The Washington times., 1901-09-14
AFFAIRS OF THE DISTRICT.
Removal of Refuse by Private
Parties Reported Adversely.
The Superintendent of Street Clean
ing Refers to Past Experience
Fire LOSSES for AuEuxt-Improve-
mept Of Eastern Market Grounds.


ment of Eastern Market Grounds.
Warner Stutler, the Superintendent of
Street Cleaning Yesterday forwarded to
Commissioner Ross his report upon the
communication of Gerald H Dupont re-
latiye to the removal of garbage from
,b. National Hotel The statement or
Mr. Dupont was to the effect that he had
bought the refuse from this hotel. and
that he had arranged to remove 1t in
tight cans which he would convey be-
yond the District limits. where they
would be emptied and cleaned. Mr.. Slut
Ter says:
II beg to state that on June 6, 1900. the
current appropriation act was approved,
which required that all garbage collected
in the District under this appropriation
should be disposed of through reduc-
ton and consumption process. subject to
the sanitary inspection and approval OF
the Commissioners. The same law re-
auired that all contracts shall expressly
provide that garbage or other vege-
table matter shall be dumped into the Po-
tomac River or in any other waters. fed
to animals or exposed to the elements on
land.
"In conformity with this act all permits
to private collectors were revoked on
May 1. 1901. The question with regard to
the right of the Commissioners to prohibit
the collection of garbage by private per-
sons was made the subject of an opinion
by the Attorney for the District, who held
that all such permits could be revoked.
Since the effort of the Commissioners TO
comply with the law and the terms of the
contract by revoking all permits, frequent
appeals have been made FOR permits BY
private collectors. all of which hereto
fore have been refused
Under these circumstances 1 could not
recommend that permit be granted in
this case There is no doubt that Mr..
Dupont handled the garbage in a sanitary
way in the city prior to the revocation of
his permit. but while he and a few others
gave satisfaction in this respect. the ma
jority of private collectors. and j might
say nine out of every ten, performed the
work in an unsanitary manner
1t is understood that the Commission
ers will approve this report and that Mr..
Dupont will be Informed in accordance
Herewith.
The Engineer Commissioner has taken
issue with the Assessor upon the case of
Arms g. Drury, of $40 F Street north
west. who requested that the money paid
for taxes for 1898 on sub-lot u, square 304
be transferred to sub-iot % in. the same
square without penalty beyond May 81,
1895
In his report upon the matter, the AS
SCISSOR took the view that the payment of
the tax came within the provisions of the
law of May II, 1898, and should, therefore
be refunded
The Engineer Commissioner in passing
upon the papers says: 'As the mistake in
this case appears to have occurred
through negligence on the part of the ap-
plicants, and through no fault of the Dis
trict, it would appear that they should
present evidence that the tax on lot Il
has been paid by the owner of that lot be-
fore any refund is made
1T is not stated that the owner of lot
q Is willing to pay the tax, and | think
that the payment of this tax should be
made condition precedent to the re-
fund"
Robert W. Dutton, Chief Engineer of
the Fire Department, yesterday submit
ted to the Commissioners a report of the
operations of his office for the month of
August. He states that during that month
there We're % bell alarms, one of which
was false. The "a alarms eutailed loss
of sl.i4s, with an insurance on the same
of .1l9- There were also f6 local or
silent alarms, the fires which occasioned
them causing a loss of 1885, with an in
surance of S305 thereon.
According TO the report, the 40 fires
which cccurreS during the month were in
p brick or stone buildings. II in wooden
buildings and one was a dump fire In
one case, Mr.. Duttou says, the fire trav-
eled from the first to the second f.oor
and in another. from one building to an
other In one building. two separate and
distinct fires are reported one on the first
and one on the third floor. at the same
time, with no connection OF fire from
one to the other. n s.-
The appointment of George E Howard
as a private detective in the District of
Columbia has been under consideration
for some time by the Police Department
and the Commissioners Investigation
showed that Mr.. Howard was engaged as
collector. and IL was the opinion of the
department that the spirit of the law
would be violated should he be given a
commission as a detective and should use
the authority thus granted for purposes
of collection
Accordingly Major Sylvester has sent to
the Commissioners a recommendation that
Mr.. Howard be granted commission
after giving evidence that he has retired
from the collecting business and after the
hling of the necessary bond.
James A. Dunnington and others have
requested the Commissioners to take steps
at once to improve the grounds about the
Eastern Market and No. engine house.
Capt. l.. II. Beach, the Engineer Com
missioner, in considering the application,
has reported to his associates that an ad-
vertisement is now running for the con-
struction of a stable in the rear of the
engine house on this ground and that ii
is expected that the work II building will
soon begin. Under these circumstances
Captain Beach is of the opinion that IL is
a he af ffxin
up these grounds until after the debris
incident to the building operations has
been removed.
Hallam &c Hailam. of ass Louisiana Ave
nue.. recently submitted to the Commits
sioners petition signed by Patrick Graft
ty and others in the neighborhood of Sec
ond, and ID Streets northeast, complain
ing of the unsanitary condition of 332
Second Street northeast. The petition was
referred to the Health Department and
inspection showed that the compIaint was
Justly made. DIR. Woodward now reports
hat this case with others will be con-
sidered in connection with notices to be
issued soon to enforce connection with the
public sewer
The committee appointed to open pro-
posaIs to print the new edition of the
police regulations have forwarded to the
Commissioners schedule OF the bids re-
ceiyed. and they recommend that the con-
tract for publication be awarded to the
National Publishing Company They sug-
gest also that the Auditor be requested to
find some means TO meet the cost of the
publication.
IL. H. DarneilIe. the Assessor, has sub
mitted to the Commissioners a report
upon the petition OF G. Ernest Mason for
the discharge OF tax for the second half
of 1891 against sub-lots I4S and H. square
-. Mr.. Darneille states that the case
comes within the purview of the law of