New-York tribune., 1906-04-22
TROLLEY SAVING HORSES.
Improved Methods Of Handling Waste De-
ereasing Street Department Death Rate.

While the marble palace Of the Society for the
Prevention OF Crulety TO Animals in Madison
avenue has been continuous storm centre
throughout the winter. over in Brooklyn electrid
trolley cars have been quietly at work making
the lives of some hundreds Of horses easier than
they ever were before. A search in the dry
archives OF the Street Cleaning Department.
shows TO the curious investigator that an i'm
portant, If unnotced feature OF the system Of
dispOsing of the city's waste heap, now in opera
tion IN the borough. has been the saving IN wear
and tear TO the horses of the department.. Not
only, the report says. does the city lose fewer
by death now than ever before. but the condi-
ton of the survivors is far better than II used
TO be.
Last year Borough superintendent williaHR
S. Clarke reported that he had lost only
81 horses; the year before he had lost u; the
year before that. 119, and in 1902, los. This
high water mark, however, for 1902 IS
known 20 veterinarians and stablemen as "tne
glanders year; but the loss in 1903 OF 119 may
be regarded a fair average under the old
system of carting the refuse OF the city TO land
dumps The following year the present system
of bringing the waste to thirteen centrally To-
Gated receiving stations and removing IL from
these in large trolley cars was put in force
The results from a humanitarian point OF view,
were Immediately perceptible in the decrease OF
the death roll from 11S 10 u. The new system
however, was then only partially In working
order and IL was not until 1905 that all the re-
ceiving stations We're in operation and fully
equipped Under these improved conditions the
loss was only 6l almost exactly One-half of
what il had been years before.
The explanation OF these cheerful statistics IS
simple. Under the old system. the average haul
TO the inland dumps. scattered at various points
over the area Of Brooklyn, was estimated at
nearly two and one-half miles for the round
trip. In some instances the haul was nearer
four miles To-day each OF the receiving sta
tions is the centre Of rough circle having n
radius Of a mile. The average trip OF the horss
and cart the station and back is, therefore,
one mile also, the maximum being only two.
II Is not only, however, by reducing the dis
tance to be travelled that the strain upon the
horses has been lessened- Naturally. the old
dumps were in unimprOved sections OF the city.
where paved streets were something OF a rarity.
Probably a more potent factor In the past
than this IN swelling the roll of sick and dis
abled horses has been the great number OF cases
of blood poisoning, known in the stables OF the
department as nail cases" Despite the efforts
Of the late Colonel WariTg 10 convince the citi-
zens Of New York that il is absolutely essential
for them 10 keep their ashes separate from al
the accumulated rubbish OF a household, objects
OF all sorts find their way into the ash cans. and
among them are a gOodly quantity OF rusty nails
In another way, also, machinery has come 70
the rescue Of the cart horse. In most OF the re-
ceiving stations the big iron buckets into which
the ashes are first dumped have been sunk be-
low the surface OF the ground, providing level
entrance from the street for the carts.