tl
et
K
lUBLICDGER COMPANY
ernes it, k ctmTtB, ijnis.
, JrslnrrC, Merlin, Tfeirtr; Chtl It. XUdlngten,
JHH'! fl. Offline, John S. Wllllnmn, Dlritor.
EDITOHIAt,BOAntl
fv ft to-frrtAXET . KxuUti Editor
-. --. ,-, 1IJ -ifiin- t i, i in 11 i iii!
OKN C. MAhTIN. , . .General ouatneaa M&ntf
I'-Jbllthwl dslly at PtiiMo Lzdowi IlulMlnr,
Independence Square, Phllndelphla,
80il Cit.Mmt,. ..,,.. 4 . .Broad and Chestnut Street!
JftUttftq Cut.,, rrcsj. Union Building
jttilr TnaK . . . . , . . , 170-A, Metropolitan Tower
CmctuO...... 8tT Homo Inaurance Tlulldlng
,eix;M. ...... ..8 Waterloo Dace, Fall Mall, S. W.
NEWS BUREAUS J
MtraaijM nrmrao , ..The mirtol Ttulldlnr
WAKtaTON tH:o .....The rot llulldlnit
Kirtf roar; noD.. .c.. The Times llulldlnr
WHtH IloiKiir.,, ......... no Prledrlctiitraee
LoifsoN nuimoi.... 2 Pali Mail Bant. s. W.
rwt liviiio 83 Hue Louie le Grand
SUnSCHIPTION TERMS
Bl.tartler. Diltr OpiLt, Mx cents. Br malt, postpaid
staid of Fhlladelphla, except -where forelirn poitagt
If rHWilftd, Dit.T Ottt, one month, twenty-nve cental
mrut, Ost,T, one year, vthree dollara. All mall sub
scription payable In advance.
HEt.T., 3000 WAUNUT KFASTONE, MAIN 8000
aW Addmt all tomtHUnlcalions to Svenlnp
J,tdgtr, Mtptndtnct Square, Philadelphia,
" ' '
mxmxo at mi ynii.ADEi.rniA roiTorrics as SECOND-
CLASS MAIL UATTIt.
WH ''! c
rnitJtDEU-iiiA, mi day. jAwuAnv is. lets.
Kny people mistake envy for political eeott'
Ofnj. It U easy tor a man of moderate
income to see that a millionaire
ought to be disciplined.
Act Before It Is Too Lntc
THE protection of a people at peace In as
Important as the protection of a people at
"war.
The British nation Is at wnr and Its Gov
ernment la lislntr alt Its powers to conserve
the supplies needed for tho men In the field
and to maintain the lives of the people at
home. It has forbidden tho export of wool
and rubber save under conditions which It
lays down. Jt would forbid the export of
foodstuffs If it raised them In largo quanti
ties. But while tho British are going Into the
markets of the world to buy what they need
and aro offering; prices large enough to drain
tho richest granaries of their stock, tho Gov
ernment In Washington Is Inert.
The foreign demand for wheat Is pushing
the price so high that bread Is llkoly soon
to'becomo a luxury. All records for recent
years wero broken on the Chicago markets
yesterday. The price of flour has already
risen almost to famine figures here at home,
"where wo have tho most bountiful harvest
since white men first stepped on tho conti
nent. And the Government In Washington
' hesitates to act.
"But It must act. It must exercise Its
sovereign powers and put an embargo on the
hlpment of wheat until the price comes
down to a reasonable figure. And when the
prco Is' down It must limit exports to such
.. an amount as we can spare without injury
to tho poorest laboring man.
"We are at peace, and hunger confronts the
working men; we are at peace, and the chil
dren will soon be begging for bread; we are
at peace, and the aged will be thankful for
a crust unless tho Government puts up the
bars and stops the flow of the very bread of
lit" to other shores to feed other peoples.
If we wero at war it would not hesitate
to keep our food supplies at home. If It
does not act soon It will be too late.
Let it save our food supply while there
ts still time.
The Greatness of the Delaware.
MORE than one-third of the tonnage of
ships built In the United States in 1914
"eras constructed at the shipyards on the
Delaware Itiver. The short stretch of the
stream from thlB city to Wilmington Is one
of the greatest ship building centres in the
world. The construction companies here are
p capable of turning out vessels which will
bear comparison with the best produced
aUewhere. These shipyards are a great
national aBset, the value of which in time of
war pr In time of peace cannot be over
art lrrfated.
But Philadelphia has not done Its full duty
when It iias swelled with pride at the con
templation of Its shipbuilding supremacy.
Thp pelaware must become not only the
centre of this greatest shipyards In" the
United States, but the greatest shipping
centre of tho world. This is a maritime
nation. It has reached that stage in its
development when it must command the
facilities ' for ocean transportation through
the ownership by Its merchants of great
freight and passenger ships. There la no
erther place so admirably situated for the
command of the raw materials of shlpa as
the port of Philadelphia and the Delaware
Riyer. Wb are at the door of the great steel
milts and at the heart of a dense industrial
population, and with tho intelligent and
sympathetic co-operation of tho State and
National governments we can do much In
the next few years to assist in realising1 that
vision of n magnificent merchant marine
which has appeared to men of imagination
and foresight.
A "Yardstick for Politicians
The statesman, you know. Is the man who
can take an Impersonal view of politics.
Weodrow Wilson to Samuel Q, Blythe.
TOM REED'S remark that only dead politi
cians are statesmen is only an epigram;
lit tWs obiter dictum of the President, ut
tf red In. tho course of along conversation with
, skillful interviewer, Is a political and moral
philosophy, a system of ethics and a religion,
an rolled In one. Although, as Goethe said,
the ego may be the centre of every human
circle and the difference In men may be
measured hy the difference In the length of
the radius which reaches to the circumfer
ence, there are men so pig that the casual
splorsx starting from the rim gets lost In
dmlratioa before he reaches the centre.
But to descend from the general to the pare
tJcular, one or two men in the Cabinet are
ejeubtlesa wondering whether the President
was making any personal allusions when he
framed bis definition.
Tbes DUgaating Mexican Muddle
VIWjA Is preparing to destroy Carransa
tin Pamuwa, I getting ready to wipe
ami V1JJ and Washington is waiting until
fuwthw convention, selects another dummy to
ct a President In the hope that It can find
atmn esftuao for undoing the previous
WuKriita In Us Mexican policy, This seems
t be the present situation so far as it can
fc gathered from the conflicting reports.
thm President's references to Mwclco in
feta. Infliaimpolis speech, which the New
Tor Herald has characterised as, the sever
est er-twism of the pwltey of the AdralnU
bwpt tha has been tittered, indicate that
. Miitmoa sw to be permitted tu kill
isf mrm to Oseie fcmit'a't mtet without
t,mmmm ' JMWliUbait vi KMiuaploA.
i i
They aro fighting for "freedom' now, and
they must be permitted to struggle along till
they find some solution and we must keep
our hands off. This extreme Of Indifference
Is as Unwise and hs unstfttesmanllke ns tho
Other extreme of deciding for tlld Mexicans
what they ought to do for themselves.
Meanwhile, Americans and other foreign
ers across the border must submit to all
Sorts of outrages, while Secretary Bryan re
fuses to raUe his hand to protest. It must
be said, to the credit of the Administration,
that It has sent a representative to the
Southwest to ask the Mexicans If they will
please be so kind as to refrain from shoot
ing Americans on American soil, and nt the
samo time to tell the Americans to bo care
ful to keep out of range of the bullets.
If You Want to Vote in March You Aro
for It If Not, You Arc Against It
GATHEItlNG or marching together, tens
upon tens of thousands of earnest, back
boned citizens lost night branded the Taylor
transit plans with their approval and shoved
the whole proposition up to Councils in so
vigorous a manner that trifling with the
routine of Its passage need not bo antici
pated, and. If attempted, would translate it
self Into a deluge sweeping plgmy-mlnded
and plgmy-actlng men Into the discard.
The time has passed to argue serloUBly
whether or not Philadelphia shall have rapid
transit. Men do not ask If It Is wise to have
water to drink, food to cat, clothes to wear.
There are some things the necessity of which
is axiomatic, and to the tens of hundreds of
thousands In our metropolitan district high
speed transit Is one of them.
Of Importance almost equal to the cam
paign of education which has been waged
Is the manner of Us conduct. Never before,
we surmise, has a city mot a public service
corporation with a hand so opon and a mlhd
so fair, A tidal wave of public hostility
might have been stirred up against the ex
isting company. Instead, It has In no way
been attacked. Full credit has been given
It for its obvious and wholly commendable
efforts to give full benefit with tho facilities
at hand. So, too, dollar for dollar, tho city
proposes to protect the company's Invest
ment, permitting It to stabilize its franchises
and establishment and share to the full In
the prosperity of the city.
The cordiality of relations between munici
palities and public service corporations In
America will be lost and decades of progress
swept aside if the generosity of Philadelphia
In the present Instance Is ignored and tho
company, of its own accora or uirouau m
subsidiaries, attempts to sow and harvest in
the political field. And so unanimous is
public feeling In favor of rapid transit, that
opposition In Councils would be odorous and
tho taint of suspicion fasten on each and
every obstructionist. More, to delay Is to
obstruct. A June election If you are against
transit; a March election if you are for It.
Boles Penrose Is for the program, definitely
and without equivocation. So ho has written.
The whole public Is for it. Who, then, can
hold It up 7 Unless discipline in tho Organi
zation Is lost, what Boles Penrose says Is
Its law. All, all are on tho band wagon ex
cept a few stockholders of the Union Trac
tion Company who happen to be receiving,
three times a generous interest on the funds
they have Invested. But even it these few
stockholders hold up their own company they
cannot hold up Philadelphia. That was the
message of the demonstration last night a
message to Councils and a message to the
Union Traction Company, a command to the
one and a stern warning to the other.
Let dirt Instead of scandal fly this summer,
for unless shovels are busy with the' one
Investigation will be busy with the other.
The transit plans cannot honestly be defeated
In Councils nor can the election honestly be
postponed until June.
Auguries of Sanity.
THE floods In the Delaware and Schuylkill
valleys hare reached and passed high
water mark:. But more remarkable than the
height of the rushing waters is the absence
of a flood of exaggeration about the loss of
life and property. Previous freshets have
been accompanied by heartrending tales of
Buffering, only to be denied as soon as the
crest of the wave had passed. There is no
longer a cry of "Wolf! Wolf!" when there
la no wolf.
We were surfeited with stories of atroci
ties In the first weeks of the war, but It has
been difficult, if not impossible, to verify
one-tenth of the horrors. And now the dis
criminating reader discounts all outrage
yarns about 90 per cent, and suspends Judg
ment as to the rest. We ore growing a little
saner and are using our Judgment in weigh
ing the probabilities of evil before swallow
ing every superlative of horror that gains
currency at the hands of sensation mongers.
This is a sign of Increasing public Intelli
gence as well as of a better mental balance.
Governor Bleasa has, and South Carolina
Is. resigned.
All reports from Alabama Indicate the ap
proach of a great drouth.
Those who remembered the old saying
about architects and fortunes knew that
Paul Cret was too good an architect to ap
prove any plan which provided for his un
timely taking off In Europe.
The New Tork boss who sold a nomination
for a Judsblp d tha maa wno bought the
nomination are now In Sing. Sing prison
thinking about the men whom they know
have done tb m thing without getting
caufht.
if a merchant ship, drawing 29 feet, can
load at the Philadelphia wharves, what is to
prevent a Government collier of the same
draft from taking on Pennsylvania coal at
the same plaeeT I it politics, cowardice or
Inemejencyt
WW Senator Borah, whosays that thePres
ident ia a o after the type of Murphy, of
Tanwaany Hall, please read Mr. Bryan's
letter oo the Jmportanee of finding plaeea for
dwsu-vuis DmoraU in Baa DomJnio ad
.i...... ,. i .. . - . ,, i.M..,
WASHINGTON A SPOILED
AND SJELFISH VILLAGE
Its Menial Altitude Responsible for
Freak Legislation Put the Capitol
in a Real City and It "Would Hum.
By EDWARD W, TOWNSEND
IP THE national legislatures working In
London, Paris, Berlin nnd Homo enact
lnoro businesslike, losii unsound and eccen
tric legislation ttinn Is passed here In Wash
ington, ono reason for that excellence Is be
cnttso tho work Is dono In blff, grown-up
cities.
Washington In a vlllugo In lis mental
processes; a British nnd spoiled little town
In Its civic Ideals and aspirations; no big
governmental problom attracts Its attention;
tho beginning and end of Its Interest In
Congress is that half the coHt of carrying on
District affairs shall bo met by expenditure
of federal taxes appropriated by Congress.
The' test of good citizenship hero Is that a
man be ready to die, If need bo, In defenso
of hi privilege of paying but one-half of
his Just shnro for tho support of public
schools, police nnd Are departments nnd
such benefits.
If this were tho only handicap to Washlng
' ton as n national capital, the following re
marks would bo without a ralson d'etre.
There nro others. One-third of the popula
tion of tho District Is black, the other two
thirds aro civil servlco clerks and their fami
lies, not to mention tho ncgllglblo number of
Congressmen, Administration officials and
Idle rich.
No one votes in the District; the polling
placo Is unknown, tho ballot-box Is no moro
a thing of substance than Is Pandora's.
There are no variations of good nnd bad
times to make the rltizens sit up nnd tako
notice, to inquire as to the causes of such
stimulating variety.
Mental Dope
At tho end of ench month Uncle Sam un
straps his wallet, be It thin or fat, and pays
oft In full twelve times a year, and tho
tradesmen have Just ns many customers
each, with as much money In hard times ns
In flush. Theso conditions produce a mental
atmosphero devoid of snap, of punch, of pep.
If George Bernard Shaw wero to II vo for a
week In a certain corner of California which
Is below sea level he would write If he could
write nt nil stark banalltlec. 'The physical
atmosphere there Is mental dope. You get
me?
I pniiRB right here to nssert that I am not
of those who hold the Congtcss in dlnes
teem for lacking In Intelligence and pro
found purpose to serve their fellow-citizens
well. They aro admirable In those and many
other respects. They work In unfortunate
environment; that's what I am coming to.
Many Are Truly Rural
Now, to resume. Tf we wero nil fnr-trnv-eled
men of varied worldly experience it
would yet bo unfortunate that we aie moro
or less influenced by tho placid, uninspiring.
Sleepy Hollow mental ntmosphero of tho
District. But, one repeats, we are not nil
of that kind. Some of us a lot! come from
rural dlBtrlctB which we leave for tho first
time when wo entrain for Washington; wo
bring rural antl-clty prejudices with us; we
are convinced that Wall street with its like
In other big cities is a den of highwaymen;
that only pickpockets, ttrumpets nnd rakes
promenade world-famous streets oi Amer
ica's great cities; that thoso who make their
money by big buslnoss aro no better than
the lost, and that, bankers and biokers ire
worse than the lost.
That's no Joke.
There Is nothing In the life or atmos
phere of Washington to overturn these ttol
Idly built conclusions. They persist, and
some wonderful legislative notions find ex
pressions therefrom. If ono of tho qualifi
cations for election to Congress, cither Sen
ate or tho House, were a year's residence
after majority In Now Orleans, San Fran
cisco, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia or New
York, It's pesos to peanuts we'd talk less
and legislate better.
Scared tn Death
1'ntll you've heard serious expression
given to it It In hard to believe that there
are men In Congress who are afraid to go
to New York. I suppose that a popular
brand of New York letter carried by many
tank station weekly papers must be respon
sible for this wonder. Senator Hughes
when he was in the House had a pal from
a far-Southern State who, after many mis
givings, agreed to go with Hughes on a
personally conducted trip to New York.
Near train time Hughes called for his friend,
and found him In his hotel room gruntlng
and itweitir, over his suitcase. After some
violent effurts he straightened up, holding
a six-shooter ns long as his arm, remarking,
"I can't get It in the case nohow. I'll hnve
to pack it," and ha started to conceal the
pistol in the amplo tail pocket of his long
frock coat,
"Say." remarked Hughes wearily, "If you
carry that cannon into Manhattan the first
cop we meet will spot it, take it away from
you and Blap you on the wrist."
"But, Billy," protested the Southerner, "do
you think I'm going to trust myself in New
York without taking a gun?"
Hughes was firm, but he had a hard time
Inducing his friend to go unarmed Into, as It
were, the Jaws of death.
ThTfl was a member from Georgia, an
able lawyer, a good parliamentarian, honest,
sincere. On any subject not related to the
wickedness of New York's Money Devils he
debated brilliantly. If the House were going
Into committee of the whole on a bill which
might surnmon the Money Devils to the floor,
Speaker Clark would sometimes call that
man, Koddenbury was his name, to the
chair, literally for the sake of his health,
for he could not debate in the chair.
Bodderibury could throw himself Into an
ecstasy of rage by repeating the names of
certain Money Devils and "trusts." He did
this one day, and I saw Doctor Wilson watch
him for a time, then move over to a seat
by his side. When Boddenbury eat down
he was white, trembling, exhausted,
"That chap Is killing himself," Doctor
Wilson remarked. Koddenbury died a month
later; "heart failure." '
It's a Question of Travel
Of course, a general retort to what I've
been saying would be that it la as desirable
that city members should know the country
as that country members should know the
city. True. Fortunately they do. City
people who can afford to travel much more
than do country people wh$ can afford, to.
So I shall not conceal from my readers
longer the precise point I'm driving at The
national capital should be pile of tho nation's
ms4 cUiw Auy mt tba-t KesUoawt
,i i .in,, tii ii ii i i '
would do. Our Federal lawmakers should
bn benefited by the mental awakening Which
comes from contact with great multitudes
nf nil soils, from tho vailcty of Interests a
blc city forces, upon consldeiatlon. It would
be hopeless to urgo this If thoso whom their
fellows sent to Congress were not. In all
tt nth. mighty good material, easily able to
shed their prejudices and fnlso preconcep
tions If they wero rubbed n bit the right
way. I havo my doubt If Lloyd George
would have developed In Washington as he
has in London, His Welsh prejudices would
not luivo been unbound and dropped. Theie
aro many Lloyd Georges In Congress, no
doubt, nnd just ns soon as I lay my hand on
my Aladdin's lamp I shall give It a rub nnd,
presto! the maglo enrpet will havo carried
away the Capitol, White Houso, monument
and no, I'd leave the other buildings there,
turn tho District back to Maryland, nnd let
that Hta'e, If It wanted to, move In Its capi
tal there.
POSEIDON, THE EARTH-SHAKER
How Earthquakes Affect the Human Mind.
From Mythology to Brotherhood.
"fTIHE world do move." It is not terra
JL flrma, nfter nil. Earthquakes are but In
cidents of long, slow movoments which
through ages raise and lower the land, modi
fying the heights and tho depths and giving
tho seas no resting place. But, In Ignorance
or In knowledge, tho Incidents mako the
stronger Impression on tho human mind.
They aie more spectacular. They are
more tiaglc. Tho earthquake which made
Euboea an island in 425 B. C; the earth
quake wMeh permanently raised the coast
of Chile In 1S22: tho one which overthrew
Lisbon and destroyed 50,000 people; the ono
which swallowed 100,000 of the inhabitants
of I'tklii; the one which set San Francisco
aflre, these are but incidents In geologic
history but how profoundly they have af
fected the mind of manl
Tho long series of seismic disturbances
which are chronicled In Japanese history has
had an effect on the mental and moral char
acter of the people. Several earthquakes are
annually commemorated by special services
at temples After the hhock of 1S91, when
nearly 10,000 lives were lost, Indications of
mental excitement among the wounded were
shown by , spinal nnd nervous diseases.
Whether It be poetical fancy or superstition,
it Is said that under Japan lives a catfish
which shakes the earth when it becomes
restless. In other countries the creature is
a mole, a hog, or an elephant.
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 furnished
tho theme of many a sermon. Some of the
English clergy held that Lisbon was de
stroyed hecnuse Its Inhabitants were Cath
olics. Muny of the survivors, however, at
tributed the disaster to tho fact that they
had tolerated a few Protestant heretics In
their midst. So, to prevent another visita
tion of wrath, they baptised many oi these
heretics by force. Other similar disasters,
like tho Charleston earthquake, have given
rise to pulpit anathema against heresy and
impiety.
In ancient times governments recognized
earthquakes ns visitations of an angry deity
and tried to Insure themselves against the
future by repealing stringent laws and taxes.
A wholo subterranean mythology grew up
among ancient peoples, Biblical history
takes note of It, The Decalogue refers to
the ovll geniuses which Imagination and
earthquakes created. "Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven iniage, or any like
ness of anything that Is In the earth
beneath." Pluto, Poseidon and Vulcan, of
classical mythology, are deities of similar
origin.
Poseidon of the trident, god of the sea and
water, disputed with other gods the posses
sion of the land. One of his numerous ap
pellations was Enoatchthon, the "Earth
shaker." He was worshiped not only by the
sea-coast people but by the people of Inland
places who hod suffered from earthquakes,
which were thought to be his work. Selsmla
waves were also of his making. His wrath
destroyed Haltce In Achaea. It was Poseidon
also who raised the isle of Delos above the
In all ages, even down to the present,
muob mythology, and muoh superstition as
well, have sprung from the yawning cracks
and chasms torn in the rocks, by earth
quakes. But this Is not the Impression gen
erally made on the' human mind today by
such a geologic Incident as that which has
Just devastated the hills of Abrutzi and
destroyed many thousands of live. The day
of the angry god has gone by. We seek not
to appease the wrath of Poseidon. We make
no graven Imeges to the deities of the lower
world. Our response is rather in terms of
human klndnew Brotherhood Is the Inter
pretation oi earthquakes. "The world da
.iiiii,.ii.,l.i..i.ii.ii.' niiiiiMiiii. i
"WAR, EARTHQUAKE WHAT NEXT?"
THE TRUTH ABOUT
Philadelphia's Disgraceful Tenements
Every Citizen Should Know
By C. II. LUDINGTON
rmldcnt Octarla Hill Allocation
TEN years ago mo Idea that Philadelphia,
tho "City of Homes," had no serious hous
ing problem was prevalent. Peoplo thpught
only of the steudlly growing areas of com
fortable small houses that were spreading
outwnrd In nil directions and complacently
assumed that there wore no slum conditions
that menaced tho health and moral well-being
of the community. Those who hnd studied
the matter, howover, know that while Phila
delphia had no tonoment-houso problem such
as New York has, It had for years been de
veloping conditions that were Btrlkingly sim
ilar to those of London, which has been con
sidered ono of tho worst cities of Europe In,
this regard.
Year by year since then the situntlon Ex
isting in this city has been brought beforo
the peoplo and before tho State and city gov
ernments, and while some progress toward
Improvement has been made, It has been rela
tively small, nnd the conditions existing to
day In large sections of the older part of the
city nro a disgrace to a municipality of the
wealth and standing of Philadelphia.
No Immunity
More than a year ago tho Legislature cre
ated a Division of Housing and Sanitation
in the Department of Health and Charities
of Philadelphia, empowered to supervise and
control all housing and sanitary conditions
within the city, and today wo find the city
Councils still stubbornly persisting In their
refusal to provide the necessary funds for or
ganizing this division. It is perhaps too
much to expect an "organlzation"-controlled
body like Councils to take willingly any step
that would tend to make the exploitation of
the tenement-house districts less profitable,
but mere enlightened self-Interest should Im
pel every good citizen to demand action on
this really moderate step toward Improve
ment. One of the marked features of this city Is
that there la no clear separation nf the busi
ness and better residence sections on the one
hand from the Bo-called slums on the other.
Filth-strewn, unhealthful alleys are found
near the business streets or Just back of
handsome residences. The man or woman
who rubs elbows with you in the surface cars
may come directly from the alley house or
tenement where exist disease-breeding con
ditions with which you would never know
ingly venture Into contact. These neglected
districts foster Immorality and disease the
contagion of which permeates to the remotest
sections.
It is, of course, In the older portions of the
city that these more conspicuous and danger
ous conditions prevail. In general, they may
be summed up as follows;
Hard Fscts For a ToHto World
First. An Intricate network of alleys and
courts, covering the Interiors of blocks and
the crowding together of houses so closely
that few of them have any open spaces at
the front or aides, and In many the only win
dows are at the front, opening on narrow,
filthy courts with no possibility of thorough
ventilation.
Second, No underground drainage Jn many
of these courts, refuse and slops going into
the gutters and frequently Btandlng In foul,
stagnant pools at the house doors. Stables
are not uncommon in close proximity to
dwellings, with unprotected manure pits
sometimes next to the walls and under the
windows of small houses, I
Third. The old evil of utterly inadequate
water supply has been tn a large measure
remedied by the enforcement of the recent
act providing that every dwelling shall have
one fixture or source of supply except where
it Is on a court or common front yard and
has no rear or side yard, when one fixture
may supply three houses. As regards toilet
accommodations, the conditions are still very
bad, Broken and defective plumbing Is gen
eral, and a large part of the tenants In these
houses are compelled to put up with closets
and privy vaults In a condition of which tho
polite world would be unwilling to be told.
Where One Cen't fle Decent
Fourth. There are some large tenements
built before the tenement house act of 1S9S
whloh are bad In type, but the great roa
Jority of the houses legally classed as tene
ments are old "converted" dwelling houses,
originally built for one family, but now oc
cupied by from two to six distinct house
holds. Ten years ago the conditions in these
bouses were deplorable, but the law govern
ing them has now been enforced for many of
them.
THE "CITY OF HOMES'
t
and Worse Indifference Facts That!
Municipality and Workingman.
como mainly In the tenement class, and rtl
particularly objectionable hi that their oc!
cupnnts belong so largely to the lowestl
grades. They are generally dilapidated anitj
dirty and the furniture of the scantUt,i
often little more thah beds and bcddlnM
which are filthy In the extreme.
There nre nlso to bo considered tho chtap:
boarding houses nnd "rooming" houses th&t
and women who have come to the city fromii
outside for employment. The most danger-'
ous feature here is the insufficiency of tolUt'4
accommodations, which renders proper 'ptU"
vacy impossible and often leads to !mmoi
rauty.
Fifth. Overcrowding la general In both th.jj
tenements and "furnlshod-room" houses! ail
well as In the smaller dwellings where lodg.;
ers nre taken. It Is not uncommon to find an
entire family with only one room for kitchen,!
dining room and bedroom. As many as seven"
persons of all ages and -exes may be founds
slocplng in one room, which serves as kitchen 1
as well. Cleanliness, pilvacy or nnythlnf
like home life nro impossible, Contagloul
diseases spread with certain rapidity lindj
physical and moral deterioration is InevM
table. The taking In of lodgers Is most cora.j
mon; for example, one couple sharing three!
rooms wim is lodgers, or a family of three
with 11 lodgers In a three-room apartment,!
Mixtn. inner evils are Insanitary, in-
drained collars, yards piled with rubbish andfi
filth, animalH of various kinds kept on th
same lots with dwellings and often actually,!
within the houses.
He Hasn't the Price
Another feature of the problem ,today 191
Philadelphia Is the fact that the laboring'
man who can affoid to pay less than 15 peri
month rental hns no alternative but to IU'
in these older districts. The blocks on blockis
of dwellings thnt have been and are being!
built In all tho newer sections nre beyond
his reach. These house are for the working
man who can pay more than 116 per monthj
In rent.
No one Is providing new dwellings far fh
JO-to-JH-per-month tenant. There li ntj
enough profit In It to attract the builder. TM2
urgency of this condition is becoming te.cn J
year clearer, and public-spirited citizens wlHj
doubtless be willing to provide sufficient cspi
ltal to demonstrate the possibility of build
Ing houses to meet this need, In which der
cent living standards are maintained and
moderate return secured on the Investment i
Serious thdught Is being given to this mat
ter today, and It ts safe to predict that lucai
undertakings will be begun In the near wj
turo. Philadelphia is "behind other cities
this matter, as was pointed out In a rece
article In this newspaper, but It Is probably!
top much to expect that such private entr-
prises will ever fully meet the needs of
"city,
Toronto's Way
If not, the municipality Iteelf will In time
have to tako hold of the problem In a com;
prehepslve way. As Is being done In TorwU9
today, the city should be prepared to Wf;
pish the capital or lond Its credit toward
building of proper dwellings for the laboring!
classes. In no other way will the ultimate!
requirements of the situation be adequately!
met.
It will further in time have to face th
necessity o cleaning out the worst of tWU
alum districts. In the "Housing of the TOir,,
Ing Classes," published In 1895, Edward BoT" ,
maker says; "So firmly convinced are '
of dangers attending this class o? property
that wa unhesitatingly declare for '5" "
demolition of all such exlstlna premlW a"3 3
the replacing of them by houses of a betlerj
and more healthy type." This Is the elty'
work, and the necessity for it will ultimatm
be realized. It may seem Utopian today, lPi
the face of the present attitude of Coup1''1,
toward voting the money for even a raoit'
ate measure of necessary supervision an i
control but In time, the example of or
progressive communities and the realization
of their pwn direct Interest In tha matwr w
the citizens will bring It about.
WHAT, OF THE NIGHT t
Mter, what of the tuebiT
Child, night Is not at ui
Anywhere ftun or to fall.
Have in our star-stricken y
forth of our eye It takes flight,
LaoU we but orwfr nor beta
Nm hfhlcii u, but straight m l
Night U ai Uuut say more.
VI z
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