Daily Republican., 1881-04-21
CITY NEWS AND GOSSIP.
PASSING EVENTS OF LOCAL NOTE
IN WILMINGTON.
The Filthy Streets and Who IL to
Blame for their C0ndltion-The
street Commissioner Talks.

Stree. Commissioner Lynch, to-day
/ said to y REpURLtCAN reporter that he,
WAS not to blame for the condition ol
the streets, which has been dwelt on in
these columns for the past few days.
| lie stated that his force Ot labprerS was
rather snalI-tou small in fact for the
amount of work to be done. He had
the streets in the hest possible condition
considering that the force was made
uuate. and lie was doing his best to keep
he streets cleaned.
"l'Il tell YOU" continued the Street
Commissioner, THAT n great many peo-
pie blame the street Department for the
short CumingS Of the garbage contractor
| know Il number OF instances in which
CompIiutS have been made against the
street cleaners, wien tn" whole fault
Law with those whose dutyit WAS to re-
move the garbage. The garbage man
would not come around, and the people
wulld throw the refuse ont in the street
and then raise n great hue-and-cry
about the incompetent Street Commits
SiOmrr
"What about thc cutters in the lower
part of the Fourth and Eighth Wards?'
asked the reporter
81 know they are mighty bad, was
tbo rrplv, "but we will soon have them
cleaned now. Thcdrpinrahle condition
Ut affairs in that part OF town could not
hr helped owing tu our small force ana
the bad weather we have had recently y
There are many diSeaSe-breeding gut
ters In all parts OF town, in addition to
those in the eastern portion Of the city,
and the streets need cleaning in many
places in addition to those mentioned
in the RErrBLGCAN.
one ot the worst nulSanteI III town
II In the alley running from Monroe to
Adams street, between Third and
Fourth streets, Many Of the people
living in this populous n"i%hb"rhood
have made this alley the receptacle for
uirt and garbage of all kinds, aud 1t il
"A yeritahc hol-brd OF disease. The al
lev is ONLY three tcet wide but it is reek-
ing with filth and the piles Of refuse
emit an odor that is frightful.
Meantime complaints continue to
come in that the garbage and even ash
contractors fail 70 properly do their
work all over the city. The filth is left
standing 10 create disease. The Board
OF Health has charge OF these men, ana
if it does not compel them 10 fulfill their
contracts it will he answerable to the
people.
MIR. William McMenamin appears to
be the gentleman anSwrrabLc for the
stckening condition of the streets. In
his own Ward-the Eighth-the small
pox is making til" greatest headway,
and thus his own constituency are reap
ng the whirlwiud which he has Sown
bv his ilI-advis"d economy. Mr.. McMenh-
min is chairman OF the Street Commit
tee, and virtually has all matters per
tanning to streets III EiS charge, Profit
ting by his sad experience some years
ago when he was 50 rXtravaGant IN the
Street Department, lie is now the re-
verse. and in time Of dire necessity
has the force OF street cleaners far
smaller than what it should be in order
that hr may get the credit Of having a
small pay roll. This is u false economy,
which lust at this critical time the peO-
Pile are likely to regard rs even worse
than MIR. McM"naniu'S extravaganza
Of some years ago. The force Of street
cleaners should be increased