I knew that it would be questioned, and
was anxious that no flaws should be picked in it, for, if there
were, harm might easily come of it instead of good. I saw now that
in that I had been wise. The Gilder Tenement-House Commission more
than confirmed all that I had said about the tenements and the
schools. The Reinhardt Committee was even more emphatic on the topic
of child labor. I was asked to serve on the Seventy's sub-committee
on Small Parks. In the spring of 1896, the Council of Confederated
Good Government Clubs appointed me its general agent, and I held
the position for a year, giving all my spare time to the planning
and carrying out of such work as it seemed to me ought to make
a record for a reform administration. We wanted it to last. That
was a great year. They wanted a positive programme, and my notions
of good government were nothing if not positive. They began and ended
with the people's life. We tore down unfit tenements, forced the
opening of parks and playgrounds, the establishment of a truant school
and the remodelling of the whole school system, the demolition of
the overcrowded old Tombs and the erection on its site of a decent
new prison.
Pages:
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389