The New York herald., 1878-02-23
ASHES AND GARBAGE.
HOW THEY ARE SEPARATED By HousEKEEPERs
AND MIXED BY THE cARTMEN-wHo VIOLATE

AND MIXED BY THE cARTMEN-wHo VIOLATE
THE ORDINANCE.
The HxRALD contained recently an appeal OF the
Street Cleaning Department asking all ctizens and
In the interest of public health and
to carefully separate ashes garbage
Al the same time I ofhciahy announced that
special carts would hcnceiorth be detailed Tor the
ception of garbage exclusively Tho police officials
manifestly anxious lot II be understood that IL
not their negligence. but solely the failure Of
TO separate ashes and garbage which
responsible for all the baneiul consequences or
their mixture. What viii be said. however. when
II Ia SHOWN by the present recital OF some
plain hard iacts that alter the two are
carefully separated by some OF law
abiding citizens the drivers of the Police Department
carts are allowed 10 heap them together in their
wagons. thus themselves violating one of the most
important OF sanitary laws and perpetrating an
offence tor which any citizen would be arrested2 A
few weeks ago one police captain energetic and
faithful enough TO personally arrest such driver,
who had piled ashes upon load Of foul Rarbage but
the man was never punished for the offence while "a
large number oil citizens were at the same time ar
rested and fined for the tar lessor offence OF sweeping
dust on tho sidewalk. Numerous complaints having
been made recently about inc fasrant violations oy
tho Police Departments employees OF the very law
which that depart asks other citizens to obey the
writer yesterday sent to personally investigate
and examine the manner which tho removal OF the
DIRT ~ being performed.
NICE SYSTEM.
Generally speaking, II WAS iound that the depart
ment had made adequate PROVISIONS for the scpara
ton Of the ashes aud garbage, TO begin with, thus
svinR the cart drivers partially from the censure
which they freely incur All the police officials
have done Is TO ask ctizeus through the HERALD TO
place separate boxes containing their garbage excu
sivsly, in front oi their houses aud 10 detail one
sDoClAI
the appeal OF the Street Cleaning Department made
through these columns has been readily needed by
the better classes oil ctzens, among the vast majority
and particularly In the tenement house DISTRICTS there
has not been sven The tanest preence oil enforcing
their daily rounds, and where tho driver nnds sep
araie garbage boxes he cmpties thcm into his cart,
but comparatively lew nouscs-hs proceeds TO the
Laight street DOCK where he dumps his
fragrant load. But tho drivers OF .ae gen
eral ash carts, winch are about ten times
numerous, 10 not make even an attempt
10 sit tho ashes from tho garbage. but pile heap OF
upon mass oil then rattle oil 70 the
nearest dump. certain number OF cartloads iorm
q days WORK and the dump inspectors pay no atten-
ton 20 the contents Of he carts as long as they ar
rive iull aud 30 away empty. Hence II Is IN tne
drivers interest " make up their daily numbor Of
loads US soon as possible for the sooner they have
their days wages. There appears " be almost NO
check upon the Police Department drivers ALL The
thsm mix ashes and garbage In their oarts but they
look day utter day, aud for many weeks aud
months pas. the solitary arrest rest 6ya police captain
officer First avenue yesterday, 10 whom the writer
pointed out the nagrant violations Of Inc Health pro-
under his nose, was asked whether he had not re-
ceved orders arrest mon for such Offences but Inc
worthy shook his head aud stolidy replied, mo,
guess not. Not tnat know OIL"
on THE EAST SIDE.
II is NO easy task to nail down the offences OF par
ticuar among the deIuquencies OF nearly all
They largely shielded by the fact OF their opera
tions being 70 q considerable extent performed under
later OF their labor done alter nightiA IL
Is easy, either 70 take the Numbers OF worst
offenders Many Of the carts are OLD, broken down,
ramshAckle concerns, whose numbers seem TO have
been wiped out With IN especial view OF rendering
their drivers safe AGAINST detection. The drivers OF
Others have knsck OF throwing great pile OF ashes
upon their cartoad OF garbage. or vics versa, ~
favorable momonL when they do not consider them.
seves watched. and rafting Oh in hot haste n any
body looks a. their cart close enough get their
number Others either have no number ~ all or n
they nave any ~ In some part VI tho cart invisible 70
the naked eye However, IN examining the dongs Of
drivers yesterday on the side, sufficient
facts gained bear out all The above Statements
avenue u driver piled quantity Of ashes upou foul
collection Of rotten garbage as could nave heen
wSro iound nd Who were eviSeu.y csrsns ssrDs.s pr
vately ior extra remuperatio1, and IN their zeal
they had so overHled their carts a. to drop every
ana thca some ot the foul sun upon the street.
Not long ago this very same procedure was witnessed
BY Captain Gunner. Tho inspector OF the
Bureau OF Street Cleaning, bimselt, while IN
and n 90 prom nent locality As East THIRTY fourth
street, not far from the Stewart mansion. Al the
Forty.sixth street ana Thirty eighth street dumps
YER cart could be seen arriving and bringing
soodiy assortment OF putrescent fru rotten oranges.
decayed turnIps, bouquets OF m0uidy potato peels
ana gurlands Of all SORTS Of polsonous animal and
vegetable matter sandwiched In among tner groat
street dump, matters we're not uch better. In lhs
district belonging " this dump were noticed, among
the many others. carts No. $780, No. AL and No.
lll0, all Of which brought ABUNDANT intermixtures OF
rbage aud ashes TO The dump Al tho four east side
dumps below NJ Seventeenth, Fifth, Stanton and
Market streets no improvement could be noted, and
mixtures ot tho noisome stun were especially nu-
mcrouS
On the west side OF city u found that quite
number VI citizens have hcoded the appeal. lately
poslt thc two in diferont receplsciss Tor removal
The sidewalks were lined with The unsigntly deposi-
tarios o refuse IN every direction and ~ about three
O'Clock ash carts appeared In every direction. All
drawn by decrepit seods who ratted along with
surprising speed considering tber appearance, 0ut
OF tnom seemed TO be anywhere near their des-
tinalion. Tor OF trem stopped to gather the
harvest that stood ready or them ON the corner Of
Seventh avenue and TWENTY fret street a cart was
whose driver drove slowly, veorihg from side
side 0l The street and peering INTO box alter barrel
Dut stopping nowhere. Near Inc OF sixth
nue he pped ana dumped barrel OF ashes iGto his
cart Then he crossed sixth avenue and picked up
box OF garbage that speedily followed tac ashes Then
he entered IA store. where lie remained Tor some
minutes. The number Of the cart hau evidently been
No. 1856 at ore tne ior tnat was painted IN one place,
but several other numbers appeared on ohcr parts OF
cart all IN less advanced stages OF iicgi
bijty. Presently the driver emerged, and carefully
placing IN the front part oil his vehicle Dish done up
IN brown paper he drove down rwouty second street.
Passing several barrels overnowing with ashes near
the corner he stopped Ia front Of No. lU3 and took
barrel OF garbage, then went to tne basement door
oil the house and brougat from the inslde barrel Of
garbage, which he roughly threw on top OF the ashes
Then crossed the street and entered another house.
where he stayed Tor somo MINUTES
In the meantime cart No. - ratified along down
Sixth avenue Below Twenty-hrst street II stopped
and the driver seized Uarrcl oil asnes which he
onty dumped into his cart, aud passing 10 Tue next
barrel poured therefrom choice collection oil boDess
vegetable parings ana refuse bits OF an old fashoned
boiled dinner Alter seeing this sort o thing repeated
several times the writer walked through 10 Seventh
avenue whcn ior blocks up aud down the street, hc
sought in VAIN for ash carts. Along the sidewalk
ranged the usual variety OF boxes and barrels,
some oi which scemod 10 be led entirely with vcge
table refuse others with ashes and others yet with
liberal mixture oI The two Througn sixteenth street
the conditon OF Affairs was about tue samo There
was plenty OF material 10 take away, but no carts
were the neighborhood. occasionally barrel was
noticed thar some child mischevous lad Dnd tipped
over and the ashes were dispensing on the Ind wnilo
RugbaQo the nth