Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-15
Eighty Thousand Doliaru for Ptck. !.

January 9TH the following interesting
matter:
Sun readers who noticed the other day
that Giuseppe Labiole had bid 81 .552
per week, or over $50, 900 per year. for
the privilege Of doing the work of trim
ming" the scows of the Street Cleaning
Department, might have supposed that |
Mr.. Labiole was one of those patriotic |
citizens whose delight in serving their |
country is sufficient reward for their la |
Dor in keeping the machinery of govern |
ment moving. Indeed, Mr.. Labiole not |
only, under his contract, has 10 work |
himself for the city, but he must pay |
| hundred or SO other men, at the rate of
81 per day, to work for the city, too, and
as he must besides have carts and horses
OF his own, it is probable that
his yearly expenditures upon his
work for the city are nearly 100000.
Of course the fact that Mr.. Labiole
gets for himself all he chooses to pick out
and carry off Of the refuse that is dumped
into the city, STRENGTHENING scows, looks
like an explanation of his willingness to
pay so high for the Office of ''scow-trim-
mer," but even then it seems absurd to
j suppose that what man can find in
garbage, ashes and street dirt would be
worth over $3.50 day.
But Mr.. Labiole expects to make it
pay at that rate, and as the city has been
getting 81 100 per week for the same
work, and the contractor getting rich for
, a year past, it is probable that Mr..
Labiole's head is nearer level than his
|, figures indicate.
To hear that such fortune should be
paid annually for the privilege of raking
, over the city's dirt and money be made
, out of the job, brings up visions of vast
quantities of silverware, jewels, coins,
. and occasional rolls of bills, lost or
, thrown away by careless servants, tum-
{ bled about from ash can to cart, and SO
. on down to the city scows and the eager
fingers of Mr.. Labiole. But as matter
of fact, MIR. Labiole gets none or next to
. none Of this part of the city's waste. In
i regard to anything valuable and small
Q enough to 60 into pocket, Findings is
8 havings" on the city scows, no matter if
j. somebody is paying $4,000 year for
the privilege Of sorting the dirt. What
/ the contractor depends upon to bring
him back his money is the pick of the
2 ordinary refuse, consisting of bones,
!. rags, and tin cans, which are valuable in
9 the order named. The cans are worth
d the lead that is in the solder, but bones
and rags are put to numberless uses.
o Formerly the city hired three or four
II men to each scow to do trimming"
Q that is. to stand below the dump and
q spread the dirt out level with shovels as
,s fast as the carts dumped it down from
the pier. This had to be done, of course,
k to prevent the ecow from being unevenly
,r loaded. The men were paid $3.50 per
d day and kept whatever they picked up
of ho rofrco Whnv, Nono iooi av
d Coleman came into office he had g
it bright idea. 1t occurred to him that q
e smart man might be able to make
r. enough out of what he could pick
g. from the refuse to find it w0rth
,s his while to hire men to dc
e the trimming" Such 8 man wat
r. quickly found, but he hadn't had the
q. job long before letters began to come ir
from other men Offering to pay the city
at for the privilege of trimming" the
le scows. The best offer at first was $7E
a. per week, and this the Commissioner
4. accepted. Whenever he got higher
lr offer he made the applicants for the
j. work bid over again, and finally the
le price got up to 5000 per week. By this
Ne time 'thdfe 'thdfe et+Arhaa lbeseame go inaeUEtapet
re- make it regular contract businefs ant
" advertised for bids. The first year j
r. went to a man who bid 500 perNweek
v, It struck the ST. 100 mark ct the next
h bidding and now, the third year, it is up
le to 81 ,552.
,r The fact that the city now gets $50 OO(
per year for what it once paid to have
r done does not indicate that any body else
10 formerly got the $4,000 that now comes
to the city. When nothing was paid fol
it nothing was made from it, and the in
" crease in the price paid for the privilege
is simply an indication of improvement
g in the efficiency in the work of rakiug the
is valuable stuff out of the dirt. The CON
70 tract might be worth even more if the
IL city would accommodate iteelf to the con.
q venience of the contractor, for with the
0 dirt dumped on the scows one load at q
Q time it would be easy for two or three
}, men to rescue every bone and rag from
IS the rubbish; but, Of course, all tbs city
10 does is to get the dirt aboard the scows
It as rapidly as possible. and when twenty
}, cart loads come over together, or nearly
q SO, it is impossible for the contractor's
IS men to inspect more than small portion
o of it.
How much or how little stuff usually
9 classed as valuable really goes over the
s dumps is matter of guess work. but
u those who are about the dumps and see
!. the Italian laborers at work say that
x there is a great deal Of it. Whoever
: finds it grabs it and gives no other sign
q than quick thrust of the hand into a
II pocket and grunt of satisfaction, but il
ID known that silver knives and forks
n and such small articles are found in
J, great numbers, while $40 gold pieces are
l. occasionally picked up. Silver coin,
9 alao, is abundant in the dirt, and some
s times quite valuable jewelry is found.
70 The money that the street cleaning
n department realizes from this contract,
y instead of going, as would naturally be
supposed, to help pay the expenses of
Q cleaning the streets, is turned over to the
8 Comptroller, and by him added to the
" sinking fund. This is the law, and the
= street cleaning department cannot get
: around it. 1t has been endeavoring for
J, several years to have the Board of Esti-
mate set this money aside for the use of
the department, and thinks it will succeed
J, this year. The board has already re-
}. duced tho appropriation for the depart
: ment from $3.50 900 to $14O, ,O0O presum-
: ably with the idea of making up the de-
q ficiency by adding the $50, 600 to the rev.
enues of the department..