Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-04

penses Of the government a, N. rs.,-,..
OF Cofumbfa for the service of the fiscal
year iso0 and prior years. including adj
nance on account Of. trust and special
.nno aSsresated ss.os4, Tes.Oe. The bal
20 she credit OF the disbursfnK officer
on July ]. 1905. was s25s $50 ~. MAXIM The
totaI sum to his Official credit durine the
20 40 s SUBJECT to expenditure by his check
The checks Issued by the tfisbur,,n~ nm
Ger during the fiscal year 1905 in payment
VI wouchers, pay rolls and contract work
a nd and approved by the auditor OF the
Dstrict. pursuant to law. numbered 81 .s24
ana aggregated In amount S. 1907 n or
.Ais eotai issue OF checks complaint was
ih T OF the non-delivery Of only three
,u me TOTAL actual cash handled by the dis
oarsing ONCE and paid out to Officers and
employees OF the District to the laborers and
mecnanics employed on public works to
c ~nesses am, and jurors in the Police CURT.
SSoner Jurors and witnesses witnesses In
lunacy inouisitions and other navn.n,. ns
:. misceilaneous character amopnted 20
S.,oLSS4O6 The disbursement of this sum
cash in an ,ns preparation and payment of
q SILL, IN envelopes to over 5000 pers 8 twice
usn' ana miscellaneous payments made
SUo .ne counter. making In all about 100
\" separate payments for the year These
eo NOT. however. include the payments made
20 teachers In the public schools and to the
Chcefs and members of the police and Arc
oepartments as well as those made on ac
~ SSSctd al CHARITABLE and correctional
institutions OF the District. The navmant
VI services or this character required the
preparation and signing OF about 5000
cnecks every month.
Inc volume of work dispatched by the
disbursing office during the mast fiscai YEAR
showed a marked increase over that of the
PFeceoing nscal year. The disbursements
s fnaoe Dy the disbursing officer during the
nscal year 1905 exceeded those made during
the hscal year 1908 by s6S3. n
onder the law the stating and rendering
Tmon.hy 10 the accounting officers OF the
ia,sns uIy Department the accounts re-
iaIlng to expenditures by the dishurs,np
oIncer deYolves upon the auditor of the Dis
trlct or Columbia. 1t is very gratifying 70
report that In the final review and exami-
natlon by the treasury officials these ac-
counts, covering over nine million dollars
IN expenditure and representing about one
nunureo and nifty thousand individual pay
ihehls. were settled without any differences.
Anacostia Flats.
Inc commissioners recommend in their
estimates that an appropriation of $4,000
De made In order that they may emplov
special counsel to go to the bottom of the
question Of the titles to land embraced I'm
the mats OF the Anacostia river as a neces-
sary condition precedent to action by Con-
sress TOT the general improvement of that
region. Inc health and the beauty OF the
national capital, together with the necessity
Tor additional public wharves and other
commercial facilities. all appeal for prompt
action In this case: but IL is realized that
until the ownership of the lands is definitely
ascertained so that 1t can be reasonably
estimated what. IL any. compensation can
De MADE to private persons. no other action
can De expected. The Commissioners and
the community have been disappointed by
the inevitable delay In this matter, and
nope that no more may occur.
Street Cleaning.
The threeyear contract for the cleaning
Of streets by machines expired on June 80.
1908. and in that month a new contract was
entered Into for a period OF 1--WE years from
July 1. 1903. at the price of 22% cents per
LOCO square yards. the rate under the old
contract having been 10 1915 cents per 1000
square yards. With an increased appropria-
ton from Congress the Commissioners ar
ranged for the cleaning of a larger area of
street surface and have also provided for
cleaning alleys In the central portion Of the
city twice week. instead OF once q week.
as formerly. The new contractor for ma
chine sweeping has been somewhat handi-
capped by the delay in the arrival OF equip
ment but the Commissioners have notified
the surety company which furnished the
contractors bond that It will be held re-
sponsible for the complete performance OF
the contract
The problem of keeping the streets clean
Is one to which the Commissioners have
given their earnest attention. The work Is
one OF great difficulty In the fall. when the
roadways are Uttered for several weeks by
the constant fall OF leaves from over $1,000
trees. In addition to this fall Of leaves
when the city experiences O. continuance of
rainy weather during which sweeping is In
terfered with. the conditions naturally ex-
cite criticism. Tho Commissioners will.
however, endeaver to cope with this situa-
ton with tho available appropriation. One
improvement that suggests itself Is the in
crease of the present limitation Of cost for
hand cleaning. This limit ia now placed at
10 cents per 1000 square yards. and I'm order
not to exceed it each cleaner must neces-
sarily be given a very large area. averaging
10000 square yards. The limit ought to be
placed at Fl cents, which would allow the
cleaners to work closer together and thus
keep the streets assigned them cleaner than
is now possible. No increase in the appro-
priation would be necessary to accomplish
this desira BILE result. -,..a.-.s
One OF the features Of street cleaning to
which the Commissioners have given their
especial attention is the removal of waste
paper from the streets There Is a police
regulation against littering the streets with
waste paper, but It Is one that is natur-
ally difficult to enforce owing to the fact
that policemen cannot be omnipresent
Acting under the direction of the Commits
sioners, the street cleaning department has
detailed men for the purpose Of removing
this litter and the record shows that during
the period from April q to June 30. 1906, in
elusive. total Of 10. 458 bags of waste paper
was removed from the Streets while during
the past fiscal year no less than .5I2
DdSS VI paper lTOn TeSluenCeS were COL
lected and disposed of by the contractor as
against 155, 416 In 1905, an increase of 56O9s
bags. The police are constantly making
arrests for violations of the regulation in
regard to throwing OF paper upon the
streets and improved conditions testify to
the efficacy of enforcing II.
The following details Of area Of streets
cleaned and the cost of the work are in
serted:
The area of paved streets cleaned by hand
during the past year was 495, 1872 074 square
yards as against 400 215 S53 the year pre-
vious, an increase of O. .9T5. 221 square yards,
due to the greater number of days on which
work was performed in the former year
The cost for hand cleaning was Sss 337 60 in
1906. against $50. 1CS.24 the previous year, an
increase of $S229.41, due to the greater area
cared for.
A total area of 209313.7 TAT square yards Of
paved streets was cleaned by horse power
machines in 1906 against 1913 1871 975
square yards during the previous fiscal year
a decrease of 24024. 22S square yards due to
the fact that the daily schedule during the
summer of the calendar year 1905 was con-
less than that for the correspond
ing period Of the previous year.
During the past fiscal year 345l5S43
square yards, equal to 1.942 miles, of I'M
paved streets were cleaned. as against o.