The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-07-28
Weekly Letter on
Municipal Rffairs
VIII -" GLASGoW,S STREET
CLEANING DEPARTMENT AND
ITS VARIOUS ECONOMIES"
Copyright, 1900, by william s. Crandall1

Copyright, 1900, by William S. Crandall)
IA MUNICIPAL housekeeping has reached d
INE greater degree of perfection in Europe
I'VE than in America, Among the various
I'VE problems requiring the attention Of the
civic authorities, none causes more
| trouble than the cleansing Of the streets and the
disposal Of the refuse, dust and garbage. In or.
| der to he healthy a city must be clean, and
how to perform this work economically is
question which requires much tact, originality
and executive ability in the head of such de-
| partmcnt. Methods have to change to keep
pace with sanitary progress, and, in many cases,
systems in use involve waste and Great nuisanceS.
The city of Glasgow has an economical system
| Of cleansing her streets and Of utilizing city
refue For about thirty years Glasgow has man
| aged its own work in this line The department
has dust deStructors and utlizcrs machines
which burn and machines which sift the vast
mass of ashes. dust, garbage, refuse and street
swoepings collected every day. Glasgow with
its busy streets, its great industrial establish.
mcnts, its heavy rains, is not an easy city to
cleanse but the authorities collect Systematically
and often. They make a vigorous use of the
broom. and believe IN the sweetcning and puri-
flying influences Of water, n constant supply Of
which is always on tap.
The cleansing department owns 900 railway
wagons, and sells its useful products 10 farmers
in half the counties Of Scotland. II has several
farms Nlln lOlal area Ot nearly 500 acres, il
has transformed useless bog land into an agri-
| cultural paradise; it has its own railways on its
estates; il owns quarries and workshops. Under
the direction Of the superintendent of the de.
partment 1,2j0 men employed in conncc-
tion with the cleansing oprations and subsidiary
industries
For cleansing purposes the city is distributed
into thirteen districts, and the staff is almost
equally divided into day and night sections
The paNcd streets nj durno tho nicbt
chiefly by rotary horsehrushcs, OF which there
are thirtythrcc in use. The work begins at 10
p. M, and finishes at o36 a. m. Sweepers fol.
low the machines, and gather the sweepings into
heaps, who in turn are followed by carts, begin.
ming their operations at IL p. m. The principal
streets are swept nightly, sccond-ratc streets
every alternate night and others Of less inl-
portance required The superintendent Of the
department told the writer shat he was decidedly
in favor Of sweeping wcll'paved street with the
rotary hOrsebruShcs Cross-sweepng the granite
paved streets by hand brushes was in existence
at one time, but this practice was discontinued
many years ago.
During the day the principal streets are
''picked," and the "pickings' deposited in bins
sunk into the pavcments There are 1880 of
these bins, and they emptcd at night by
the collecting carts. The sweepcrs are paid at
the rate al about 81 per day; their working hours
being ten hours for five days, and upon Satur.
day eight in all ffty.eight hours for tine week.
The waste paper is also collected For this part
OF the service bags worked upon the ex.
change system, and apart from the sum re-.
ccived for the paper a considerable improvement
has been effected in the condition Of the streets
and also in the reduction of the material sent to
the dcstructor works for cremation The sweep.
ingS from the macadamzed roads beng valulcss
are deposited in "tips," OF truckcd into the
country for filling up hollow ground. The re-
g ",
taxed by snowfalls. Some winters there is prac
tically no SLOW. During the past winter, how.
ever there were three heavy falls, the extra cost
for removing the sncw amounting to over $1,000.
Glasgow has population of 100000; an area OF
about 20 square miles, and total mileage of
strcctS-including macadami2ed roads of 3j. The
streets have an average width of about 90 feet
The greater part OF residential Glasgow con.
si,ts of flats, with courts or entries The cleans.
ing Of these courts is carried on by $50 men un.
der seventeen ovcrsecrs Every court EXCEPT
those under private control, is visited and sweTt
once, and in many cases ty CO and three times
daily. With very few exceptions all the back
yards Of the city which are common 10 more
than one occupant are thus cleanspd The
dirtier courts in The poorer parts Of the city
are regularly washed with hose, for which pur.
pose the department has fitted water mains with
l,li2 taps During the summer and autumn the
courts are flushed daily. There is a good deal
of street sprnklng dore, in connection with
which forty-eght water barrels, six iron tanks
and nine revolving disc sprinkling machines are
employed The disc machine covers a road forty
feet wide, hut cannot be used in the most
crowded thor, ughfarcs, as it would seriously in
ttriere with the traffic. Sprinkliny is always
carried On during the night to allay the dust
which would otherwiSa be raised by operating the
sweeping machines, There is Of course, no lack
Of water as a plentiful supply is always at
hand.
Three are four kinds Of refuse to be collected
ID domestic "'seholG refuse: (ZD refuse
from business premises, such as shops, warehouses
and offices; CD eNcremental matter from public
works and dwelling houses and % stable ma.
nurc and refuse from abattoirs. In Glasgow do.
nestle refuse is collected in ash.pits situated in
the rear of tenement dwellings, and these are
cmptied weekly all over the city, with the ex.
c6ption OF the central district where they are
emptied twice each week.
To facilitate and ensure s,stcmatic omntyinC.
each district is sub.diyded into six divisions one
of which is traverscd each night The men,
called 'whoelers," who empty the ash-pits start
work at 10 p m, and are followed an hour later
by the carts. They work, as a rule, in sets Of
two or three, each set being furnished with a
carrying creel and barrow (ltted with rubber
tircs)' The barrow is, Of course, used for level
places, and the creCl where the refuse has TO he
carried up or down stairs. These men are paid
by the ton, at rates varying from l6 TO p cents
While the ash'pit system obtains generally, a
daily morning dust cart service is in operation
in portion OF the west end Of the city, where
the houses are of the better class.
Refuse from offices, shops warehouses, and
other business places in the central or business
portion Of the city is removed daily by the morn
ing dust cart services. In connection with this