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 ASSOCIATION 
 
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 FIRST REPORT 
 
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 CO^fMITTEE 0\ THE SANITARY CONIUTTON 
 OF THE LARORING CLASSES 
 
 IN 
 
 THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, 
 
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 REMEDIA L SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 
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ASSOCIATION 
 
 ,FOR 
 
 |ni|jr(il)in5 Condition of fh ^oor. 
 
 FIEST EEPORT 
 
 OF A 
 
 COMMITTEE ON THE SANITARY CONDITION 
 OF THE LABORING CLASSES 
 
 IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, 
 
 WITH 
 
 REMEDIAL SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 # 
 
 NEW-YOKK : 
 
 JOHN F. TFwOW, PPJNTEPw, 49 ANN STREET. 
 
 1853. 
 
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iasHEintinn fnr Sniptnning nf tjjf pmt. 
 
 At the stated meeting of the Board, June 13 th, 1853 , the 
 Secretary having submitted a few statements in relation to the 
 tenements of the poor, the subjoined Resolution was adopted : 
 
 Resolved^ That a Committee be appointed, to inquire into the 
 sanitary condition of the dwellings occupied by the laboring 
 classes in this City; also, the practicability of devising remedial 
 measures, with instructions to report at the next meeting: of 
 the Board. 
 
 In compliance with the foregoing Resolution, the Committee 
 respectfully 
 
 REPORT: 
 
 That since their appointment, they have diligently prosecu¬ 
 ted their inquiries in relation to the subject. For this pur¬ 
 pose, the personal investigations of your Secretary have been put 
 in requisition; also the valuable local knowledge of the City 
 Missionaries and several Visitors of this Association, to whom a 
 circular asking for facts and statements was addressed. Having, 
 in the time allotted them, neglected no reliable means of informa¬ 
 tion within their reach, they beg herewith to submit the result 
 of their inquiries and deliberations. 
 
 The subject, though specially referring to the laboring classes, 
 
4 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1853 . 
 
 deeply concerns our citizens generally. For aside from the sym¬ 
 pathy which the sufferings of our fellow-citizens and neighbors 
 should excite, all, 'whatever may be their social position, have a 
 personal interest in the sanitary condition and morals of the 
 community in which they live. By providing the laboring classes 
 with better tenements, improved ventilation, and healthy and 
 cleanly arrangements in respect* to yards, sinks and sewerage, 
 they will certainly suffer less from sickness and premature mor¬ 
 tality, and a vast amount of pauperism, crime, and wretchedness 
 be prevented. On the other hand, it is a well established fact, 
 that diseases are not confined to the localities where they origi¬ 
 nate, but wfidely diffuse their poisonous miasma. Hence, though 
 the poor may fall in greater numbers because of their nearer 
 proximity to the causes of disease, yet the rich, who inhabit the 
 splendid squares and spacious streets of this metropolis, often 
 become the 'vdctims of the same disorders which afflict their - 
 poorer brethren. !N^or should the momentous fact be overlooked, 
 that the same causes which occasion a great amount of physical 
 suffering to the laborer, and a high rate of mortality, at the 
 same time impair his ability for self-support, increase taxation, 
 and present almost insuperable obstacles to his social elevation, 
 and moral and religious improvement. It wmuld appear, there¬ 
 fore, that to place within the reach of the humblest in the com¬ 
 munity the elevating influences of healthy and attractive homes, 
 is an object not only deserving the special attention of our City 
 Government, but which should be regarded as one of the most 
 interesting and useful efforts of benevolence. 
 
 The Board are aware, that while much in late years has been 
 done in this city for the physical and moral elevation of the poor 
 in other respects, little comparatively has been effected for im¬ 
 proving their tenements, though it is doubtful whether in any 
 other city they are less adequately provided for than in ^S’ew- 
 York. This is, doubtless, one of the causes why, notwithstand¬ 
 ing the unsurpassed salubrity of its position, that the average . 
 
1853 .) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 5 
 
 mortality here is strikingly greater than in any othorof our Nor¬ 
 thern citks. And one reason why more has not been attempted 
 in this direction is, that capitalists, who alone possess the means 
 of erecting better building's, appear not to have known until re¬ 
 cently how much the laboring classes suffer from this cause ; an¬ 
 other is, the opinion which long prevailed, that such property 
 w'as unproductive; a third, the crowding of houses to’meet the 
 demand occasioned by the unprecedented influx of emigrants ; 
 and a fourth, the absence of proper legal sanitary regulations. 
 Although in regard to the two former some favorable chano^e 
 has been made, it is certain that no radical improvements will 
 be undertaken until the subject is better understood, and the re¬ 
 formatory power of the law more effectually evoked. 
 
 This Association being early impressed with the necessity 
 wdiich existed for improving the dwellings and the domiciliary 
 habits of the laboring classes, has for many years given consid¬ 
 erable attention to the subject, as one legitimately coming within 
 the scope of its objects. 
 
 Its first plan for this purpose involved the idea of a special 
 organization, which, in order to show the practicability of the 
 scheme, should erect one or more model dwellings^ replete with 
 every requisite for health, comfort and economy, at rents not 
 exceeding those ordinarily paid for the lowest class of tenements. 
 Preliminary to the intended prosecution of the work, much val¬ 
 uable information pertaining thereto was obtained in this and 
 other cities, from which was elaborated the design for a kind of 
 buildings that was believed would combine in an eminent de- 
 gree such improvements as the beneficent objects in view re¬ 
 quired. 
 
 This scheme of erecting model dwellings was primarily sug¬ 
 gested by their alleged utility in several European cities. But 
 farther reflection and inquiry demonstrating that it would be 
 impracticable here to accomplish like results by like methods, a 
 different course was adopted; in carrying out which, the designs 
 
6 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1863 . 
 
 were lithographed, and the needful improvements extensively 
 urged upon the attention of capitalists and builders, hy a circu¬ 
 lar, and the gratuitous distribution of copies of the plans among 
 them. Thus the movement, though taking a different form 
 than w^as anticipated, has by the information diffused, and the 
 interest excited, been probably not less useful than if the ori¬ 
 ginal plan had been consummated. 
 
 But, unhappily, the present condition of thousands in this 
 City, shows that the improvements effected have fallen vastly 
 short of the wants of the population. Every honest, sober, and 
 industrious resident, should at least have it in his power to pro¬ 
 cure a decent and healthy home for himself and family. This 
 is now impossible to multitudes wEo dwell in this City. The po¬ 
 sition and shape of New-York being peculiar, and differing both 
 in these respects and in geographical area from most other cap¬ 
 ital cities, the methods of providing dwellings for the laboring 
 classes should correspondingly differ. Being hemmed in on 
 either side by water, the only direction in which it can be ex¬ 
 tended is rapidly filling up with places of business and residen¬ 
 ces of the opulent. Very many of the poor must consequently 
 remain in portions of the City already too densely crowded, and 
 destined to still greater concentration as the population increases ; 
 and the high value of land will not allow them comfortable hab¬ 
 itations, except it be most advantageously improved for this 
 purpose, by re-modelling the houses already erected, or building 
 others expressly for their use. The unfortunate individuals who 
 are compelled to reside in those wretched localities, pent up in 
 the close, foul air of incommodious houses and courts, which 
 generate disease, have no resources in themselves to remedy 
 these terrible evils. They must, moreover, live near their places 
 of w’ork; and such is the over-crowded state of some districts, 
 that, if houses more fitted for the habitations of brute animals 
 than of human beings are suffered to exist, they are sure of being 
 tenanted, though at the sacrifice of health, morals and life. 
 
1853 .) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 7 
 
 In view of these facts, can it be the dictate of a humane and 
 considerate policy, to appropriate so large a space of our already 
 too contracted area, for public parks ? Of their sanitary advan¬ 
 tages under proper circumstances, there can be no doubt; but 
 our local peculiarity will not justify the reasons which apply to 
 other cities. It is self-evident, that the using of so much of the 
 Island as is now designed for this purpose, will so diminish the 
 space otherwise available for dwellings, as directly and indirectly 
 to increase the intolerable grievances of high rents and crowded 
 tenements which multitudes now sujffer, without affording any 
 compensatory advantages that will benefit the great mass of the 
 population. Its general effects on the health, morals and pros¬ 
 perity of the City, it is believed, will be decidedly unfavorable. 
 The subject, however, is not introduced for discussion, but to 
 show that the municipal policy, at least in this instance, ap¬ 
 pears to be the reverse of that which the present and pros¬ 
 pective public good demands. There being, in short, a culpable 
 amount of apathy in relation to the tenements of the poor, grow¬ 
 ing out of a lack of correct information on the subject, it is pro¬ 
 posed to present a few from the voluminous facts obtained, to 
 illustrate the evils in question as they actually exist, with a view 
 to some definite action for their removal. 
 
 In the lower wards, there are thousands of poor persons, but 
 comparatively few buildings suitable for their accommodation. 
 Most of the houses are those which were formerly occupied by 
 the wealthy who have removed up town; and now in their di¬ 
 lapidated state, many of them are tenanted by miserably poor 
 Irish and German emigrants. Large rooms have been divided 
 by rough partitions, into dwellings for two or three families— 
 each, perhaps, taking boarders, where they wash, cook, eat, sleep 
 and die—many of them prematurely, for the circumstances in 
 which they live make fearful havoc of health and life. And 
 in addition^ night lodgers^ consisting of homeless men, women 
 and children, are not unfrequent, who for a trifling sum are al- 
 
8 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1853 . 
 
 lowed temporary shelter. There, huddled together, like cattle 
 in pens, the inmates are subjected to the most debasing influ¬ 
 ences. Many of the dwellings, moreover, are out of repair; and 
 the yards, from neglect of the sinks, in so vile a condition they 
 can scarcely be stepped into, without contracting filth of the 
 most offensive kind. Yet, however pent up or dirty these places, 
 other things being equal, the rents are from 25 to 30 per cent, 
 higher than up town. The usual charges for single rooms, in 
 the second or third stories, are from .eight to twelve dollars a 
 month ; and for basement or attic rooms, from four to six dollars 
 a month. The premises are usually sub-let to tenants who pay 
 in advance, by an Irish or German liquor seller, who manages 
 to occupy the best apartments himself, at their expense, and to 
 pocket a considerable surplus. 
 
 ^The resident poor in the First Ward have doubled since 1846 ; 
 and, according to the estimate of the Missionary, there are now 
 within its limits, of that class needing relief, not less than fifteen 
 thousand persons. Yet it has not been found, that any special 
 provision of tenements has been made for this mass of indigent 
 population. 
 
 In the upper wards, there are some habitations for the 
 laboring classes, where their wants and comforts have been 
 regarded, and in which it is possible to maintain the decencies 
 of life, Generally, however, they are inferior in size and struc¬ 
 ture to those already considered. Crazy old buildings—crowd¬ 
 ed rear tenements in filthy yards—dark, damp basements— 
 leaky garrets, shops, out-houses, and stables converted into 
 dwellings, though scarcely fit to shelter brutes—are the habita¬ 
 tions of thousands of our fellow-beings, in this wealthy Chris¬ 
 tian city. But as facts will better exhibit their character than 
 general descriptions, let them speak. 
 
 In Oliver-street, Fourth Ward, for example, is a miserable rear 
 building, 16 feet by 30, two stories and garret, three rooms on each 
 of the first and second floors, and four in the attic—in all, ten 
 
1853 .) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 small apartments, whicli contain fourteen families. The entrance 
 is through a narrow, dirty alley, and the yard and appendages of 
 the filthiest kind", yet the rent of the rooms averages one dol¬ 
 lar and a half per week each, or $750 a year for the premises, 
 which is at least 30 per cent, on their value. In the same ward, 
 there is a front and rear building, six stories above the base¬ 
 ment, which contains 56 families, numbering 250 persons. In 
 Cherry-street, is a “tenement house,” on two lots, extending 
 back from the street about 150 feet, five stories above the base¬ 
 ment, so arranged as to contain 120 families, or more than 500 
 persons. A small room and bedroom are allowed each family 
 in this building, which is of the better class; but the direfu 
 consequences of imperfect ventilation and over-crowding are^ 
 severely felt. There are, probably, in this ward, from 40 to 50 
 tenant houses, averaging 24 families each. 
 
 But the most objectionable habitations in this district are 
 the cellars, in some instances six feet under ground—which 
 have to be baled out after every rain storm—and are so damp as 
 to destroy health—so dark as to prevent industry—and so low 
 that ventilation is impossible. Though utterly unavailable for 
 any other use, they are rented at rates which ought to procure 
 comfortable dwellings, to persons who have become as debased 
 in character, as the condition is degrading in which they live. 
 
 Sub-letting is common in this ward, which increases rents 
 about 25 per cent. 
 
 In the Fifth and most other wards, in order to improve 
 every foot of ground, tenements are crowded together in pent 
 up courts, which extend the whole length of the lots; and 
 though some of these are superior to many of the old ricketty 
 buildings which are occupied by the poor, they are generally 
 so faulty in arrangement, as neither to subserve health, conveni¬ 
 ence, comfort, or economy. One of these, for illustration, con¬ 
 taining eight small apartments, with bedrooms attached, each 
 tenanted by a family at one dollar and a half per week, or $624 
 
 I* 
 
10 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1853 . 
 
 a year, was computed to yield an interest of over 20 per cent, 
 on the investment, after paying for repairs, taxes and insurance. 
 Another description of building, containing 25 families, on a 
 lot 25 feet by 100, and assessed at $6500, yielded an annual 
 income, exclusive of taxes, repairs, <fec., of $1950, or 30 per 
 cent, on the assessed value. Yet these exorbitant rents com¬ 
 mand but few comforts. Most of the tenements are filthy and 
 wretched in the extreme, the direct tendency of which is to 
 induce disease, lower moral character, and take aw^ay all thrift 
 and care for decency and cleanliness. 
 
 In the Sixth Ward, the manner in which many of the poor 
 live, and the extent to which vice and degradation prevails, is 
 
 too well known to require description. Many are in a condi- 
 
 / 
 
 tion incomparably worse than the hovel dwellers, where father, 
 mother, children and swine, live and lodge together. These 
 dens of squalid wretchedness, intemperance and filth, pay a rent 
 which should afford the occupants comfortable homes. Four 
 houses and lots, indiscriminately taken, valued at $40,500, con¬ 
 tain S7 families, and rent for $6000, or more than 17 per cent. 
 Another lot, with a new five-story building, contains 48 fami¬ 
 lies, and rents for $3892, or more than 26 per cent. One 
 block, by enumeration, w^as ascertained to contain 365 families, 
 numbering 1562 persons—average size of. apartments, 10 feet 
 by 12, the ceilings of some of which were too low to allow 
 the inmates to stand erect. Many rooms were without fire¬ 
 places, and so constructed that there was no possibility for the 
 entrance or escape of air except by the door or crevices of the 
 windows. The tenements, yards and sinks, were in a most 
 filthy and disgusting condition; in several places there were 
 accumulations of stagnant fluid, full of all sorts of putrefying 
 matter, the effluvia from which was intolerable—and in addi¬ 
 tion to all this, most of the roofs were leaky, and the base¬ 
 ments, after every rain, were flooded with filthy water. Yet, 
 even these wretched tenements rent at from 5 to 7 dollars per 
 
1853 .) 
 
 FIRST REPORT* 
 
 11 
 
 month—a sum which should afford the occupants comfortable 
 habitations. 
 
 In the Seventh Ward, there are some few decent tenant- 
 houses, but more of a contrary description. In Munroe-street, 
 for example, there are two rear, rough-built, clap-boarded tene¬ 
 ments, a few feet apart, size, 24 by 12, containing four rooms 
 each, and each a family. The premises let for $312 per an¬ 
 num, which is more than the buildings are worth. Another 
 kind of house, tenanted by the poor in Scammel-street, valued 
 at $4000, lets for $850, or more than twenty per cent, on the 
 investment. 
 
 In the Eighth Ward, the apartments occupied by the labor¬ 
 ing classes are usually 8 by 12, and some 12 by 15 feet, with 
 a small bedroom attached, which are not unfrequently occupied 
 by two or three families. A large part of this kind of property 
 being on leased ground, very little is expended for repairs. The 
 buildings thus occupied, being mostly old, and having been de¬ 
 signed for several families, are extremely inconvenient, and ill 
 suited to their present use. There are, however, exceptions in 
 the case of houses specially erected for the poor, some^of which 
 are well adapted to their purpose. But the following are not 
 of that class, though characteristic of the tenements usually 
 occupied by them in this district. A lot, 60 by 100 feet, con¬ 
 taining front and rear buildings, in which are 58 rooms and 
 bedrooms; 18 of them are 8 by 13, and the remainder 12 by 
 13 feet. The rents range from $4 50 to $6 50 each per month, 
 always payable in advance, and yielding for the whole $3600 
 per annum, which sum is estimated to be about 50 per cent, on 
 tlie investment. Another lot, 50 by 60 feet, contains 20 stables, 
 rented for dwellings, at $15 a year each, the whole cost of 
 which was only $600. An experienced builder, long a resident 
 in the ward, affirms, that many of the worst class of houses pay 
 an interest on their value of 100 per cent. 
 
 This ward is by no means the poorest in the city, yet it has 
 
12 
 
 J'IRST REPORT. 
 
 (1853, 
 
 spots of poverty, filth, and degradation, which are scarcely sur¬ 
 passed by any other. “ Rotten Row,” as it is appropriately 
 termed, in Laurens-street, is one of these. It consists of 8 
 houses on either side of the street, fronting each other, with as 
 many more in the rear, containing in all about 250 families, and 
 not less than 1250 persons, in a space of about 180 feet, by 
 perhaps a depth of 50 feet on each side. The pestiferous stench 
 and filth of these pent-up tenements exceed description. “In 
 one room,” says a Visitor, “ six people are living, with hens scratch¬ 
 ing about on the bed. Every corner of these buildings is occu¬ 
 pied—cellars and garrets. All the lower rooms and basements 
 pay $4 50 a month for rent. If the statements of the people 
 are correct, the rent of each house is about $480 per annum, 
 which would give for this miserable block of buildings, front 
 and rear, an annual return to the owner of $7680.” 
 
 The Ninth Ward affords numerous sites for the erection of 
 healthy and convenient habitations for the laboring classes; but 
 at present contains but few so-called tenant houses, yet some 
 of the latter class have been built, of which the following may 
 be taken as a specimen. The lot is 25 by 103 feet; the build¬ 
 ing is 16 feet, extending longitudinally from the street to the 
 end of the lot—two stories and basement, with a yard, includ¬ 
 ing the verandah, of 8 feet. The sink is placed under the stairs, 
 being but 6 or 8 feet deep, and having no connection with a 
 sewer, diffuses its noxious and offensive effluvia through the 
 house. It contains 8 families, and is estimated to yield more 
 than 15 per cent. 
 
 Most of the houses occupied by the poor in this ward, are 
 very deficient in the requisites for health, decency, and comfort. 
 Sewerage is but partially introduced; and the consequent ac¬ 
 cumulations of fluid, filth, and putrid mud, poisoning the at¬ 
 mosphere, squalor and debasement are visible in all such 
 localities. Sub-letting being common in this district, the worst 
 of these habitations are estimated to pay from 12 to 25 per 
 cent, on the investment. 
 
1853 .) 
 
 FIRST report. 
 
 13 
 
 In the Tenth Ward, the dimensions of this class of tene¬ 
 ments were mostly found to be 10 by 12, and 10 by 14 feet; 
 the average number of persons to a room five—six families in 
 a house, and the rents paying about 14 per cent. ' 
 
 The best habitations for the laboring classes in this district, 
 are the recently built tenant houses; but these are overstocked 
 with inmates, and in many instances, very badly arranged : the 
 sleeping rooms, for example, are frequently without means of 
 ventilation, being dark, or having windows 18 inches square, 
 with fixed lattices. 
 
 In the Eleventh and Thirteenth Wards, we find the same 
 general disregard to sanitary laws, and to the comfort of the la¬ 
 boring classes, which are so unhappily characteristic of many 
 other parts of the City, yet without any advantages in respect 
 to rents. A miserable house and lot in Mangin-street, 30 by 
 100 feet, valued at $6000, lets for $1008, or 16f per cent. 
 Another in Goerck-street, 18 by 100, valued at $4500, 24 apart¬ 
 ments, rents for $2 75 per month each, or $792 per annum, 
 which is about 18 per cent. This building is in a most wretched 
 condition—the roof is leaky, and the sink communicating with 
 the cellar, gives out its ofiensive and deadly gas, which pollutes 
 the air of the whole house. In the Thirteenth Ward, the rents 
 average from 15 to 25 per cent, on the investments. 
 
 In the Fourteenth Ward, the character and rents of the 
 houses occupied by the laboring classes, generally correspond 
 with those already described. In many instances, the buildings 
 cover the entire lot, the apartments are contracted, and so ar¬ 
 ranged as not to admit of ventilation. A tenant house in Ma- 
 rion-street is said to pay 22 per cent.; and the general average 
 is from 15 to 25 per cent. 
 
 In the Sixteenfli Ward, some houses are building which 
 promise to increase the comforts of the poor, at prices they are 
 able to pay. Almost universally, however, dwellings of little 
 value and affording miserable accommodations, pay exorbitant 
 
14 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1853 . 
 
 rents; in many cases fifty per cent, on tlie investment, which is 
 the less excusable, because of the less comparative value of the 
 lots. But such is the demand for tenements, by the press of newly 
 arrived emigrants, that in the suburbs of the City, mere shanties 
 and hovels with earthen floors, find occupants at high rates. 
 
 Details like the foregoing might be indefinitely multiplied 
 from the remaining up-town and other wards; but as they 
 would unduly swell this Keport, without adding important facts, 
 they are omitted as unnecessaiy to the present object. Those 
 given, it will be observed, are designed to represent the difierent 
 parts of the City, so as to afibrd authentic data for correct gen¬ 
 eral inductions. 
 
 It is evident from the foregoing survey, that the dwellings 
 of the industrious classes in this City are not generally adapted 
 to the wants of the human organization, nor compatable with 
 the health, or the social or moral improvement of the occu¬ 
 pants. Among the causes in this relation which deteriorate 
 health and morals, a few of the more prominent may, in review, 
 be noticed. 
 
 First, The crowded condition of the dwellings in which the 
 poor are compelled to live. This applies to at least three-fourths 
 of the tenements occupied by the laboring classes in this City. 
 A room, seldom more than ten feet by twelve, or less, with a 
 bedroom, is the most usually allowed in the better class of these 
 dwellings ; and even if conveniently arranged, would be sadly 
 deficient for one family of the ordinary size. What then must 
 be the discomfort, disease and demoralization of the thousands 
 who have but a single apartment of the most inferior kind, of 
 small dimensions, low ceilings, &c., and that crowded with two 
 or three, and sometimes four or five families ? An awful sacri¬ 
 fice of health, life and morals is inseparable ftom such a condi¬ 
 tion. This, however, is scarcely more than a negative view of 
 the facts. Such tenements are almost invariably surrounded 
 with disgusting filth, evolving poisonous gases, and with various 
 
1853 .) 
 
 PIRST REPORT. 
 
 15 
 
 other local unhealthy influences, which are scarcely less injurious 
 to the inmates, than is their pent-up in-door life. It is manifest 
 that such conditions of living are in utter disregard of all the 
 physical laws which hear upon the subject. From the nature 
 of our organization, a constant and large supply of pure air is 
 essential to our existence. If w^e have not this abundant supply 
 in a pure form, disease and death are the consequences. If, as 
 physicians affirm, each individual daily requires fifty-seven hogs¬ 
 heads of pure air for the preservation of health, there can be no 
 surprise at the loss of health in those who seldom or never 
 breathe a pint of it. Fevers, consumptions, choleras, dysente¬ 
 ries, and other mortal diseases, are the necessary results. 
 
 Nowq an extensive, examination of the domicils of the poor, 
 shows that they are too contracted to admit of an adequate sup¬ 
 ply of pure air, for the number of inmates. From careful sci¬ 
 entific calculations elsewhere made, and which apply to many 
 tenements in this City, it is proved that in numerous instances, 
 human life could not be sustained in them more than seven 
 hours ; that is to say, such is the construction of the apartments, 
 that with the door and window shut, the sleepers would exhaust 
 the vital properties of the air, and perish as did the persons in 
 the black-hole of Calcutta. It is not considered out of place 
 here to remark, that every time we breathe, we vitiate the air 
 taken into the lungs, by retaining one part of its component ele¬ 
 ments, which combines with the blood, refreshing and purifying 
 it, while the remainder is returned unfit to be breathed again. 
 Hence it follows, that even one person shut up in a small air¬ 
 tight chamber, would not live through a single day. It is com¬ 
 puted that the population of a crowded city, by the mere natu¬ 
 ral action of their lungs, in the course of twenty-four hours, vi¬ 
 tiate a layer of air as large as the whole area inhabited, at least 
 a yard in depth or thickness; to say nothing of the amount 
 spoiled and rendered unfit for breathing by fires, and furnaces, 
 lamps, candles, gas, gas-works, nuisances, and all manner of 
 
16 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1853 » 
 
 deleterious manufactories. Were it not for the providential ar¬ 
 rangement that air thus vitiated is in constant motion to ascend, 
 making way for fresh air to take its place, we should always be 
 in danger of suffocation in a room without a draft, or in a city 
 without a wind. This explains why the contracted and crowded 
 tenements of the poor become a permanent source of ill health— 
 a fact w^hich is fully established by the testimony of the Visitors 
 of this Association and other Charities, by Dispensary Statistics, 
 and the City Inspector’s Reports. 
 
 Second, Too great density of population in certain districts 
 is another evil. In this particular another principle, important 
 to the maintenance of a sound sanitary condition, is in numerous 
 instances overlooked. It is a settled law, that the number of 
 persons on a given area of soil cannot be increased beyond a 
 certain limit, without endangering health. If, for illustration, a 
 one-story dwelling 25 by 40 feet may safely accommodate ten 
 persons, another ten cannot occupy a scond story over the same 
 ground with impunity, nor without risk to the health of those 
 in the first story; and as the air vitiated by respiration ascends, 
 if a third, a fourth or fifth story is added and occupied, as is 
 common, especially in new tenant houses, the danger to all is 
 increased in a fearful ratio. In proof of this, a distinguished 
 physician states, that of 15 men who were employed on a second 
 floor, only four made any complaint of illness ; of 17 employed 
 in precisely the same way, on the third and uppermost floor, 3 
 had spitting of blood, 2 had affections of the lungs, and 5 con¬ 
 stant and severe colds. In other words, ten of these 17 suffered 
 from diseases affecting the chest, wRile only one in the room be¬ 
 neath had a disease of this nature. In another room similarly 
 constructed, the health of but four out of 20 in the lower room 
 were injuriously affected, while ten out of 20 in the upper room 
 w^ere diseased. It is not, therefore, the number of cubic feet of 
 air which determines the healthfulness of a residence for a given 
 number of persons ; the superficial feet of earth they may cover 
 
1853 .) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 11 
 
 is an important item of consideration.” Yet it is by the utter 
 disregard of this law in the construction of houses, so as to get 
 the greatest possible return for the smallest possible outlay, that 
 the comfort, health, life and morals of thousands are sacrificed. 
 
 Third, Neglect of Ventilation is a prevailing cause of ill 
 health. The absolute necessity of pure air to health and life, 
 has before been referred to; but its importance demands more 
 than a passing notice. It has justly been remarked by another, 
 “ that the evils of defective ventilation are less understood and 
 acknowledged, than the operation of other deleterious agents; 
 for while these last destroy, they also warn by their offensive 
 odors; but imperfect ventilation may exist without appreciable 
 ofiensiveness to the air which we breathe.” The following table 
 exceedingly well illustrates the indispensableness of a due supply 
 of pure air. 
 
 1 
 
 PIRSON8. 1 
 
 1 
 
 CUBIC FEET OF AIR. 
 
 
 
 
 PER CENT 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 Spitting 
 of Blood. 
 
 Catarrh. 
 
 Other 
 
 Diseases. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Spitting 
 of Blood. 
 
 1 
 
 1 ~ ■ 
 
 Catarrh. 
 
 Other 
 
 Diseases. 
 
 Total. 
 
 ' 104 
 
 Who had less than 500 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 18 
 
 44 
 
 12.50 
 
 1.25 
 
 17.31 
 
 42.31 
 
 ! 105 
 
 AVtio had from 500 to 600 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 32 
 
 4.25 
 
 3.63 
 
 20.00 
 
 27.82 
 
 101 
 
 Who had more than GOO 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 24 
 
 3.96 
 
 1.98 
 
 17.82 
 
 23.76 
 
 Yet in the face of such facts, many of the dwellings of the 
 laboring classes are constructed as if to prevent ventilation. 
 The houses themselves are so pent up as almost to exclude 
 outward currents of air, and so arranged internally, that a draught 
 of air through them is impossible. The atmosphere becomes 
 necessarily loaded with noxious impurities, which produce, as 
 has been shown, numerous fatal diseases. And these facts, 
 which are of general application, specially apply to the under¬ 
 ground dwellings^ which, to the disgrace of humanity and civili¬ 
 zation, are permitted to be tenanted in this city. It appears, as 
 the result of an official investigation made three years ago, that 
 
18 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1853 . 
 
 18,456 persons were crowded together in 3,742 cellars, of which 
 about half had one room, and the number of occupants averaged 
 over five to each basement. They were represented as “ always 
 damp, badly ventilated, generally filthy, and as germinating 
 beds of pestilence and disease.” Since that time, the number 
 of basements have so increased, that they now probably rival the 
 cellar population of Liverpool, where the duration of life is 
 nineteen years less than the average of Great Britain. Extensive 
 recent examinations show that neither have these tenements nor 
 the character of their inmates improved in late years; and that 
 moral degradation, excessive liability to sickness, and a frightful 
 curtailment of human life, are inevitable under such circumstan¬ 
 ces. Many of these basements are deluged by rain, and the 
 foetid overfiow of sinks and cess-pools; and their foul, damp, 
 sepulchral-like air being never visited by pure air and sunlight, 
 they are fitter receptacles for the dead than the living. It is, 
 however, unnecessary to dwell on the debasing and destructive 
 effects of such habitations, as if they were peculiar to New^-York; 
 for such effects are common wLerever underground tenements 
 are tolerated. Several important foreign cities are enforcing 
 stringent regulations in respect to them. In Berlin, for example, 
 the municipal authorities have forbidden all cellars to he let as 
 dwellings^ by an ordinance wLich took effect from July 1st, of 
 the present year. They have also forbidden the construction of 
 any dwelling room less than eight feet in height^ the inhabiting 
 of newly built houses until nine months after plastering, and 
 the erection of any new house without a court-yard of at least 
 seventeen feet square. In the larger towns and cities of England, 
 the authorities have been forced to limit the number of occu¬ 
 pants to the size of each house or apartment; and the following 
 resolutions on the subject of ventilation, have been submitted by 
 a Committee of the Government for parlimentary action : 
 
 1. That no living, sleeping, or w^oi*k-room shall contain less 
 than 144 superficial feet, or shall be less than eight feet high. 
 
1853 .) 
 
 J’IRST REPOKt. 
 
 19 
 
 2. That such room shall have at least one window opening 
 at the top. 
 
 •3. Also an open fire-place. 
 
 4. That in every living, sleeping or work-room erected in 
 future, some method shall be adopted of allowing the foul air 
 to escape from the upper part of the room. 
 
 5. That every such room in future, shall have some means of 
 continually admitting fresh air. 
 
 6. In every public building in which gas is used, to insist 
 upon the use of plans to carry off the products of combustion, 
 and not to allow them to escape in a room. 
 
 Y. That all churches, schools, theatres, work-shops, work- 
 houses, manufactories and other public buildings, shall adopt 
 such methods of ventilation as shall be approved by the medical 
 health officer. 
 
 Such regulations would bespeak a wise and beneficent exer¬ 
 cise of legislative power, and should be followed wherever the 
 evils implied exist. 
 
 It should farther be observed, that the disregard of the health 
 and comfort of the poor, extends most injuriously to their very 
 means of subsistence. As cellars or store-rooms are not usually 
 provided for food or fuel, they are unable, if so disposed, to 
 exercise economical forecast, but must buy as they need, usually 
 inferior articles, in small quantities, at the dearest rates. As 
 every measure makes its own profit, prices advance inversely in 
 proportion to quantity, so that the poor pay for their miserable 
 supplies, some 20 or 30 per cent, more than the rich for superior 
 articles. To avoid a tax which presses so heavily on their 
 industry, they will even stow wood, coal, potatoes, &;c., under 
 their beds. Complaints are often made of the thriftlessness and 
 improvidence of the poor; but what hope is there of improving 
 their habits in this respect, without affording them better accom¬ 
 modations ? 
 
 Again. Domiciliary and personal cleanliness^ which are 
 
20 
 
 FIRST REPORT, 
 
 ( 1853 . 
 
 indispensable to iiealth, thrift and comfort, cannot be properly 
 observed by the laboring classes as now provided for. They 
 are, in fact, made filthy, reckless and vicious, by the force of 
 circumstances, over which, in most cases, they have no control. 
 
 When families of five, eight or ten persons, each live in a 
 contracted apartment, that is applied to every conceivable 
 domestic use, and from fifteen to thirty such families in the same 
 house—having the entry, stairway and yard in common, the 
 last badly drained, perhaps unpaved, and the receptacle of all 
 deleterious and offensive things, it would be truly surprising if 
 the tenants did not become filthy, reckless and debased, what« 
 ever might have been their previous habits or character. 
 
 Deiiwralization, The limits of this Report will only allow a 
 brief notice of the demoralizations consequent upon the condi¬ 
 tions of life described, although this is of paramount importance, 
 and on no other point is the evidence more abundant or conclu¬ 
 sive. The absence of all necessary accommodations in many 
 dwellings, and the crowded state of the rooms, which defies all 
 attempts at decency and modesty, breaks down the barriers of 
 self-respect, and prepares the way for direct profligacy. How 
 should members, often of difierent families and of different sex 
 sleep in the same room, nay, often in the same bed, without 
 danger? ‘‘I know,” says one, “of nothing so demoralizing as 
 
 the absence of private conveniences, and where there is a com¬ 
 munity of beds and bedrooms to all ages and both sexes.” 
 Says another, “ It is one of those influences, which, for want of 
 a better term, maybe called inhumanizing, because it tends to 
 destroy those feelings and affections which are distinctive of the 
 human being, and which raise him above the level of the brute.^^ 
 So directly applicable to various localities and classes in this 
 City, is the testimony on this subject, elicited by similar investi¬ 
 gations in other places, as to justify a few brief ex:tracts from 
 them in this place. 
 
 Says one witness, “ The habits of a family are more depressed 
 
1853 .) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 21 
 
 and deteriorated by the defect of their habitations, than the 
 greatest pecuniary want to which" they are subjected. The 
 most cleanly and orderly female will invariably despond and 
 relax her exertions under the influence of filth, damp and stench; 
 and at length, ceasing to make farther effort, will probably sink 
 into a noisy, discontented, rum*drinking slattern—the wife of a 
 man who has no comfort in his house, the parent of children 
 whose home is the street or the work-house.” Again, “ A filthy, 
 squalid, unwholesome dwelling, in which none of the decencies 
 common to society, even in the lowest stage of civilization, are, 
 or can be observed, tends to make every dweller in such a hovel 
 regardless of the feelings and happiness of each other, selfish 
 and sensual; and the connection is obvious between the constant 
 indulgence of appetites and passions, and the formation of habits 
 of idleness, dishonesty, debauchery and violence.” 
 
 In regard to the proneness of such persons to intemperance^ 
 it is said, “ That the dreadful depression consequent on ill health 
 (the effect of crowded, filthy, badly ventilated dwellings), tempts 
 these poor creatures with a force we cannot adequately appreci¬ 
 ate, to have recourse to stimulating drink.” “ I must confess,” 
 remarks another, “that the wonder to me is, not that so maiiy 
 of the laboring classes crowd to the liquor shops, but that so 
 many are found struggling to make their wretched abodes a 
 home for their family.” A physician also testifies “ That the 
 depressed and low condition of health in which these people are 
 found, induces habits of intemperance, unfortunately so common 
 amongst them.” To which may be added the observations of 
 an employer, who says, “ It may be taken as an axiom, that if 
 you make the workingman’s home comfortable, he will give up 
 the public house and its ruinous consequences; and that where 
 a workingman’s home is little better than a pig-stye, that man 
 will ahvays be an inhabitant of the public house, or beer shop.” 
 
 The connection of juvenile depravity which so fearfully 
 abounds, with the wretched conditions of life described, is fully 
 
22 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 ( 1853 . 
 
 shown by the Chief of Police Reports, and is too obvious and 
 direct to require remark. Neither does it appear necessary to 
 enlarge on the inefficacy of reformatory efforts, either as it re¬ 
 spects parents or children, while their homes are destitute of 
 order, cleanliness and decency; for uniform experience attests, 
 that such physical degradation as is beyond their control, pre¬ 
 sents the most insurmountable obstacle to moral and religious 
 improvement — “ that before they can become good parents, 
 children, or citizens, nay, we would almost dare to say Christians, 
 their home must be made clean and attractive, and the impurity 
 by which they are surrounded removed. As certainly as phys¬ 
 ical strength and moral and mental energy will become devel¬ 
 oped and increased under the influence of favoring circumstances 
 and sanitary improvements, with equal certainty will their moral 
 perceptions, feelings, affections and sentiments become elevated, 
 and their susceptibility to the claims of religion, and of their 
 duty to God, and to their fellow-men, be promoted.” 
 
 The vast amount of sickness and high rate of mortality 
 among the poor, should at least receive a passing notice. There 
 are no statistics which show the relative difierence in these re¬ 
 spects between the laboring classes and those in easier circum¬ 
 stances ; but it is not, therefore, the less certain, that in propor¬ 
 tion to their number it is much greater. So obvious, indeed, is 
 the influence of wretched tenements in occasioninof the differ- 
 ence, that in the recent comparisons which have appeared in the 
 papers, relative to the mortality in our four great Atlantic cities, 
 so much to the disadvantage of New-York, such tenements have 
 uniformly been referred to as the chief cause. There is another 
 fact, in this connection, which deserves notice. Leaving out of 
 view the infant mortality among the poor, occasioned by bad 
 milk and other causes, which is probably four times as great as 
 that among other classes; also that of recent emigrants who may 
 be said to die in transitu ; it is found that, among the adults 
 whose deaths swell the bills of mortality, there is an undue pro- 
 
lSo3.) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 23 
 
 portion of males, who are cut off in the prime of life, when best 
 qualified to perform its duties, and when their labor is most 
 needed for the maintenance of their families, who are thus 
 thrown upon charity for support. Hence it is, that so large a 
 proportion of the dependent are widows and fatherless children ; 
 and to say nothing of the miseiy and suffering thus occasioned, 
 hence also the immense tax on public and private charity, at¬ 
 tendant upon ill health and premature mortality, from prevent¬ 
 able or removable causes. 
 
 And it should be remembered, that the evils the laboring 
 classes suffer from the enumerated causes, are greatly aggrava¬ 
 ted by a species of suh-letting which extensively prevails in most 
 parts of the City, often subjecting them to the merciless exac¬ 
 tions of capricious and unprincipled landlords, and also to the 
 influence of circumstances, which cannot fail to degrade them. 
 One or more buildings are leased by an individual, on terms 
 that will pay a profit to the owner, who is thus relieved from 
 the trouble of looking after the tenants, and of collecting 
 rents. This sub-landlord re-lets apartments so as to save as much 
 as possible, seldom caring how the occupants live, provided the 
 rents are paid, which being required in advance, are generally 
 sure. There are those who daily demand the rent in advance, 
 and if unpaid, the tenant is turned into the street; but usually 
 apartments are taken by the week, sometimes by the month. 
 The lessee often realizes twice as much for property as he pa3^s 
 for it, and at the same time crowds it to an extent which shows 
 an utter disregard for the health and comfort of his tenants. 
 The whole system of sub-tenantage should, in short, be regula¬ 
 ted or broken up. For it not only oppresses the poor by its 
 extortions, but its almost invariable tendencies are to augment 
 their sufferings, and however fallen, to sink them into still deeper 
 debasement. Justice to the poor requires a full exposure of this 
 iniquitous system. But it can only in p^issing be remarked, that 
 its effects are to encourage among the poor some of their worst 
 
24 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 (1853. 
 
 propensities and habits ; to become vagrant and uncleanly—for 
 removals are frequent, and the tenements vacated being usually 
 re-occupied with all their previous accumulations of filth, with¬ 
 out cleansing, they become indescribably dirty and ofiensive. 
 The buildings, moreover, in this way get out of repair, doors and 
 floors are injured, windows broken, walls shattered and filled 
 with vermin, yards and sinks neglected ; so that the laboring 
 man’s home, which should possess attractive and elevating asso¬ 
 ciations, generally exhibits a scene of discomfort and repulsion, 
 which is debasing to the occupant, and a reproach to civiliza¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Let it not be imagined that the foregoing statements have 
 been exaggerated. They fall, in fact, far short of the sad reality, 
 as any one may convince himself by pei’sonal inspection; the 
 evils must be seen and felt, to be duly appreciated. Even that 
 chiefly dwelt upon, the wretched physical condition of thousands 
 of our poorer brethren, has been very inadequately described, 
 while that which is incomparably more important, the deterior¬ 
 ating effects of that condition on their social and moral charac¬ 
 ter, has only been incidentally noticed. Yet these topics cannot 
 be farther enlarged upon than to remark, that it would be most 
 unfair and incorrect to estimate character solely by outward cir¬ 
 cumstances ; for greater refinement of feeling, or nobler speci¬ 
 mens of religious and moral worth, can nowhere be found, than 
 in some of the habitations of the poor. Straitened and humble 
 as may be the condition of this class, they manage to throw 
 around them such circumstances as are compatible with the de¬ 
 cencies of life. On the other hand, that class which unfortu¬ 
 nately constitutes the great mass, whose condition, in many cases, 
 is perhaps the most degraded that civilized life admits, generally 
 includes in it persons of a corresponding grade of morals. What 
 they are, in short, they are made to a greater or less extent, by 
 circumstances over which they have but little control; and vain 
 will be the effort to elevate their character, without first im¬ 
 proving their physical condition. 
 
1853.) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 25 
 
 That such an improvement of their condition is practicable 
 does not appear to admit of a reasonable doubt. Beneficent re¬ 
 sults may even be secured with profitable pecuniary investments. 
 The poor pay three or four times as much in proportion for their 
 miserable pent up cabins, as do the rich for their spacious and 
 comfortable mansions. Their tenements yield at least from 15 
 to 20 per cent, income, after deducting lost rents and charges, 
 while the better class of buildings occupied by the middle and 
 wealthy classes, scarcely average more than 6 or Y per cent. 
 The surprise is not, therefore, that old houses and hovels should 
 be suffered to remain as long as at all ten an table, but that when 
 they are demolished, greater regard is not paid to the wants of 
 the poor, by erecting well-contrived dwellings for their use, which 
 would increase their comforts, give them the value of their mo¬ 
 ney, and at the same time afford a higher percentage than the 
 houses of a costlier class. But this has not been the general 
 course of the capitalists and builders in this City. They pull 
 down the habitations of the laboring class without building 
 others of the improved kind, which should take their place; the 
 tenants are consequently driven to find shelter elsewhere, though 
 it be in cellars, and courts, and garrets, amidst vice, and filth, 
 and wretchedness. 
 
 The families of the class in question are not only very nu¬ 
 merous, but are rapidly increasing. There is now a gi'eat num¬ 
 ber of old tenements occupied by them, which must in a few 
 years be rebuilt. But when torn down, if others are not erected 
 for the laboring classes, where can they live ? Live they must 
 somewhere, and we already witness the expedients resorted to 
 for this purpose. In different parts of the City there are expen¬ 
 sive buildings, originally designed for single families, now crowd¬ 
 ed with numerous families of the poor, because not in demand 
 for the class they were built for, and if not tenanted in this way, 
 must remain empty. These buildings pay well, and the owners 
 are satisfied ; but they are not the kind that are in request in 
 
 2 
 
26 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 (1853. 
 
 these localities, and would have cost less, paid better, and have 
 been more eligible, if they had been constructed expressly for 
 the purpose to which they are applied. The wants of the pop¬ 
 ulation have evidently been misundei'stood. As future improve¬ 
 ments shall, therefore, be projected in places only adapted for 
 dwellings, and not for business, and there are many such, why 
 should not capitalists erect well-arranged tenements for the poor ? 
 And as such investments will at least be as nrofitable as other 
 
 X 
 
 improvements, considerations of interest and duty alike urge 
 their adoption. 
 
 Is it said that the poor are debased in their habits, and 
 would prove troublesome tenants? Though such were the 
 facts, must they be despised and their necessities disregarded? 
 Has not God made them our brethren, that we should care for 
 them as such ? But to such objections it may be replied, that 
 it is unjust to condemn persons in the mass. If many are of 
 the above description, there are many othei’s who would not 
 suffer by comparison with persons in the higher conditions of 
 life. If some—nay, if many are debased, what better could 
 be expected from the circumstances in which they are obliged 
 to live ? Physical evils produce moral evils. Degrade men to 
 the condition of brutes, and they will have brutal propensities 
 and passions. “ Treat men like dogs, and they will behave like 
 dogs the world over.” How, the poor, in this respect, have 
 been uncared for, unsympathized with, and who can say, that 
 under like circumstances, he would have been better than they? 
 We would not hastily affirm what they would become under 
 more favorable circumstances; yet very satisfactory conclusions 
 may be drawn from analogy, and the nature of the change pro¬ 
 posed. If those who are now .crowded into filthy and uncom¬ 
 fortable rooms, were put in clean, well-contrived apartments, 
 suited to their necessities, and charged less for the new accom¬ 
 modations than they paid for the old; if they were assured that 
 there is a disposition to improve their condition, by giving all 
 
1853.) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 27 
 
 that in this respect is necessaiy for their comfort, and can he 
 aftbrded for the rent, on the expressed condition of punctuality 
 and good conduct on their part, we would not only have a 
 strong hold upon their gratitude, but upon their selfishness. 
 They can in no other way serve themselves so well, as in doing 
 their duty to the landlord, by the prompt payment of rent, and 
 the preservation of his property. It is reasonable, therefore, to 
 conclude, that they will make every effort to do this, and not 
 deliberately oppose their own interests. 
 
 For the collection of rents, an arrangement may easily be 
 effected with one of the tenants, who can also exercise a super¬ 
 vision over the property, and thus relieve the owner from all 
 trouble and anxiety. This plan having been tried, has been 
 found far more advantageous and satisfactory, in every point of 
 view, than sub-letting. 
 
 It should be remembered, moreover, that the tenants who 
 pay by the week, are in a very different position from those 
 who pay by the quarter. They have no credit^ and if they do 
 not pay in advance, or at the end of the week, they must re¬ 
 move at once. They cannot, if so disposed, practise the fraud 
 sometimes attempted by tenants hiring by the quarter, who keep 
 moving from one house to another, without paying any where, 
 and it is but justice to them to say, that they rarely attempt it. 
 But as facts will be more satisfactory than any reasonings on 
 the subject, a brief account is subjoined, of an experiment made 
 in Boston. 
 
 Some gentlemen of that city invested about $8,000 in land, 
 and in the construction of a brick building, arranged for sixteen 
 families, allowing to each two rooms, separate cellars under lock 
 and key, separate piazzas on which to dry clothes, &c., and also 
 separate out-houses to each. The tenants were each likewise 
 provided with a copper boiler, and one or more closets. The 
 rents Avere made as low as a fair interest would admit; and were 
 collected and paid over weekly by one of the tenants, who was 
 
28 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 (1858. 
 
 also intrusted with the care of the whole, for which services he 
 occupied one of the tenements rent free. The tenants were 
 chiefly Irish, taken as they ofiered themselves, rejecting only 
 those of known bad habits. Many of them at the time were 
 out of employment, and with very slender resources. But 
 the rents w^ere paid with great punctuality, for at the end 
 of the year only a few cents remained due, and no repairs 
 had been found necessary, excepting a few lights in the cellar 
 windows. The result far exceeded the expectations of the pro¬ 
 prietors, and was most satisfactory. If such improvements are 
 desirable and practicable in other cities, they are pre-eminently 
 so in New-York. 
 
 It would be easy to multiply arguments and illustrations in 
 favor of the reforms suggested. Having, however, already un¬ 
 duly extended this Report, it remains to present a few remarks 
 in respect to the remedies for the various evils considered. 
 These, it is believed, may be found partly in the power of the 
 sufferers themselves, partly in that of capitalists and landlords, 
 and partly in the Legislature. In respect to the two last it may 
 be said, 
 
 I. That the subject presents a forcible appeal to capitalists 
 and owners of real estate^ for they can alone engage in the work; 
 and if neglected by them, on what tenable plea can they escape 
 responsibility ? Safe investments and increase of property is 
 not all their duty. Providence has made them to differ from 
 others in wealth, that they may fulfil the obligation of ‘‘ doing 
 good to others as they have opportunity.” Such an opportu¬ 
 nity as rarely occurs is here presented. Though it required 
 sacrifices, should not those whose wealth has been chiefly ac¬ 
 quired by the toil of the poor, make them for such an object ? 
 But as sacrifices are not demanded, that plea is taken away, and 
 on them is conferred the singular privilege of becoming bene¬ 
 factors to the poor, with pecuniary advantage to themselves. 
 
 Some buildings, it is true, have here been erected for the 
 
1853.) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 29 
 
 labonDg classes, of a kind better suited to tbeir object; wbicb, 
 as they are eagerly sought after by respectable tenants, and 
 make good returns to the owners, at once prove the de¬ 
 mand for such dwellings, and the wisdom of such investments. 
 Most, however, of the new tenement houses are on so contracted 
 and penurious a scale, that they‘are actually inferior, as it re¬ 
 spects the essentials of a human dwelling, to many of the old 
 buildings whose places they supply. The health and conven¬ 
 ience of the tenants are the least considerations; and how the 
 most may be'realized for the smallest expenditure, appear to be 
 the chief points studied or attained. In the demand for tene¬ 
 ments, however inferior their character, they will be occupied, 
 but by whom ? Evidently by persons of the smallest means, 
 who if not already steeped in debasement, w^ill soon become so 
 by the deteriorating influences around them, and probably as 
 unprincipledrec and kless in the care of the property, and pay¬ 
 ing rent, as are the landlords about their comforts. And let 
 not such owners complain, if such results follow with an endless 
 train of collateral evils; for in an important sense they are re¬ 
 sponsible for them. Vice and pauperism will be perpetuated by 
 such causes; the almshouse and prison be supplied with re¬ 
 cruits, and the City burdened with taxes for their support. On 
 the contrary, if capitalists and landlords consult the interest of 
 the poor, only so far as to give them all they can afford to pay 
 for, a sure foundation will be laid for their improvement in 
 other respects, with advantage to themselves and benefit to the 
 City. This may indeed be said to be one of the chief things 
 needed, in order to complete for the laboring classes, such a 
 system of reformatory agencies, as their condition requires. 
 Certain it is, that various other means deemed essential to 
 their physical and moral elevation, have long been actively 
 employed, and that the success of these means has been great¬ 
 ly impeded if not rendered nugatory, by the want of these im¬ 
 provements. 
 
30 . 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 (1853. 
 
 II. The subject demands legislative intervention. Much as 
 has hitherto been done by individual and associated efforts, 
 these crying evils cannot, it is believed, be removed, or essen¬ 
 tially diminished, without special legislative action. What the 
 precise nature of that action should be, it may be premature? 
 at this stage of the investigations, when sanitary movements 
 among us are in their infancy, to define. That legal measures 
 should be resorted to, and may be legitimately exercised, there 
 can be no doubt. For while the law zealously guards individ¬ 
 ual liberty, it is not less careful that the liberty guaranteed, 
 shall be so used as not to annoy others, or endanger public 
 health. In other words, it recognizes no man’s right to pollute 
 the atmosphere of a neighborhood by breeding a pestilence in 
 his own domicil. We are dependent upon legislation for sujd- 
 plies of water, construction of sewers, abatement of nuisances, 
 and the inspection of numerous articles of food ; also for the 
 protection of health, property, and life; while it imperatively 
 forbids under heavy penalties, whatever is indirectly incompat¬ 
 ible with the security of these important objects. Such being 
 the acknowledged duties and prerogatives of the Legislature^ 
 its power may and should be evoked, to enact and enforce all 
 such sanitary regulations, as the peculiar position and condition 
 of this great metropolis may be found to require. 
 
 Pure air, light and water being indispensable to health and 
 life, if tenements are so badly constructed as to preclude a 
 proper supply of these essential elements, the law should inter¬ 
 pose for the jDrotection of the sufferers, and either close up such 
 dwellings, or cause them to be so re-modelled as to be fit for 
 human habitations. Thus also in the construction of new 
 tenements. A certain amount of superficial area, height of ceil¬ 
 ing, facilities for heating and ventilation, Ac., should be furnish¬ 
 ed, under suitable penalties for neglect, and the number of in¬ 
 mates to each limited by law, if practicable, as is now done on 
 board emigrant ships. IS’o nuisances, moreover, should be al- 
 
1853.) 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 31 
 
 lowed, and domiciliary cleanliness rigidly enforced wherever 
 health was endangered by neglect. 
 
 In conclusion, a few objections to the foregoing suggestions 
 may he very briefly considered: 
 
 1. The enforcement of the foregoing propositions would not 
 interfere with the rights of property holders, inasmuch as 
 nothing would be exacted that is not vital and important to 
 the interests of the whole population, and which would not 
 eventually tend to the benefit of the property owners them¬ 
 selves. Rents would not necessarily so increase as to place the 
 improved or new tenements which combine the healthful and 
 comfortable arrangements required by law, out of the reach 
 of the poor. The relative number of dwellings and occupants 
 would not be so changed as that the prices now paid for miser¬ 
 able houses should not, even in this City where rents are enor¬ 
 mous, fail to secure decent habitations. 
 
 2. Nor would the enforcement of the plan suggested inter¬ 
 fere with the rights of the tenant. No family, as before shown, 
 has a right so to live as to endanger public health, and become 
 an annoyance to others. In all cases of this kind such sanitary 
 regulations should be enforced as would abate the evil. And 
 the requisite legislative enactments for this end, when under¬ 
 stood, would be regarded, it is believed, with favor by those 
 they w^ere intended to benefit. Many of the laboring classes 
 are more alive to their privations than has been generally 
 supposed. When once made acquainted with the terrible evils 
 which result from their present modes of living, and neglect of 
 cleanliness, at the same time have placed within their reach the 
 means of forsaking their present filthy habits, in numerous 
 cases it will be found, that so far from thwarting endeavoi-s to 
 promote their health and cleanliness, they will render every 
 possible assistance; for they will discover that their own best 
 interests are promoted by all those measures which are calcu¬ 
 lated to improve their sanitary condition. 
 
32 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 (1853. 
 
 3. As no gratuitous benefits are designed, self-reliance 
 among the poor would not be undermined, nor improper mo¬ 
 tives be presented to induce them to remain in the city. On 
 the contrary, the prospect of a healthful, comfortable home 
 would stimulate exertion, while its possession would exert a 
 most salutaiy influence in reforming and elevating character. 
 
 4. The carrying out of this feature of the plan would legi¬ 
 timately fall within the scope of the City Inspector’s duties. It 
 would require no new machinery, but only such a modification 
 of the existing laws as would reach, in order to remedy, the 
 evils in question. 
 
 Let this and analogous measures be prosecuted, and, with the 
 Di\dne blessing, it may be expected that great and noble ends 
 will be attained. An increase of physical comforts will induce 
 a higher tone of morals, and prepare the way for the success of 
 religious influences. New tastes, new desires, new activities 
 and purposes will be awakened among multitudes that have 
 hitherto been almost labored with in vain; and a train of influ¬ 
 ences be set in operation, all tending to the permanent amelio¬ 
 ration of their condition, and to the greatest good of the entire 
 community. 
 
 At the stated meeting of the Board of Managei-s, October 
 10th, 1853, the Committee ‘appointed under the foregoing Re¬ 
 solution of June 13 th, made the preceding Report, which on 
 motion was accepted, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 R. M. HARTLEY, Secretary, 
 
^ _ 3 0112 0984595 
 
 1 
 
 AXD 
 
 Snpervisory Coiiiicii of the Association for 1853. 
 
 
 I JAMES BIIOAVX, GEORGE GRIS^VOLD, JAMES BOOR- 
 
 I MAX, JAMES Li:XOX, HORATIO ALLEX, A. R. AVETMORE, Vice 
 ! Presidents.— B. AIIXTURX, Treasurer.—P.OBV.P.T M. HARTLEY', 
 Corresponding l^ecretary and Agent .— JOSEPH B. COIiLIA’S, Recording Sec¬ 
 
 retary. 
 
 Supervisory Council. 
 
 I The first in order is the Chairman of each District Committee. ^ 
 
 I First District. —James C. Ramsev. James Cruiksliank. William Boi^ar- ‘ 
 clus, John Harris, John Davidson. i 
 
 Second District. —George AY. Abbe, Joseph F. Sanxay, AVilliam Sharp, ' 
 Charles AA'ilbur. Daniel X. Tucker. 
 
 Third District. —E. Caukhvell. J. L. Baldwin, E. L. Fancher, AA^. D. 
 Harris, A^. Le Compt. 
 
 Fourth District. —Abraham Fardon, Jr., Archibald Hall, Hugh Aikman, 
 Charles Chamberlain, .rohn Gates. : 
 
 Fifth District, —A. R. Wetmore, J. II, Redfield, X". P. Hosack, Alarcus 
 Alilchcll, David Terry. 
 
 i Sixth District. —A", C. Everett, Steplien Conover, Daniel Fisher, Fred- 
 I eric Lockwood, Peter Bimiett, AI. D. 
 
 Seventh Di.strict. —Stephen Cutter, George AA'alsh. B. G. Bruce, J. L. 
 Aloore, Thomas AA'arren. ; 
 
 Eighth District. —Joseph B. Collins, John Endicott, Charles C. Dver, ^ 
 O. D. McClain, J. S. Holt. ' ' j 
 
 Xinth District. —James O.Pond, AI. D., Jacob S. Aliller, AI. D., Thomas ; 
 
 : B. Richards, Jeremiah Terbell, Daniel French. 
 
 , Tenth District. —.Tames Horn, Josepli AI. Bell, IT. A'an Arsdale, AI. D., 
 
 I E. A. Fraser, Thoma,s Jacksgn. | 
 
 ; Eleventh District. —Abner Alills, Pelcr AlcPhersoii, Joel Kelly, Alichael j 
 i Devoy, David L, Young. I 
 
 Thirteenth District.— Lewis Chichester. Tliomas Keiinedv, John i 
 Pearsall, Charles Merrill, AATn. A. AA'alker. ; 
 
 P^ouRTEENTH DISTRICT.—Alexander A\". Alurray, William Post, J. J. Jen- ! 
 kins, H. Aliller, Richard Brown. 
 
 PTfteenth District. —Thomas D'*nny, William G. Bull, Joseph liaw- 
 rence, James Alorsli, Adon Smith. 
 
 Sixteenth District. —liUtlmr Jackson, Charles Roome, L, B, WYodrufl', 
 
 H. K. Bull, J. P. Ciimming. 
 
 Seventeenth District. —S. C. Lynes, James R. Gibson, George Alanning 
 Tracy, Thomas Jeremiah, James AY;- Metcalf, M;JD. i 
 
 Eighteenth District. —F. E. Alather, AA"m. Walker, J. AA"". Benedict, 
 Adam AA^. Spies, .1. H. Earle. 
 
 XiNETEENTii DISTRICT. —J. AA^. Rumsc)', J. C. Aliller, D. E. Bartlett, AY. 
 
 G. Alackay, AA^illiam E. Davis. 
 
 Twentieth District. —J. P O.sirom, James Reeve, Charles H. Rusher, ; 
 J. AY. Aliller, J. F. AATlliams. 
 
 « 
 
 Elected Members of the Supervisory Council. 
 
 J. C. Greene, Wm. S. AVYtmorc, Jonathan Sturges, AA^'in. A. Alarcy, ! 
 George T. Trimble. E. J. AA’’oolsey. Cyrus Curtis, .lohn C. Baldwin, AYilliam 
 B. Crosby. Thomas Cock, AI. D., AA^m. G. Bull, liorin Xiasli, Capt. Wm. A. 
 Spetieor, P'. S. AA^inslon, Peter Cooper. 
 
 Elected Members of the Board of Managers. 
 
 Stewart Brown, John T. Adams, Jasper Corning. Erastus C. Benedict.^ 
 
 Otlice of the Assoeiation, Bible Ilouse, X". tt!), third floor, entranee on Plighth : 
 street.