New-York tribune., 1902-12-15
WANTS MEN TO GET THE CREDIT.
Woodbury. Says They and System Should BE
Praised for Cleaning Record.

Commissioner Woodbury. ascribes the creoit
| for yesterdays record breaking work Oh CREAM
ing up Manhattan from Forty-second-St' 10
Bowling Green in twelve hours. 20 the men OIL
the department to the foremen. the sweepers
and drivers and to the organization which has
ena bled them to work effectively. After his own
long davis work was over DR.. Woodbury. said,
at his home. No. 120 Fifth-ave-. last evening"
lam proud of my department: The men have
done their work we'll They were not driven or
.'cussed,' but they went ahead and did what
they had to do because they wanted to, and pe-
cause they felt they belonged to an organlza-
tion and were proud of 1t. Those men d1dn
throw one shovelful where they might nave
thrown two-they threw three everywhere
went to-day 1 found the department running
smoothly one part fitting into another, ana
every one pleasant about it.
1 am glad we had chance to handle tins
storm ourselves to show what we could do Ana
7 do not ever remember OF the city having been
cleared of a six-fnch snowfall in twelve hours
The ferry streets are clean, the Bowery is clean
and Broadway is clean, except a little bit be-
tween Eighteenth and Twenty second sts. that
will he attended to before s o'clock tomorrow
morning This doesn't mean piled up. but carted
away Whatever praise is due should come to
the department-not to the commissioner or
deputy commissioner, but to the whole depart
ment-to the forenen. to the sweepers and drlV-
ers and TO the system under which they have
acted.
The men started in at o'clock. My assistant
went to the north end of the city and / went to
the SOUTH and we kept at it all day When the
force quit work for the night | wanted TO give
them cup Of coffee and a cheer.
With three-quarters more force we wouldn't
need any contractors; could do the work
ourselves. The extra laborerS could be USED to
remove garbage and ashes in the summer, ana
could be shifted to work of this kind in the
winter
In The Bronx the overhead trolleys the
snow to the waterfront, and the borough Is IN
excellent shape: and in Brooklyn, where they
have the same system. the principal streets are
well cleared. Here have way to reach
the waterfront by the underground trolley lines
President Vreeland of the Metropolitan Railway
Company, his chief engineer and myself worked
through July and August trying to think out
some scheme by which could the snow
out on cars. but could not work ii out 1t
would cost too much to install the necessary
underground wire TO reach the waterfront; we
could not use an overhead trolley wire; gasolene
engines were not powerful enough, and the
charter of the company forbade the use OF
steam, so have had to keep on with the old
truck system. Next year the subway may
help
great many trucks were being used to haul
coal There must have been more coal hauled
into the city to-day than ever has been brought
here before on Sunday. And the first thing
we did after we had cleared out around the fire
engine houses was to fix things around the coal
wards and docks, that every bit of coal pos
sfble should be hauled. Whenever found
coal truck stalled cut it out by hand.
Tomorrow we shall start in through the tene-
ment house district. carting away the house
garbage and ashes that used to be piled deeply
along the sidewalks. We not going to have
that We won't have it.