The evening times., 1897-05-22

The favorable attitude of the District
Commissioners with regard 10 the employ
ment OF hand labor in street cleaning and
sweeping, to replace the present system,
is a source of much qualification to those
who believe the local workingmen should
be gi5en all possible employment.
This favorable position taken by the Dis
trict rulers, and voiced by Commissioners
Wight in an interview which appeared in
The Times OF yesterday afternoon, is not
only of moment TO those who may obtain
employment, but is especially cause for
rejoicing among those laborers now em-
plOyed on the work.
An examination OF the bids for work
submitted on Tuesday will show that the
lowest bid received was from the Capital
Street Cleaning Company, of indianapolis,
Ind, which was 20 cents per 900 square
yards The reason why this company was
able to submit 50 low a bid was that their
pickup and gutter machines would dis
pcnse with a greater part Of the hand labor
usually employed.
contractors, who use the street-sweeping
machines and hand labor combined. If the
Capital Street Cleaning Company were
awarded the contract they could sweep
the same area and in the same tine with
only fifty laborers, thus cutting down the
present force by just sixty men. Therefore,
it Will be seen that the policy OF the
Commissioners TO accept no bids which
will dcp;ive workingmen of a chance for
employment is particularly gratifying 10
those men who are at present gaining their
livelihood in the Street-cleanng work.
The total fund which may be used ior
street cleaning in the city of Washington
is SI4O.OO0. About S4i 900 of this amount
is consumed in cleaning certain streets and
avenues, as Pennsylvania avenue, which
are specially designated in the contracts.
This leaves Just $4,000 for the city at
large. From this sum all special expenses
incurred by cleaning snow from sidewalks
and cleaning unimprGved streets must be
taken With the sum at the disposal, which
may he more or less diminished hy spc-
cial WorG, the street cleaning department
says that only about 300, 900 square
yards per night can be cleaned.
Taxing the bid of A. Daggctt and NJ. A
Dugan, the present holders of the contract,
it will he seen that their figures for each
day every year are % "a cents per 900
square yards or about S33a for the usual
area swept nightly The bid submitted by
the same contractors to do the work solely
by hand labor was 81 cents per ] 900
square yards, OF about S4l6 per night for
the usual number Of square yards swept.
Thus il viii be seen that the per diem
increase in the expense would be about
$50, or allowing the usual number of $50
working days the annual increase of eN
pcnse would only be So 800. The IN
crease in laborers employed over the
present number would be about $50
men. Assuming that these extra lab
orers on the average support or help sup
port five people, nearly thousand indi-
viduals viii he furnished subsistence by
the hand-labor system.
Tits benefit IS greatly enhanced when It
is considered that large proportion of
these people are at times a burden on the
charitable institutions of the city. The
well-known ma kim that idleness breeds
vice finds place in this argument also, for
It Is with the class of people who would do
this work that the police experience their
greatest trouble.
SeN cral prominent officials al the District
building said yesterday that decrease in
the area usually cleaned sufficient to meet
the increased expense OF the hand-sweep-
ing system could easily be made without
ca using much discomfort