New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-25
cLEAN THOROUGHPARES.

some of our principal Clues vi Jul Wv"
metropolis we say little. The cry for cleahn-
ness here is ancient and enduring, ana ]"
PROMISES, with good reason, to endure ior an
indefinite period to come. We are hardened "
unbealtbiness; we are matriculated III muu
and stranger might suppose that, Ike tne
denizens of some African village. we actuaiiy
cIoried in garbage New-Iork is IKE Ephrain
but who is there that did not THINK thae III
Quaker Philadelphia the fine and intimate TO-
Iation between cleanliness and godinesS' so gen
orally recognizedeby Quaker practice wouiu NC
sacredlv regarded Alas! that 1t should not DE
sol A newspaper of that city emits loudly the
old familiar complaint at is fact" says this
journal "that in our best and most aristocratc
quarters, as well as in the poorest ana meaneS'
"portions of our city, these sidewalk cutters are
"to be found with all their nasty accompani-
"ments" Shade Of William Penn! We, tne
descendants of the hard-scouring Dutch, Deglh
to feel that not we alone are degenerate.
Municipal unceanliness, however, is the rule
all over the world. In Paris and London the
evil may be banished to holes and by-ways' as
an untidy housewife sweeps her dust INTO
corner, but the evil still exists. The Dad smeliS
of Cologne have been rhymed OF by no less
poet than COleridge In Rome the street-ulrC
has been often described in way which showed
the reader that it fairly beggared description.
The domain which still bows to the name OF
Mobammed contents itself with washing It's
hands. The horrible condition of the high
WAYS of Madrid and Lisbon need not be de-
scanted upon. 1t is probable that, i'll compar1-
son with those of most other parts OF the
world. the streets of our cities are remarkably
clean.
This however is not enough. What Is
wanted is not comparative but positive clean
illness. This is what may be justly demanded
of lis. partly because, unlike foreign cities, we
have very small dirt-making, pauper popu-
lation partly because every inhabitant under
stands certain simple sanitary laws; and lastly
because we cheerfully pay for highway
cleanliness, and are defrauded when we
do not obtain it. An Eastern prince
who by exorbitant taxation wrings the last
piastre from the pockets of his miserable slaves,
may care little through. what reeking lanes and
hieh-smelling alleys they crawl to their labors.
He at least has broad and stately pleasure
grounds he has gardens bright with sinuous
rlls,
where blossoms many an lnCcnsc-ocaIIps uto
His sacred foot presses not, his nice nose
smells not, his august eye sees not the aboml-
nations of the streets. But here, where all
alike, be they rich poor are princes, the
streets are the OUT door domain OF the people.
They must use them for business, and very often
they must seek them for recreation. If they
acduiesce in uncleanliness, so much the worse
for them and so much the worse for all OF us!
Apart from fear of the stalking pesu-
lence and a thousand wasting forms OF
endemic and epidemic disease, we may an
ticipate a general coarseness of character and
an habltual stOlidity of understanding. The
want of neatness without will inevitably be
followed by want of neatness within. and in
side untidiness will emulate the great outside
sluttishness.
Again, who can say how great may be the
danger of soecistic streetsi We may line our
thoroughfares with stately buildings, exhibit
ing. if not the graces of architecture, at least
the charm of costliness; richly ornamcnted
walls NAV rise upon either side; over the
dubious pavement walkers in princely Iaimcrt
may pick their way, while below all this pre-.
tentious magnlfcence reeks the fever-fos-
tering corruption This is the platter
once moro made clean upon the out
side This is the sepulcher once more
whitened. This is to teach men and women
that show is better than substance, that pre-
tension is of greater price than performance,
that to seem is nobler than TO be, and that in
congruity is the best symmetry. A city which
builds palaces and leaves its thoroughfares un
swept and ungarnished by tidiness. is like one
&C hoo uhn fhair
favors up and down the pavement in all the
glory of rainbow haberdashery. Those who
think that there is no latent but still poison
Gus immortality in this perpetually obtrusive
incongruity, have not well considered by what
subtle influences that which we call the public
mind is either well or i'll educated 1t is i'll
to teach the people that display is of the first
consequence, and that show and sham are bet
ter than the weightier matter of truthful con-
sistency.
These speculations may seem somewhat alb
stract, but there is no abstraction in the fact
that filthy streets are the outward and visible
sign of an immensely larger amount of UNI
cleanliness which is hidden from the public
eye. If the municipality will not set the people
good example upon its own dunghill, if we
may say so, thousands of househOlders, or
half, or quarter, or eighth, or sixteenth house
holders, will continue to maintain domiciles
which are mere breeding nests of typhoid and
of dysentery. The children will continue to
die like rot-strcken sheep-victims of our ig-
norance our avarice or recklessnessl Neglected
streets swell the bills of mortality in more
ways than one.
Something we might add by way of appeal
to civic pride. There is a little village in Hol-
land, remarkable neither for its magnificent
buildings, nor its great wealth, nor for any