December 16 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Jules Hart of the Hebrew Infant Asylum. Hart’s address: 173 St. Nicholas Ave., N.Y.C. “When politics enter into municipal government, nothing resulting therefrom in the way of crimes and infamies is then incredible. It actually enables one to accept and believe the impossible.” This is often quoted. Sam ridiculed Hart’s statement that “the death-rate at the slaughter-house on Blackwell’s Island called the Infant’s “Home” is 900 in the thousand!” and suggested with a death rate that high they should bury the “poor little creatures” as soon as they arrived and save them the suffering [MTP].

Note: Misdated by Sam as Dec. 17. The Asylum was established in 1895. Hart has not been further identified, though in 1930 the NY Times announced his library was going to sell. See also Sam’s letter of the next day, Dec. 17 to Hart, which implies that Hart had asked to use Sam’s reponse to the issue in a publication. See also Dec. 26, Sam’s reply to another from Hart (not extant) agreeing use of the letter was not a good idea.