The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-07-14
Weekly Letter on
Municipal Htfairs
NO. VI.--"THE TOILET OF A
GREAT CITY; HOW PARIS
KEEPS CLEAN"

enades and lighting, 81 100000 for keeping the
streets in repair, g. 100000 for the wages Of the
| stan and for the sanitary works In dwelling
| houses; making altogether more than $l0000,0OO
| Contrast the above sums with those expended
for similar services in New York city and they
| almost dwinde into insignfcsnce And yet,
| with the expenditure Of lcss money, Paris pre-
| sents much cleaner and better.kept appearance
than the metropolis Of the new world. But the
| contrast Will not appear significant when the
| area ana physical features Of the two cities are
| compared. Paris is Of the best laid out
cities in the world, with an area Of a trifo
| thirty square miles, while New York is tortu-
ors in its geographical lines and covers an area
ten times as large-30s square miles. Paris has
population of 2,60o,Oo0 New York, 3,6OO,OOO
IL is interesting to notice the making Of the
toilet OF this modern Babylon; what is done with
the refuse, waste, and so forth.
In Paris the cleansing Of the streets is done
every day by an army Of 5000 sweepers. With
the coming Of the dawn covered carts appear
TO collect from private houses the dust pre-
| Viously placed by their janitors or housekeepers
| in zinc boxes at the doors.
Besides this, it has been estimated, the "rag-
pickers,' working at night busy under the gas
| light with hook and panner collect street refuse
to the value Of $4,000 a day.
use is found for everything, and metamor-
phosis never ceases. The details rather in
tercstng, though some are rather disturbing.
| Rags, of course, go to make paper; broken glass
| is pounded and serves the coating for sand
or emery paper; bones, after a process Of cleans
| ing and cutting down, serve to make nail brush
| es. tooth brushes and fancy buttons; little wsps
| OF women's hair carefully unraveled and do
| duty for false hair byand.by. Mems hair, col
| lectcd outside BARRIERS shops. serves for filters,
through which syrups are strained; bits Of sponge
| are cut up and used for spirit lamps; bits OF
bread, If dirty, are toasted and grated, and sold
to the restaurants for breading hams and outlets.
sometimes they carbonized and made into
| tooth powders Sardine and tin cans are cut
| up into tin soldiers into sockets for candle.
sticks
| Paris, without doubt is the best paved city
in the world. Although wood paving is made
use OF, the streets are still largely paved with
| stone. The stone paving covers 7,223S40 square
yards. Every year a trife over $4,000 spent
in mcnding the stone payments by resetting the
stones. This work is performed by the asso.
citation Of stonecutters at the average OF S1i
per 1000 stones; thus nearly 1,600000 stones are
| reset every year. The stone, asphalt and maca-
dam pavements cost about $l,SOO,000 annually
to keep in repair, and the wood paycments about
100000 This does not include the alleys nor
the cleansing OF the public streets.
The average daily number of vehicles in Paris
is $4,000, and consists Of l,6O0 omnbuscs and
tramcars, 1900 cabs, 1900 private carriages,
| 5000 business carts, etc. According to sta
tistics furnished by the city engineer, the Ave.
| nue de rOpera one Of the busiest streets, IS
traversed every twenty.four hours by &c. 200 hors.
es, drawing 20.500 vehicles, or 2,262 horses for
| every meter Of its width.
| The fire department is called the fire brigade
and in reality, is regiment Of infantry lent to
the city by the minister of war Its men are
| recruited from various regiments, and engage
voluntarily. They are mostly young soldiers
| who have served their apprenticeship to a trade,
such as building or electricity. The officers
belong to the regular army. About 500 fire alarm
boxes are mounted cast iron pillars and
placed at regular intervals about the streets.
Many private houses have special alarms, which
cost about S6i year, and are connected with
| the nearest station.
| Firemen often render other services such
aiding employees endangered in the public service
| Of the sewers or streets, saving boats from
laundering in the Seine, acting as guards in
| theaters, bazars and the like. They also go
| on duty in private houses for social functions,
| and for this purpose even officers attendance
can be secured for sl.60 for the evening
The water supply of Paris is superior to that
of any other European city, both in quantity and
quality, condition largely due to the excellent
service of N. Georges Bechmann, the present
| city engineer.
The system comprises seven intakes. FIVE Of
| which very extensive and have a total flow
of 90,O00,O0O gallons per day; twenty-five pump.
ing stations, representing total power of more
| than G,000 horse power; eighteen reservoirs, of
| a total capacity exceeding l50,0O0,OOO gallons;
two complete systems OF public pipes having
a total length Of over 1000 miles, with 10000
| various pieces.
! furnish the domestic supply was commenced in
1864. The first La Dhuis, three years in
| building, is eighty miles long, has capacity Of
900 gallons per day and cost SO, ,5OOOOO.
The second, La Vannc was constructed between
1865 and 1874 1t supplies 2G,0O0OO0 gallons
Loo 11n11 ,f n
total cost was slO,OOO,O00.
| The third. HAvrc, commenced in 1890 and
completed in 1893, at total expense OF about
81, 100000. It is siSty.fve miles in length and
supplies 22,0OO,Ooo gallons per day.
The fourth, which is only partly completed,
will bring Professionally about 100000 gallons
daily.
The total supply Of water for domestic purposes
| is about 80, 900 gallons in twenty.four hours,
more than twentythree gallons per capita.
For public watering the waters Of the Seine
and Marine are employed. These are pure enough
for industrial purposes, but are hot in the
summer, cold in the winter and often turpid and
too impure for domestic There is also
| the warm water from artesian wells, and some
ancient springs, which are OF minor importance.
The streets and trade supply comes from
much greater variety Of sources than the domes-
tic supply In the numerous stations which are
! employed. il all the pumps were in full work
hut unavoidable repairs and break.downs reduce
the actual possibilities to about 90,0O0000.
The maximum daily supply Is about seventy
gallons per capita but the city engineers asserts
that only about 6fty.eight gallons can be depend
| ed upon. Paris considers herself lavish in the
| use of water, but contrast the paltry ffty-eiGht
gallons with Bufalo's 2i0!
The use Of water grows more rapidly than the
population. To check the waste and undue con-
sumption meters are employed and the munici.
pality steadily sets its face against the use of
water for power This is the reason Of the
exceptional rate on spring water used for power
--hftyfour cents per 1000 gallons, the ordinary
charge for domestic water being only thirty.one
cents.
The total receipts from the water services,
including navigation dues on the canals, ex-
ceeds S3,750OO0. After deductng the expenses,
which are about 81 100000, there is only just
about enough left to pay interest on loans and
other redemption expenses. or course some Of
the water-that used for watering the streets,
for instance--brngs in no revenue,
The sewer system is even more unique than
when it was first made famous by the story oi
Victor Hugo. II is nearly 200 miles long, com
posed of accessible masonry galleries, Of which
forty.one miles are collecting mains three
pumps two stations 5000 reservoirs, II, 800
openings from street cutters, 1900 manholes,
so 900 private sewers and $50 miles OF branches.
The agricultural utilization of the sewage in.
wolves a complex system. II consists Of a sta
tion and conduts capable Of delivering S5,00OO 900
cubic feet per twenty-four hours; four pumping
stations, Of a total horsepower Of 5000 and
four municipal sewage farms, together covering
about 1000 acres Distribution and drainage
pipes, nearly 100 miles in length, are sufficient
| 10 irriu times abOVp surface Tile