Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-01
SUBMITS HIS REPORT.
WORK OF YEAR OUTLINED BY
SUPERINTENDENT rWoHEY.
Practice Of Depositing Waste Paper
/, on Public Thoroughfares in
Violation Of Law.

Violation Of Law.
John T. Twohey, superintendent of street
cleaning, today submitted to the District
Commissioners his report covering the fscal
year ended June 80 last. An increase Is
shown in the amount of work done. the
cost Of the work and the number of work
men. Mr.. Twohey dwells upon the prac-
tice OF persons depositing waste paper on
the public streets and alleys in violation
Of law.
More than one-fourth of the time Of his
force Of white WINGS the superintendent
states. was required for the collection of
waste paper. During the. year. he says,
total Of 211,512 bags Of paper were col
lected and disposed. Of, as against 1856 4l6
bags during the previous year. From April
q last to June 30, Inclusive 10. 40 bags were
collected. making a daily average Of more
than 200 bags. He suggests to the Commits
s!oners that some drastic measures be
adopted tn order to reduce the practice of
throwing paper on the streets to mini
num- 80. - -, - -, 4:
The report sets forth that the sum Of
81. 400 was appropriated for salaries for
the fiscal year 1905, as against SIS. 100 for
the previous year. The increase OF $22,
800 was due to the traAsfer to a per an
mum rate OF employees who had previously;
been paid a per diem compensation out Of
the, street cleaning and city refuse appro-
priations, respectively:
Spr1nkling, Sweeping and Cleaning.
The estimates for the fiscal year under
consideration called for an appropriation
OF 500, 900 for sprinkling, sweeping and
cleaning streets, etc. . Congress, however.
granted only s1s1 500. as against S195. GOO
for the fiscal year 1905. the decrease being
due to the fact that some Of the employees
who had during the latter year been on
the per diem roll were by the appropria-
ton act for the former year provided for
under the head of salaries.
For snow and Ice work, for 1905. the sum
OF 5000 was estimated. The appropriation
act, however, carried only $500.
The amount appropriated for the collec
ton and disposal of the various classes Of
city refuse was 100000, being $4,000 less
than for the previous fiscal year. The reduc-
ton was made because Congress provided
under the head of salaries for the employees
who had previously been paid at per diem
rate from this appropriation. The old con-
tracts for the collection and disposal of
ashes, miscellaneous refuse, and night soil,
respectively, expired July 81, 1906 and that
for the collection and disposal of garbage
and dead animals November 30, 1905. The
new contract prices were higher than the
old, and the amount appropriated. was,
therefore, insufficient to meet the obliga-
tons for this class of work, for the entire
HStdi year. LII cUTudTy tdSL the commas
sioners submitted to Congress a deficiency
estimate of $46.6464 ~ to meet the increased
cost under the new contracts, and that sum
was granted the following April.
Said to Be Mammoth Task.
That the cleaning and sprinkling of the
city streets is a mammoth task is said to be
evident from the fact that to do only that
part of the work of the STRENGTHENING de-
partment from 17S to 1875 men were en-
poyed 2s6 days last year, during which
time they cleaned 495, 1872 square yards and
succeeded in removing 43 cubic yards Of
refuse and debris. The total cost Of that
class Of work last year was $SS, 1877 IS. which
sum is an increase Of S,229.41 over the pre-
vious year. which Mr.. Twohey says is due
to the increased area to work on.
Speaking of the sprinkling and hand
sweeping work Mr. Twohey said: :
The cost per LOCO square yards during
the past year was II $40 cents as against
1s 62-10O cents in 1905; a decrease Of s2-100
cents, or nearly cent per LOCO square
yards.
THE appropriation for sprinkling, sweep
ing and cleaning each year contains pro-
vso that the cost of hand cleaning done d.
rectly under the supervision Of the Commits
sioners shall not exceed 10 cents per thou
sand square yards. This is a serious handi-
cap inasmuch the necessity of keeping
within that Limitation as to cost makes 1t
necessary to allot to each laborer an aver
age of about 10000 square yards Of street
surface, which area he ts required to patrol
each day. In the estimates for the fiscal
year 1908 1t is suggested that the limitation
as to cost be increased to 20 cents per LOO
square yards, and If this is adopted by Con-
gress the street surface area per laborer
can be reduced by about 1000 square yards.
Number of Dead Animals.
Mr.. Twohey says that there was an enor-
nous increase in the number Of dead an
imals collected in the District during the
first Blk months of this year. According to
his records, the total number of animals Of
all kinds amounted to 1861 The greater
part of these animals were dead cats and
dogs. there being $500 OF the former a9a h ana
1858 Of the latter. There were 236 horses
collected. b61 rats, 229 chickens, Il COWS
and 50 miscellaneous animals
The fve-year contract with the Washing
ton Fertilizer Company of this city for the
collection and disposal OF garbage and dead
animals expired November 80, 1905, Mr..
Twohey says. In July. 1905. new contract
for the collection and disposal OF garbage
only was entered into with the same com
pany for period from December l, 1905, to
June 80, 1910. The price per annum for the
collection and disposal of both garbage and
dead animals under the FORMER contract
was $51 600, and the District received re-
bate of 30 cents per ton on all garbage over
20 600 tons collected during the year. Under
that now in force the per annum price IS
s7S. 400, without any rebate. the contractors
are required to make collections as follows:
Daily throughout the year from markets,
hotels, restaurants, apartment houses and
such like places: daily except Sunday, from
residences within the fire limits, and trl-
weekly without the fire limits from May 10
to September 80, inclusive, and tri-weekly
and semi weekly in the corresponding ter
ritories during the balance of the year
In 1906 a total of 1875 tons of garbage
was collected and disposed of. as against
36,417 tons the previous year, an increase
of 1858 tons.
The net cost during the past fiscal year
was SEQ. 433 O6, as against $50, 1882. an in
crease Of $2o.503.74, due to the increased
contract price and to the fact that under
the new contract the District does not re-
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