Tenement houses

The spirits of alcoholism, opium dens, prostitution, gambling, and street crime, as well as the figure of Death, issue from a tenement house. Caption: Not only an evil in itself, but the vice, crime and disease it breeds invade the homes of rich and poor alike.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon, effective in its simplicity, is an example of Puck‘s drift, similar to many magazines and newspapers of the day, from partisanship to social criticism. Its counterpart in literature was Naturalism, which was a focus on the uglier aspects of urban life (caused in part by unprecedented numbers of immigrants; 1900-1910 was the highest number of foreign arrivals) and what Theodore Roosevelt would call Social and Industrial Injustice.

Puck stands on a stage speaking to wealthy philanthropists. From left: an empty seat “reserved for Russell Sage,” Mrs. Leland Stanford, Miss [Helen Miller?] Gould, John D Rockefeller Jr., Andrew Carnegie, Vanderbilt [William K., by resemblance], [and] J. P. Morgan.” Puck is displaying a “Plan for model tenement” and pointing to a view of current tenement housing conditions projected on a magic-lantern screen on the stage. In the “Christmas sermon,” Puck is entreating that when these generous millionaires are performing their philanthropy, they not only endow schools and libraries, which benefit “those that already have much,” but also “give something to those who have less than nothing.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Around the time of this cartoon, Puck, always a magazine of reform through its cartoons and editorials, joined the ranks of periodicals urging social justice activism and attention to urban ills in the movement called Naturalism. Having rejected the prescriptions of Bryanism, it welcomed and paralleled the reform agenda of Theodore Roosevelt. By 1910 its stances were vaguely Socialist.

Theodore Roosevelt recommends that Frank Harper stay in touch with Colonel Carrington. Roosevelt tells Harper about Roosevelt’s efforts to eliminate the deplorable conditions of tenement house cigar manufacture. This resulted in a bill that he passed as a member of the New York Legislature but that the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-26

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary asks George W. Alger to respond to the enclosed letter, desiring Alger to provide Mr. Bannister with citations for the decisions Roosevelt referenced when he spoke in Boston. The cases included the Worker’s Compensation Act, the manufacturing of cigars in tenement houses, provision of safeguards for dangerous machinery, and laws pertaining to women workers in factories.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-14

Theodore Roosevelt assures George F. Roesch that he has not forgotten about the “tenement house cigar bill.” Roosevelt also points to the “outrageous statement” made by Senator Elihu Root, William D. Guthrie, and John G. Milburn in connection with the bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-12-16

President Roosevelt encloses a report on tenement housing conditions in Washington, D.C., by James Bronson Reynolds. He asks Florence Lathrop Page if she can serve as a member of the new President’s Homes Commission and lists the other proposed members.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-13

President Roosevelt thanks August Belmont for his letter and plans to share it with Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. As Belmont suggests, Roosevelt will advocate for the tenement house, child labor, and sweatshops laws in New York state, ensuring Hughes will “enforce them up to the letter.” 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-01

Arthur E. Buchholz read Theodore Roosevelt’s recent editorial, “Morals and Other Things,” with interest. Roosevelt’s quotation of a report which Buchholz helped write led him to wonder if Roosevelt’s experience informing the other parts of his article might allow him offer suggestions on an issue that he is currently studying–the problem of living conditions in smaller communities. Buchholz is currently working alone, but is trying to get volunteers in the various small communities to help him with administering surveys, and hopes to be able to inspire legislative action to establish housing inspectors.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-25

After reading Theodore Roosevelt’s April 22nd article in The Outlook, E. McIntyre provides him with additional information about tenement house conditions. Anne Harriman Vanderbilt and other philanthropists are trying to build redesigned buildings that are healthier. However, local tenement house departments are preventing them from being built due to the lack of an air shaft. McIntyre says that he knew Roosevelt’s parents.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-12

Shannon William and members of the pediatric section of the New York Academy of Medicine heard that Theodore Roosevelt recently reviewed the tenement housing conditions with Jacob A. Riis. They prefer the health benefits afforded by the “open stair” type of housing and hope to support their widespread adoption. William invites Roosevelt to attend their conference. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-29

Charles Evan Hughes outlines his platform for the 1906 New York gubernatorial campaign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-22

William Dudley Foulke writes to President Roosevelt to express his opinion that the residents of New York City tenements will help secure the Republican ticket because of their positive feelings towards Roosevelt and suggests that canvassing efforts be focused there.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-06

This fragment of an article from Everybody’s Magazine examines the conditions of the tenement houses under the purview of Trinity Church in New York City. According to the article, Trinity Church makes an enormous revenue from these houses, but they are in terrible condition, putting the dwellers at risk for diseases like tuberculosis.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07

A group of wealthy citizens exit Trinity Church on Wall Street, New York City, with poor persons huddled on the street on both sides, and tenement housing in the background. The inscription over the door reads “He that Giveth to the Poor Lendeth to the Lord.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-01-09

Print shows a “Hayseed Legislator” standing on the sidewalk of “Fifth Ave.” in New York City, pointing his umbrella toward a tenement house labeled “The Vanderbilt Flats Formerly the Marble Palace.” On Fifth Avenue there are street urchins, a hurdy-gurdy man with a monkey, a fruit vendor, and a man picking through the trash. Seen through windows on the ground floor of the tenement house are a woman using a sewing machine and a Chinese laundry. On the rooftop, a woman is hanging clothes on a clothesline. Caption: The New York up-country legislator will never be satisfied until he has taxed the millionaire out of the state.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-10-26

In a crowded street between tenement buildings, street vendors line the street. Vignette views depict storefronts, vendors, and a social gathering on a street corner, possibly around a photographer.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1914-08-15

Two men labeled “Charity Worker” address an over-sized man sitting on a throne, taking money from a box labeled “Rents,” into which two men labeled “Rent Collector” and “Agent” pour money, and putting it into a basket labeled “Organized Charity.” In the background are run-down tenement buildings. Caption: Charitable Worker — We thank you for your generous contributions for the relief of the suffering poor, but why don’t you replace those rookeries with model tenements and relieve their miseries in that way? / Tenement-House Owner — Why? Why because, if I did, the city would fine me with increased valuations and heavier taxes.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-03-01

Governor Roosevelt regrets that Frederick William Holls cannot serve on the Tenement House Commission, although he did not believe that Holls would accept the appointment. Roosevelt adds he will veto Green’s bill.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1900-04-14

Governor Roosevelt asks Frederick William Holls to provide the date, time and place of his engagement with the Tenement House Committee, noting that it is difficult for him to keep track of his numerous engagements.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1900-01-29

New York Mayor Seth Low sends a letter from Ernst J. Lederle to President Roosevelt. Low mentions that Lederle does not discuss the falling death rate but believes the drop is from the good work and cooperation of the departments of health, street cleaning, and tenement houses.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-08-03