Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-04-04
Cleanup Campaigns.

washington agitation for clean streets
| is always more or less active. In the
anti-litter campaign being carried on by
the Twentieth Century Club the ladies of
that organization have the Endorsement of
| all citizens who feel any interest in
Washington.
The resolution adopted by the club
and presented to the District Commits
sioners yesterday recite some obvious
facts. The capitals streets ought to be
models of good civic housekeeping. Some
times they are, sometimes they are not.
| Complaint against street litter Is quite
general among American cities. and in
some European cities this subject is dealt
with by the municipal authorities in a
rigorous way.
against the condition OF New York streets
and critcizes the police depa rtment 1t
| says:
Everybody knows, as DR.. Bensel. city
students of the College of Physicians and
| Surgeons, that the laws against throwing
refuse on the street are virtually a dead
letter. The police make no effort to en-
| force them, and no one makes any effort
to discover why. For the negligence of
the police department there is no excuse.
Neither is there for those persons, most
of them presumably self-respecting, who
out of sheer slovenliness scatter fruit
| skins, loose papers and other trash over
| the public streets. 1t is a common remark
| that New York in this respect is going
| backward. Yet an arrest would cause q
| sensation. Probably. many of the persons
who make the street a convenient Dump
| lng-grOund for banana skins and bits of
| paper would be the first to complain
about filthy streets and the street clean
ing department if similar conditions ex-
listed in front of their homes Public
cleanliness and public health are SO little
regarded. There can never be enough
sweepers to keep the streets clean if the
people of the city insist upon keeping
them filthy
Philadelphia has its litter problem, and
the Press of that city says:
| after a tour of inspection the mayor
finds that the streets Of the city are in a
| pretty clean condition, and concludes that
the contractors have done their work we'll
| The conclusion is in the main correct
The carelessness of some people in throw
ing waste paper into the streets was an
| noying. however. and the mayor would
like to find way to stop 1t. This has
| long been one of the difficulties about
keeping the streets presentable. When
they have been clean otherwise they have
often been Uttered with waste paper. 1t
is not the popularity of one section
More or less the whole city is affected
as If nearly everybody made it a practice
to throw paper into the streets. There
| is an act of the legislature on this sub
ject which might help the mayor out
some In his effort to keep the city beauti-
ful- Tnat act was passed In 1908 and
makes 1t unlawful for any person to
| throw waste paper, sweepings, ashes.
household waste or rubbish of any kind
into any street in any city. borough or
township of this commonwealth"
Spring cleaning editorials are cropping
up in many papers. Each spring the
newspapers using this kind of matter be-
come more numerous. This is one phase
of the development of the sense of civic
order and of city beauty. Spring cleaning
for city is good thing; 1t sets the peo-
pie to thinking about the subject. and
finally urges them to the practice Spring
cleaning will eventually be followed by
| summer, autumn and winter cleaning
and thus may be formed the habit of
keeping the city clean at all times. When
city once gets this habit dirt will not be
tolerated.
New Haven has big spring cleaning
campaign under way. The Register of
that city says: 1.-The agitation for another
general Easter cleanup of the less con-
spicuous but hardly less important spots
in this city, such as back yards and va
cant lots, is highly desirable. House
cleaning needs to be done at least once
every year, and backyard cleaning as
often as that Is also desirable. In some
cities the annual spring cleanup has be-
come a municipal habit. It's formation
would be good for New Haven
The New Haven Journal-Courier says:
"A fortnight ago In these columns we
asked it a second sweep-clean' campaign
could not be organized this year before
Easter Sunday. The public Spirited gen
tlemen of the Civic Federation almost i'm
mediately showed their gameness by
heartily answering in the affirmative and
announcing their preliminary plans for
the great event"
With a large number of outlying cities
enthusiastic in the matter of spring clean
ups Washington should not lag behind.