The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-11-08
THE STREETS OF PARIS.
How they are Kept Well Paved and AL.
ways Clean.

The city is admirably and entirely
paved, but nearly 100000 year 49,
921, 529.79 in 1S90) are expended simply
in keeping it up. The principle followed
is the old and often despised one of a
stitch in time" No broken or rough
place is too small to receive attention.
To discover crack or depression in the
asphalt is to remedy it, SO that one fire.
quently sees little shining black patches,
not over a foot square,, in a drive or
sidewalk. To find 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 replaced for width of street,
the circulation is not stopped over more,
usually, than third of the width. This
third is fenced in SO that the boundary
of workingmen and of traffic is clearly
defined. The omnibuses which ordinar-
lily pass by this route make detour in
the parallel street, and in this way the
inconvenience is reduced to "a minimum.
But the economy in this repairing is
not alone in mending. 1t extends even
to disposing of the worn stones, the
cracked blocks, the asphalt chips. In
the receipts of the city Of Paris for .l9o0
s., 742. 10 are credited to the sale OF worn
out paving materials.
The precaution which isolates, SO far
as possible, the broken place in street,
with the materials and workingmen
necessary for its repair, is extended to all
similar danger An open manhoie is
ynp>
in construction is fenced in; the side
walk in front Of a facade or below roof
which is in process of repair is forbidden
to pedestrians, the space being barred
by sticks and guard walking in front
to compel the careless to keep off the
walk. In short the Partisan aims to pre-
vent there being anything to slip or trip
on in his streets, and he sees to it that
he is driven from under anything which
might fall upon him.
However perfect the paving, mere cir
culation in city of two millions and a
half of people is danger. The first and
greatest 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 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
coachmen, in spite of a frequent pre-
tense 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 bicy-
clists. They certainly constitute the
most lawless and foolhardy feature of
the street. Not that there are not regu.
lations, for them; but these regulations
have not yet become automatic in their
working
For the inevitable danger attending
street crossing the Parisians have an adj
mirable system of refuge. The refuge
is merely spot of pavement of the
height of the curb of the sidewalk placed
in the middle of the sstreet On the
boulevards and squares where thestraffic
is thickest these refugees occur frequently
Naturally from their position in the cen
tire of the driveway, they divide:the traffic
into two lines moving in opposite direc-
tions. A policeman is usually stationed
at each refuge, and when necessary he
stops the vehicles at intervals to per-
NIT the passage of pedestrians.
= The precautions against the microbe
are more fertile in hints. The broom,
the scrubbing brush and cold water are
the chief weapons, and their handling is
energetic and effective. About one-fifth
of the 10, sos acres which Paris covers Is
swept and busted every day. 70 do this
there is cleaning brigade of $500 per-
sons, men, women and children. directed
by some 300 overseers and engineers.
This service is not composed of pickup
haphazard laborers, but is well-drilled
and Systematically organized body.
About O'Clock in the morning it ap-
pears in the streets. The first operation
is sweeping, accomplished in part by
sweeping machines, in part by birch
twig hand broo1ns In two hours and
half from the beginning of the work all
Paris is supposed to have been swept,
or if muddy, cleaned with water, scrub b.
bling brushes and rubber scrapers AS
the brigade finishes this work streets are
invaded by five or six thousand open gar
bage carts. They come to collect the
sweepings which have been left in pieces
at the side of the street and the dry dirt
and waste from the houses. Every house
hold is required to collect each evening
all the culinary refuse, waste paper, ash
es, &C., to deposit it in receptacle
furnished to the house by the cleaning
department of the city, and to place it
on the walk in the morning in time for
the passing of the cart. The carts are
accompanied IN UneIr ROUNDS Dy TWO per-
sons on foot. AS the cart passes down
street one throws into it the heaps left
at the side by the broom which has pre-
coded, another empties the receptacIes.
Following them is sweeper, who brush
es to the side of the pavement the fine
dirt left in lifting the sweepings and in
emptying the receptaeles. The street is
now ready for washing.
The Paris streets are paved in such
way that the middle is some six inches
higher than the sides. The sidewalk has
the elevation of the centre of the street.
so that on each side of the pavement
there is bed for healthy stream of
wafer. The sweeper who follows cart
opens a warter spout. The stream which
gushes out flow to the first sewer mouth.
The sweeper follows the entire distance
of the stream, scrubbing the bed vigor
ously. The water flows until it is per-
fectly 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 day, in whole or in part.
A vigorous special service is provided
for the markets. New England Maya
zine.