Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-22

the big .bookl In these depots Will be
fourd the favorite sweeping machine of
Paris, q revolving brush, mounted obliquely
on a cart drawn by one horse instead Of by
two. as in Pittsburg. The brush sweeps
track six feet wide, leaving the dirt heaped
in line on the side. It will cover an acre
and half in an hour, and takes the place
of 100 men. The first cost of the machine is
5000. 1t takes about $40 a year to keep 1t
in repair and S14 to buy a new broom The
brush lasts from 140 to $50 hours.
B. sides these large machines the depots
are furnished with bewildering array of
brooms. Birch twigs and American rushes
are the favorite materials pr street brooms.
Thev are so common in Paris that one would
not be far amiss in adding them to the city's
coat of arms. But there are other articles
than brooms. There are rakes, forks, awk-
ward wheelbarrows and huge dust pans,
ladders, tubs and rubber scrapers and a
variety of disinfectantsL One who will
loiter about the streets of Paris a
little before 4 o'clock in the morning
will see lines of the street cleaning
machines each followed by a workman with
broom or rubber rake. He will see also
motley brigades of men, women and chill
dren, tools in hand They are not picked
up, irregular laborers such as too often form
the street cleaning service in American
cities, but well drilled and systematically
organized body.
Wages and Treatment Of Employees.
Part of them work ordinarily only until
II o'clock in the morning, others are en-
ployed from A. NJ. to P. NJ. The men
among the sweepers earn from 81 to ~
cents an hour, the women and children from
to cents. The road laborers, who do a
variety of work, earn from S21 to S24 a
month. All members of the force must de-
post month in the savings bank, to be
Withdrawn when they leave the service,
and all must Join mutual aid society.
The machines operate in the squares and
avenues. Frequently two go together, one
following the other. Behind them walks a
hand sweeper who looks after the dirt
which escapes the machine and collects into
piles that are heaped at the sides by the
brushes While this is going on in the
large places of the city; the narrow streets
and alleys and the sidewalks are under the
hand of the sweepers and scrubbers. In
two hours and half from the beginning of
the work, all Paris has been swept, or if
muddy, cleaned with water and a scrubbing
brush-except it may be the impasses, or
''blind alleys" and certain short passages.
Here the inhabitants do their own sweep
ing The operation is finished much more
quickly in Paris than in any other large
European city. In London the service lasts
the "a hours through. In Berlin the sweep
ing begins at II 80 at night and must be fin
ished by in the morning. In Brussels the
hours are from o'clock in the evening
until in the morning.
Gathering Up the sweepinss.
As the brigades finish their work the
ringing of the bells of the tromhereauy
Garbage carts) is heard These come to
collect the sweepings and the dust and
waste from Partisan households. The city
requires that all the waste paper, ashes.
fculinary refuse, rags, dirt of all sorts be
gathered each day in each house and depos-
tied in receptacle furnished by the clean
ing service The receptacle must be placed
on the sidewalk in the morning before the
passage of the cart. These great zinc recep-
tacles heaped with dirt and bearing in huge
black letters the name of the street and the
number of the house to which they belong,
are an unpleasant but not an uninterestinp
feature Of the morning promenade. They
are not so striking here as in Lyons where
they are painted green and bear their street
and number in black on a blue ground. But
tEey have associations And is it not for
associations" that we come to Europe?
Over these receptacles and their contents
no little legislation has been done by Paris.
As early as 1888 the inhabitants of the
CITY, who were obliged to do their own
street sweeping, were ordered to lift and
dispose of the dirt In 1893 the proprietor
who failed to bring out the refuse of his
house when the tombereau bell sounded was
fined six livres. But the officers and the people
did not live up to the law. The scraps, in
stead of being brought out for the cart, were
dumped on the walk in front of the house,
usually at night. The collecting service
was not confined to hours, and frequently