Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-01-17
THE STREET-SwEEPING OVER
CHARGES.
Blunders That Have Not Yet Been
Corrected.

i SOTTtcIeu.
| To the Editor Of THE EVENING STAR:
| The report Of Auditor Petty ON the street.
| sweeping vouchers, published in The STAR
| OF the l4th instant, regard as a candid docu-
| ment, though do not agree with the auditors
| conclusions and doubt if he would ever have
| arrived at such conclusions had he looked over
the street-sweeping book with the undersigned
before making his report. The auditors re-
port only goes back to the LIST of last May,
| while the street-sweeping book-a small part
only OF which he examined-covers period
extending back to July /. 1883. 1t now con-
talns many erasures and pencil marks, as the
auditor Will bear me witness. though at the
time saw the book at the residence of Com
missioner Douglass last August it was free from
such erasures and pencil marks, as Mr. Douglass
Will remember. This book contains % record
OF 35th street as having had IL, 300 square yards
OF sweeping done on II between h and U streets
on Sept. 6, 1889. BY holding the book up to the
light it will be seen that the figure l has been
erased. leaving $500 as the number of square
yards swept. 1t will also be seen that the addi-
tons at the bottom of the page have been
changed to conform to this erasure which was
evidently done some time between the date of
my letter to the first controller and the 25th of
September, when the bill was paid. On the
22d OF August there is a charge OF 1870 square
NdTuS dSdluob lulS street, Dut as the Dill was
paid before the date of my letter to the first
controller the 10.000-yard item is allowed to
stand. though pencil mark is drawn through
it. / call attention to this rnutilation of the
public records, Of which l have only given two
instances out of many this book contains. But
to return to 35th street. This is the street that
have previously shown contains only three
squares that can be swept. Dirt roads. steep
embankments and the Chesapeake and OHIO
canal compose the rest. There are several in
vuhn thraa Of
charged in duplicate the same day. Twenty
sixth street from Pennsylvania avenue to NJ
sire Is also charged in duplicate. The aud
itor admits that street was duplicated eighteen
times, and Is unable to give any explanation
concerning these double charges. He admits
that on May !, 1889, street north from 9th to
18th street west is charged with 80 $40 square
yards of sweeping. while the schedule only
calls for Al, 40 square yards the double charge
being eApidlued Uy the Inspector on the ground
that the street was swept twice that day. An
inspection of this street will satisfy any that
this explanation is worse than the double
charge. With the exception of the small hotel
on the corner of 9th street and two saloons
adjoining there is not dwelling house on the
whole street, and not a building of any kind on
the seven squares from 10th to 18th street.
This street is paved with boulders, is over
grown with grass, and it is rare indeed that a
| carriage is seen upon it, except in front of the
| market and wholesale houses, and this space is
swept from two to three times per week by the
striped-suit work house men. Why sweep such
a street twice in one day, when thickly popu-
| lated streets are only swept once per week?
This double sweeping could not have been on
| account of the food for that occurred nearly a
month later.
The auditor arrives at the conclusion, as
stated by The STAR, that on gong over the
account back to the LIST of May, 1885, he finds
after striking balance between the over
charges and the undercharges. that there is due
the contractors Sl5.74 He tells me- however
that this is a mistake and that he finds nothing
due the contractor and that he will get moth
ing. If this S1574 is really due the contractors
they certainly ought to have it, though the
amount is pretty small mouse for the mountain
to bring forth after four months of labor. The
auditor concludes his report by saying that
these last schedules were made from careful
measurements by the computing engineer"
Well, who made the first schedules? Were
they not made by the same party? Donot all the
street sweeping schedules come from the office
of the army engineer? / have before me both
| sets of schedules and find they differ on thirty
| six streets. 1t was claimed by these army en-
| gineers that the first schedules we're correct
| and the streets would probably have been
| swept by them to this day had | not proved
| their falsity. Now l will show that the new
| schedule. which is vouched for as accurate, is
not correct.
'In my letter to the first controller stated
| that there was an overcharge of about 1000
yards in the sweeping OF Ii street from 18th to
| 18th street northwest. The old schedule gives
| the number of square yards of the carriage way
| between the points named as IL, OBJ and the
| new schedule, ignoring my statement, adopts
| the same hgures, showing persistency in the
wrong that Is inexcusable. have measured
| this street and have had others measure it, and
l am able TO state that its carriage way from the
east side OF 18th street to its intersection with
Pennsylvania avenue, including all the street
| crossings, can not be made to measure over
| Ii, $50 square yards showing an overcharge of
| 4,l51 square yards every time this street is
swept. This has been going on since July /,
| 1888, period OF over eighteen months. As
| this street Is down IN the schedule to be swept
| once per week the amount of overpayment to
| the contractor since July /, 1888, providing
the street has been swept regularly every week,
| amounts to 332,OoO square yards, which, at the
contract price of 35c. per 1000 square yards,
amounts to Sll623, which wipes out the S15 "A
/ claimed to be due the contractor and brings
| him in debt to the corporation Sl0049. Two
months ago brought these overcharges on
| street to the attention Of Superintendent Ar
| mold. He claimed that was wrong stating
| that had made no allowance for street on
| the south side Of the avenue between 18th and
18th streets, making two III streets that he
claimed he had to sweep between 18th and 10Th
| streets.
| The following items that I COPY from the
| new schedule will show that Superintendent
Arnold is mistaken, TO witt II street north from
| 18th to 18th streetwest, 1907 square yards; II
| eutct lEOiu IOlh 10 Z1tn street west,
Il, 52S square yards. This whole distance from
| 18th to 9th street is down in the schedule to
| be swept the same night, and is swept the same
| night. as / have seen in the records, certified
| to by Superintendent Arnold, at police head
quarters.
1t will be seen at a glance that both of these
measurements cannot be correct. If the nine
squares between 18th and 9th streets contain
| but l2,52s square yards, then the four
| squares between 18th and 18th streets cannot
contain lS037 square yarda. The computing
| engineer has evidently made a mistake In the
| width of the carriageway of street between
| 10Th and 18th streets. 1 have before me an Of
fetal map from the Engineers Commissioner
Office, ON which the width of this carriage way
| Is recorded as SO feet at 18th street. and again
at 18th street, whereas the width is Sc feet only
| on the one square from 18th street to Vermont
| avenue. From Vermont avenue to 18th street
it Is so feet inches and from 18th to 18th street
| only 80 feet inches.
The following from Mr.. Talbert G. Murray
| verities what state about this street:
WASHINGTON, January I6 1890
! I hereby certify that / have measured the
carriageway on III street north from the east
side OF 18th street west to its intersection with
Pennsylvania avenue at 18th street west and
tind that II contains but $50 square yards in
GLIDING all the street crossings.
| I. c. MURRAY, 513 I'd st. NV