New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-02-18
STREETS CLEAN AND Uyo1EAx

commissioner WOOdburys report fs timely
IL appears simultaneously with the elimination
OF many and varied complaints Of uncleaned or
IA cieahed streets Such complaints have been
Increasingly numerous for many months. and
last week they led to public hearing unon
me subject given by an aldermanic committee
Al that hearing many criticisms Of the depart-
ment were made. Some were OF simnIe neg
lect some were of discrimination and sonaa
perhaps most We're Of idleness and loafng on
the part Of the street sweepers It is probable
that some Of the complaints were I'll founded
or mistaken, though there IS no doubt that some
OF them were valid, for nobody ia his senses
could have gone about this city during the last
lew months without perceiVing that the streets
were not as clean as they should have been
in wet weather there has been much mud and
in dry weather the air has often been filled
with choking and nauseating clouds of dust.
There can be 10 question that the streets are
unclean, but there may be much question as
TO the responsibility for their uncleanness
it is easy 10 say, as some are saying that
The streets are not as clean now as they were
q few years ago. That fact alone however
does not convict Commissioner Woodbury. of
inef6ciency or neglect The amount of work
required aud done and the amount of money
appropriated then and now must be taken into
consideration. According TO the report Just
made public. there has been In the last three
years an increase OF 279s per cent in the
amount OF work performed and of only 1905
per cent in expenditures. That is 10 say the
work has increased nearly three times as fast
and as much as the expenditures for #. Again.
there are those who unthinkingly say street
cleaning has been made easier by the substi-
tuition OF asphalt for stone pavements, and
therefore should be more perfectly done In
some respects an asphalted street may be easier
TO clean. In some respects IL is certainly harder
10 keep Clean or 10 keep seemingly clean. On
a stone paved street mud or dust will settle In
the interstices and the street will seem clean
while precisely that same amount of mud or
dust on an asphalted street would be most dis
agree2bly in evidence and the street would seem
altby To seem as clean as a stone pavement
then asphalt must really be much cleaner 1t
cen be satisfactorily cleaned only by washing.
and AS Commissioner Woodbury. says, there is
10 supply OF water for that purpose. Again,
there is The matter Of torn up streets II is de
red that in the Borough Of Manhattan there
is NOT CONTINUOUS half mile of sheet asphalt
that has remained undisturbed for thirty days
We are inclined TO think that statement is true
and we know that if il is true ii is disgraceful
There ought TO be end made Of this inces-
SAINT tearing up of streets. and il is Obvious
that until Il is stopped the streets cannot Ice
Kept clean. Another great evil referred to in
tie report is the use Il the streets for mixing
mortar and storing sand for building purposes
Such practices are common IN all parts of the
city. but il is perfectly obvious that with NOR
ra- bed or a huge pile OF sand in the street the
efforts Of sweepers TO keep the pavement for a