Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-06
More Complaints of the Street Sweep
ing.

TO the Editor of The Evening Star:
1 dislike fault finding, but there are times
when it is permissible, especially when ap-
piled to the miserable work still being done
by our street weeping officials. AS glar-
ing proof of msmanagement and ineffi-
cheney, 1t Is only necessary to call atten-
| ton to the work of last Monday Every
street west of 9TH to 18th and south to
Pennsylvania avenue was miserably swept,
because most of them were too wet, and no
| attempt should have been made to sweep
| them. Even the mud that was smeared
over their surfaces into the cutters was
allowed to remain, with the exception that
here and there portions of it We're left in
conspicuous plies at prominent street in
tersections. 1t is not sufficient eXplana-
tiCn Of such disgraceful work that the rain
prevented its removal. The inspector should
| not have permitted the work of sweeping
to progress v hen it was evident to every
body that the machines We're sweeping up
more dirt than the insufficient humber of
carts employed could possibly take away
even If 1t had been placed in heaps before
the later and heavier rainfall compelled a
cessation of all work. But If excuse can
be framed for piling up more dirt than
could be properly disposed of Monday, why
was 1t allowed to remain all day Tuesday
just as it was deposited by the brooms? 1t
will occur to the ordinary mind that the
superintendent of the street sweeping de-
partment should have made 1t his special
business to see that the contractor remov-
ed 1t. That it was not done is evidence Of
deplorable ineficiency somewhere, and 1t
may he further proof: Of what has fire.
quently been asserted, that the contractor
neglects to furnish the requisite number Of
carts for properly doing the work required
by his two contracts, viz that for sweep
ing and cleaning the streets ard that for
sweeping end cleaning the alleys. During
the term of night swearing he can utilize
his carts for cleaning alleys, which work Is
always prosecuted in the daytime; but
when both services are done under day.
light, as row, one set of carts cannot be
used in two places at the same time, and
unsatisfactory results are simply inevita-
BILE. -
In their annual report the Commissioners
recommend en- additional appropriation of
$2OO 900 over that of 1896 for sweeping dur
ing the year 1897. The sum now being ex-
pended, if judiciously, distributed should
be ample to give US much cleaner thor
oughfares than we now have. The diff
Guilty, I apprehend. lies in the fact that
many of these ere swept too frequently,
while others are not swept frequently
enough. I have seen the machine brooms
pass over street surfaces day after day
that really did not need sweeping, while
erhaps an adjoining street was left I'M
touched and in filthy condition. Let the
sweepable territory be properly divided
and the work of cleaning efficiently super
intended, and it will be found that the
money now being expended is sufficient to
give us the clearest streets In the country,
as, indeed, they ought to be, most of them
being surfaced with the finest, smoothest
asphalt in the world. CITIZEN.