New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-28
PAY TRIBUTE TO ASHMEN
,,vrroRs SAY BLACKMAILERs TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF REFUSE SEPA-
RATION ORDINANCE.

Within few days Commissioner Woodbury.
rili be told startling tales Of tribute that some
~ his ashcart drivers are levying on the poor
of the East Side committee Of the Janitors
coc,a+v of New-York will wait upon the Com
-.ssjoner. and ask him 10 give his aid in max
,rg radical changes in the system of collecting
garbage on the lower East Side.
Several hundred persons, mostly janitors of
tenement houses in the lower part Of the city.
o+tended a mass meeting at the University Set
element Building. Eldridge and Rivington SITS,
Let night The object of the meeting was to
-,-o,est against the present system Of collecting
carnage and TO formulate some plan for the
retirement Of the condition Of the janitors.
--he meeting was presided over by DR.. David
plaustein. the superintendent Of the Educa-
,ional Alliance. Speeches were made by DR..
19lanstein the Rev. Ny Maslians6y, Jacob
rasbein the organizer OF the society, and M
Jore Janitors protested against the ordinance
that makes it compulsory for janitors Of build
,ngs 10 separate the paper. garbage and ashes
into different receptacles before they can be
collected by the ashmen. Protest was also made
that the city did not collect the garbage on the
lower East Side before 10 a m
The janitors assert that it is impossible to
comply with the law. They say that they are
forced to do other work for living besides TAX
,np care of a house and that it is impossible
~ get the tenants 20 come down into the cellar
from, the fifth or sixth floor to separate the
parhage from the paper and ashes sent down.
stairs II 1t is not separated the garbage men
refuse 20 take II, and then the 1anltor Is ar
rested hailed to the police court ana hneo IoI
disobeying the city ordinance Inc society
o,,s an ordinance substituted by which gar
hape ashes and paper may be placed IN the
same receptacle for delivery to the collector
II "a also said that several months ago Com
missioner Woodbury. promised the members OF
the society that he would provide the janitors
with bags with which the refuse might De sep
arated but that he has not done So
Mr. Bashein said:
IF an astrnan comes along and finds needle
In the ashes he Will not take them The garbage
Is never collected in this section until lle IN tne
afternoon, and sometimes 1t STANDS Tor Two q
tbraa DAVIS In this way germs are spread ana
no end Of sickness is caused
eft is a common thing for the garbage col
lectors to levy tribute upon the Janltors on tne
lower East Side. The garbage, ashes. paper
and what not may be mixed and carried aF ay II
the tanitor VIII give up from 10 to y tents
F31lt if the janitor refuses to give up, the gar
ra pa is not only left where Ii is, but the chances
are that a complaint will be made against the
ianitor and he arrested He viii be taken 10
court and there fined from 81 10 So
Several days ago a woman janitor placed me
garbage from her house on the sidewalk Tor
collection The woman in question is nursing
a baby In the ashes was dead rat Ihere Is
q religious superstition among Jewish women
concerning dead animals. and she would not
have touched the dead rat for anything
when the collector came along he saw tne
rat and refused TO take the ashes. claiming that
they contained garbage. The woman refused 10
take the rat out of the ashes. The collector re-
f1sed 10 take the ashes Subsequently that
woman was arrested and fined 81 for '1olaCns
the city ordinance