The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-28
PROBLEM FINALLY SOLVED
HECOlTMENDATION THAT THE CITY
 BUY SHRINKING CARTS,

Decided Upon by the Special Committee
 Last Night-Mayor Driscol Favors the
 Plan.
 The special sprinlsling committee last night decided to recommend to the court of common council that an order pc passed authorizing and instructing the director of public works to purchase py March 1, 1900, as many watering carts as are necessary to sprinkle the streets of the city, the kind, quality and price of the carts to be subject to the ap- proval of the mayor and the speciai committee. This recommendation VIII go before the aldermen at their meeting next Monday night.
 The special committee met last night io consider the resolution introduced by Alderman Donovan some time ago to provide for the purchase by the city or sprinkling carts in order that street sprinklng might be done by the city instead of by contract, as at present Mayor Driscoll, Director Troup and Su- perintendent of Streets Brennan were present at last nights meeting and gave their opinions on the matter before the committee for consideration. In answer to questions Mr. Troup said that he was now receiving few complaints concern ing the sprinkling and therefore had reason to believe that it was being well done He said that when sprinkling was begun this year complaints were numerous. Now there are forty-nine carts at work and they are doing the work satisfactorily so far as he knew He thought that the city ought to be divided into four sections for sprinking and that an inspector should be appoint ed for each section to see that the work was properly done.
 Alderman Donovan thought that if the city did the work there would be no need of inspectors. He thought that men already in the employ of the city, policemen and men at work on the streets, could look out for any failure of the sprinkling men to do their work and report any such noted.
 MT. Troup replied to this by saying that the superintendent of police had said that there were not now enough patrolmen to properly police the city and that already some of the beats were SO 1OIlS lIdt ooliiC oi tHC PoiiSOAL'Si uiN not have time to- go all over their beats in one day.
 Mayor Driscop said that he had made somewhat of study of the street sprinkling question and as a result of his investigations he thought that it would be good plan for the city to own sprinkling carts. He did not, how ever, think 1t good policy for the city to buy horses to draw the carts, but thought that it would be better to hire horses as needed. He said that he had noticed that on streets where there were car tracks the sprinkling done by the sprinkling cars and that done by carts overlapped, thereby making portion of the street too wet, causing water to stand in puddles along the rails--a con dition injurious to the pavement. He said that he had noticed this especially on the asphalt pavement along the tracks on West Chapel street, and said that he understood that it was very in furious to asphalt pavement to have water on it continually. In view of these facts he thought that it would be well to have all the sprinkling on streets where there are tracks done by the sprinkling cars.
 Superintendent Brennan reiterated what the mayor had said
 In executive session the committee decided upon the recommendation noted above.