Evening star., 1897-06-01
Petition Of Citizens to Commissioners
Against Machine Sweeping.
LARGE DELEGATION MAKES 4 CALL
1t is Argued That Machines Will
Rob the Workingmen.
ACTION LOOKED FOR

The forces interested In having the
streets and avenues of the city swept ex-
clusiye ely by hand labor made their first
organized attack upon the District trfum-
virate this morning.
First of all came a monster petition set
ting forth: I'VE recommend that the con-
tract for street sweeping be awarded to
the contractors who bid to do it by hand
labor. in lieu of machines. We believe this
system vastly superior to the machine
work. end it has the additional advantage
of giving employment to a much greater
nj inter of workinemen. We earnestly urge
its adoption here. as it has been sue
cessful in New York and elsewhere"
This petition is signed by upwards of
1000 of the most prominent merchants and
business men of the capital, and includes
such names as r. o. Holtzman, Woodward
4 Lothrop. c. c. Duncanson, B. P. Snyder,
Saks & Co., Geo. C. Henning. A.. Lisner,
E. S. Parker. John Joy Edison. James G.
Berret, M. w. Beveridge. B. H. Warner,
r. A. Golden. Clarence Corson. George
Howard. John w. Mccartney, Samuel M.
Bryan. Ross thompson, John H. Magru-
del, w. S. Thompson, T. E. Rossell, A c.
Moses, G. G. Corwell & Sons, August
Burgdorf A. GUIDE &Bro., Francis Hufty,
Frank Hume Melville Lindsay, Louis p.
shoemaker, A. F.. Fox, Daniel Loughran,
H. 1. Gregory.
following the petition came the commit
tee appointed at the recent mass meeting
of the workingmen at Grand Army Hall,
consisting of M. NJ. Holland Knox Brown
and Rev. r. S. Laws. The committee pre-
sented the resolutions adopted at that
meeting. and supplemented it by few re-
marks bearing upon the matter.
Kew. X s. Laws was the first speaker
He said the committee was deeply i'm
press ed with the plea presented, and ap-
preciated the Importance of it's adoption by
the Commissioners. The adoption of hand
labor is within the jurisdiction of the Com
m;ssioners. he said. and the workingmen
OF The city will feel very much disap-
pointed If the Commissioners do not helm
them out, now that an opportunity presents
itself. He spoke of letting a contract to do
the work by machines. Out of town con-
tractors might follow the example set by
previous contractors, and bring their work
ingmen with them claiming they were ex-
perienced in the use of the machines.
M NJ Holland spoke next. He said the
commissioners by investigating the mat
ter would see there was very little differ
ence in sweeping by hand and by ma
chimes. At the cost of perhaps few thou
SAND yards of unSwept streets 800 addi-
tiondl men could be given employment
He did not believe the stand taken by the
workingmen in this matter provoked idle
ness here. The facts spoke for themselves
Hundreds of laborers are out of employ-
ment. Many Of them are a burden upon
the taxpayers of the city, in the various
ferns of charities. These should be given
work. 1t was the intention of the gov
ernment to provide work for the people
The old maxim that an idle brain was the
devils workshop is too true If there is
work to be done, the UNEMPLOYED who are
willing to work should be given a chance.
Ihis is the opportunity. He hoped the
commissioners would act favorably upon
the matter.
The Hearing Today
AT II O'clock the Commissioners gave a
hearing to the various bidders for the street
sweeping contract, and every one who sub
mitted proposal was present or repre-
sented by counsel. Even those whose bids
were highest were present 1t narrowed
down to competition of machines, and
the representatives of the various devices
Tor sweeping advanced arguments tending
to prove the infaliibility of their machines.
Commissioner Ross explained the Dur
pose OF the hearing. 1t was called because
OF the numerous interviews that had been
sought of the Commissioners These in
terviews were SO frequent that the Com
missioners were induced to give a general
nearing. The bidders would be heard in
the order OF precedence on the schedule
Ihe first bidder called was George A Vair
OF Philadelphia. He said his firm operated
IL
brooklyn side sweeper in conjunction with
the necessary hand labor At the present
time his firm was cleaning one-half of the
streets OF Philadelphia. He could produce
references ffom the ex-mayor and present
mayor as to the character of the work ac-
comphshed, and further, he would furnish
any bond called for by the Commissioners.
Ihe Capital Street Cleaning Company of
Indianapolis. Ind, was represented by J. H
Furnios and cx-District Attorney A. A.
Birney. Mr.. Furnios said his company hid
under section of the proposals, using side
sweepers, gutter machines. with automatic
pickup machines. His firm had been
cleaning the streets of INDIANAPOLIS for two
years, and was now cleaning three-fourths
of that city. The machines had also been
used In Columbus, Ohio, where two-thirds
Oh the cftys streets were now being swept.
Some Questions Asked.
Commissioner Ross asked If the machines
could sweep IN damp weather.
He replied that his firm could do it bet.
ter than 1t was done at present The ma.
chimes could rot take up mud.
Mr.. Ross asked If his firm had ever done
this work at 20 cents per thousand yards
His reply was that 1t was done at Is
cents per 10000 yards in Indianapolis. which
was II per cent cheaper than the bid here
Then came Mr.. J. E. Riley, represent.
ing, with Colonel Charles P. Lincoln OF
this city. the Omaha Building and
Construction Company. Mr.. Riley
called attention to his bid, which
was for doing the work as a,
present done. by machines and men and
by machines exclusively. He gave an in.
teresting statement Of the operation OF
the automatic pickup machines, and said
1t was the only one which could do the
work In conjunction with sprinkiing. He
attacked the bid of the Indianapolis con.
Germ. which he maintained was informal
In that the bid was based upon sweeping
alone: The machines used by that com
pany could not operate upon sprinkIed
streets, and consequently in it's bid stipu-
lated that there was to be no sprinkling
Replying to a question from the Com.
missioners whether the company operated
in Omaha, he said that the legislature OF
Nebraska had passed law prohibiting the
use of machines in cleaning the streets in
Nebraska.
A. H. Doggett the present contractor
was next called. He proposed to sweeI
the streets OF the city by hand labor, claim.
ing 1t to give better and more satisfactory
results. He gave the numerous advantages
Of hand labor, and replying to inquiries
from Engineer Commissioner Black stated
that the details of the method was similar
to the New York plan. It was estimated
hot I,os,t nd lol&