The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-05-27
THE CLEANUP MOVEMENT.

tCuSS VI ooAitoly oSlSAiSSS UAAN WIN SSAAS~
ency toward outdoor life has come
about a general housekeeping in the
greater, and lesser cities, of which we
find mention in many of our exchanges.
For example Ballard Wash. clubwomen,
assist 5y the Salmon Bay Improvement
club, have started out to make the
Single suburb the cleanest and prettiest
of Greater Seattle before the opening of
the Alaska-Y ukon-Pacifc fair. Ballard
is the greatest single manufac turing
center in the world, and the mill towns
usually are regarded as not clean, wheth-
er they are or not. But Ballard women,
in many instances the wives of the mill
owners themselves, are determined to
prove that this aphorism is not justified
in this locality. The aid of the school
children, school teachers, business men,
city officials and police department is to
be enlisted in making the movement
success. 1t is planned to give away 500
in cash prizes, this sum to be raised by
house to house canvass by the women
and the awards are to be made July |.
There will be prizes for the best kept
lawns. parking strips and sidewalks,
kitchen gardens and back yards.
Last month there was a cleaning cru
SADIE at the National Capital, although
the visitor would not suppose that neces-
'sary in what is generally recognized as
the handsomest city in the world. Yet a
recent statement shows that there were
cleansed BIOS vacant lots, 500 private
alleys, 10000 back yards and sheds made
tidy The good work is not to stop there.
Having given the city such a thorough
and systematic cleaning, an effort will
now be made to so stimulate public pride
that it will be kept in this spick and span
condition, making it not only a more at
tractive city but more healthful place
of residence. Clean, tidy water fronts
along the rivers and lakes or seashore
add greatly to the appearance of towns
situated by them and notable example
of the application of the beautiful to a
commercial waterway was afforded by
the city of Milwaukee during the year
1905 That city has three navigable
rivers, and because of their depth it is
one of the principal ports of the great
lakes The Milwaukee river passes
through an important jobbing district,
and over one of its bridges connecting
opposite sides of its principal retail
streets pass thousands of persons each
day During the summer months many
excursion steamers go up and down the
Milwaukee river, and it had been a sub
ject of common talk that the water front
as revealed to the passer-by, both on
land and water, was anything but pleas
ing-in fact, was discredit to city so
beautiful as Milwaukee.
AT the suggestion of the Women s Out
door Art Association a movement was
begun to rehablitate the water front
along the Milwaukee river. The COOP
GRAFTON of one Of the leading business or
CARNATIONS of the city was obtained and
a landscape artist invited to visit Mil
waukee to make tour of investigation
OF the river, the report of which he pre-
scented at mass meeting, when he offer
ed suggestions for immediate work The
first great thing to do was to remove
from the dock line great accumulations
of ashes, debris, broken boxes and dis
abIed signboards, and in that undertaking
the mayor of the city gave promise of
his active and immediate cooperation.
A general committee was formed, com
posed of representatives of various bust
ness associations. A canvass of the prop
erty owners along the streets fronting
the river was made for moral and finan-
cial support. A committee was appoint
ed to take charge of the special work of
replacing the bare spots, cleared of their
debris, with green grass, shrubs and
Towering plants. Window boxes We're
placed in some of the buildings, and rail-
ings were newly painted. A few, too
few, offensive billboards were taken
down, and a general atmosphere of
cleanliness and beauty pervaded the en-
tire territory, which before that had
been one of carelessness and positive ug-
illness.
That work, so we'll inaugurated last
year, is to be continued this year. The
commercial activities of the business
men along the river were in no way in
-terfered with, the attractiveness of the
city through one of it's entrances was
heightened, and the spread of civic pride
was alone we'll worth the effort and ex-
pense connected with it. What Mil
waukee did with its river fronts can be
accomplished by scores of other cities
and towns in all parts of the United
States.
Many prominent clubwomen having a
keen interest in public affairs, as shown
by their activity in the women's national
rivers and harbors congress for the pro-
motion of improved waterways, have
been enlisted recently in the movement
for the identification of American water
ways. In response to an invitation to