Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-04
THE STREETS OF PARIS,
How They Are Kept Well Paved and
Always Clean.
Eternal Vigilance, Care and Economy
Are the Features of This Great
Work I'm the French Capital


From the New England Magazine.
The city is admirably and entirely navel.
put nearly A,oo.OOo year Css. s2l ,52sg In
1891 are expended simply In keeping Il up.
The principle followed is the old and often
despised one of stitch in time" No
broken or rough place is too small to re-
eeive attention. To discover q crack or de.
preston in the asphalt is to remedy Il. so
that one frequently sees little shining black
patches, not over a foot square In a drive
or sidewalk To find a loose or worn stone
is to replace IT. The result is clear 1t is
rare that large portions of a street must be
entirely torn up Even if the paving Is re-
placed for a width of a street the clrcu-
lation is not stopped over more. usually,
than third Of the width. This third Is
fenced in SO that the boundary Of working
men and of traffic is clearly defined The
omnibuses which ordinarily pass by this
route make detour in the parallel street
and In this way the Inconvenience is re-
duced 20 a minimum.
But the economy in this repairing is not
alone In mending. Ii extends even to dis
posing OF the worn stones. the cracked
DOCKS the asphalt chips. In the receipts OF
the city OF Paris for 1880. s37 7i2l3 are credit
ed TO the sale of WORKOUT paving materials.
The precaution which isolates. as far az
possible, the broken place in a street with
the materials and workingmen necessary
for Its repair, is extended to all similar
danger. An open manhole is surrounded
by an iron railing; a sewer in construction
is fenced in; the side walk in front Of a
facade or below a roof which is In process
Of repair is forbidden to pedestrians, the
space being barred by sticks and a guard
q he raj IN
keep of the walk. In short, the Partisan
aims TO prevent there being anything to
slip or trip on in his streets. and he sees 70
it that he is driven from under anything
which might fall upon him.
The Grade Crossings.
However perfect the paving. mere cir
culation in city OF two millions and half
Of people is a danger. The first and great
est alarm Of many towns in the United
States-the railroads. unknown in Paris.
The only rational way for a railway TO
enter town is over or under the streets;
and as that plan is followed in Paris. q
serious danger is Cancelled at once. Neither
is there much transit SO rapid that it costs
each year a tax in human lives. There are
fewer accidents from horses than one would
expect, one reason being that long training
has taught the Partisan to keep out OF the
way Of vehicles; and another being that
of reckless driving. are really very cautious.
In eighteen months in Paris, much OF which
time / have spent in the streets. have
seen but one runaway. Not SO much can
be said for the bicyclists. They certainly
| constitute the most lawless and foo1hardy
| feature OF the street. Not that there are
not regulations for them; but these regu-
lations have not yet bee ONE automatic in
| their working.
For the Inevitable danger attending street
crossing the Parisians have an admirable
1 e
| spot of pavement of the height Of the curb
of the sidewalk, placed in the middle OF tie
street. On the boulevards and squares
where the traffic is thickest these refugees
occur frequently. Naturally. from their
position in the center of the driveway, they
| divide the traffic into two lines moving In
opposite directions. A policeman is usu-
ally stationed at each refuge. ana when
/ necessary he stops the vehicles At Intervals
| to permit the passage of pedestrians.
Thousands of Brooms.
The precautions against the microbs are
more fertile in hints. Tho broom. the
scrubbing brush and cold water are the
chief weapons. and their handling is en-
ergetic and effective. About one-flfth OF
the 1886 acres which Paris covers is swept
and busted every day. To do this there
is cleaning brigade Of $500 persons. men.
women and chil3ren, directed by some SO
overseers and engineers. This service is not
but is a well-drilled and systematically or
ganized body. About O'Clock I'm the morn
ing IL appears in the streets. The first
operation is sweeping, accomplished in
part by sweeping machines. in part by
birch twig hand brooms. In two hours and
a half from the beginning OF the work all
Paris is supposed TO have been swept or.
| If muddy, cleaned with water, scrubbing
brushes and rubber scrapers. AS the bril-
gade finishes this work, the streets are in
vaded by five or six thousand open garbage
carts. They come TO collect the sweep
/ ings which have been left In piles at the
side of the street and the dry dirt and
waste from the houses. Every household
! is required to collect each evening all the
! culinary refuse, waste paper, ashes. &c. to
| deposit IL in a receptacle furnished to the
house by the cleaning department of the
! city, and 10 place II on the walk in The
morning in time for the passing OF the
cart. The carts are accompanied in their
rounds by two persons on foot. AS the
cart passes down a street one throws into
IL the heaps left at the side by the broom
which has preceded. another empties the
receptacles Following them Is a sweeper,
who brushes 10 the side OF the pavement
the fine dirt left in lifting the sweeplngs
and in emptying the receptacles. The street
is now ready for washing.
the Paris streets are paved IN such q
way that the middle is some six inches
higher than the sides. The sidewalk has
the elevation OF the center of the street
SO that on each side of the pavement there
is bed for healthy stream of water
The sweeper who follows a cart opens a
water spout. The stream which glshes out
flows TO the first sewer mouth. The sweep
er follows the entire distance of the stream
scrubbing the bed vigorously. The water
flows until II is perfectly clear. Both sides
of every street in Paris are treated IN this
way every day. In the most crowded parts
of the city the operation is gone through
two or three times a day. in whole or in
part vigorous special service is provided
for the markets.
Look Ont for "a Hard Winter.