The record-union., 1899-12-04
A Street Idyi,

! Eds. Record Union: The pre-
sumption is that municipal ordinances
are enacted to be obeyed because the
good of the whole community demands
it. That distractions of any charac-
ter which are unlawful in the streets
are offenses to good taste and COM
munity convenience, is undeniable. To
insist that there shall be no use of the
streets as dumping places for refuse
and filth, is only to demand for the
whole public what every cleanly indi-
vidual demands for his own premises.
The assumption is that sworn officers
of the police force, when on their beats
will notice street offenses and report
! them, at least, that remedies may be
applied 1t is notorious that in this
city such duty is not discharged nor
are the officers, presumably, instructed
to discharge it, else the offenses would
not continue.
Annually there is made a. great show
and buster about requiring property
owners to, clear out weeds and grass
where they grow in the cutters on resi-
dence streets. This growing vegeta-
ton is the least offensive in the world
Indeed, it is often far better than it's
absence, for it frequently serves to hide
the shame of official neglect
On page 165 of the book of ordi-
nances it is provided that it shall be
unlawful to deposit ashes, offal or rub
bish of any kind in the streets, except
in boxes or barrels to be removed be-
tween certain hours.
! On page 203 of the book of ordi-
nances it is declared to be unlawful to
put any dirt, garbage, ashes or any
rubbish in the streets, except in boxes
or barrels to be removed within two
hours.
These laws are VIGOROUSLY violated,
so much so that just now the city has
felt it necessary to employ forty men
to clear the roads and remove deposits
which never should have been placed
there at all. And the taxpayers foot
the bill.
| Let an instance or two serve to IL
lustrate conditions all over the city. On
Sixth street there are churches In
one of them on Wednesday last there
was a wedding. The house of God was
deliberately dressed in flowers and
branches. When the ceremony was
over and the guests had departed. the
| of decaying vegetation, of palm
leaves, thorns. brambles, etc., to be
cast from its doors into the street gut
ter, and there it still lies and all day
yesterday the worshippers entered the
Methodist Church to hear expounded
the truth that an element of true god
illness is observance of law. But all
day yesterday the evidences of the
contempt of law lay before the church
door and the worshippers tramped
| over the same.
| Further on down the street there lie
| and have for two weeks, the remains
of tree top cuttings and a beaten pile
| of ashes and of burned rubbish, the
| united debris being now scattered over
a street where a violator of the ordi-
nances made the highway the depos-
| tory of rubbish. In an alley not far
away there still remains pile of tree
trimmings, the result of the energy of
an electrical company in clearing a
way for wires. So the alley is OBJ
structed and awaits the time when the
| tax consuming street crew gets around
| to clear away an accumulation that
never should have been permitted All
| over the city such examples as these
are to be found, but no one is even
| complained of, much less arrested.
We are to have a large gathering of
educators from all over the State in
this city in three weeks, a thousand or
more. They will look upon our sys-
| tenn and go home to tell the people
that there is one city in the land where
the streets are used as common Dump
| ing grounds for filth by whoever
chooses. And other people will form
! estimates of US not far from just, and
certainly not complimentary.
The question is, can we not, should
we not institute a, reform? If I should.
as I could, point out over 200 present
| existing instances of the gross viola