Evening star., 1896-07-28
WHAT MIR. DAGGETT SAYS.
The Street Sweeping Contractor
Defends Himself

To the Editor of The Evening STAR
A great deal Is written about street
sweeping by people who know as little on
the subject or of the requirements of the
contract IS I know of the Choctaw Ian
guage. l suggest that you print the speci-
ficatons of my contract, and then investi-
gate, to the end that you may discover
whether 1 am complying with or evading
them.
The editorial writer in Saturdays Star
thinks the remedy Is to flush the streets
with water-a thing not contemplated by
the contract. and inidfrset violation of it.
AS an illustra ton in point. on Saturday
morning at l O'Clock, the government in
spector sent my men and machines in be-
cause the streets were too wet to be
swept" :
AS a matter of fact, asphalt streets are
more difficult to sweep than those paved
with any other material, Why? Because
the unbroken surface Of the street permits
the horses feet and the wagon wheels to
grind to powder all the dirt which gets on
them. The serious question is how to gath
er this powder up and carry it away with
dents than Is possible. All the stun which
is written about the contractors shirking
this work OF throwing an inadequate sup
ply OF water (Which IS free to HIM on the
streets Is the veriest bosh. The contractor
is paid by the thousand square yards
swept. He IS given each night a district to
sweep, and his men and machines are at
work until that district is swept. 1t doesn't
whether much water or little is thrown up
on the streets, or whether the brooms
press lightly or not on the pavement. Is 1t
not fair, then, to assume that he tries to
do the work with the least possible discom-
fort to the people? The skilled men en-
ployed by him are the same men whom the
former contractor employed. The machines
used by him are the best in the United
tot No. t. So &l.1 -{c,lrI
and your correspondent Anti-Drt,' stat
ed what was impossible when he said that
one of them moistened strip about four
feet vide II you multiply his four feet
by six you will get the narrowest strip on
which they can throw water. and that only
when they are nearly empty. Last Friday
1t raiDed all the afternoon. and 1t was i'm
possible that 18th street near U could have
been dusty at the time 1t was swept. The
contractors stable Is at 18th and streets,
and possibly the fact that large number
OF machines and carts frequently go down
that street without sweeping 1t at all has
something to do with the complaint. They
must go down some street to get at the
work. and an effort is made to divide them
up as much as possible to prevent their
being nuisance. The quantity of water
thrown is governed by the experience OF
years, and the flow has nothing to do with
its cost. The government inspectors inva-
riably notify the contractors employees
whenever, in their judgment, there is
either too little or too much water thrown.
If the editor of The Star wants to know
where to put the blame and land 1t on the
right shoulders let him put it where 1t be-
longs-on Congress The appropriation for
cleaning the streets Of Washington only
enables the Commissioners to direct the
sweeping of the majority Of the streets
once and twice week The contractor is
paid only for those he sweeps when he
sweeps them, and his work in any year
never has reached the sum of 1900, which
Is absurdly Inadequate to the proper clean
ing of a city with so many miles of streets
as there are at the capital.
Essays on contract street sweeping or
prophecies that better work will be done
by days labor will not clean the streets.
1t takes money-and 1t takes experience
with 1T. With the money now appropriated
about go cart loads of dirt are taken Off
the streets each night on which they are
swept, ard when twice that number are
taken Off the streets will be fairly clean.
All this stuff and nonsense about water
and brooms lightly sweeping can be dfssi-
pated by any fair investigation. If you
Will send one of your reporters to me will
satisfy him that have nothing to gain by
any such performance. and that am COM
plying with the specifications of my con-
tract literally and fully :
chalenge any man to show me any city
Where either of the machines used by me
nave ever been displaced by any other; and
l also assert that in!no city in the United
States where change has been made from
contract to days labor system has that
change proved benefcial,I and that where
politics has not entered into 1t the days
labor system has BEEN abandoned after the
trial has been made,,hfor fhe simple reason
that they got less work and no better at a
very much greater cost. e
ALBERT DAGGETT.