The morning times., 1896-08-16
C|1IIA AMERICA
Street Sweeping Service Dur
ing the Hot Wave.
VIEWS OF MR.. DAGGETT
With the District Officials He Re-
pit.s 70 an Attack on the Depart
ment-H handicapped by n Heat
Wave That Frustrated Men and
Horses, but Not Complaint.

| The published charges against the eff
| ficiency OF the street cleaning depart
meDt OF the District is warmly resented
not only by the contractor, but by the OF
4 ficials under whose immediate suIeryisiof
| the work 10 done.
II is regarded as unfair and unjust fo
Investigation, purposes to select time
when, by reason OF the long period of ho
4 weather, both men ana horses find II
| difficult to perform the work, and whilt
the contractor does not attempt to excuse
derelictioDs, should any occur, he asserti
most ernphatically thu there Is no shirk
ing OF duty tolerated by him.
! He also says, what is manifestly true
That IL can profit him nothing to slight the
work in any particular, since the ground
must be gone over and The work PAID for
whether it be good or bad, the expcDs,
| being exactly the same.
| Supt. Mckinsie was not In the city last
| night and could not be seen, but informa ior
| was obtained from his office which seem
| to confirm what the contractor sa Us, and n,
! the same time tends TO strengthen the dec
laration that the department is quite a,
| solieitous as the property.owDers can b,
| TO have the work properly done.
WHAT THE CONTRACTOR SAYS.
Contractor Doggett was asked last night
! for statement in reference to his alleged
| violation OF the terms Of his contract.
| His reply was as follows:
THE investigation or the street sweep
| Ing is On a>par with the old-timc way of
hanging the prisoner fiist and trying hin,
| afterward. have read the article No
| man can accuse them OF saying anything
4 which fOud n nir crit fi.i.g
| 1t was begun when men and horses Lad
been through siege OF two W ecks Of the
/ most terrific weather, and were more dead
| than alive, and it Is very clever and ap-
| parenily fair to say that tCol night after
, u rain was picked out Ideal sweeping
exists only in the Imagination Of the re-
| porter and he didn't find il, and didn't {
| want TO.
What l say is that i use the best
macbinery known, and that which is uni
yersally used. / positively assert, and
those who know me Will believe me, that
| Ihaye Do.hing TO gain by light brooming and
Intellectual sprinkhng except the hostility
Of the public.
the reporter who talks about brooms
notsweeping off light leaves ard not remov-
T, Ing dirt plastered On the street has only
TO keep Oh and he will soon leave sanclo
| Panza in the dim distance II the broom
were revolved three inches above the
| pavement IL would tlow The leaves away
Oh the one hand, while on the other no
power could be put TO il that would make
| IL sweep off the plastered dirt. 1t can't
be done by the scrapers on the Avenue,
bow tlieD can II be done by the broom?
DUE TO DARKNESS. -t,
There are times, and IL is not denied,
nor can ii ever be remedied, except by day
| cleaning instead OF night, when in the
darkness machine will skip over portion
OF the work OF the preceding machine in
whose wake IL is following closely. as the
man ci,nnot always see the winrow, but
10 is not Intentional and does not benefit
me pecuniariIy iu the slightest.
"Smearing. OF W hi ch comp. aint is made, is
the result of too much wetting. not or any
attempt to shirk the work. In so far as
! the light sprinkling is concerned that can be
remedied where II exists, and will be.
II does not benefit me cent and when it
does exist, is either the re suit OF carelessness
or iaZincss on the part OF the drivers
and have instructed my superintendent
Ia summarily remove any offenders. II
had employed n lot OF unsklled labori 10 do
this work should feel that l deserved
censure, but retained every man employed
by my predecessor, at the same wages,
tHat OIL puiu ohS euh'
less on the same contract.
II can't follow in detail the evidences
OF the knowledge OF street sweeping which
these gentlemen posses d-that is i'm
possibie-but much or it would have TO be
spelled ignorance. One horse sprinklcrs
are talked about Is il that meant that they
were inferior machines. II is a fact that
they are better than twu-horse ones and
| have been adopted in New York, Broo klyD,
and in fact all the large cities.
''As TO the early sweeping we have
hundreds OF applications to sweep carly
where we have one 10 sweep late. This
has been so for years. and il is matter
OF official record that there is not one
complaint now where there were ten
when the big four-horse machines were
used"
From the officials at the District Build
ing it was asccrtaineu that the law allows
but four inspectors to supervise the sprink-
ling and sweeping in The entire city. and
the assault made upon their integrity is
regarded as especially unwarrantcd.
These inspectors follow the machines and
carts over the routes. making careful note
OF any omissions. whether in collecting
the refuse or In the matter Of sprinkling.
and there is scarcely n day, il is said. that
the contractor does not suffer a deduction
ipi stihS ietbiSoDCSs. dltuOuEH III iiiuhy III
stances the matter. on account of which he
is dockcd, is due to the darkness. and not to
the neglect OF the swcepers or collectors.
This. it was submitted. aside from the
sure criticisms that would follow, was an
additional reason why Mr. Doggett is quite
MS anxious as the most particular resident
eau be for faithful service from his men.
is A GIGANTIC TASK
The swec,nrs followed nv the inspectors
traverse from fifty to fisty-five miles OF
streets every night. The .thoroughfarcs
are often so shaded by the heavy foliage 8
| to render 1t Impossible to sec the winrows
OF refuse or to follow accurately the path
marked out for the advance sweepers. At
any time when such omissions are noted
OIL the following day It is claimed the
contractor Is held to strict account not
withstanding the attendant difficulties.
Another extenuating circumstance was
brought out and especially commented
on, and that is the accumulation OF dirt
upon the streets in the carly morning s
result Of the early travel and the sweep
ipgs from dwellings and business houses
after the carts have passed and before
the ordinary business man reaches the
streets
Tie extent Of these additions to the
refuse In cutters and on, the pavements is
said to be beyond the belief of any who
have not had practical evidence of it. and
all this. It Is alleged, Is charged up to
the shortcomings OF the contractors force.
You cannot always tell on the following
n'ornin" how we'll n street was swept. was
the comment
One man who was approached upon the
subject last night said the criticism pub
v;ot,a xr-Ht otr NJ 1,o ConfrArtAr And