The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-17
GARBAGE COLLECTIONS.

GARBAGE COLLECTIONS.
 At no time of the year is an efficient collection of garbage of such import ance as now Yet from all sides come the most urgent of complaints of the service rendered by the various con- tractors. Few houeeholders will be found to endorse the present methods, The complaints that are known to be pouring into the office of the board of health are more each day than they should be in month and that there are, not more of them Is due to the very fact that they seem to be given such little attention that to complain longer were useless Selecting names and addresses at random, the workers of the Associated Civic societies have sent oGt inquiries but to learn that, in nine cases out of ten, the present gar bage collections are of the worst type. So lnfrequently do the wagons come around that for days, and often for q fortnight or more, the death-breeding refuse remains in the vicinity of the dwellings of the city, often with chil- dren playing nearby. The association has indirectly come in for considerable t. ae A,,t al s, "A campaign, when it brought police pres sure to bear wherever necessary. to get householders to provide proper gar bage-cane Now those who have bought the cans, feel incensed against the association because they think 1t ought to see to 1t that proper collec tions are had.
 There seems to be little doubt as to where to lay the responsibility. It Is ultimately with the board of health, not with ite clerks or inspectors for they are not given the power to act. If the two principle contractors do not do just what they have agreed to do and what they are bonded to do, let their bonds be called and new contracts be made The fact that there may be no profit in the undertaking for the contractors, if it is really true, is not material That was their lookout when they contracted
 New Haven is far behind the times in 1 garbage collections. Even the arbitra- " machinery of the board of health's office works against proper system. l As it is now, 1t Is prescribed that all l complaints must be made in writing to the board Phone or verbal com 1 plants are hot deemed worthy of con 1 sideration. As the board only meets once in two weeks, 1t often happens that an urgent complaint may have to wait that long before it can possibly be considered and longer still, If 1t hap 1 pens I1Hl IHe DDdIu lidS Hlpit lnhll tlle ueual amount of business to attend to at the next subsequent meeting, How unfavorably New Haven compares with such a system as Philadelphia boasts. where "hurry-up" wagon Is dispatched to the locality of a phone complaint the moment it ls received. The New Haven ordinances provide that collections shall be made every other week day during the summer. Where is that done? They provide that every collection cart shall De freshly painted twice each year and be clean l at all times Where is such cart?
 If complainants to the board do not obtain the needed relief, let them writeto this paper and perhaps the lime light of publicity will do much good. The whole matter only emphasized the long-standing contention of The Jour nal-Courier that New Haven needs a municipality-owne garbage collection department and needs 1t badly.