The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-02
HOW IT IS DONE.
Byrnes' Men Have Ways
Of Their Own Of Sweep
ing Streets Clean.
PUSH DIRT BEFORE THEM
What They Don't Gather They
Leave Behind Garbage
Collectors Litter
Sidewalks.
PUSH DIRT BEFORE THEM

4
Grove street was swept last evening. A
resident of that street was interested in
noticing what Byrnes' men understand
by street sweeping and closely watched
the process The gang at work on that
thoroughfare was composed of eight or
| ten men, Each was armed with a broom
| that no housekeeper would tolerate, for
the reason that it can only be pushed. it
cannot be welded from side to side after
the manner of house brooms. The bristles
are long and stiff not especially close to-
gether. The gang formed in a slanting
line from the car track in the centre OF
| the street to the curb. The man at the
| track was about two feet ahead of the
next man. who was two feet from the
| track. This distance from the next man
and in slant was observed along the line.
| The man at the track put his broom on
! the rail on the side of the street the gang
was on and pushed the broom distance
| of three feet. Man No. 2 caught the
pile of dirt thus formed and pushed it
| the same distance, when the enlarged
heap was caught by Man No. g. This
| process was repeated until the pile reach
| ed the last man and the gutter.
| In the meantime Man No. 1 had moved
the width of his broom, after sending his
first pile on its way and had started the
next heap. The slant In the line enabled
each man to get to his heap just as it
| was left by the man ahead of him. The
| line of formation and the method OF
sweeping was pursued steadily. The
| track between the car rails was not
| touched. The man at the curb pushed
| the sweepings of three lines into heap
at the curb. That left each block when
| the men had left it, with heaps of dirt
| In the gutter as high as the sidewalk
and about two feet wide at the base.
| There was a distance of from three to
four feet between each pile
| A cart and one man with a shovel fol-
| lowed the gang at a distance of one block.
| The horse moved along dejectedly and the
man with the shovel kept pace with him
| The man put his shovel, which was a wide
| one under a heap and threw what he
caught on the cart, moving on while
| throwing it to the next pile. 1t he didn't
get all the dirt on the shovel at the first
| try the dirt remained in the gutter. He
didn't once all along the line even run
his shovel along the gutter to scrape up
the dirt not in the piles.
When the men had passed by no one
would have known the street had been
swept To be sure the manure and heaps
| of dirt were no longer seen. But the street
was not clean. The cobbles showed that
! something had been over them because
| the track of the stiff bristles through
the dirt was plainly visible. These lines
| made by the bristles were unbroksn be-
ause the men only went over the grounl
| once.
The garbage collectors also made their
rounds on Grove street. They began at
the end of the street when the sweepers
ended They were exceedingly careless
in emptying the barrels. At one house
they picked up barrel that had some
papers in the bottom Of it and threw the
contents in the cart. Some of the papers
fell out and on the sidewalk next door.
The men paid no attention to the fallen
papers. The resident of the house where
the papers had been thrown watched until
the men started to move off and then
called to the garbage men to pick up the
papers One man returned, caught one
of the larger pieces of paper between his
finger tips, put it in the barrel and left
the rest
| The residents of Bergen avenue, between
| Communipaw avenue and the Newark
| and New York Branch of the Central
| Railroad are kicking vigorously over the
| dirty condition of that thoroughfare. cap
| tain McKaig is one of the residents and
he says that on the schedule Bergen ave-
nue. is to be cleaned once month. Ac-
| cording to the Captain the street clean
| ers have not visited that section in sew
eral months The captain told News
reporter last evening that the pavement
had not been reconstructed in twenty
| two years, and that it was now in a muir
| derous condition.
| The residents are getting up petition
| asking for the paving of the street with
asphalt. This will be presented to the
Street and Water Commissioners shortly.
| There is dangerous hole on Com
| munipaw avenue in froEt Of the station
house which should receive attention.
| People say Hoods Sarsapar1a cures when
all other DreparatiOnS fail to do good, and