Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-02-03

north Of street north IL their sewage could b,
conveyed to tide level abou. Pennsylvania ave
nue.. The large sewers were placed low, higt
tides run mile and half up b street sewe
and two miles up Tiber creek sewer, and tn,
sewage is washed back and forth instead Of be
ing promptly discharged
For many years the sewage of the part o.
| the city north OF Pennsylvania avenue and be
I tween LIST and 18th streets west was carried into
the open canal on b street north until tina
/ canal became a deadly nuisance. At present
Rock creek and the James creek canal are men.
scing the health of the city. During the recent
severe weather-cold enough to make ice from
eight to eighteen inches in thickness on the
broad Potomac, heaving with the ebb and how
Of the tido-there was but the thinnest film fol-
less than week on the placid surface of the
James creek canal. Those stagnant waters are
/ kept in ebullition. at high temperature. BY
! the offensive gases which escape in bubbles
from the filth below. Nor will it be long before
the constant flow of the Mount Pleasant sewage
into Piney branch will turn that once clear
stream into a source of typhoid fevers.
Though Capitol Hill. by its elevation OF
ninetv-three feet above tide level, is easily
drained. its sewerage system is inseparable from
that of Southwest Washington. The tidal ebb
and flow in the Eastern branch make that
stream unavailable as a receptacle of sewage.
and the terminus of each Capitol Hill inter-
cep;irg sewer must be in the Potomac below
Gierbo-o' Point
In short. among the most urgent wants Of the
District are the duplication OF the main and
pipe sewers already existing. the construction
Of several large and expensive interceptinS
sewers and at least three sewers for the dis
charge Of all sewage into the deepest waters
Of the main channel of the Potomac. Sewers
o! vastly more importance than paved car
ringeways and sidewalks We can drive or pick
our way on foot through muddy streets, but
We cannot live in poisonous air.
For these reasons your committee has done
what II could to obtain congressional adoption
Of the very conservative sewer estimates OF the
engineer department of the District.
SANITARY AND FOOD INSPECTORS.
In the appropriation bill as passed by the
House eight inspectors of this class are pro-
vided for. OF those three are necessary for the
inspection OF food offered for sale in the public
and private markets, tine groceries and by
hucksters and farmers from carts and wagons.
The other five are employed in the inspection
of the plumbing of houses in course of cree
;ion. of plumbing in houses already erected. in
the detection of nuisances on house premises
and elsewhere and the prosecution In the
Police Court OF persons violating the plumbing
regulations and the laws against nuisances. The
extent of their duties may be inferred from the
following s;atemen..
Average number OF buildings erected
annually at. ......... 2,4OO
Old buildings NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. Al, COO
Number OF nuisauces reported in 1891. 1S,SO4
Prosecutions attended to, not reported,
bu. supposed to be ................. 200
As each new building must be inspected at
least twice there are 4 500 visits necessary. The
probable demands for the inspection of old
buildings may safely be reckoned at the same
number; the nuisances will not be less next
year than they we're last. and the number of
prosecutions should increase rather than
diminish. So that the possible demands upon
the official action of the sanitary and food in
speetors in the full discharge of their legiti-
mate duties will be more than rs. 900. averaging
over $500 annually, or over eighteen daily for
each one OF the five for the 800 working days
Of the year. As the plumbing inspection Of
one house often occupies day it is clear that
these functionaries have no margin Of time for
idleness; they must fall below the performance
of their duties. 1t is useless, therefore, to i'm
pose upon them the enforcement of garbage
regulations. Your committee petitioned that
the clause 10 this effect should be omitted.
GARBAGE INSPECTORS
The necessity of detailing ren for the garb-
age service exclusively is obvious. Although
appropriation law has recognized this
necessity such men have been appointed when
ever the Commissioners have controlled any
fund which might be used for payment Of their
wages. Last summer ten were on active duty
from their proper duties and made to act as in
spectors o: garbage. The police regulations
for the collection and removal of garbage do
not enforce themselves. Inspectors are neces-
sary for two purposes: To see that householders
comply with the law requiring them 10 place on
an accessible part OF their premises their
garbage in a closed metal vessel and to see that
the contractor removes il. Both householders
and contractor must be made 10 do their duty
The former can be reached through the Police
Court alone, the latter through the court and
the Commissioners, who can refuse pay if the
service Is not performed. Who. except in
spectors appointed for the purpose, will f,e in
formations
BY the terms Of his contract the contractor
Is not bound 10 remote any garbage unless it is
put in accessible place. This is right 1t
would be lmpracucable for him to remove it
II his driver is compelled to ring bells and
knock al doors or pound at alley gates, half an
hour. before be can get the garbage. The chief
difhculty in this part OF municipal cleanliness
Is that many householders will not put their
garbage where IL can be taken. They are will
ing to risk their own health and that of their
neighbors rather than buy proper vessel and
pu; II out at the proper hours. and they cannot
be made TO do this until examples are made Of
offenders by the infection of fines at the Police
Cour,.
Under the theory Of the law as it stands COM
plants are TO be made by any citizen injured.
Under the practice at the health Office (Which
l. without money or men to act othervise)
these Complaints are referred TO the contractor
who instructs his cart driver on the beat indi-
Gated In the complaint to remove the garbage
complained OF. The driver reports he has done
so; but his report is verified by nobody. But
no citizen makes complaint except that his own
garbage J. not removed. Who is to make COM
plant OF those who do not care whether their
garbage is removed or not? And the danger to
the public health comes from these indifferent
parties. Your committee regards garbage in
sTectors as indispensable TO the enforcement
OF the regulations.
DAILY GARBAGE SERVICE.
The present garbage contract, which is in
force for five years from July /. 1892, re-
quires daily service in markets hotels and
other places" This last phrase is indefinite,
but would probably be construed by the court
not t. include any places making less garbage
than markets and hotels. Ii is hardly neces-
sary 10 point out the fact that restaurants Of
every grade. hospitals. asylums. boarding
houses and dwellings with ten more inmates
should be permanently brought within the con-
tract for daily service during the warm months
Oi the year. and that from the last of April
next 20 the end of the fiscal year covered by
the appropriation bill prudence requires the
extension OF that service to every dwelling
house IN the city and its densely populated
suburbs In accordance with these views your
committee has urged before the Senate SUBJ
committee an appropriation of S1S,0o0 to be
used at the discretion of the Commissioners for