Evening star., 1895-05-01

With the approach of warm weather
comes increase of interest in the collection
Of garbage and as the District appropria-
ton bill which becomes operative July
provides a largely increased appropriation
for what can hardly fail to be a better sys-
tenn than any this city has ever KNOWN
Se popular interest is now much greater
than at any time in the past. Unfortu-
nately, however. the District Commission
ers-or a majority of them-have agreed
upon a policy of personal silence and of
contempt for popular opinion and advice,
so while the work of making the most i'm
portant changes in the method of collect
ing and disposing of garbage is going on
the details are denied those who are en-
titled to all of the information. OF the
failures in municipal matters affecting very
materially the public interest there have
been few more conspicuous cases than
those connected with the garbage problem.
Faulty contracts have been common-in
fact. there has been none for several years
that when tested has seemed to be binding
save on the District government-yet, in
spite of expensive and embarrassing eX-
perience the Commissioners majority
of them-insist upon taking into their con-
fidence only those who expect to profit by
the new plan. AS to the new arrangements
that must soon be made, there has up to
this time been too much of mystery, too
many communings behind closed doors with
those whose interest is only financial and
whose observance of the present contract
has been ftful and altogether unsatis-
factory. Only by widespread publication
at every step concerning the views and
plans of the Commissioners can there be
general understanding of the garbage situ-
alton as it is and it ought to be in the
District of Columbia, yet the Commission
ers-or a majority of them-have deliber-
ately elected to conduct the public business
as though it was purely personal affair.
Through the recent appropriation by Con-
gress a sum has been provided from the
municipal funds entirely adequate to carry
into effect the very best of the modern
methods of garbage disposal Full and
timely publicity in respect to the need of
the District, and the purposes and plans of
the District government will attract the
attention of rhe whole country, including
the managers of garbage disposal systems.
to the local problem. Suppression of the
facts tends to throw everything into the
hands of the present unsatisfactory con-
tractors. The public interest requires the
fullest competition among the garbage re-
ductiOn and incarceration systems of the re-
public. The reduction method is the cheap
est because the treatment gives to the
garbage a considerable market value. In
deed, a well-managed reduction plant can
almost afford to collect the refuse, it's raw
material. for nothing; being compensated
by the sale of It's manufactured product.
This method is also most effective in thor
oughly cleaning the city. When every ad-
ditional pound Of garbage collected means
tnnr t1,a r.,
neglect no back-yards or alleys. Under our
present system the less garbage the con-
tractor collects the greater his ease and
profit. The other modern system of garbage
disposal is by destruction through incin-
Grafton. This method which develops moth
ing of value from the refuse, is more eX-
pensive than the reduction process, but Is
otherwise equally satisfactory, If compen-
sation Is based on the amount of garbage
cremated, thus assuring a thorough col
lection. Such full use and such timely
use should have been made by the Com
mlssioners of the newspapers that at the
earliest possible moment, long before the
advertising for proposals, the managers of
every existing modern system of garbage
disposal would have been engaged in pre-
pairing for eager competition for the honor
and profit of installing the model system
at the capital of the United States.
There Is as great need of a radical
change in methods of contracting as In
systems Of garbage disposal Past expert
ence suggests that a contract to collect
and dispose of the city's garbage for a
term of years at a fixed price has been
construed as an agreement to do so only
as long as the contractors found it profit
able or as long as their existing plant re-
mained unburned or their scows unsunk
or their horses in good condition, or to do
SO in such manner with such neglects aid
defects would enable the contractor to
make money. The capital wants the best
of the modern garbage systems, responsible
contractors and bondsmen. and a contract
that will hold water, and it is entitled to
know, and it is to the public interest to
have known, every step of the Commits
sioners in the direction of meeting these
wants.
There can be nothing but praise for the
excise board of Alexandria county, for yes