Of the District of
Columbia and we are
looking to you to see that the job
is done. I, for one, feel that we
ought to give whatever assist
ance you need because, if
we do not give you the tools with
which to work, it will be our re-
Sponsibility if we fail"
Inferior housing conditions
were tied into the Districts tu-
berculosis problem, described as
serious, since the local rate of
infection is more than double
that of the national average.
IF you would see where the
people live in certain dwellings
here where there may be
number of families in them, you
would understand" DR.. Seek
niger testified.
In response to questions, Dep
uty Health Director Frederick c.
Heath had this to say:
These people who before had
been in these very low slum
areas and had been moved out
to better environments living
under more ideal situations have
had the amount of tuberculosis
become less, and their resistance
is higher. not only for tuber-
culosiS but for the other as
sociated diseases as well.
I'VE feel without qualifica-
ton that the damp, Substandard
places with inadequate facili-
ties and overcrowding do
definitely cause more of the
disease than would otherwise be
found in the more healthy en-
vironment."
Included in the Health De-
partment request is q $3.3 mil