Appendix. — Statistics Bearing on the Tenement Problem
Statistics of population were left out of the text in the hope that the results of this year’s census would be available as a basis for calculation before the book went to press. They are now at hand, but their correctness is disputed. The statisticians of the Health Department claim that New York’s population has been underestimated a hundred thousand at least, and they appear to have the best of the argument. A re-count is called for, and the printer will not wait. Such statistics as follow have been based on the Health Department estimates, except where the census source is given. The extent of the quarrel of official figures may be judged from this one fact, that the ordinarily conservative and careful calculations of the Sanitary Bureau make the death-rate of New York, in 1889, 25.19 for the thousand of a population of 1,575,073, while the census would make it 26.76 in a population of 1,482,273.
| Population of | New York, 1880 | (census) | 1,206,299 | |||
| ″ | London, 1881 | ″ | 3,816,483 | |||
| ″ | Philadelphia, 1880 | ″ | 846,980 | |||
| ″ | Brooklyn, 1880 | ″ | 566,689 | |||
| ″ | Boston, 1880 | ″ | 362,535 | |||
| ″ | New York, 1889 | (estimated) | 1,575,073 | |||
| ″ | London, 1889 | ″ | 4,351,738 | |||
| ″ | Philadelphia, 1889 | ″ | 1,040,245 | |||
| ″ | Brooklyn, ″ | ″ | 814,505 | |||
| ″ | Boston, ″ | ″ | 420,000 | |||
| ″ | New York under five years of age, in | 1880 | 140,327 | |||
| ″ | ″ | ″ | ″ | ″ | 1889 | |
| (estimated) | 182,770 | |||||
| Population of tenements in New York in | 186925 | (census) | 468,492 | |||
| ″ | ″ | ″ | ″ | 188826 | ″ | 1,093,701 |
| ″ | ″ | ″ | ″ | under five years of age | 143,243 | |
| Population of | New York in 1880(census) | 1,206,299 | ||||
| ″ | Manhattan Island in 1880 (census) | 1,164,673 | ||||
| ″ | Tenth Ward in 1880 (census) | 47,554 | ||||
| ″ | Eleventh Ward in 1880 (census) | 68,778 | ||||
| ″ | Thirteenth Ward in 1880 (census) | 37,797 | ||||
| ″ | New York in 1890 (census) | 1,513,501 | ||||
| ″ | Manhattan Island in 1890 (census) | 1,440,101 | ||||
| ″ | Tenth Ward in 1890 (census) | 57,514 | ||||
| ″ | Eleventh Ward ″ ″ | 75,708 | ||||
| ″ | Thirteenth Ward in 1890 (census) | 45,882 | ||||
| Number of acres | in New York City | 24,890 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Manhattan Island | 12,673 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Tenth Ward | 110 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Eleventh Ward | 196 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Thirteenth Ward | 107 | ||||
| Density of population per acre in 1880, New York City | 48.4 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1880, Manhattan Island | 92.6 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1880, Tenth Ward | 432.3 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1880, Eleventh Ward | 350.9 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1880, Thirteenth Ward | 353.2 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1890, New York City (census) | 60.08 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1890, Manhattan Island (census) | 114.53 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1890, Tenth Ward (census) | 522.00 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1890, Eleventh Ward (census) | 386.00 | |||||
| Density of population per acre in 1890, Thirteenth Ward (census) | 428.8 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1880, New York City (census) | 30,976 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1880, Manhattan Island (census) | 41,264 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1880, Tenth Ward (census) | 276,672 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1880, Eleventh Ward (census) | 224,576 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1880, Thirteenth Ward (census) | 226,048 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1890, New York City (census) | 38,451 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1890, Manhattan Island (census) | 73,299 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1890, Tenth Ward (census) | 334,080 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1890, Eleventh Ward (census) | 246,040 | |||||
| Density of population to the square mile in 1890, Thirteenth Ward (census) | 274,432 | |||||
| Number of persons to a dwelling in New York, 1880 (census) | 16.37 | |||||
| Number of persons to a dwelling in London, 1881 (census) | 7.9 | |||||
| Number of persons to a dwelling in Philadelphia, 1880 (census) | 5.79 | |||||
| Number of persons to a dwelling in Brooklyn, 1880 (census) | 9.11 | |||||
| Number of persons to a dwelling in Boston, 1880 (census) | 8.26 | |||||
| Number of deaths in | New York, 1880 | 31,937 | ||||
| ″ ″ | London, 1881 | 81,431 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Philadelphia, 1880 | 17,711 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Brooklyn, 1880 | 13,222 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Boston, 1880 | 8,612 | ||||
| Death-rate of | New York, 1880 | 26.47 | ||||
| ″ | London, 1881 | 21.3 | ||||
| ″ | Philadelphia, 1880 | 20.91 | ||||
| ″ | Brooklyn, 1880 | 23.33 | ||||
| ″ | Boston, 1880 | 23.75 | ||||
| Number of deaths in | New York, 1889 | 39,679 | ||||
| ″ ″ | London, 1889 | 75,683 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Philadelphia, 1889 | 20,536 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Brooklyn, 1889 | 8,288 | ||||
| ″ ″ | Boston, 1889 | 10,259 | ||||
| Death-rate of | New York, 1889 | 25.19 | ||||
| ″ | London, 1889 | 17.4 | ||||
| ″ | Philadelphia, 1889 | 19.7 | ||||
| ″ | Brooklyn, 1889 | 22.5 | ||||
| ″ | Boston, 1889 | 24.42 | ||||
For every person who dies there are always two disabled by illness, so that there was a regular average of 79,358 New Yorkers on the sick-list at any moment last year. It is usual to count 28 cases of sickness the year round for every death, and this would give a total for the year 1889 of 1,111,082 of illness of all sorts.
| Number of deaths in tenements in New York, 1869 | 13,285 |
| ″ ″ ″ ″ ″ ″ 1888 | 24,842 |
| Death-rate in tenements in New York, 1869 | 28.35 |
| ″ ″ ″ ″ ″ 1888 | 22.71 |
This is exclusive of deaths in institutions, properly referable to the tenements in most cases. The adult death-rate is found to decrease in the larger tenements of newer construction. The child mortality increases, reaching 114.04 per cent. of 1,000 living in houses containing between 60 and 80 tenants. From this point it decreases with the adult death-rate.
| Number of deaths in | prisons, New York, 1889 | 85 |
| ″ ″ | hospitals, New York, 1889 | 6,102 |
| ″ ″ | lunatic asylums, New York, 1889 | 448 |
| ″ ″ | institutions for children, New York, 1889 | 522 |
| ″ ″ | homes for aged, New York, 1889 | 238 |
| ″ ″ | almshouse, New York, 1889 | 424 |
| ″ ″ | other institutions, New York, 1889 | 162 |
| Number of burials in city cemetery (paupers), New York, 1889 | 3,815 | |
| Percentage of such burials on total | 9.64 | |
| Number of tenants weeded out of overcrowded tenements, New York, 1889 | 1,246 | |
| Number of tenants weeded out of overcrowded tenements, in first half of 189027 | 1,068 | |
| Number of sick poor visited by summer corps of doctors, New York, 1890 | 16,501 | |
Police Statistics.
| Males. | Females. | |
| Arrests made by the police in 1889 | 62,274 | 19,926 |
| Number of arrests for drunkenness and disorderly | 20,253 | 8,981 |
| Number of arrests for disorderly conduct | 10,953 | 7,477 |
| ″ ″ assault and battery | 4,534 | 497 |
| ″ ″ theft | 4,399 | 721 |
| ″ ″ robbery | 247 | 10 |
| ″ ″ vagrancy | 1,686 | 947 |
| Prisoners unable to read or write | 2,399 | 1,281 |
| Number of lost children found in the streets, 1889 | 2,968 | |
| ″ sick and destitute cared for, 1889 | 2,753 | |
| Found sick in the streets | 1,211 | |
| Number of pawnshops in city, 1889 | 110 | |
| ″ cheap lodging-houses, 1889 | 270 | |
| ″ saloons, 1889 | 7,884 | |
Immigration.
| Immigrants landed at Castle Garden in 20 years, ending with 1889 | 5,335,396 |
| Immigrants landed at Castle Garden in 1889 | 349,233 |
| Immigrants from England landed at Castle Garden in 1889 | 46,214 |
| Immigrants from Scotland landed at Castle Garden in 1889 | 11,415 |
| Immigrants from Ireland landed at Castle Garden in 1889 | 43,090 |
| Immigrants from Germany landed at Castle Garden in 1889 | 75,458 |
| 1883. | 1884. | 1885. | 1886. | 1887. | 1888. | 1889. | |
| Italy | 25,485 | 14,076 | 16,033 | 29,312 | 44,274 | 43,927 | 28,810 |
| Russia Poland | 7,577 | 12,432 | 16,578 | 23,987 | 33,203 | 33,052 | 31,329 |
| Hungary | 13,160 | 15,797 | 11,129 | 18,135 | 17,719 | 12,905 | 15,678 |
| Bohemia | 4,877 | 7,093 | 6,697 | 4,222 | 6,449 | 3,982 | 5,412 |
| Number of tenements in New York, December 1, 1888 | 32,390 |
| Number built from June 1, 1888, to August 1, 1890 | 3,733 |
| Rear tenements in existence, August 1, 1890 | 2,630 |
| Total number of tenements, August 1, 1890 | 37,316 |
| Estimated population of tenements, August 1, 1890 | 1,250,000 |
| Estimated number of children under five years in tenements, 1890 | 163,712 |
Corner tenements may cover all of the lot, except 4 feet at the rear. Tenements in the block may only cover seventy-eight per cent. of the lot. They must have a rear yard 10 feet wide, and air-shafts or open courts equal to twelve per cent. of the lot.
Tenements or apartment houses must not be built over 70 feet high in streets 60 feet wide.
Tenements or apartment houses must not be built over 80 feet high in streets wider than 60 feet.
Footnotes
1 Tweed was born and bred in a Fourth Ward tenement.
2 Forty per cent. was declared by witnesses before a Senate Committee to be a fair average interest on tenement property. Instances were given of its being one hundred per cent. and over.
3 It was not until the winter of 1867 that owners of swine were prohibited by ordinance from letting them run at large in the built-up portions of the city.
4 This “unventilated and fever-breeding structure” the year after it was built was picked out by the Council of Hygiene, then just organized, and presented to the Citizens’ Association of New York as a specimen “multiple domicile” in a desirable street, with the following comment: “Here are twelve living-rooms and twenty-one bedrooms, and only six of the latter have any provision or possibility for the admission of light and air, excepting through the family sitting-and living-room; being utterly dark, close, and unventilated. The living-rooms are but 10 × 12 feet; the bedrooms 6½ × 7 feet.“
5 “A lot 50 × 60, contained twenty stables, rented for dwellings at $15 a year each; cost of the whole $600.”
6 The Sheriff Street Colony of rag-pickers, long since gone, is an instance in point. The thrifty Germans saved up money during years of hard work in squalor and apparently wretched poverty to buy a township in a Western State, and the whole colony moved out there in a body. There need be no doubt about their thriving there.
7 The process can be observed in the Italian tenements in Harlem (Little Italy), which, since their occupation by these people, have been gradually sinking to the slum level.
8 The term child means in the mortality tables a person under five years of age. Children five years old and over figure in the tables as adults.
9 See City Mission Report, February, 1890, page 77.
10 Inspector Byrnes on Lodging-houses, in the North American Review, September, 1889.
11 Deduct 69,111 women lodgers in the police stations.
12 Report of Eastern Dispensary for 1889.
13 I refer to the Tenth Ward always as typical. The district embraced in the discussion really includes the Thirteenth Ward, and in a growing sense large portions of the Seventh and contiguous wards as well.
14 An invention that cuts many garments at once, where the scissors could cut only a few.
15 I was always accompanied on these tours of inquiry by one of their own people who knew of and sympathized with my mission. Without that precaution my errand would have been fruitless; even with him it was often nearly so.
16 The strike of the cloakmakers last summer, that ended in victory, raised their wages considerably, at least for the time being.
17 Suspicions of murder, in the case of a woman who was found dead, covered with bruises, after a day’s running fight with her husband, in which the beer jug had been the bone of contention, brought me to this house, a ramshackle tenement on the tail-end of a lot over near the North River docks. The family in the picture lived above the rooms where the dead woman lay on a bed of straw, overrun by rats, and had been uninterested witnesses of the affray that was an everyday occurrence in the house. A patched and shaky stairway led up to their one bare and miserable room, in comparison with which a white-washed prison-cell seemed a real palace. A heap of old rags, in which the baby slept serenely, served as the common sleeping-bunk of father, mother, and children—two bright and pretty girls, singularly out of keeping in their clean, if coarse, dresses, with their surroundings. The father, a slow-going, honest English coal-heaver, earned on the average five dollars a week, “when work was fairly brisk,” at the docks. But there were long seasons when it was very “slack,” he said, doubtfully. Yet the prospect did not seem to discourage them. The mother, a pleasant-faced woman, was cheerful, even light-hearted. Her smile seemed the most sadly hopeless of all in the utter wretchedness of the place, cheery though it was meant to be and really was. It seemed doomed to certain disappointment—the one thing there that was yet to know a greater depth of misery.
18 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Case 42,028, May 16, 1889.
19 Colonel Auchmuty’s own statement.
20 This very mother will implore the court with tears, the next morning, to let her renegade son off. A poor woman, who claimed to be the widow of a soldier, applied to the Tenement-house Relief Committee of the King’s Daughters last summer, to be sent to some home, as she had neither kith nor kin to care for her. Upon investigation it was found that she had four big sons, all toughs, who beat her regularly and took from her all the money she could earn or beg; she was “a respectable woman, of good habits,” the inquiry developed, and lied only to shield her rascally sons.
21 “The percentage of foreign-born prisoners in 1850, as compared with that of natives, was more than five times that of native prisoners, now (1880) it is less than double.”—American Prisons in the Tenth Census.
22 In printing-offices the broken, worn-out, and useless type is thrown into the “hell-box,” to be recast at the foundry.
23 Dr. Louis L. Seaman, late chief of staff of the Blackwell’s Island hospitals: “Social Waste of a Great City,” read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1886.
24 Forty-fourth Annual Report of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. 1887.
25 In 1869, a tenement was a house occupied by four families or more
26 In 1888, a tenement was a house occupied by three families or more
27 These figures represent less than two hundred of the worst tenements below Houston Street.