Chapter 7: A Raid on the Stale-Beer Dives
Introduction:
In this chapter, Riis discusses raids on tenement houses. The police force is concerned with the alcohol that is flowing in the houses. Riis also discusses the way that political bosses were able to gain votes by getting the people who went to jail out of jail around election time. In addition to this, Riis describes some of the people who are living in and around the tenement area called "The Bend".
Summary:
In this chapter, Riis discusses the raids that occur on the tenement houses at around this time. In these houses alcohol is flowing quite freely and the police are very concerned with it. As the police sergeant leads Riis to the site of the raid they trip over many people as they are walking down the halls. As they approach the outside of the tenement house itself they can hear music playing and people having a jolly good time. The officer kicks in the door and when they go into the main room they find a bunch of men and women huddled around the beer keg and drinking. The officer walks to the middle of the room and knocks the faucet out of the keg with a single strike of his billy club. The officer insists that all thirteen of the people who were huddled around the keg must be taken to jail and that this offense was good for "six months on the island" (Riis, 60). In addition to this, Riis also discusses a section of the city called "The Bend" which, according to Riis, is the worst part of the city. Riis discusses the citizens who reside in "The Bend" as being the worst of the worst, going so far as to characterizing them as being alcoholics who sit on the streets thinking about nothing else other than where their next drink is going to come from. He also characterizes them as lazy and feeling as if the world owes them something or that the world should support them while they are just sitting around doing nothing.
Bibliography
Riis, Jacob A. How the Other Half Lives. New York: Penguin Books, 1890.
Riis, Jacob A. How the Other Half Lives. New York: Penguin Books, 1890.