New-York tribune., 1890-01-26

n Mr. Loomis can control the wind or get a
supply Of water for sprinkling he VIII be a
success The commissioner has mace
up his mind on one point, nancN' 'Ne
advantages of the contract system ol
street cleaning, and he has determined to return
30 il at the earliest possible moment. Wheh
Mayor Grant took Office he was opposed TO clean
ing by contract, and it was owing principally 20
him that Mr.. Coleman began the days work sys-
tenn south of Fourtcenthst. last Nay. The Mayor
lives and learns He is responsible for Mr. LoomiS,
and if Mr.. LoOmis says contract, the Mayor must
bout face and submit, or Mr.. Loomis must 60
Experience has taught that the contract system IS
better and cheaper than the oher. The Commits
sioner has been discussing the matter with con-
tractors all the week, and bids may be advertised
for soon.
The Department of Street Cleaning occupies the
rear half of the third floor in the Emigmnt In
dustrial Savings Bank Building, Nos 40 and 81
Chambers-st There are seven rooms, the Com
missioner's Office being the most inaccessible 10
reach it you must file your application for an
audience with a good Tammany Ccrberus and
dance attendance in the Chief clerks room till
Mr.. Loomis has moment to spare The chief
clerk is not the Jack IIorner who sat in corner
eating a Christmas pie, and stuck in his thumb
and pulled out plum and said what great
boy am /. but is simply Richard w. IIorner, who
has made himself so popular that everybody wishes
be could get hold of nice fat plum and eat 1t
all by himself Mr.. Horner is the right bower Of
the department in fact, its bureau Of information
MODEL DEPARTMENT IN THE TROPICS.
The old city Of Port-of-Spain. on the island Of
Trinidad. is not the cleanest city in the world
notwithstanding its fine waterworks and excel
lent drainage, but it has the most singular III
teresting and economical street-cleaning depart
ment that ever city was blessed-or cursed-with
This department, however not only cleans the
streets; it owns them as well. The stranger who
visits Port-of-Span and thinks he can run over
the street-cleaning department is liable 10 err
He finds in the course of a quarter Of minute
that the depa rtment is possessed of unmitaatcd
audacity II sits on the curbstoncs. wadcs in tho
cutters promenades the sidewalks, plays hide
and-seek and blindman's 's-buif in the avenues an(
parks roosts in the trees and on the housetops
makes a nuisance of itself at the church doors OF
Sunday and is blessing and a JOY in the markets S
II is not paid for doing its mutifarions duties
II has no commissioner, no superintendent, no in
spectors no forcmen. no carts, no sweeping ma
chimes 1t is not a political organization an'
therefore escapes pulls and assessments. /
works in the daytime and sleeps all night 9oln!
70 bed at sundown and rising at early dawn. l
OnlTlNOfOuS
baltinc at nothing. Its membership number
thousands Of the select and arstocratc street
cleaning families in Trinidad These work har
moniously tOget her on the most modern and ap
proved cooperative plan; that is, they are happy
family till some individual some clique gets
"pIum. when all pouncc on him it, dcmandin.
an honest division OF spoilS. Rows occur at in
,ervals of ten seconds throughout the day il
all parts of the city Strangers have
bcen known to kill obstreperous member
Of the department by breaking their necks witt
o. walking-cane but that sort of diversion il
rather extensive. as the municipality insists OF
rollecting the sum of cl sterling for every necl
so maltreated The entire depa rtment is coal
black. and the members wear only such clothc
as nature gives them. They are forever bare
heeled. They are neither negroes nor coolies, bu
belong TO the distinguished sarcoramphuS papa
tribe. and all are "diurnal accipitrine" birds o
feather
THE CLEANEST CITY IN THE WORLD.
The ceanest of the large cities in the world il
Berlin. and the secret of Berlins cleanliness lie
in a continual sweeping and washing. But. II
the first place, there is very little 10 sweep II
Berlin The people, being exceptionally ecOnOmi
cal and thrifty waste nothing, and the streets
are not catch-als for every conceivable descrip
ton of garbage, as is the case in NewYork. tn,
6end who throws a banana peel a Berlin side
walk must either remove it go to Jail. A New
York sidewalk without its banana peel may b'
discovered about the time Of the millennium