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IXDIAiYA UNIVERSITY 



the year round — and at least five houses visited showed water 

 oozing up between the boards when stepped upon. Most of 

 them had a sufficient number of windows to have made them rea- 

 sonably light, but recent crowding in of new buildings, together 

 with the breaking out of window glass and its replacement by 

 boards, have made most of the houses very dark. 



In a few instances the people living in these cottages still 

 get their water from old wells. But through the efforts of the 

 various health officials most of the wells have been condemned 

 and abandoned, and the houses supplied with city water. One 

 hydrant usually supplies three or four families or groups of men. 

 None of the cottages are connected with the sewer. All of them 

 have old-fashioned out-closets, some of them private and some of 

 them semi-public aff'airs. All of them are filthy and unsanitary 

 in the extreme. The yards surrounding the cottages are mostly 

 full of rubbish.^ 



The real apartment houses in the district are of compara- 

 tively modem construction, but the hard usage to which they have 

 been put has given them the appearance of old buildings. In 

 many of the rooms the Avails are in bad condition, but the floors 

 are in most instances in fairly good shape. The suites as a rule 

 contain two or three rooms, all of which have windows opening 

 either on streets or on courts. These courts are very dirty, wet, 

 ill-smelling places, half filled with garbage, tin cans, etc. 



The numerous business blocks in which rear and upstairs 

 rooms are rented to foreigners as dv/elling places show the worst 

 housing conditions in the district. In m.any of these buildings 

 there are dark rooms — -those having no windows or doors open- 

 ing into streets or courts — which are inhabited by groups of men. 

 Ventilation and sanitary conditions in nearly all of these build- 

 ings are verv^ bad. A sickening, disagreeable odor is present, 

 even in winter. In the summer months it is unbearable. Many 

 of the rooms in business blocks are not occupied as permanent 

 homes by these men, but are simply temporary lodging places or 

 hotels. The guests sleep on the floor and every one feels free 

 to have any amount of trash, food scraps, etc., upon the floor. 



It can easily be inferred from what has already been said that 

 the inhabitants of this district are crowded together. This is 

 true, not only in regard to the number of families or groups of 



10 Within the last few weeks the City Sanitarian has ordered and enforced a 

 cleaning np of the premises. 



