Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-03-14
VALUABLE REFUSE.
New York City Sells Her Rub
bish for $4,000 a Year.
How tho Contractor Who Buys
it Makes a Profit.

seppo Labiole had bid 81, 552 per week,
Or over $50, 900 per year, for the privi-
ego OF doing the work of trimming,
The scows OF tho Street Cleaning De-
partment, says tho Now York Sun,
might have supposed that Mr. Labiolo
was ono Of those patriotic citizens whose
delight in serving their country is sufli.
cient reward for their labor in keeping
tho machinery of government moving.
1ndcol, Mr.. Labiole not only, un der
his contract, has to work himself for
the city, but he must pay hundred or
so other men, at tho rate of 81 per day,
to work for the city, too, and as no
must besides have carts and horses Of
his own, it Is probable that his yearly
expenditure, upon his WORK for the
city aro nearly 500. 900. Of course
the fact that Mr.. Labiolo gets for him.
sell all no chooses to pick out and car
~ oil tho refuse that is dumped into
tho ci;ys street. cleaning sc)ws, looks
like al explanation of his willingness
TO pay so high for the Office of 'scow
trimmer" but even then it seems alb
surd to suppose that what a man can
find in garbage. ashes. and street dirt
would be worth over $3.50 day.
But Mr.. Lobio.o expects to make it
pay at that rate. AMI as the city has
been getting S11o0 per week for the
sam, work, an tn, contra:so. getting
rich for year past, it is probable that
MIR. Labiolo's head is nearer level than
his figures indicit
To hear that such q fortune should
be paid annuity for the privilege of
raking over the city's dirt and money
be madc out OF the job, bring. up VS.
ions Of vast quantities of silver ware,
jewels, coins and occasional rolls of
bills, lost or thrown away by careless
servants, tumbled about from ash can
to cart, and so on down to the SC ,ws
and the eager fingers of Mr.. Labioic.
Butas matter of fact, Mr. Labiole
gets none or next to none Of this part
OF the city waste. In regard to any
thing valuable and small enough to go
into pocket, findings is havings" on
the city scows, no matter if somebody
is paying $50, 00o a year for tho privi-
lcgc of sorting tho dirt. What tho
contractor depends upon to bring him
back his money is he pick of the or
binary refuse, consisting of bones, rags
and tin cans. which are valu able in the
order named. The cans are worth the
lead that is in tho solder, but bones
and rag arc put to numbcrcss usc,.
Formerly tho city hired three or
four men to each scow to do s'tri m
ming" that is, to stand below the
dump and spread the dirt out level
with shovels as fast as the carts
dumped it down from the pier. This
had to be done. of course, to prevent
the scow from being unevenly loaded.
The men wero paid $l.5O per day and
kept whatever they picked up out of
the refuse. When Street Commissioner
Coleman came into Office he had a
bright idea. 1t occurred to him that
smart man might be able to mako
enough out of what he could pick from
the refuse 70 find it worth his while to
hire men to do the trimming" Such
man was quickly found. but he hadn't
had the job loag before letters began
to come i'll from other men Offering to
pay the city for the privilege of "trim-
ming" the scows. The best offer at
first was $7J per week. and this the
commissioners accepted. Whenever ho
got higher offer he made applicants
for tho work bid oy.r again, AMI fiaall
the price got up to SOD per week. By
this time tho matter hid become so i'm.
portant that the commissioners concluded
to mako it regular contract business
and advertise for bids. Tho first ear
it went to a man who bid $500 per
week. 1t struck the 81, 100 mark at
the next bidding and now, tho third
year, it is up to 81, $50
The fact that the city now gets $780,
600 per year for what it once paid to
have done does not ind cate that any
body else formerly got the $50, 900 that
now comes to tho city. When nothing
was paid for it nothing was made from
it, and the increase in the price pail
for the privilege is simply an indication
of improvement in the efficiency in the
work Of rasing tho valuable stuff out
of the dirt. The contract might be
worth even more if the city would
! accommodates itself to tho convenience
OF the contractor, for with dirt dumped
an he