Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-10-19
.GET HORSES OUT
OF CITY STREETS
Economy and Health Conditions
Would Be Improved by
Action.

1t used to be the fashion of coun-
ties to bond themselves. to aid in the
construction of a railroad which
would open up it's lands or n
its villages. After a time. however,
railroads grew to such a strength
that this kind of public support was
no longer advisable. In many parts
of the United States communities for
years drew fine dividends from stocks
and bonds which they held in rail-
roads that were thus helped in in
fancy. All of these roads were en-
~terprises predicated upon future de-
velopments. There is therefore good
precedent for similar acton on the
part of cities, though nc bonding of
any kind is necessary.
The city Of New York Is annually
spending So, IT'S, 865.42 in It's depart
ment of street cleaning, a very large
part of which goes for street sweep
ing. All American cities are spending
in proportion. The leading cities Of
the United States are, combined,
spending a gigantic sum each year
to keep the public thoroughfares even
approximately clean.
Most of the dirt in the public
streets is caused by horses. In other
words, the use of horses on city
streets makes it necessary to main
tain very costly street cleaning de-
partments. Why would it not, there
fore, be good economy on the part of
the city of New York and every other
city to hasten the day when the use
of horses in cities will be entirely
abolished by substituting trucks ac-
cording to their tonnage? 1t would
not only be more economical to use
some of the money now expended in
street cleaning for truck subsidies,
but it would directly and indirectly
promote the health of every. city.
If all the horses were taken out Of
New York city today the appropria-
ton for street cleaning would be i'm
mensely cut, and, besides, there would
be greater freedom from offensive
dust, and hence greater freedom from
disease. Scientists tell us that the
common house-fy is one of the great
est carriers of disease; that the house
fly breeds most p~rolifically about
stables; therefore, the elimination Of
horses from the city would perforce
make for better sanitary conditions.
Now that the experimental stage Of
the automobile has long since passed,
the American cities are, in tolerating
horses upon their streets, in the po-
sition of bailing out the sink instead
of shutting off the water at the
faucet, for they continue to spend
millions for cleaning the streets when
they might better encourage the use
of modern time-saving and labor
saving trucks by urging business
houses to adopt them. 1t has always
been the chief function of the gov
eminent to aid public thought in the
direction which it should go, and to
encourage the use of trucks by a
modest subsidy seems to be entirely
within the province of any munich
pality, especially since ssuch subsidy
is not an expenditure of money in
the ordinary sense, but would be an
immediate saving to the city SO offer
trucks along the lines suggested
would at the best have to be prac-
tised but a few years, whereas the
saving In street cleaning when II
would Immediately effect would 60
on practically forever. Besides the
saving in street cleaning, the BAN
ishment of the horses from the
streets actually e saving the
pavements from millions upon mil
lions of constantly beating hammers,
for the hoof of every horse is a ham
mer that is forever pounding down
upon the pavement with destructive
force, whereas the rubber-tired truck,
having no sharp surfaces, distributes
it's weight in such manner that the
wear upon the pavement is inconse-
quential compared with the wear
coming from the pounding of the
sharp-shod horses. Kidding the city
of horses also eliminates a fire risk,
gives more storage room and more
room in the streets.