The Social Spirit in America

In New York City in a population of 255033 persons only 306 had access to a bathroom in the houses in which they lived. In the old dilapidated filth-soaked dark unventilated buildings the death-rate among children under five years of age ran up to 254.4 in a thousand while under wholesome conditions it might be reduced to thirty in a thousand. Christendom still shudders when it reads of Herods slaughter of the innocents but that butchery was insignificant in proportions when compared with the murderous effects of city tenement life. -from Better Houses for the People Before muckrakers like Upton Sinclair came upon the scene C.R. HENDERSON an associate professor of sociology at the University of Chicago published this assessment of the state of American society for the poorest of the poor the most downtrodden of the neglected. First published in 1897 it examines everything from the sorry state of women in the workforce and the terrible conditions of tenement life to the necessity of keeping city roads and sidewalks in fine condition and the vital need for civic-sponsored arts and recreation... and then offers suggestions and ideas for religious organizations to help enact municipally minded change for the betterment of all. This is a fascinating look at the spirited and enthusiastic approach to reform that fired early-20th-century social activists. OF INTEREST TO: students of social history readers of religious activism