“To supplement the work of baby care, two nurses were assigned by the Department of Health to the Columbus Hill and Upper Harlem Districts, for instruction and supervision of expectant mothers. The Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor also assigned a nurse to the Columbus Hill District for similar instruction, so that a beginning was made to bring the colored expectant mother under the guiding influence of trained nurses.
“The co-operation of the Tenement House Department was affected to the extent that special attention was given to the sanitary condition of the tenements occupied by colored people.
“In a further effort to control the mortality among the colored babies, the policy of the Bureau to assign nurses during the summer months to those districts of the city showing a high infant mortality rate and a high birth rate, was applied with special reference to the colored sections, and a large force was assigned there, each nurse having under her direct charge from 100 to 150 babies during these months, keeping up this complement whenever, through death or removal, the number fell below the required amount.”
It is inevitable with any group, suddenly transferred into a new situation, that striking maladjustments should arise. While single instances of suffering very often are misleading and do not give a just view of the case, numerous and typical incidents which are by no means exceptional or exaggerated may help to visualize the problem.
A Georgia farmer who is making $3.60 a day for twelve hours of work here brought over his wife and eight children, the oldest of whom was thirteen years of age, to a house which he was fortunate to secure on Second Avenue. Only a few weeks after his arrival all of the eight children were taken sick, and two of them, one eleven and the other six years old, died of pneumonia. Because of the contagion of some of his children the man was unable to leave his house for eight weeks. His physician said that the death of the children was due to the over-crowded condition of the house. This man received no charity and the money he had saved up was spent to the last cent on doctor bills.
Mrs. E. H. lives on Crawford Street with her three children the oldest of whom is five years of age. She occupies a small and damp room. Since there is no gas in the house, a red hot stove can always be found burning in the room which is at the same time kitchen, dining room, bedroom and washroom; for Mrs. H’s husband is in jail somewhere in Georgia, and she does washing all day in order to support her children. The water supply of the house is in the street, and the stairway leading to the upper floors is in her room. All of her children were sick; one had pneumonia. She came here a few months ago as everybody else was coming. Relatives and charity are helping to support her.
Mr. F. J. P. was born in Jamaica of well-to-do parents, tobacco planters, and was educated in England as a botanist. He works now as a common laborer in Pittsburgh for he cannot secure work in his own field; he is planning to go back to England.
Mr. J. D. has had his wife here for several months, but still has his only child back in Florida as there is no room for him in his present place.
Messrs.. E. and R. Smith, one living on Penn Avenue, and the other on Ross Street, worked for a steel plant and construction company respectively. E. had an eye accident and was in the hospital for four weeks, while R. had two fingers cut off while at work. The companies paid the hospital bills for both but neither one of them ever heard or knew anything about compensation, and never claimed any.