Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-17

community have nothing of which to COM
plain whether he does or does not do the
work provided for in the contract and
specifications subscribed by himself. Ii he
does all he is pledged to do he is paid for
1t, says he: If he Is conspicuously negligent
then deductions are made else he IS
not paid at all. the public, therefore. it Is
argued, does not lose anything in either
case. The absurdity of such contention
ought to be Immediately apparent to every
one who will stop to give the matter even
the slightest thought Carried to Its log
ical conclusion, such argument would
Imply that Washingtonians should be
tirely satisfied II the streets were never
swept and, consequently, all the money
appropriated for street cleaning purposes
was saved. What the public wants and
what the public Is going to have is, first.
clean streets, and, second, a STRENGTHENING
service out Of which will come fair re-
turns for every dollar invested by the tax
payer. 1t does not want methods which
VIII permit the contractor, reported In
Friday nights inspection, to omit the
FWeepng OF street or to set his brooms
so high that the sweeping might just as
we'll b, left undone or to rush his sprnklers
along so rapidly as to render their efforts
almost entirely useless and then let the
contractor take his chances on being
caught. II he is caught then there follows
or should follow, more or less of reduction
In his compensation, but the material fact
SO far as the public is concerned. is not
that the contractors compensation has
been reduced. but that the streets are either
badly swept or are not swept at all.
Readers OF Saturdays Star probably
scann i The list of deductions made by the
=. folIa
lers and sweepers Friday night and Satur-
day morning; it was an interesting show
ing that testified TO a considerable per-
eentags of fidelity. The inspectors re-
ported. as Improperly sprinkled or swept
streets that were similarly reported by The
Stars Inspectors. Each of the forces tesri-
ned - tie efficiency of the other Some
shortcomings were reported by the Dis
trlct Inspectors that The Stars reporters
o'd not see because the latter made no
attempt tC cover the entire field of Friday
fiSnts schedule; numerous shortcomings
witnessed by The Stars reporters were not
mentioned by the District inspectors
The lesson taught by a comparison of
these inspection reports is that the COM
muHi;y not only suffers from unswept and
1mpeTfectly swept streets, but that il paws
In Iail Tor the sweeping of many unswept
ana lnperfectly swept streets. The evil
dence seems TO show that it is impractical
bic for the meageR force of inspectors even
assuming that all are visilant and faith
ful. TO detect in the nighttime all the
omissions and defects of systematic SLOUGH
work over the entire city under system
which is held to impose no obligation to
sweep, but only to go without pay il
caUght III failing to sweep. The District
inspectors reported for Friday night one
street entirely uEswept, and another badly
swept because of short brooms. Is it rea-
scnaole to believe that the short brooms
went through the empty form of sweep
ing on the reported street alone, being
specially adjusted in an ineffective fashion
for that particular street? The omissions
and failures noted by the inspectors sug-
gest strongly the existence of others which
they failed to note. That all Of the i'm
perfect street sweeping was not observed
and reported by the inspectors is demon
trated TO a certainty by the numerous adj
ditional cases supplied by The Stars rep
reseatatives.
That the taxpayers are not getting their
moneys worth out of the street-sweeping
contract must be admitted by anyone Who
has given the matter any considera ton;
that it will get its moneys worth until the
system of inspection Is strengthened by adj
dtions TO the force and by a Quickening
of the official conscience almost to the point
of antagonism 10 the contractor is not
likely. Then 1t may also be urged that the
Commissioners see to it that the contrac tor
pays some attention to the eisht-hour law.
by which he, in common with all other gov
eminent contractors, is unquestionably
bound. The contract specifications as well
as The law stipulate for eight hours work,
but this provision has been disregarded,
with the result of overworking an INSULT
Gent force. With more vigilant inspection
must surely come that increase in the me-
chanical and other forces necessary to the
proper fulfllment of the contract and speci-
fications- Meanwhile 1t Is gratifying that
the Commissioners. acting on The Stars
suggestion. have determined to enforce the
specifications which provide that eight
hours shall be the period Of a days work.
The Star has frequently called attention
to the evils of the contract system as 1t
exists in municipalities. 1t has been and
still is Invariably the case that the public is
miserably served by men whose only object
1t Is to make as much money as they pos
sibly can out of the privileges they seek
with so much avidity. 1t Is the con-
tractors custom. when he has succeeded in
the largest possible percentage of the ap-
preparation profit; then he uses the re-
mainder to do as much as he can in the
way of living up to the specifications which
he never Intended to obey to his financial
detriment This has been the condition as
TO garbage and buildings and street sweep
Ing and other matters of Importance place
In the hands of the lowest bidder Econo-
mically this system is failure. In It's
place We hope soon to have the day-labor
method conducted on common business
principles Meanwhile contractors should
be held TO the strictest accountability
Anything less than that Is unfair to the
taxpayer.
At Buzzard's Bay the absorbing question