The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-26
CITY HALL NEWS.
Tomorrow Is ''Tin Can Day" in
Topeka.
Street Force Cleans Up All Al
ley Trash Gratis.
TO START AT SUNRISE.
Twenty Wagons and Forty Men
ON the Job.
other Items OF Interest From
the City Building.
70 START AT SUNRISE.

! Tfn-can Day in Topeka tomorrow.
/ The second annual crusade of Street
| Commissioner Frank Snyder is bound
! to a cur. Tomorrow morning at sun
| rise twenty big wagons and forty pow
| erful horses together with forty strong
| men-all of these will start on their
yearly march over the city for the pur-
pose of cleaning up alleys and back
yards.
A couple of years ago the idea of US
| ing the street gang for week to give
| the people of the of the city the benefit
| of the spring cleanup, was launched.
| AS result the street commissioner
picked up almost 500 big wagon loads
| Of tin cans and crockery from the back
| alleys and dumped them into holes and
| dumps in and around the city.
| The undertaking proved such sue
| cess that it will be tried again this
year-the first day is tomorrow and the
people of the city are hereby given due
| warning.
| The proposition is this-all citizens
who desire to have their old tin cans,
| stove pipes, crockery and the like haul
! ed away will gather them together this
| evening after working hours and pile
| them in one pile out in the alley. This
pile should only include the articles
| mentioned above. No grass, hay, sticks,
| wires or the like will be accepted
nothing but tin cans and their rela-
| tives.
The street commissioner will start
| out twenty big wagons early in the
| morning-these wagons will be side
| boarded as high as is possible to build
| them. They will start in the center of
the city. each wagon having a district
and each alley in Topeka will be passed
| through but once. If the material is
| not in the alley when the wagon makes
| this initial trip it will not be picked
up by the city free of charge.
| The trash gathered by the street de-
| partment will be dumped in holes over
the city-wherever there is a demand
| for them. On account of the long hauls
| that will have to be made this year it
| will take about week for the work to
be completed. Last year the material
| was dumped into the Shunganunga and
different places along the creek. Then
there were a number of places in the
| west part of the city. This year there
are a number. of holes over In North
| Topeka to be filled, few places along
the Kenwood sewer site. In fact every
hole over the city will be filled that
looks like place to be improved by
| such a course.
These crusades have proven more
than popular with the people over the
city. 1t costs considerable money to
have load of trash hauled from a
yard away outside the city limits and
the people always take advantage OF
the Spring March OF the street depart
i ment Mr. Snyder is enthusiastic over
/ the work and said this morning that he
would be glad if he had to haul thou
sand loads this year. Last year the
4 foods stopped the work and the cond1-
ton of the city has piled up to such an
extent that there will be miniature
mountains awaiting the two score men
when they make their trips in the
morning.
Tomorrow is the day of the upheaval
and tonight should be the family
gathering in which each and every
. member of all common citizens should
gather together-not at the fireside-
, but out in the back yard near the coal
| house.
There was a statement in the State
Journal Saturday evening that-if
, construed in the manner in Which it
appeared in print-would cast a re-
Election upon Chief Wilmarth OF the
, fire department, charging him with
criminal negligence for not condemn
ing the "blind' rooms in the fatal Cen
trail hotel where four men lost their
lives through the instantaneous spread
of a gas fire. 1t wild be remembered
that there is no law in the state of
| Kansas or the city of Topeka that
| gives Chief Wilmarth or any other
city or state official right to enter
just how he shall arrange his rooms
and repair them. Through informal
ton on the part of Chief Wilmarth
and County Attorney Sehenck the
laws concerning fire escapes at the
present time are in such a mixed up
condition that it is utterly impossible
to form any opinion or make any de-
: mands upon a property owner.
But there is not a law of any kind
. that will permit a man to walk into a
hotel and tell him just how he shall
arrange his rooms. In every city in
,, the country there are millions of
roms-especially in tenement houses
where the light of day has never
i'll, lnt he rio n
change them. 1t is a problem that is
before every fire chief in the average
American city today-and fire chief
: bewails the death of man in fire.
/ who has nothing to do but stand on
the sidewalk and shudder.
r There are very few Of these blind
I rooms in Topeka-but If there were a
thousand of them they would remain
so until they burned out or We're
, changed by the will of the owner
: unless new laws are passed. In the
= case of the Central hotel there were
r really no laws that would have hard
effect upon this building The fire
escape laws only provide for floors
above the second story A man +:
: supposed to reach the ground in
safety from the second floor.
The .'blind'' rooms in the Centra
s hotel were at one time open, vel
: lighted and ventilated rooms The
Webb building was built next dool
r and three windows were completely
r shut out. This left no way out ex.
;. cept through the Railways. If the
n men had not stopped to dress before
= escaping through the hall and thus
| saved their lives-is a question. Nc
t one seems to know just what space OF
g time elapsed between the time the
s gas ,ignited and leaped up into tbs
| second story. The night cook himseli
i can not decide upon the time-it al
S came so quickly and suddenly
The talk that is heard on the curb
s stones blaming Chief Wilmarth fol-
o the situation of the three blind
t rooms is without foundation what
e ever In the first place there is NJ
fire escape law for buildings under
o three stories in height and in the sec
n ond place the first marshal does no
have the authority to carry out suc'