Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-07
CLEANED BY WOMEN
Streets of Famous Old CITY
of Munich.
PRIDE IN THEIR WORK
THoRoUGHFAREs KEPT NEAT AS
THE PRoVERBIAL NEW PIN.
Where the Skirted Sweepers Come
From and the Rigorous Life They
Have Previously Led.
Written for The Star.

Written for The Star
Chicago has experienced the thrill of .hav-
ing woman street cleaning inspector
Something akin to mild alton is Gre
ated In certain sections of this country
whenever the newspapers announce that
the clubwomen of this, that or the other
town, firing of living on filthy streets, have
undertaken to give the municipal authori-
ties an object lesson in the art of street
cleaning. But the streets of Munich, that
famous old Bavarian art, musical, dra-
matte and educational center are cleaned
year in and year out solely by women, and
no one wonders at it except the newly ar
rived foreign student or tourist.
The street cleaners of Munich have been
women for so long that If some one were
to ask the worthy burgomaster when they
first began to sweep the thoroughfares of
the city he undoubtedly would first have
to consult the municipal records in order
to give an unimpeachable answer. But If
he were to be asked: us it not strange
to have women engaged in such work?'' his
reply in all probability would be what the
reply of many a burgher of Munich has
been to this very question:
rs 1t not honest work, and do not all
men and all women have to work in order
that they may liver
In land where 1t is not considered the
style for women to do as little physical
labor as possible-where the woman work
ing in the field is met with constantly
where she frequently takes the place of the
neast of burden-no one thinks 1t extra
ordinary that women should clean the
streets of Munich. 1t is work, 1t is honest
work, the women like to do the work-so
It Is well. And there you are.
Astonished as the average American pill
0t of
his first sight of skirted street sweepers
his wonder soon gives way to a feeling of
admiration for the work that the women
DO For Munich's streets are among the
cleanest IN the world, without a doubt 1t
is city of over half a million inhabitants.
yet, walk where you will, you will not come
across even side street that is not worthy
of comparison with the proverbial reatness
OF the new pin.
Uphold the officials.
Perhaps this is largely due to the fact
that women are born cleaners. and espe-
cially the women of the German empire.
Then, too, the Munich system of street
cleaning may have something to do with
1t, for 1T is the endeavor OF the authorities
to remove dirt soon as it's presence is
detected. And how keen the women are
to uphold the hands of the officials, An
American student lately arrived in the
city, was standing in the Diener Strasse,
he threw into the gutter the skin of an
orange, which he had purchased not be-
cause he was hungry for a taste of the
fruit, but because it was the only familiar
object his eyes had fallen on since reach
ing the city. AS he munched the fruit he
heard scraping noise behind him, turned
and beheld brawny female sweeping the
solitary peel into the long-handled shovel
which she had pushed toward 1t. His Gu
rfosity aroused he watched the woman for
nearly an hour, and in that period where
1ft la tod oil -
1t almost instantly, and all about her the
street shone like polished floor in the full
glare of the sun.
Tradition has 1t that before the women
began to clean Munich's streets they Were
as VIGOROUSLY filthy as were the streets of
New York before the late Col. Waring
taught the American metropolis how to
clean up and to keep clean. But the wom-
en- long since banished those evil days.
The full credit of Munich's clean streets
belongs solely to the women. To be sure,
they are directed by an official who wears
trousers, and the cart drivers in the employ
of the street cleaning department are men,
but every bit of the actual work of clean
ing is done by the women, and by then,
alone. Along the Maximillian strasse or
the Marien PlatZ they come of an evening
line of sweepers. the dirt flying before
them. Here and there the sweepings are
made into piles, presently along comes
cart and into it the piles of dirt are lifted
in the shovelS of the women. When the
cart is filled the driver is off, without so
to load. His duty is simply to haul off
the sweepings to the dumping grounds,
just as the womens is to do the cleaning;
and If he were to do such an unheard of
thing as to volunteer his services in all
probability the women would take 1T as a
slur on their ability to do fun days
work unaided
Besides being armed universally with
brush and scoop, many of the women are
also supplied with cumbersome looking
e-wheeled affairs something on the order
of the Yankee wheelbarrow, only they are
longer and are built closer to the ground.
These barrows are used In the daytime
along the most used streets and greatly
facilitate the work OF keeping them clean.
Muscular Women.
But the noticeable thing about these fe-
male street cleaners is neither their impie-
ments nor their green felt hats. each
equipped with solitary feather, and their
boots. the only uniform things In their
otherwise nondescript dress, but their phys
zeal development.
1t Is not possible to see Munich street
cleaner who is not as muscular generally