The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-10
Cost of q Snow Storm
I'm a City Like New York.
One Good One Taps the Till to the Tune
of at Least 100000.

phoned and the machinery of both or
ganizations is set in motion. The
points at which the work Is begun are
fixed and the schedules, which are put
into the hands of the district superin-
| tendents, remain the same for each
storm.
DIVISION OF WORK.
1.-The contractors force is divided into
| three divisions, pliers, leaders and cart
men, The pliers are sent out first with
| shovels and scoops and their business
is to heap the snow into big piles
| twenty or thirty feet apart. In a short
| time the carts appear and then the
| shovellers have their inning, for they
are kept busy from now on to the end
of the work filling the carts, and, Of
course, it is the business of the cart
men to take the snow to the pier and
! dump it in the river. The snow is not
| transported on scows, as many think
| but dropped right into the river. 1t is
! all clean snow.
AT each loading place is a depart
ment foreman, who, after a cart has
been loaded properly, gives to the
! driver coupon. AT the dumping pier
a department foreman receives from
|
hands to a representative of the con-
tractor, standing at his side, an equiva-
lent brass check, properly stamped and
numbered, as a tally of the city's in
debtedness. The cartman then receives
a voucher from the contractors rep
resentative giving credit for a full load
of snow. A similar voucher for hours
of labor performed is handed to each
| n nd ChnNpltGr a plnSn
days work. The city pays the con-
tractor "a cents a cubic yard and the
contractor pays cartmen so cents n
load, which consists Of a cubic yard and
one-half. Pliers and shovellers receive
1872 cents an hour and all the men
work twelve or fourteen hours day.
"The number of brass checks turned
in each day by the representatives of
the contractor is credited to his ac-
count by the Snow Inspector, and con-
stitutes the basis of the bills presented
| by him for cubic yards removed.
ONE STORMS COST.
"Our last snowstorm began at 3
o'clock on the morning of Jan. 81 and
lasted exactly twenty-four hours. We
began the work of removal immediate
ly and worked eight days. finishing on
Feb. G. From five to six thousand men
were employed and they moved 100000
leads. That storm cost the city ex-
actly $4,000. 1t was an ordinary
storm of five and a half inches. We've
had very little snow this winter, but
last year we had a great deal and the
actual money paid by the city to the
show contractor was $434,000. Each
year snow storms cost New York be-
tween four and five hundred thousand
dollars. If we cleared each street in
the city every storm would cost $500,O00
and the winter two millions or more.
Certain persons talk of the benefit
of a snow storm to the unemployed.
This benefit is not to be underestimate
ed, but the amount of good done to the
few does not compare with the harm
which comes to general traffic and the
general health. When a snOwstorm
comes on above all things the city must
be opened up quickly, and on the down.
town streets where traffic is heavy, in
the shopping and theater districts, and
in the very poor and congested parts of
the city not moment should go by un-
utilized. The traffic interests are enor-
nous and thousands of dollars are lost
by the delay incident to large, drifting
snowfalls. The starting points are
fixed we'll before the storm and are
usually along the backbone of the city,
with the important ferry streets for
the only exceptions. AS the work pro-
crosses it is extended in all directions
from the long centre line down through
Manhattan Island.
Soon the main north and south
thoroughfares and the principal cross
streets are cleared and the work press
es on to the less important and busy
streets Special attention is paid to the
important section below Houston
street, containing the tenement, dry
goods and Wall street districts, and tC
the shopping and theater centres above
this line. \ night gang takes up the
work where the day gang leaves off
and these men bravely face, day after
day and night after night, the bitter
cold of a windy street or the exposure
of pier end overlooking the icy river
The night work is the more severe and
no one need envy the brave fellows
} engaged in it.
SANITARY ASPECT.
1.-THE men are nearly all badly in need
of the work and the few dollars II
brings them. There are ten men fol
every shovel given out and the dis
tributing wagons are often the centres
of fierce, eager rushes. In one of these
rushes it is pathetic to see the weaker
men, the clerk or bookkeeper out oi
work, the dinnerless salesman and the
hollow-eyed east side tailor, get worst.
ed by a burly laborer or loafer.
This city owes an everlasting debt
of gratitude to Col. Waring for the
strides he made in solving the problem
of snow removal. He started the
clearing of the tenement districts, anG
! we who live in the fine residence por.
tions Of the city can't realize what this
means to tenement dwellers. Womer
frequently come here from their home.
on the fashionable avenues and boule.
wards and ask what we mean by clean.
ing the foreign streets on the east
side and leaving the good American
streets untouched. They little realize
that the removal of snow from the ten,
ement districts affects the genera
health of the city Gangs are put a.
work there as quickly as in the traffic
districts. 1t means everything to the
poor to have this done. They have nC
rubbers, and live in poorly heated hous
es. The women and children get theil
a n l. nd E-Nu