The times., 1898-10-28
Conclusions and Suggestions
OF Municipal Experts.
NEW OFFICERS ELECTED
DIR. Woodward Takes Issue With DIR.
Hess, Of observation-disclosures From
fnni,a;sc Too Much Like Dream
Hnnauet Tonight at the Arlington
-Pfigrimage TO Mount Vernon.

nents last night.
Dr. j. l.. Hess, Of Cleveland, subnitte
treatise on The Disposition of Garbage
and Street Cleaning" The paper was
read by D. L. Fulton secretary of the
society The author submitted statis,i s
concerning the value of grease and tank
age, and arrived at the conclusion that IA
properly conducted plant might be mad
10 yield a revenue. He advocated the col
lection of garbage and ashes by separat.
contractors.
Al the close of the reading of the paper
Capt. Beach, Engineer Commissioner of
the District Of Columbia. arose and stat
ed that Washington had had an unfor-
tunate experience with garbage crena-
tories. and suggested that DIR. Woodward
health officer of the District, who was
present as visitor, might enlighten the
delegates.
DR.. Woodward said that the paper of
DR.. Hess sounded to him very much like
dream. 1t seemed to be based more on
theory than fact. II might be true,
he said, that ton of garbage contained
commercial matter worth $500 but 50 far
as he knew, no practical plan had been
devised for recovering those commercial
ingredients. They could be reclaimed, of
course but the cost of reclaiming them
had been found TO be greater than the
value of the matter recovered.
Tankage, he said. had only a nominal
value as fertilizer and the only use to
which it had been put was as filler for
fertilizer. He believed that no reduction
,,farft cauld he s,tt,.r4fai al Il urOlIl
Dr. Woodward reviewed the history of
garbage incineration and reduction in
Washington, and outlined the present
method of relieving the city OF waste
matter He took issue with DIR. Hess on
his theory that the collection of garbase
and ashes should be undertaken by dill
ferent contractors. The work of collect
ing garbage was great in Summer ana
small III Winter while the work of col
lecting ashes was heavy in Winter ana
light in Summer This kept the outfit of
the contractor employed throughout the
year. Under a different method the gar
bage contractor would have to dispose
OF many horses and store many carts In
Winter, while the ash contractor would
have to do likewise in Summer.
The cost of collecting garbage in the
District was $1,000 a year. DR.. Wood
ward thought the best plan for the dlspo-
Detroit. There the refuse is hauled 10
the railroad and the bodies of the wagons
hauling the matter shipped to crema-
tory about twenty miles from town.
A delegate from Toronto explained the
method employed in that city. The col
lection of refuse was done by the city ana
the municipality owned the reduction
plant
The next business transacted by the
convention was the election OF officers.
The result follows:
Election of Officers.
President. Nelson R. Lewis Brooklyn;
vice president 4. d. Thompson, Peoria,
Ill: second vice president, P. ii. Thomas,
Parkersburg, W. Va; third vice president.
B. II. Colby, St. Louis; secretary, D. L.
Fulton, Allegheny. Pa. Cre-elected); treas
urer, John l. Kennedy, Nashville. Tenn.
(re-elected); financial committee, F. J.
o oBrien. Oswego, n. Y; +. A. Twainly,
Grand Rapids. Mich, and Gilbert A.
Nichery, Bangor, Me.
The committee on the selection of the
next place Gf meeting presented its re-
port The chairman Of this committee
stated that invitations had been received
Snom the mayors Of Detroit, Niagara
Falls and ToroTGo. As Detroit and Nj
aCara Falls weie not members of the
society. the comnittee recommended that
the society meet next year III Toronto.
The recommendation was adopted by the
society. Several delegates from Toronto
then made speeches, in which they eX-
pressed satisfaction with the decision of
the convention, and promised that Toron-
TO would give the members of the society
a warm welcome.
The report of the committee on munich
Iu.a
that the American Government create
bureau of municipal data, SO that each
city might have the advantage of the eN-
perience of every other city with munich
pal problems
At the session to convene this morning
a paper on municipal franchises will be
read by Andrew Rosewater, city engineer
of Omaha. L. w Rundlett, city engineer
of St. Paul, will contribute a paper on
Coating of Cast Iron and Steel Riveted
Pipes" a paper on elecuolysis tests at
Dayton, o., will be read by Harold p.
Brown, electrical engineer, and +. W.
Boynton, commissioner of public works of
Davenport la, will submit data on the
subject of electrolysis in his city.
The members of the society will make
pilgrimage to Mt. Vernon this after
noon. and final adjournment will occur
this evening.
A banquet will be given by the Commits
sioners of the District in honor Of the del
egates at the Arlington tonight.
The Afternoon Session.
At the afternoon session William P.
Richards, assistant engineer of the Dis
trict of Columbia, presented an interest
ing paper street extension plan for
the District of Columbia. Mr.. Richards
said that a street system executed far in
advance of it's actual need is no novelty
in the growth of modern cities. Philadel-
phia and New York at certain times have
pushed their plans far into the future,
and the present admirable plan of New
York between First Street and the Har-
lem was considered, when finished in 1896,
as sufficient for three centuries of city
growth. Many of our Western cities have
In like manner extended their boundaries
and streets before individual enterprises
have placed barrier in front of such ef-
forts.
on the other hand, cities that have
grown in haphazard way have, at great
expense, remodeled their plan or widened
their streets either for artistic effect or
commercial needs. The Infusion of new
life In Paris during the reign of Napoleon
III by radical changes in its ground plan
is n weil-known event. London has widen
ed many OF her thoroughfares for COM
nercial purposes; Boston has spent mill
ions to the same end, the great fire of 1872
affording opportunity to regulate some of
the old highways in the heart of the city.
New York with her marvellous growth of
recent years has found 1t advisable to ex-
tend her street plan far beyond the Har-