The cellar population, the blind alley
population, the swarming masses in buildings that are little better than
rat-traps, the herding of whole families in single rooms, in which the
miserable beings sleep, eat, cook, and make clothing for contractors, or
cigars that would never go into men's mouths if the men saw where they
were made--these things seem almost impossible in a civilized and
Christian land. It is horrible to be obliged to think of the human
misery and hopelessness and grind to which hundreds of thousands are
subjected in the city of New York day in and out, without rest or
change. It is no wonder that criminals and degenerates come from these
districts; it is a marvel, rather, that so few result, and that so much
of human kindness and goodness exists in spite of crushing conditions.
There is a bright as well as dark side even to the most disgraceful
districts; but there is no denying that the dark vastly predominates,
and that the struggle for righteousness is too hard for the average
human being. Nearly everything is against the peasant immigrant thrust
into the throng which has no welcome for him, no decent room, and yet
from which he has little chance to get away.
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