TENEMENT HOUSE SANITATION

OWING to the limited means available for a special sanitary investigation of the tenement houses, the scope of this examination has been confined to the subjects of the plumbing, drainage, and water supply of the buildings, with incidental consideration of the lighting and ventilation of water-closet compartments and the condition of cellars, yards, courts, and roofs.

BUILDINGS SELECTED FOR SPECIAL SANITARY EXAMINATION

Buildings were selected for special examination which should include all classes of tenement houses, from the oldest type and poorest character to the most recent examples of modern construction. The buildings selected were confined, however, to those which are generally considered "tenement houses," and did not include the better class of flats and apartment houses.

A list of seventy-six buildings was selected from the records in the office of the Secretary of the Tenement House Commission, covering the range in age and character above noted, and extending in location from the crowded lower East Side district to the Borough of the Bronx, with buildings also in the east and west middle tenement sections, and the upper Manhattan East Side district. Several of the large modern model tenement buildings were also examined.

DISTRIBUTION BY AGE

The distribution by age of the buildings examined is as follows: —

1. Very old buildings and old residences converted into tene

It will be noted that more than half of the buildings examined are of modern types. Twenty-eight per cent were built since January, 1898. It was thought advisable to give especial attention to modern buildings, as the unsanitary condition of the older buildings

has been too often commented upon to require detailed investigation at this time. Enough old buildings were examined, however, to supply knowledge of their sanitary condition for present purposes. Where possible the individual building examined was selected from one of a row, built at the same time and on the same plan as the one selected; and the conditions recorded under the examination were assumed to reasonably represent the condition of the other similar buildings in the row. Partial examinations were made of some of these adjoining buildings to test the accuracy of this assumption, and the records show that the results obtained from the actual inspections may be applied with equal force to adjoining buildings and the field proportionately broadened.

Actual sanitary inspections were made of 76 buildings, representing 222 neighboring buildings of corresponding types.

PREVIOUS SPECIAL SANITARY EXAMINATIONS

In addition to the above inspections the records of 52 additional buildings examined under my direction in 1897 were also considered. These records were obtained by a special sanitary house to house inspection of the buildings on both sides of West 61st Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, one of the crowded districts, largely occupied by colored people.

A brief inspection of a few of these buildings was made for the present investigation, to determine if any material changes had been made since the inspection of 1897. No such changes were observed, and the records may be accepted as forming a part of the data of to-day. They are of value, as the records contain detailed technical information and were made by a trained inspector.

ADDITIONAL RECORDS EXAMINED, NOT SPECIFICALLY SANITARY

A further group of records has also been put at my disposal by the Secretary of the Commission, covering a recent general inspection (not specifically sanitary) of the buildings in eight city blocks scattered through the lower tenement districts and comprising reports on 304 buildings. These latter records were examined with special reference to the water-closet accommodations and their condition, as these features give a fair index of the character of the building with reference to other sanitary features.

SUMMARY OF RECORDS EXAMINED

The following summary indicates the number of buildings which have come under consideration:

These buildings represent over 10,000 apartments, with an estimated population of about 50,000.

METHOD OF INSPECTION

In order to systematize the collection of data relating to the buildings, a series of questions was printed on a set of cards comprising seven pages for each building. A set of these cards in blank will be found in Appendix 10. The questions relating particularly to plumbing and sanitary features were grouped under the following general headings:

It was found impossible to obtain information covered by some of these topics without more extended time and means than the present inquiry permitted. The technical nature of the inquiry demanded experts to make the examinations, and Mr. William Paul Gerhardt, Civil and Sanitary Engineer, kindly consented to personally inspect a number of buildings, and gave me very valuable assistance. Mr. William C. Tucker, Civil and Sanitary Engineer, was also employed for the same purpose, and I made personal inspections of twenty-five buildings ranging from the oldest to the most modern. The fact that the buildings were reported upon by experts characterizes the results as trustworthy.

In studying the data collected and drawing conclusions therefrom, effort has been made to avoid a technically critical standard, and to meet the inquiry from a rational and practical point of view. Attention has been directed to suggesting improvements that can be practically accomplished without working an injury to existing property rights, and without working an injustice to those who built to the best of their knowledge and within the limits of then existing laws. The subject is not considered historically nor academically, but the facts as they exist are accepted as conclusive, and the inquiry made, "Do they meet the demands which may be

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