Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-10
TWENTY YEARS in THE
PRESS GALLERY
commissioners personally superintended the
By 0. O. STEALEY
Is now on sale at Book Stores
and Hotel News Stands.
fe6-tu. tn. .3t

commissioners personally superintendent the
drawing OF numbers for the stands
For weeks before there had been much
complaining among the peddlers over the
proposed market. But that ceased imrne-
diately when. on this morning. the great
official who had come among them made a
speech, in which he declared that the mar
ket would prove of inestimable benefit. It
was not the prophecy-which has been full
filled, by the way-that won the peddlers:
1t was the circumstance that the speech was
In Yiddish. Commissioner Woodbury. is a
iingulst as well as an authority on
Having a weIl-defined area In which 10
display their wares, these poor peddlers
are no longer in fear of being shaken
gown gown In order to be able to do business.
Neither Is II, possible any more for the
city, when engaged in removing snow from
the streets. to be sboPn of tidy sum OF
money by divers tricks.
Under the old system of snow removal
the snow was removed by the load SO
much being paid for each load removed "a
cart being considered to hold a cubic ward
OF tne beautiful AS result, short loads
ruled, and, TO make matters worse tbesa
snort loads Were frequently taken inst
around the corner and there dumped
snort hauling, technically Speaking
tricks. common
Under the present system the surface araa
OF every street, from curb line TO curb Iine
mat is cleaned Of snow has been Calculated
iG
tanned from the weather bureau ana -,
the contractor reports that he has cleaned
say 9th avenue between 23d and ozfb
streets, and an inspector reports that thIs
is the case, the contractor gets paid for the
number of cubic yards of snow that fell a.
THIS section of the street. II there Is any
snort hauling" or short loads the CONTRACT
tor, not the city, is the loser.
Career as a Soldier.
In his work as chief street cleaner for
the metropolis. Maj. Woodbury's army ex-
perience has stood him in good stead.
he was commissioned major and CHIEF
surgeon, United States Volunteers Nav ~
1873; reported to Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke.
commanding Camp George II. Thomas
Chlekamauga Park. Ga, and was assigned
as chief surgeon and proceeded to Porto
flco with the expedition commanded by
MAJ. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, on July % lseS
BY special field order No 8. under dsta of
July 70 he was made sanitary p pector az
the Island of Porto Rico, and By special
ned order No. 81 he was made chief sur
geon or the army in field, August % He
served In this capacity until September %
of the same year.
That is the bare outline of his career In
me Spanash-Ameriean war, as given In rec
ora 4oi Us, office of the adjutant general
IN 1879 Maj Woodbury. was recomrnissior-
ca ana ordered to inspect. study and report
1n the German army in active field maneu-
vefs He was assigned to the Sixth Army
Ccrps, the hereditary grand duke of Sake
Miningen commanding. He served four
months In active field inaneuvers along the
russian frontier, and so well did he nut in
his time that the report he made later was
published as a public document by the
United States Senate
The major has introduced quite a few
military ideas into the street cleaning de-
partment, one being the quarterly inspec-
ton of the entire department. The men are
Tined up In the section stables and they and
their uniforms are rigidly inspected The
commissioner has found that by the simple
expedient of making the men keep their
buttons sewed on their uniforms the morale
Of the force has been appreciably elevated
Few can boast of a more extensive eduea-
ton than that which Mai. Woodbury. pos
sesses. He received his B.A on graduating
from Princeton In 1879 In 1881 he got his
MA. from his alma mater. the year follow
Ing his MD. from Bellevue and the ensuing
year he was enrolled a member of the Roy
al College of Surgeons London.
From the beginning OF his career he has
been intensely interested in sanitation. 1t Is
the work that he loves a circumstances
which explains his ability to keep going day
and night when heavy snowfalls come or
3ther emergencies spring up In his depart
nent of tie municipal government The
snow shoyelers are ever glad to see him
ski6ding their way in his automobile o. cold
nights. They have come to know that good.
not coffee is almost sure 70 be their portion
shortly after the commissioners departure.
They can't say for certainty that the conn
missioner is their patfon-they can only
put two and two together As for the COM
when he has been asked about
he seeming coincidence, he lets the question
>ass. lie Is that rarity among public ON
sfnlS~-a modest man.