Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-26
Pay Only for What We Get.

The contractor who is under bonds to
Amove and properly dispose of this city,
garbage has quarre!ed with the proprietor
of the inc!nerating plant The disagreement
as was stated exclusively in yesterday 5
Star-haS reached an acute stage, for the
subcontractor has extinguished the furnace
fires and will not, he asserts, receive any
more garbage until the principal contractor
pays what is alleged to be an overdue bill.
The garbage contractor has, therefore. re-
turned to the old. cheap and altogether
nasty method of shipping garbage down the
Potomac in scows- This plan is, of course.
much more to the liking of the garbage con-
tractor than any other that could easily be
devised; it is the least expensive way to go
through the form of getting rid of the daily
accommodations of refuse.
The public has nothing to do directly
with either the contrac tor or the subcon-
tractor; its dealings must be with the
District Commissioners who have allowed
this unwhoIesome situation to develop.
From the outset the Commissioners have
been much too lenent with the garbage
contractor; his vagaries have been borne
and his shortcomings have frequently gone
unrebuked, while the amount of money
paid him compensation has been mex
cusably Increased. This is one of the few
evil conditions suffered by the District for
which Congress is not to blame. Congress
placed in the keeping of the Commissioners
funds sufficient to establish and maintain
an unexcepti Onably efficient system of
garbage collection and disposal, but for
some reason or other the Commissioners
have failed to administer they Were
expected to; they have been paying the
contractor crematory prices for the scow
dumping process in whole or part, and are,
so far as one may judge from appearances,
not sufficiently disturbed at the mastery
way in which the contractor runs the con-
tract to suit himself. Not so long ago the
District paid the sum of S24, 400 for garbage
collection and disposal. the disposal being
by scow. The improperly of the scow
method was always evident. and as soon
as a campaign was made against it Con-
gress bestowed upon the Commissioners
power to work amendment.
A contract was then entered into, by the
terms of which the contractor seemed
bound to collect all the garbage and incin-
crate it in a non-odorous and effective fur
mace or furnaces. For this nisn-gra1e and
healtE-promoting service the contractor
was 10 receive the sum of $1,000 a year-as
markell an advance in compensation as the
incinerat:on method is ahead of the scow-
dumping process But he has never made
good the promises contained in his agree
ment Some of the garbage has been burn
ed it IS true. but not all of it; the fleet of
sCOws was always in readiness and some
times in use Recently it WAS asserted by
the contractor that the cre'natory lacked
capacity. whereupon the Commissioners
gave permission to the garbage monarch to
once more use the Potomac as Il dumping
place, but it Is not in evidence that they
suggested the fairness of reduced con:pen-
sation. 1t is being openly asserted by the
crematory management that the garba ge
contractor mas exertsd himself TO bring
about the situation as it now is: that he
has deliberately planned the delivery of
garbage to render it's incinera ton
impossible. Whether those accusations are
or are not true it is certain that it is the
garbage contractor who is the beneficiary,
for he is now receiving the highest rate of
compeas ton for the cheapest form of dis
po5al; he gets $1,000 for doing what was
done two years ago for S24,40O.
In view, therefore, of Washington's ex-
perience with the garbage dictator, it is
not difficult TO imagine that he is more
than willing to save the tonnage tax he had
TO pay the crematory subcontractor, when,
1t appears. he can do 50 with impunity.
In any other city in this or any other
country the conditions which here and now
exist would result in an outburst of popu-
lar indignation that could not be Gained by
anything short of speedy and thorough
reform. No other community would rest
calmly under the absolute rule of a con-
tractor to whom We must pay $4,000 a
year for rendering specific services in spe-
cific ways but who does just precisely what
seemeth unto him best.
Speaking in the public behalf. The Star
respectfully suggests to the District Com
missiOners that they assume the powers
and diGnities conferred upon them by law
and see TO it either that the contractor per-
forms his garbage incinerating agreement
to the letter, or that he is paid only what
the inferior service which he renders is
actually worth until, through somebody
else, the cremation or reduction of the
Washington garbage, for which the local
tax money was appropriated, is accom-
plished.