New-York tribune., 1890-01-26

department., maze q SJuuy Vi INC LriAiH 0'4'~'
cleaning system when he visited Europe two years
ago. He found the pay of department laborers
? marks day, about Ga cents, while here IN
New-York the city, in order to set an example ot
generosity, insists on paying 81 a day for the
same kind of labor. When the streets of Gotham
were cleaned by contract the same sweeperS ana
cartmen received only 81 % day. 1t is fine thing
TO work for a municipality. Mr.. H"rher
also found smooth and well-paved streets in Berlin
and abundance of water for washing thehi'
| The pavcments scrapcd and secured JUST as
| fine plate glass show windows are scrapcd aho
| secured The water is first turned on and al
lowed to run till the streets are Hooded then the
scrapers. made like mammoth hoes, with edges
! Of rubber are dragged over them This process
is continued till the water that finds It's way TO
| the cutters is clean enough TO drink. ms "orK
is done at night but when day comes do not
| imagine for a moment that the cleaning stops.
| The swecpcrs are then put and kept on.
| Il have seen "a street swept twice within two
hours. said Mr.. Horner.
Berlin has many advantages over New-York.
Excellent pavements abundant water, cheap labor,
little garbage to begin with, and convenient dump
! ing grounds are some of them New-lork has
practically no dumping ground. She has To 90
to SEA to find one, the garbage-ladcn scows bcIng
towcd twenty-five miles. But no complaint can
be made on this head, as the cost of getting
CARLOAD of refuse board Scow is only | cents
| When Mr.. Horncr remarked that the number OF
carloads removed from our streets in single year
amounted to more than 100000. the Berlin
commissioner looked aghast He seemed unable
to comprehend the statement
CHICKEN-BONE COMEDY IN ONE ACT.
In the matter of clean streets Berlin sets an
example which is followed by all the ncighborins
German cities and towns. wcll-known resident
of New-York tells this story of his experiences
| in one little place about twenty miles from thc
capital:
Il was accompanying my wife and daughter on
a sightseeing expedition. Womanlike they got
hungry. and had to have a luncheon at the railroad
station. which is in the heart of the town. 1t
consisted mainly of chicken sandwiches whlch
were eaten on an obscure corner of the PLATFORM
while | busted myself in the station looking after
the baggage and arranging about tickets, etc
| Quite naturally the drumsticks and wlngboneS
and wiShboncs, when they had bccn gha"eu
bare found their way over the edge OF the plat
form into the street. There they caught 'he
quick eye of a policeman, who approached the
ladies with great alarm in his counenance ana
much gesticuaton in his arms and hands lie
| could speak no English, they no German, but they
were not slow in finding out that If they dldn u
| pick up those chicken bones they would have
| to go to Jail. Yes sir. that fellow actually had
| the audacity to make those ladies stoop down and
nick up those internal bones, every one of 'cm.
! What did they do with EN-? They wrapped
em up in a newspaper and took EN- in the train.
and when we got we'll under way going about
| twenty-five miles an hour, they slyly chucked
'em out of the window Even then they half ex-
pected policeman TO step up and arrest them
MIR. LooMIss BUREAU.
The Department of Street Cleaning was ere
ated by an act of the Legislature passed May
| 26. 1851 II provided for the appointment of a
| Commissioner Of Street Cleaning" by the Mayor,
with the approval of the Board of Health charged
with the duty of causing the streets Of Ncw-lork
| 10 be thoroughly cleaned and kept clean AT all
times, and of removing or otherwise disposing of,
| as often as the public health and the use Of the
streets should require. all street swccpingS. ashes
and garbage, and Of removing ncw.tallen snow
from leading thOroughfares and such other streets
| and avenues may he found practicable. Under
! this act the Commissioner Of Street Cleaning was
empowered 10 let out special contracts for periods
not exceeding three years for the work Of street
| sweeping and cleaning or for the collection of
| ashes and garbage, some part thereof, in par
| ticular districts TO be designated, such contracts
TO be approved by the Board Of Estimate and
/
special contracts for the final disposition of the
material. for a term of five years, if similarly ar-
proved
The Police Department, which al that time
was charged with the duty of street clcaning, as
a subordinate bureau. bcing officially notified Of
the creation Of the new department. Immediately
transferred the property Of the bureau to the
Department Of Street Cleaning which took
charge of the work on June Is. ls-l. with j. ).
Coleman, a contractor, as Commissioner.
New-Norll has population estimated at
l 500 600. and contains 57j miles Of rnadways
mot including those within parks classified as 10
their surfaces as follows:
Under the charge Of the Department Of Public
Works-Macadam, - miles; asphalt, . miles
granite blocks, 113 miles trap blocks 2O3 miles :;
cobblcstoncs, miles; wood and Russ, 1l6 mile
dirt roads. 45 miles; total 392 miles
Under the charge of the Department Of Public
Parks anneXed district Dirt roads, ia miles
macadam. 43 miles trap blocks, miles; total,
1s3 miles
The macadamzcd rOadways not cleaned by
the Department OF Street Cleaning. The entire
control Of these comparatively delicate surfaces
of broken stone is exercised by the Departments
Of Public Works and Parks whose road-mcndcTs
sweep and do all repairs upon them. The dirt
roads require no sweeping. The remainder Of the
roadways representing 32S.GG miles, with al
estimated superficial area Of G,9s 800 square
yards is swept by the Department OF Street Clean
ing according 10 set schedules while from thC
whole mileage of streets t574.0sJ the ashes ant
garbage are supposed to be taken up thoroughly
/ every day
HOW THE WORK IS sYsrEMArIzED.
I For the economic supervision and the prompt
and efficient performance Of the vas
amount Of work required 10 be done, the Who'll,
city Is divided into four districts, with Broadway
70 as the dividing line below Fourtecnth-st, ano
1 SeVenth-avc. tine dividing line above Four
tccnth-st., far FOrty-sccOnd-sJ., ana thence
SIAth-aVe. to the Harlem River 1'yo Of thcs
districts, embracing the territory lying south o
FouTtccnthst., cleaned by contract iii Apri