The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-05-28
Chean Street Cleaning.

ln6 city OF troy, IN. ~ llhe Iuo ClOb
of Scranton, sweeps its streets grand
mother fashion. The results there, rs
well as here, are unsatisfactory. The
Citizens association, a non-partlsan
organization of progressive Trojans
formed for the purpose Of keeping an
eye on municipal affairs, recently in
structed its secretary to procure data
from other cities showing the relative
costs OF machine and hand street
sweeping. The result Of his investiga~
tion appears in the Troy Times, and
from that excellent paper we compile
the facts that follow;
Syracuse cleans the paved streets, stone,
brick and asphalt, with street sweeping
machines only, at a cost of 81 10 a mile for
sweeping machine work and S5.75 u mile
for labor and teams, cleaning and taking
~sweepings from the gutter. For stone
and brick pavements the authorities pre-
fer the sweeping machines. AsphalG pave
ments, in their judgment, can be made to
look cleaner by hand labor and day work,
at a cost of about $3.50 TO 80 a mile. In
Buffalo the streets are cleaned by contract
and asphalt, stone and brick are swept
with horse machines. On asphalt streets,
when cleaned by private contract, ma
chimes are not used. The price runs from
ten to fifteen CENTS n foot front, the latter
figure usually covering the opening Of gut
tiers and removing Of snow from the
sidewalks during the winter. In the con-
tract for street cleaning, asphalt is swept
and dirt removed in six districts for forty
five cents q square of 10000 square feet
and in two districts for thirty-two
cents for the same area. In the six dis
tricts the asphalt is swept by machines,
while in the two districts, at q lower con-
tract figure, hard work is sometimes done,
but the machine work is thought to be at
least % per cent. cheaper. The cost Of the
machines varies, running from $3.50 to $500.
Toledo, Ohio, sweeps its streets with a
street sweeper and pays Sl2 a mile and 50
"A mile for sprinkling. The sweepers cost
$500 each and give good satisfaction. Col
umbus. Ohio, uses machines in sweeping
all the paved streets. There are about
ninety miles Of paved streets in the city,
and the machine is the less expensive of
the two. ChicaSo's streets are being clean
ed by contract ut ST. q mile. This clean
ing covers from curb to curb on paved
streets, and is done partly by machines and
partly by hand, the machines doing the
sweeping and the men picking up into
wagons provided by the contractor. AT
st. Louis ffty-tive miles of granite, wood
block and asphaltum streets are cleaned
by machinery under contract. 1t costs
about 81, 100 per annum to clean these
streets, on an average Of three times a
week. The macadam and telford streets
are cleaned by hand, and the appro-
priation is 100000 per annum for
$50 miles Of streets. The cost of
cleaning streets by hand is three or four
times greater than cleaning by machine ny.
The machines used in sweeping the streets
of Washington cost So, 400 each. The ma
chimes are used to sweep all classes of
paved streets, asphalt, block and cobble-
stone. The work done Is perfectly salts
factory. The estimated difference in the
cost between machine and hand labor is Mt
least 80 per cent. in favor Of the machine
work. AT indianapolis the streets are
cleaned entirely by machinery. This work
IS ali done at night. Many Of the streets
are cleaned nightly; Others are cleaned
three or four times n week. The price per
front foot for doing this work, according
to the width and location of the streets,
runs from 3 to 80 cents on each side of the
street. The cities Of Cincinnati and Mil
waukee own their own machines and
OAhOA upHlisuCcoi mig butII pWu lltU anu
do their own work at a cost to the city OF
Cincinnati Of 1910 q mile each time of
cleaning. This includes moving the dirt
and sweeping and spTinkling.
Just this time it will probably DO
argued that street cleaning by hand ia
the most desirable in Scranton, because
of the greater employment it affords to
men who would otherwise he out of
work. While that argument might be
respected now. it will not hold valid al
ways. The bad condition of many Of
our streets today indicates the neces.
sitY either Of greater expenditures on
the street commissioner department
or else the employment OF the present
appropriations to better advantage. II
81 OF the public's money, when invested
in street sweeping machines, could DC
the work of 50 as invested at present, il
will be merely q question of time wher
the machines will come and the ''host
brigade" go. Meanwhile, it remains tt
be discovered whether such an economy
is possible; and the foregoing testimony
is offered for what it is worth.