The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-03-01

only when ono attempts to study its meth
DDS of public work that It's composite char
actcr appears.
shall confine my remarks mainly to
what is done IN the city. The work there
is under the control of the commissioners
OF sewers, whose engineer directs tt. 1t
! includes street cleaning street watering
and washing dusting and removal of trade
rttusc. Tho force employed in 1896 con-
sisted OF 200 men, $50 boys and ~ horses.
Thcro were used az vans 10 water wagons,
with sweeping machines, etc.
The arrangement Of the %ork IA as fol-
lows; All of tho streets are swept daily,
| and in hot weather the main thoroughiares
are sQueegeed two or three times a day.
Tho boys constitute "tho street orderly
system work on all the main streets. and
on some OF tho secondary ones These ac-
tive yNlnsters with their pans and brushes
| gather up the horse droppiugs almost as
they fall emptyiug them into boxes fixed
| for the purpose al the edge of th. sidewalk.
They begin work at 1880 a. M, and cease
at 1880 p. III. In winter and p. m. In sum
fnor. On the more important streets they
ara kept at work three hours later, with
excellent effect. The sweeping. by hand
and with machines, Is donc entirely at
night, after 3 O'Clock. when carriage traf-
fic is nearly over II continues until or
9 in the morning. The streets ARE thus
| subjected to almost continuous hand cleans
Ing. In addition to this wien the weather
is suitable and whom 1t Is useful to do no,
they are waSf,si with the hose and jet. This
must always be done late nj night when
nearly all carriage Traffic has ceased,
TIE corTts and alleys occupied by the
poorer classes ar, cleaned every day by the
| manual forces, and from April 20 October
they are washed two or three lines a week.
Some places are washed nearly every night
throughout the year. About 10000 900 gal
Ions Omitted Statcs) of water are used in
this way.
The collection OF street sweepiugs. refuse
and rubbish is very large. and Is inoreas-
ing as is the cost Of the work. In 1898
there were collected 3o.Sl2 loads Of street
sweepirgs and slop' and dlS2l loads OF
house and trade refuse. The total removal
Of the year averages 233 loads per day Tor
six DAYS In the week.
The collections Of all kinds arc taken to
wharf on the south side Of the Thames,
whore they are roughly sorted What Is
valuable az manure II boated away to the
country. All else after the salabe refuse
is culled out. Is shot into a "dnstruotor.
or oremator This apparatus works day
and night throughout the year, save for
fifteen or twenty days. when II Is stopped
for reuairs ana cleaning by the last report
It destroyed In the year 80 IN loads tsiX-
tx-six loads per day. leaving 22la per cent
of 'ashes and clinkers more or loss hard,
but valucloss and for the removal Of which
the commission had to pBy."
AS Is the case in so many other places,
the question OF final deposition In cnglg-
ing tho very serious attention OF the au-
thorltes. In competition with concern
trated fertilizers street manure Will not
bear distant TRANSPORTATION. AS population
grows larger the increasing output adds TO
the difficulty and there seems To be no es-
cape from the requirement for the CONVEX
sion Of the material into an inonensive
.s4f,fs x,rItl In
practicable dist .nce Of the point Of pro-
duction English opinion seems TO have
become fixed on cremation as the only
adequate means of relief
If the cleaning OF the streets OF such
giant as London may bo accomplished so
successfully. what must be said OF such
town as Kansas City? But in London all
streets are paved and earth mud has not
to be combated The mud OF London Is
vegetable and other waste, ground and
pulyerized by millions of wheels and Is
| easily washed away.
| II every outlying street In Kansas City
were paved with some material. prefer
ably asphalt. the street cleaning problem
would be much simplfied. aud. with our
| flno natural drainage. VIC would have one
| OF the cleanes, cities IN the world.
| The adding OF tracts Of plated land to
| the city imposes upon us many streets that
are a menace to cleanliness. On ouch
strcets residents generally come slowly.
mainly because they are ungraded, as a
usual thing, and always unpayed. II II
were possible to compel spectators and
owners Of such additions to have them
graded and paved before accepting them
| into the city much trouble would be OBJ
waited. II the owners OF the property
along such street, desiring to place it
promptly and profitably upon the market.
had the foresight to first pave II and add
the cost thereof 10 the price OF the land.
they would undoubtedly sell II more
promptly and TO a better class OF buyers.
| This has been amply proved in the case Of
street. three blocks long. on the south
side.