Evening star., 1896-08-15
BAD SWEEPING DONE


Gontianed from First Pasa.)
sound oe reproof Or of suggestion was to
be heard by any Of the FIVE nea who xvere
close on the heels of the OUTFIT. save In a
single case. where a word was passed to
the driver OF one Of the machines to turn
about AID repeat his performances along a
half square On . street between f2th snd
18th.
The sum total of last nights observation
is that the srrinkling is inadequate the
sweeping indifferent. and the gutter work
put 1af. the contract 4s distinctly v1o-
lated In the matter of hours, ana the
streets, after ALL are not cleaned.
The Net Result This Morning.
Not content with their observations made
in the dark. by the insufficient illumination
or the street lamps, the reporters turned
out again early this morning, before the
general traffic OF the day had begun, to see
"nat the net result of the nights efforts
nad been. The average state of things was
iar below the standard that Mr. DaEgett
hlmseH Claimed few days ago. The pave
nfents were In many instances found to
nave been merely Emeared while manure
mad been caked and left spattered over
moved. oeen 10
In the full daylight there appeared great
srretches where the machines had rolled
up the Dirt, and 1t had been left In heaps
ana ridges. untouched by the gutter forces,
Eieventh % street, particularly. was left very
dirty In some places. In short, the work
OF the night had been done with about hd
per cent of efficiency, w
Inc morning observations too served tn
snow that although the work was started
last night two and half hours before tine
scheduled time. IT WAS not finished in some
places BY o'clock, the hour stipulated In
lne contract as the limit Of operations. On
seVeral OF the most important streets the
machlnes were still rolling up their clouds
OF dust as late as $50 O'Clock. the asphalt
having been dried for hours, after the mis-.
erably h.adeQuate sprinkling by the carts.
In snort, Inc contract was smashed into
smithereens last night, whereas the raiu
the night before had given the contractor
MS best opportunity for nearly a month ia
snow what work he could do The test an.
piied by The Star was fair one and the
ooserVauons covered all stages OF the work
The Specifications.
In his contract the contractor subscribes
to the following conditions under the head
Manner OF Cleaning
Ihe streets will be cleaned in the follow
Ing manner: Each street will be first
sprinkled by watering cart to lay the
DUST; the sprinkler will be followed imme-
ulateiy by the sweeping machines, which
Will sweep from the center of the streets to
the cutters on each side; the sweeping s
Will be collected at once into heaps and
then removed in ats.
Suaclent water to be used in sprin-
king to prevent the raising of dust In
sweeping. The contractor viii see that no
s"eeplnss are thrown into traps or drops
ana Wlll remove from the mouths or throats
.nefeoI any material lying therein. Should
any sweepings be thrown upon the side
walks they must be removed by the con-
tractor.
The daily sweeping must be done be-
Tween Inc nours of IL pm. and g am In
the summer and 10 pm and am. in
the winter. The sweepings must be remoy-
ed from the streets within two hours from
Ine time OF sweeping In special cases the
commissioners may direct such varia ton
from these hours as in their Judgment shall
be advisable
should the work of sweeping or remov-
Ing sWeeptngs be necessarily DELAYED or
suspended the time lost may be allowed in
addition to the hours fixed in the preced
Ing paragraph. but the Commissioners shall
De the sole Judge as to the necessity of
such delay or suspension, and their decf-
sion thereon shall be final
IN .I me work Is in progress loud talking
on the part OF employees and unnecessary
NOISES OF au kinds are prohibited Such
u-slurpances Will be suppressed by the no.
lice. but the contractors will be held re-
fication.
The sweepings will be the property of
the contractor. They may be Temporarily
deposited at such points as with the ap-
pro'al OF the Commissioners he may select,
but they shall not remain in such tempor-
ary dumping grounds for a longer period
than forty-eight hours. and nothing in this
contract shall be held to give the con-
tractor the right to violate the health or
oinances OF the District Of Columbia
The sweeptngs must include everything
IN the nature Of dirt. refuse, ashes, etc.
which may be found upon the Carriage
ways. Ashes. refuse. etc, are placed on the
10 tiNo ~
and parties so placing them are liable TO
punishment for SO doing. The District au-
thorltles Will use every reasonable endeayor
70 prevent such deposits, but the contra tor
refuse as may be found on the streets
NO payment win be made for any work
wherein strict compliance with the above
provisions is not observed
Cnoer the head of general stipula tions
me District reserves the right to suspend
the contractor from the work for failure to
commence the same at the time specified
ana the contractor Is also required to he
order ed. N'"' NC
Some Specific Cases,
BIT now few remarks as to specific OBJ
serVations. work was begun on the upper
streets Of the section lying between 9th
i4th, f streets and Florida avenue. a few
minutes after 7:30 o'clock. Notes were TAX
en- first on q street. The middle of the
street was fairly well watered, but the
cutters were dry. The machines raised a
dust cloud that was plainly observable "a
the electric cars whirled by.
Ihlrteenth street received peculiar treat
rnent A single horse sprinkling cart went
along on a trpt. some Of the time with
both nozzles playing: sometimes, and more
frequently, with but one IN operation, The
cart was turned into street to run ND to
l4th and make feint Of complying with
the specifications. Meanwhile along came
another one-horse cart down 18th, casually
enaeaxor1ng to fill the arid spots left by the
1irst one AS 1t passed over the line of s
street the dominating trait of the street
sprinkler was demonstrated. The driver
banged down his valve and shut of the
stream as he went over the middle of the
street. Tor he saw few drops of water on
the pave. He would rather perish than
90 double work. and the result was that by
thus saving perhaps three quarts of water
he kept the entire middle of the Intersection
from being more than moistened over one
hftieth OF its surface
On 18th street the middle of -the-road mol
icy was carried out to the letter. On one
side OF the street there was a space of five
feet that had not felt the least moisture
since the rain fell the night before while on
the other side there was a dry strip eight
feet wide. this condition extending certain
ly from Q to R street and apparently all
the way down that thoroughfare.