Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-22
STREET CLEANING.
Superintendent Davis Presents an
Elaborate and Complete Report.
WANTS CONTRACTS ABOLISHED.
avorable Financial Comparison
With Other Cities.
ASKS INCREASED SALARIES

ASKS INCREASED SALARIES.
The annual report of Superintendent A.
H. 8. Davis of the street cleaning depart
ment was handed to the Commissioners
this morning, and is an interesting and
well written document. The most impor-
tant recommendation Of Superintendent
Davis Is the adjustment of the contract
system for street and alley cleaning. and
to have the District do the work itself.
During the year 1Ss. 40. 1853 square yards Of
streets were cleaned and 76,126 1-2 cubic
yards of dirt removed.
Continuing. he says:
Pennsylvania Avenue.
The cleaning of this magnificent thor
oughfare by hand is no longer an expert
ment. Up to June &c. 1892. from August 10,
1881, 1t was cleaned by hand daily from the
Peace monument to Washington Circle. and
swept by machine. on the average. twice a
week In addition. During the present year
this service has been from Garfield Circle
and included Executive avenue. The work
has given such general satisfaction that it
strangers.
This force also cleaned B street north
from It'll to 18th street west eighteen times
total area Of 244,24 square yards remov-
ing 364 cubic yards of dirt The area swept
by machines was 452 square yards.
which, at "a IA cents per LOCO square yards.
cost $3.O2l-27, but which cost is included In
the table % showing cost Of cleaning
cleaning Pennsylvania avenue by hand and
by machine was sl4.l6l.T. This is a cost
slightly In excess of what would have been
incurred by daily machine sweeping alone
but the results are far better than even two
sweepings a day could have given without
the scraping. and sufficiently warrant the
nry,f IN f.ft h.a Ilryt ha
asked. why not dispense with machine
sweeping on the avenue altogether and do
the work Of cleaning wholly with scrapers?
Because twice the present force could not
go over every foot of its surface, and 1t Is
only claimed for the scrapers that they re-
move horse droppinss and other Sonspie,
order to remove the finer deposits 1t Is ne
cessary that the surface of the street should
Sweep this avenue daily in addition to the
cleaning the scraper gang gives 1t, and 1t
would be beyond question the cleanest thor
If the scraper gang were taken off and
daily machine sweeping substituted 1t would
be dirty and unsightly during the greater
strated now when it goes unscraped for
twenty-four hours.
Nearly the whole length of Broadway;
New York city. is swept every morning and
night. In addition. a large force of labor
ers hand broom 1t, and prominent business
it e with tf bags a or satchels' into which they
brush the horse droppings and carry them
away.
fact. viz. that. including the streets which
receive six sweepings a week, there is not
a thoroughfare in the cities Of Washington
and Georgetown that Is swept with sufil-
cient frequency. 1t is not creditable to the
capital city Of a great nation that $50 Of
her streets and avenues were scheduled to
be swept but once a week during the year
ended June 30. 1898. This was not the fault
Of the Commissioners nor of this depart
ment. but of Congress. in that it failed to
needed additional work. To make it palmer.
If possible, and to show the existing
W adG ths up to- the st Of 1uy m
but one street in Georgetown, one in South
Washington. the whole Of northeast, south
were scheduled to be swept but once
week. The prominent streets of nearly
every large city in this country and Europe
are swept daily. while many Of them receive
two sweepings day in addition to hand
cleaning. It would seem that our legis-
lators ought to take more and sufficient
beautiful city in the world. the nations
capital, to make an appropriation large
enough to &, Of sTepng the 2e
once. Their surface area is 1884, 4 square
yards. To sweep them once additionally
for fifty-two weeks would aggregate H.
ssS 1926 square yards to be swept during the
year. at an additional cost Of x9. 55I.s1. at
the present contract price Of "a Ia cents
thirty-s il; Streets sire We're schedaled for
one one, more Hs sweeping per week than
ing made the appropriation for this depart
ment $4,000 larger for the fiscal year upon
which We have entered than it was the
year before. With the average fair weather
$50 000.0 900 square yards may be swept in the
year ending June 30. 1894. or some s., Ooo,o 900
the same time. This viii cost $4,000 Add
to this s29,557. the cost of one additional
sweeping per week of the $50 streets men
toned and we have a total of $50. which
amount / respectfully ask you to urge
Congress to appropriate for street sweeping
during the fiscal year ending June 30. 1885
The complaints of filthy streets do not
come from those sections which receive
daily service, nor from those receiving two
and three sweep!ngs per week, but almost
exclusively from what are termed the once
a week" sections. 1t will certainly be a
great stride toward more perfect cleanli-
ness If our citizens can say: Not a street
in Washington Is swept less than twice
a week"
Improved and Unimproved Alleys.
These are more numerous in Washington
than in any other city of the country in pro-
portion to the inhabitants, and being made
the receptacles for most of the filth and
rubbish that accumulates on the premises
of our residents, special pains have been
taken with them. The improved ones have
been cleaned by contract, on the average
once a week, at the rate of thirty-three
cents per 1000 square yards.
The unimproved alleys have been cleaned
about once every ten days by gang of
laborers detailed specially for that duty,
consisting of foreman and assistant, nine
men and three carts.
Unimproved Streets.
The system inaugural ted soon after enter
ing upon my duties as superintendent of
placing a gang of laborers, under the charge
Of foreman and assistant foreman I'm each
of the four geographical divisions of the
city with special instructions to keep clean
these too frequently neglected places, has
been continued with most gratifying results
i know of no other city in this country In
which special force is employed to look
after the residence streets Of the DOOR In
addition to cleaning these streets instruc-
lions were issued to each foreman to keep
in good sanitary condition unimproved al
1eys whenever and wherever found in fact
never to pass by any place that needed
cleaning. Consequently many poor people
living in -of-the-way places have COM
plimented this department for doing work
never before done. AS evidence that these
places have not been passed by, notwith-
standing the cholora scare, epidemic with so
many and the severe newspaper and other
criticisms which naturally enough called
into play the complaining powers of all
classes, there were less complaints from
these sections during the past year than
ever before These labor gangs are employ
ed only during a portion of the spring, sum-
mer and autumn months. being furloughed
from November Is to March Is.