The Secretary read it, as fOHOWn. Dana ruline r Mn ruoronius Potion. Orrici: or Sursiuxriixnssr. No. 483Tiisrii SrniJ zr W itsr. VASIHINGTON.March 6. 1866. Gsiirtsiiss: I have the honor at this time to submit a report. Based mainly upon personalinspection. of the sanitary condition of certain localities in the city if Washington inhabited by cotered people. mostly known as "con trabands." togetherwith certain other factse onnectedwith the condition of these people. " " thie 1st locaeitlyxisited isrleiirizwn pg an is situate 133:5]: c ween i cen streets west.below Ohio avenue and bordering on ".e 1 7 To the Bomo or POLICE. the Washington canal. Here crime, filth, and poverty seem to vie with each othernn a career of degradationanddeath. Whole families. Consisting of fathers, mothers, children, uncles and aunts, according to their own statements. are crowded into moreapologies for shantics.which are without light or ventilation. During stormsof rain or snow their roofs afford but slight protection; while from beneath a few rough boardsusedfor floors. the minsmaticeflluvia from the mostdisgustinglyfilthy and stagnantwater.mingled with the exlialations from the uncleansedbodiesof numerous inmates. renders the atmosphere Within these hovels stifling and Sickening in the extreme. Their rooms are usually not more than 6 or 8 feet square.With not ii.Windowor evenan opening (excepta door) for the admissionof light. Someo the roomsare entirely surrounded by other rooms, so that no light at all reacheswhere personslive and spendtheir days and nights. In a spaceabout fi tty yards square. found about 100 families. composedof from 3 to ten personseach, livmgin shantiosone storyin height, exceptin afew instances where tenementsor actually built on the tops of others. There is a distanceo only 3 or 4 feet separating these buildings from eachother noteven ase onvenientasan ordinary 3footalley. These openings lead in so devious a coursethat one With difficulty finds his way out a ain. Thus pentu, not even these aths are urific byeurrentsoffres lll. In onebuilingvisite, 17 f a ilies wereiound upon the ground floor.consistin of roni tw oto 7 persons each, onerestauranton one boarding house. [be 2nd story is a large dance hall, where these peoplenightly congregatefor amusement. Nearly all of those peoplecomefrom Virginia during the rebellion.ii.nd someof them propose to return whenever they are assuredthat the can get workto do there and will be well treated. t was found that from 5 to 8 dollars permonth are paid for the rent of thesemiserable shanties, xcept in some in stances where a ground rent of 3 dollars permonth is paid for ii.little spot oovering a few 9 nare feet there some of the more enterprising have erectedeabins of their own. These iilso nrcin equally close proximity to each other, so that it is wrt dif ficulty that one can crowd betweenthem. On the west side of 14thstreetnearthesame locality are a large numberof small buildings which however are kept in a somewhat more cleanly condition and are opened to light and ventilation. Here someof the occupants of Housesboast of small back yards, but so low and wet are their surfaces, that they iire aeurso rather than abenefit. Filthy water here accumulates, fromwhich, With the advent of warm weather, the seeds of diseasemust spread among and destroy the wretched people. In each of these localities there are no properrivy accommodations and those that exist are in n eaky and filthy condition generally, Nor can thesau itnry laws be properly enforced against delinquents, for they have no means wherewith to pay lines, and a Icommitment to the work house is no punishment. can seeno efficient modeof remedy in this evil except that scavengers be employed at t 1: public expense. to Visit these localities; t ongh by for the host romedy would be to require that these buildings be 11120t1o]the round. Under the est sanitary laws that can be enacted, stringently enforced, these placese an be considered as nothing better than propating grounds of crimo, disease and death; and in the case of uprevailing epidemic.the condition of these localities would be horrible to contemplate. A similarly crow od lot of shuntiesexistsonRhdIsland avenue, between 10th and 11th streets, though new fresh nirnnd cleanlinessusonie what better condition of things exists. Herein a spare some 200 feet square 213 Iicrsons resrde. mostly nown as "contrabands." hero are several other placesequallycrowded.with in the city limits. which I have not yet had time to viSit and IDSEBOIpersonally; for which purposeI respectfully as for further time. A. C. RICHARDS, Superintendent.