RECORD OF TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO 165 



NECESSITY FOR DISTRICTING PLAN 



States Public Health Service. It was found in their report that the illumi- 

 nation was inadequate in one-half of the buildings. We have also investi- 

 gated eye conditions and have found a great many eye defects among the 

 workers due to the strain and to the defective lighting. In 69 per cent of 

 3,000 workers defective vision was found. In llyi per cent the eyesight 

 was corrected by glasses. 



The defective vision in so large a number of people was due to the 

 defective illumination of a great many of our shops. Our shops are gen- 

 erally in buildings 50 to 100 feet wide, running from street to street. The 

 front part of such buildings is occupied by showrooms. The best illumi- 

 nated part of the building is occupied by the showrooms while the rear part 

 of the building is occupied by the workers. They have high partitions 

 between the front and the rear part that entirely separates the two. The 

 result is that the workers are almost always in the dark part of the building. 

 There is no limitation as to the ground area that may be covered by fac- 

 tories as is the case in tenement houses. You can build on 100 per cent of 

 the lot and the most of the factory buildings are so built. In many instances 

 they run through the entire block. 



Fire hazard in loft buildings 



A great many of the benefits that are calculated to flow from the Labor 

 Law are lost by reason of the fact that there is no co-ordination between 

 the Factory Law and other laws on the construction and occupancy of 

 buildings. Moreover, it is one thing to put a law on the books and another 

 to administer and enforce it. We found 91 per cent of the buildings had 

 violations. The law was violated as far as the fire-alarm system was con- 

 cerned. Eighty-nine per cent were violating the law of fire egress, and 

 38jA per cent were violating the law in relation to automatic sprinklers. 



We have found that out of 928 buildings 747 have only a single 

 stairway, and 186 of these stairways are of a winding type, which, in our 

 opinion, is a dangerous form. We. have found one stairway only 20 inches 

 wide, which is hardly sufficient for a stout man to pass through. 



I have said many times that under present conditions if a fire should 

 occur in some of the twenty-story buildings that have a single or even a 

 double exit and even with the fire-alarm system that some of them have, 

 I believe the calamity would be so much greater than the Triangle or Dia- 

 mond factory fire that it would be appalling. This possibility is due pri- 

 marily to the height of buildings and to the insufficiency of exits which is 

 usual in these high buildings. 



Tenement house manufacturing 



We have at present 300 stores on the east side occupied by the cloak 

 and suit and dress and waist shops. These shops are mostly in tenement 

 houses. The rear of the shop or store is generally used as a workshop. 

 There are from two to fifteen and even twenty workingmen in these shops. 

 The conditions there are abominable more particularly because of the place, 

 which is not intended for manufacturing purposes; also because of the 

 lack of light, the unsanitary conditions, etc., and the danger of contagion on 

 account of families living together. There are also at present 200 cellars 

 on the east side which are used as places to work in by clothing and other 

 industries. We have eliminated most of them in the two industries which 

 we control. 



I would prohibit all manufacturing in any residential building. I only 

 want manufacturing done in buildings erected for that specific purpose. 



