Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-07-08
CLEANING If STREETS
What the Women of Kalamazoo.
 Mich., Have Accomplished.
CUT COST NEARLY IN HALF.
Women's Civic Improvement League Took Up Problem and Proved It Could Be Solvcd-How Streets We're FIushed-Cans Provided For Rubbish


 Could Be SoIved-How Streets Were
 FIushed-cans Provided For Rubbish.
 Writing on Charities and Con- mons," Caroline Bartlett Crane gives an account of what has been done by the Women's Civic Improvement league i'll Kalamazoo, Mich., city of 32,OOO population, to prove that it does not cost too much to have clean streets, says the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
 we studied the matter of street cleaning as we'll as we could, and then 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.
 "Second.-Immediately taking up each pile of dirt and depositing it, with the help of a small hand broom and shovel. into a bag suspended upon two wheeled
  about with him.
 'Third.-Tying the bags when filled and depositing 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 q definite portion of the street to keep clean and is held responsible for this portion.
 "Fifth.--A white uniform (of at least white coat and hat or helmeD and wa terproof outfit for rainy days.
 "Sixth.-Flushing tEe streets at stated 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 alleys and of the hdeous refuse dumps which disfgured 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 ill 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-hushing without noz- gle 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 were ; 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, fruit skins, peanut shells or other litter in the street. Put it in the waste paper can at the corner. And. gentlemen, please do not spit on the sidewalks or in the gratings 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 owners, sometimes to the health officer with the result that the alleys were cleaned up like magic and have been kept fairly clean ever since.
 "The experiment was an entire sue cess The street was clean, people liked 1t, visitors commented on it, mer- chants said the lack of dust in their stores was most noticeable, and we did 1t with no more cost to the city than the old dirty way-namely, $5 day.
 ''Then the street commissioner un- dertook to keep the street as clean as we did, but without the Waring sys- tenn. It cost him $8.90 day.
 "The league made to the city's com- nlittee on streets and bridges an ex- haustivc report showing the need of really clean streets throughout the paved district and demonstrating the superiority of the War1ng system and its relative cheapness. We succeeded In getting the Waring system inaugu- rated on three miles of pavement" et
 Planting and Care of Street Trees. All planting of trees on streets should be done by the town or by permanent organizations authorized to carry on the work. says the Los Angeles Times.