Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-01-16
Street Cleaning.

Fortunes have been made and lost in Lon
don In this business; 1t is business of risks
and of profit when successful. So far from
paying for the removal Of the dust and de-
oris of Its streets, the corporation of London
receives thousands Of pounds annually for
the privilege; the title of dust-contractor
implies either very rich man or very
wealthy corporation.
The working of these yards is very nov
el and very strange. They are now located
near the canal. AS one approaches immense
one-horse carts meet and pass by. They are
tall, extensive, 30 high in fact that short lad
ders are attached by which the laborers
reach up to them. Large-boned, magnif-
cent Flemish horses are the motive power !;
horses that are valued at five hundred dol
lars each, with margin in many cases of II
hundred dollars further. Each cart has the
name of the Golden Dustman in broad let
tiers upon it; this to take the place of num-
Der, that any neglect or ill-behavior can be
reported
Entering the dust-yard, everything seems
alive with activity and energetic work.
The carts enter by one gateway, deposit
their load and leave by an opposite exit
The yards are alive with beings at work !;
every one is paid by the specified amount
completed, and, as there is a defined time for
the work expected, there can be no skulking.
The majority Of the workers are women--
They are armed with sleeves and tackle the
dust mounds. The process is peculiar, but
business-like. Each woman has large
sieve, and is surrounded by a series of old
backets; one male employee with shovel Is
allotted to each trio of women. He throws
the dust into the sleeves; tho women sift 1t,
and then comes the sorting.
The straw, hay and vegetable refuse are
first tossed into larger basket, these accumu-
ating in great quantities, and are sold for
farming and truck-garden purposes; the
wood and splinters are next fished out; these
are the sifters own perquisites, and go into
the second basket rs her own; then the pn-
per and books, and then old scraps Of leath-
er, old boots and shoes; following come bot.
ties, walls, broken glass; the last, with crock
cry ware, is sold for wads the bottles are
sold to apothecaries; then metals, and OF
these metals much is valuable. Solid plate
ware, rings, earrings, watches and bracelets
are daily gathered in that vast city, along
with the refuse Of the streets. These valua-
bes are delivered over to the hill-man, the
superintendent, and held for a few days. II
not CALLED for they are sold So close is the
supervision of the yards that it is utterly
impossible for any Of the employees 10
steel.
All of the wood and coal found in the
dust goes to the siever, and after her days
work she labors homeward bound beneath
the weight of her (perquisites and one shil-
ling, her diurpal salary.
These dust-yards are run under = gf''
expense, and yet they are lucrative. Whd
with the metals scouped mp from day b day
the bottles and walls, the rags. the silk
scraps, broken furniture, oil-cloths, jewelry,
papers, old leather, and what-not In world
like London, the results are enormous. TIL e
lowest average week to the most ndif-
ferent dust contractor is about three hun
dred dollars. And after utilizing the inter
nails Of the dust collected, that has a ready
sale for building purposes, and commands n
dollar a load. When. then, their dust and
their discoveries in the shape Of rags, metals,
bones, etc, are all taken together, the aver
age dustman's income is in the neighborhood
of thirty thousand pounds year. So you
see dust is a good thing after all.