The evening times., 1900-01-04

severe illness, and at once set to work to
get the papers relating to the work of his
department, in order for their presentation
to Congress this session.
There are number of things that the
Superintendent of Street Cleaning is going
to ask from the lawmakers but none of
these is SO important the section he
proposes to have inserted in f1the District
Appropriation bill relative to the manner
in which the cleaning is to be done in the
future.
! Ever since he has been at the head of
the department, Mr.. Stutter has tried to
impress on the Commissioners and Con-
gress the necessity of taking the street
cleaning out of the hands OF the contrac-
tors and having the work done under the
direct supervision of the District He Sc
cured small appropriation for this pur-
pose last year, but it was not sufficient to
sweep the area which is now cleaned by
hand. He was restricted in his territory
and was required to pay higher salaries to
his employees than were the contractors.
| The law of last year fixed the salaries fol-
the contractors employees also, but not un-
til after the handcleaning by the District
| a
hygienic and an economical point of view.
Mr.. Stutler recently brought the matter
again to the attention of the Commission
ers in report on hand cleaning. He says.
| I'm addition to the statements and COM
! parisons of costs of the two systems here
tofore rendered. ! submit the following:
! The appropriation act for the fiscal year
1899 provided that $4,000 of the amount
appropriated for street cleaning should be
:
| the direct supervision of he Commission
! e,s without contract, and the showing
made after a three months trial under this
system was the incentive for the provision
! in the appropriation act for the current
year, which limited the rate TO be paid un-
/ der contract to not over % cents per 1000
square yards.
These two provisions, to which atten-
J ton has been invited. were two long steps
in the right direction. and if We can con-
tinue in the same direction we will accom-
plish the desired results. The limit of %
cents in the act amounted to reduction of
10 cents per LOCO square yards in the rate
paid the contractors for hand cleaning IN
der their contract which expired June 80.
1899. This reduction in the rate will
amount to a saving in the cost Of this work
for the current year, allowing 270 working
days of s32, 400
This amount was certainly handsome
profit for the contractors TO lose. yet they
were willing 10 lose even more. for they
bid q IA cents per LOCO square yards 10
do the work, notwithstanding the fact that |
We had carefully prepared our specifca
tions so that they required a much better !
service than was afforded under the pTevi- /
Gus contract. These specifications the con- /,
tractors. through their attorneys. tried 10 /
have modified. and failing in their efforts. /
they bid upon the work with no other OBJ !
ject apparently in view than an intention |
to do the work as they pleased, regardless ,
of the specifications.
This intention on their part was very
plainly shown in the two days hearing
given them before the Board OF Commits +
sioners in answer TO charges preferred hy .
me against them for willful violations of
their contract and specifications. The facts .
brought out during this hearing should be .
indelibly recorded as sufficient reasons in .
themselves for the abolition Of the con-
tract system.
If the work were done directly by the /
Commissioners. the force employed would
be available on short notice for other work. I
and in such emergencies as that Of renoy-
ing snow and ice. As il is we have 10 call
upon the contractor, and he in turn must
advertise for a force necessary 10 do the
work. Not only Is much delay caused by
this manner OF doing the work but TO do
it by contract costs the District more as
may be observed by reference TO the table
for snow and ice work. where IL will be
seen that the 10 per cent allowance to the
contractor provided for in the contract.
which was saved TO the District upon
portion Of the work done, amounted to 81
059.45."
According to it's Superintendent. the
Street Cleaning Department meets with
number of obstacles in keeping the streets
OF the city in good condition, With regard
to this Mr.. Stutler states:
The most annoying obstacle arises from |
the almost constant violations of the po-
lice regulations, in the persistency with !
which many of our householders, store
keepers. market men, and others sweep
or throw refuse of all kinds, such as bana-
ma and orange peelings, scraps Of paper
bags, boxes, tin cans. broken crockery,
old shoes, rags. broken bottles. etc, into
the streets and alleys. As many of our
streets, avenues and alleys are swept but
once a week, 1t Is evident that many of
hem are made filthy largely by this per-
niCious practice.
Many citizens have the mistaken idea
that when cleaning their front or back
yards they have a right to cast into the ;
street or alley whatever refuse may have
collected therein. They sometimes allow
such refuse and objectionable matter 10 ac-
cumuate on their premises until they are {
forced by the health authorities to remove
the same; but this does not always end
the trouble; as complaints are continually
being made at this Office Of the dumping of
this filthy material upon our dumps and ;
upon vacant lots in the city.
''On account of the number of complaints ,
of fires and of bad odors on and arising {
from our dumps. caused by the deposits Of {
waste, etc, We were compelled ,
20 stop the dumping of the same; and our
dump men are instructed to carefully in
spect all refuse before allowing it 10 be :
dumped. i
IN the year 1896 the Commissioners rec !
to Congress that sufficient ap 2
,,roprlation be made to destroy the com :
bustibe waste of the city; and | would re- !
spectfully suggest that if such an appro-
priation could be made and the ashes and :
refuse could be collected by the District !
and properly burned it would be won-
derful improvement. Our streets would !;
then no longer be Uttered up by such ma >
terial, complaints of fires and offensive
odors at the dumps would cease, and the !,
n N EnDH