The Gavelyte, March 1913

LED.\ I{ \'ILLE COLLECE Th e, c hild ren are acrific in g a part o f th e ir right to live, most of th ei r right t u liherty, and a ll of their to happine s. From such a meager discussi,J11 of th e political boss, of th e p oli ce conditions, of the l..tbor question as it affects man anu child, you can see that th e problem of c iv ic righte11n ne_s is a tremendous one . Ou r seeming gr,.,a t pe rpl ex it y is immi gration Every year the population of the city i being incre ased by a great in Aux of foreigners. T h e e people are not coming lrom the same co untrie as did our forefath rs . They represent every n.1t on .li ty of the globe, the majurity come from Sout hern a nd Sou theast– ern Europe, and a re uneducated, un governed, and unchristianized. They come with no mo ral ense developed, not h a ving been taught Chri ti a n ways, and are often the scum of Europea n countries. As a result of this we find the ill :ter,1cy amo ng ou r fo reign born population three times that o f ou r native whites . Pauperism is three time as strong Many times are th ey dumped into New York home less and friendless, They are blindly led into th e loath ome a loon or disreputable lod ging h ouse , where they receive their fi r t le sons in American ways. If destined to th e interior th ey are often mi directed, cheated, dec e i\'ed . They are surrounded by every e vil influenr.:e. debarred from every good on e . They represen t no small propo rti on of the city's population. Fifty-seven per cent of Cincinnati's popula tio n i of thi class; eighty per cent. of ew York's . Thev _peak sixty- ix languages. Twenty-nine nationalities are found in a single school. Since J871 the Poli · h p eople have increa ed the population of Buffalo eighty-five thousand. These people are liv ing in that mi serable, fil– thy Fillmore Ave di tri ct where on an ,1verage each room houses two families o f five memb ers each. Some room . twelve fee t square, are the homes of twentv -fqu r peo1 ,le. In ot her ci ti es the con ditions a re ju t as startling and even worse. Surely t he immi g ration ques ti on alone is enough to arouse the thoughful public Another grave problem for consideration i that bearing upon the mo ral stdndani uf th.! pocple of the city "The crowded tenement is the hot -house of phy ical and moral disea . e." and is the cau e of much depravity . Sanitary condit:ons are P"or; obscene lite1ature i dispersed throug h the tenement; the street is the choo l and play grou nd of the average child. The slum soc iety ha1, lapsed into a c,mdition more pr imitive than the jungle. Here i th e sav– age uf ( i\'iliz.ition. which i. far rnorc dangerous a nd dt-garded than the un– sp11ilc:d h 1rh<1ri .1n nf tlte wil~s, which iu tim l.! will create a great Sabonian bog. Exarnpl1•s l)f s1tcl1 co11cliti,J11s .ire plentiful. In two slums of Chicago t here are igltty ll11Jlls,rnd pe ,pk, one-half uf the men being beggars and crimina ls, and one-fourth of the wumen l>.:ing prostitutes. ln every large city there are ma ses ul pt'uple crt•wJed into the slums am! labor Ghetto , where disea - e fe s– ter , vie e <'l rn,dt's a11d fa1ni11e is cltro11ic The. aloun is anothn de truyer of pure living. It i not only a drinking pLtc ,, but 1s at1 immorrl, political institution, which th e office-seeker wil l not aut.;gollize. It providLs f.1cilitie for all froms of moral degradation. The coar,;e, ltt'atrical and the public' <Lrn e th e hot-bed s o f i11iq11ity, are often con -