Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1907-08-01
CLEANING OF STREETS
What the Women of Kalamazoo,
Mich, Have Accomplished.
CUT COST NEARLY IN HALF.
Women's Civic Improvement League
Took Up Problem and Proved 1t
Could Be Solved-How Streets Were
FIushed-Cans Provided For Rubbish.

Took Up Problem and Proved 1t
Could Be Solved-How Streets Were
FIushed-Cans Provided For Rubbish.
Writing on charities and Com
MONS" Caroline Bartlett Crane gives
an account of what has been done by
the Women's Civic Improvement
league in Kalamazoo, Mich, a city of
$4,000 population, to prove that 1t does
not cost too much to have clean streets,
says the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
I'VE studied the matter of street
we asked for and received permission
from the city council to take charge OF
six blocks of the main business street
for three months. Then we introduced
the Waring system. the salient fea-
lures of which are:
First.-Sweeping the pavements by
hand with push brooms and collecting the
dirt into piles.
econd.-Immediately taking up each
pile of dirt and depositing it, with the
help of a small hand broom and shovel,
into bag suspended upon a two Wheeled
bag carrier, which the sweeper pushes
about with him
..Third.-Tying the bags when filled and
deposlting them In convenient places In
alleys or along the street, to be removed
by wagon
Fourth. - The orderly or patrol
system. by which each man Is given
definite portion of the street to keep clean
and is held responsible for this portion.
"Fifth.--A white uniform tof at least
white coat and hat OF helmeU and wa
terproof outfit for rainy days.
'Sixth-Flushing the streets at stated
intervals-once a week-in the absence OF
drenching rains.
We secured carts, brooms, uniforms
for the men, and we made three neat
galvanized iron street cans, aluminium
painted and inscribed, For Waste Pa
per. Fruit Skins, ETC. We also succeed
ed in getting the council to pass an
antispitting ordinance. We took pho
tographs of all the filthy downtown
alleys and of the hideous refuse dumps
which disfigured our naturally beauti
full river banks.
.On the appointed day we began all
along the line at once. The men be
gan to seek the pavement, and after
they found it the fire department came
out at 3 o'clock in the morning with
some secondhand hose and flushed the
streets under the direction of the chair
man of the women's committee. DIFF
ferent ways of flushing were tried on
successive mornings until the right
way was found-fuShing without noZ-
zle from the middle of the street each
way and either bagging the storm
sewer entrances or stationing men
with hoes to keep the coarser dirt from
entering. OF course the best way to
flush is with a patent street flushing
machine which works with compress
ed air and which can be charged with
air as we'll as water at any street
hydrant.
"Our very attractive cans We're
placed at intervals on poles along the
streets and boys from our Junior
league distributed thousands of little
dodgers like this:
PLEASE!
"The Womens Civic improvement
league has undertaken to keep Main
street clean We ask YOU to help us.
Please do not throw anything-paper.
in the street. Put II in the waste paper
can at the corner. And. gentlemen, please
do not spit on the sidewalks or In the
gratinss or anywhere but In the gutter.
Now. please don't throw this in the
street,
"Our alley pictures were sent to the
tenants or the owaers. sometimes to
the health officer. with the result that
the alleys were cleaned up like DAgic
and have been kept fa1ly Glen ever
since.
"The experiment was an entire sue
cess, The street was clean, people
liked &. visitors commented on it, mer-
chants said the nsh of dust in their
stores was ,sost noticeable, and we did
ii with no Opre cost to the city than
the old dirty way--namely, $5 a day.
''Then the street commissioner un-
dertook to keep the street as clean as
we did, but without the Waring sys-
TEN. 1t cost HIN $500 day.
"The league made to the city's COM
mittee on streets and bridges an ex-
haustive report showing the need of
really clean streets throughout the
paved district and demonstrating the
superiority of the Waring system and
its relative cheapness. We succeeded
In getting the Waring system inaugu-
rated on three miles of pavement"
Watch the Gates.
The grange is growing by leaps ard
bounds in many states. Large classes
are being initiated. Let them not be
too large or SO large as to comprise
| some members who will be better out
| than I'm the grange.
In Kentucky the grange has taken
new lease Of life. Five hundred new
grange halls have been or soon will be
completed lN that state.