SANITARY REFORM. 
One of the things that Henry George's Supporters want. 
The platform of the convention that nominated Mr. George for Mayor 
demands, Sec. iii and iv: “That the laws for the safety and sanitary in- 
spection of buildings should be enforced;” and it declares “the crowding 
of so many of our people into narrow tenements at enormous rents while 
half the area of the city is yet unbuilt upon, to be a scandalous evil. 
Mr. George, in his letter accepting the nomination, says: “ With unsur- 
passed natural advantages—the gateway of a continental commerce—New 
York is behind in all else that the citizen might justly be proud of. In spite 
of the immense sums constantly expended, her highways, her docks, her 
sanitary arrangements, are far inferior to those of first-class European cities; 
the great mass of her people must live in tenement houses, and human beings 
are here packed together more closely than anywhere else in the world; 
and, though the immense values created by the growth of population might, 
without imposing any burden upon production, be drawn upon to make 
New York the most beautiful and healthful of cities, she is dependent upon 
individual benevolence for such institutions as the Astor Library and the 
Cooper Institute, and private charity must be called upon for “fresh air 
funds” to somewhat lessen the horrible infant mortality of the tenement 
districts. Such parks as we have are beyond the reach of the great mass of 
the population, who, living in contracted rooms, have no other place than 
the drinking saloon for the gratification of social instincts, while hundreds 
of thousands of children find their only playground in crowded streets.” 
This statement is sustained by abundant official evidence. 
Life and Death in the Tenements. 
Some 800,000 persons live in New York tenements, and a large portion 
of these inhabit rooms which are never lighted by the sun in winter, or sleep 
in bedrooms which are never aired except from the dwelling-room. In 1865 
there were 15,309 tenements in New York; to-day they exceed 26,000, in- 
cluding flats and apartment houses, and they cbntinue to multiply. Among 968 houses examined 65 per cent, were found defective, and 47 buildings 
were so bad as to deserve destruction. One-half of the total deaths occur 
in tenements, while the percentage of deaths from preventable diseases is 
from 39 to 77 per cent. This percentage increased from 51.n in 1870 to 
55.50 in 1884. “Preventable” diseases should be prevented. 
Massacre of the Innocents. 
The sacrifice of life is greatest among little children. In the Mulberry 
Street Bend the mortality of children under five is over 65 per cent. 
A Constant Epidemic. 
If cholera should kill as many people in a year as are annually des- 
troyed by diphtheria and scarlet fever, both preventable diseases, there would 
be a panic in New York. 
If it is true that “as the homes, so are the people,” what a wretched 
lot is ours ! 
Candid Comments on the Above. 
Mayor Grace was re-elected to office under implied pledges to reform 
the tenements—why has he not done it ? 
The Board of Health has almost unlimited powers, but it is timid and 
time-serving. It is not a “board” but only a lath. 
There are laws on the statute-books sufficient to effect vast improve- 
ments, but the Health authorities choose to ignore them because “public 
sentiment will not sustain their enforcement;” meantime the poor children 
die like flies. Let the people elect Henry George and THE laws will be 
ENFORCED. 
A few Point-blank Questions. 
If the police have repeatedly raided the Mulberry Street dives in the 
interests of order, why cannot the Health authorities clean them out in the 
interests of health? There’s no question of “public sentiment” there. 
If the cheap lodging-houses are crowded beyond their legal limits, and typhus fever breaks out, who is to blame ? The Board of Health, who know 
the facts and don’t stop the over-crowding ! 
If the Ladies’ Health Association of Beekman Hill could successfully 
attack Kane’s manure heap and reform the slaughter-houses, why could not 
the health officials do the same? 
When the Legislature appointed a Tenement House Commission in 
1884, why was its report pigeon-holed at Albany, and its recommendations 
never heard of afterward ? 
What We Want. 
Every house in New York should have a dry cellar, plenty of water, 
safe plumbing, ample light and ventilation. Every tenement should have 
a janitor. Privies and cesspools must go. Every factory and workshop 
and school should be made clean and wholesome. The sewers should be 
renovated and the streets re-paved and kept clean. “Double-deckers” 
should be remodeled and God’s sunlight and air supplied to all. Lastly, 
free public baths should be established in Winter as well as in Summer. 
The Board of Health makes no annual reports; it inspects buildings 
only when citizens complain. It has added nothing to sanitary knowledge 
by investigation or research since Prof. Chandler’s day; it shirks its work 
under a specious plea of “want of funds;” it shelves good men and appoints 
incompetent ones who have “influence;” it is tainted with corruption, and 
it has become a mere routine-machine, shackled with red-tape. It wants 
shaking up. 
Why is it that months have elapsed since General Shaler’s indictment 
without any action on the part of Governor Hill, except that the politicians 
cannot agree upon “a good man” to appoint as their tool in the place? 
Would any stranger visiting the metropolis imagine that the interests 
of the people were ever regarded by our rulers? Miles of dusty streets, 
gutters reeking with rubbish and lined with ash barrels, not a tree for miles 
and miles—and these in the sole playground of the poor. Despotic Europe 
does better than that. 
Here is a city of 1,500,000 people, and not a child is permitted to play 
ball or fly a kite in the streets, nor is there any other playground provided 
for the children of the poor, excepting Tompkins Square. 
Why is it proposed to spend millions for public parks in the new wards, 
miles away from the crowded tenement districts, and do nothing for the 
needs of the people there, who most need breathing places? Fifth Avenue has just been re-paved at great expense; when will Mul- 
berry Street and First Avenue have decent pavement? 
Coney Island and Rockaway are being ruined by Barren Island stenches, 
while garbage is dumped from scows to foul our shores and fill up our beautiful 
harbor. Hunter’s Point sludge acid and oil odors make life miserable to 
East-side residents. Rotten Buddensieck buildings tumble down every few 
days—but where else are the poor to live ? 
When spotted fever—that terrible product of “ crowd poisoning”— 
breaks out in a tenement, why is it so hard for physicians to induce the 
health officials to act in the matter; and when other contagious diseases are 
reported to them, why do they send a circular—often to people who can’t 
read—instead of disinfecting the premises ? 
Why are our lodging-houses hot-beds of zymotic diseases, which those 
of London escape even in the midst of epidemics ? 
Remember 
These abuses, bad as they are, can be remedied. There is machinery 
enough, there are laws enough, there is money enough to accomplish enor- 
mous improvements. All that is wanted is an honest man at the head, to 
put the whole work in motion. That man stands ready to do his utmost. 
All that remains is for the workingmen of New York to put him where he 
ought to be. Will you vote for Henry George and a clean city? If you 
don’t, then when your wife is taken ill with diphtheria, or your child catches 
scarlet fever, or your baby pines away in your arms for lack of pure air or 
sunlight, or you yourself are stricken down, it will need no one else to ask 
the solemn question, “Who’s to blame?” 
A Warning. 
Nothing but the providentially mild summers of the past four years 
has prevented an epidemic in the slums. Do the business men of New 
York wish to go through the experience of Montreal with small-pox or 
cholera ? 
Workingmen, you are entitled to the “right to Life” under the Dec- 
laration of Independence. What are higher wages or shorter hours if you 
have to breathe bad air, drink impure water, and live in “double-deckers?” 
Elect Henry George and you shall have decent homes.