Show BAD TENEMENT HOUSES Some time ago commission was appointed ap-pointed to investigate the condition of the New York tenement houses Richard Rich-ard Watson Gilder was made chairman of this commission Its investigation has resulted in much improvement in the tenement districts of New York Mr Gilder has just returned from Europe Eu-rope There he found no tenement conditions con-ditions as a rule so bad and so much in need of reform as those which prevail pre-vail on the east side in New York He says the great cities of Europe are fast doing away with their rookeries and that there is more reason in New York than anywhere else for prompt action in following this example This is not a very good showing for New York when one thinks of what the tenement quarters are in some of the great European cities Municipal government is in eality a greater and harder problem than state government and in municipal government there is no harder problem to solve than that presented by the tenement districts of great cities Where houses are so overcrowded as in these districts and it seems almost an impossibility not to overcrowd them it is a most difficult if not quite impossible task to keep them passably clean Facilities of all kinds are extremely limited If room and facilities are increased there comes with them an increase of rent and no matter how slight it may be it tells heavily on the light purses of those who occupy them If anything be done and no doubt it can to improve tenement houses without any particularly heavy addition ad-dition to the tenants expenses it should be Those who live in tenement houses would certainly be justified in bringing in a verdict that life is not worth living |