The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-09-05
New Yorl<'s Market on Wheels Gives
Board Of Health Plenty to do
and Keeps it Guess
ing.
Adopts AT DECEPTION
Hundreds Of Pounds Of Impure Food
Gathered up Every Day and
Destroyed by the
Officials.
UNITED Press Special Service

NEW YORK, Sept. 5.-One Of New
York's most peculiar and characteris-
tic industries, the push cart trade, is
the bane Of the lives of the inspectors
in the board of health and by the
same token the said inspectors are
the nemeses of the push cart ven
ders.
Swim de pickles, mamma; swim
de pickles. Here come the doctors,''
is familiar warning heard over the
east side, the vicinity mostly infested
by push carts. And mamma swims
the pickles by putting more brine on
them SO that by the time the inspec-
tors get around, there will Be no
pickles exposed above the line of the
liquid.
On the east side one may buy al
most every conceivable commodity
from push carts Egg plants, peaches.
pine apples, tomatoes, potatoes, let
tuce, cabbage, onions, meat fish and
in fact everything that the district
eats from the burdens of the carts,
not to mention shoes, clothing for both
men and women; hats, pocket knives,
umbrellas statuary, pictures, books
and magazines. And all these car
goes are regularly inspected. At
eight o'clock sharp on two mornings
each week four inspectors acting on
orders from the health commissioner
cover the congested district where
| the push carts thrive and confiscate
all the bad and decayed meats, fruits
and vegetables that they find. Incl
dentally, they gather up quite large
and varied assortment. A black GOV
cred wagon follows the inspectors OF
their rounds and into 1t is dumped al
the confiscated food Working il
pairs the inspectors pass along boil
sides of the push cart streets and of
ten they are hard put to 1t to flint
condemned fruit and vegetables 70
the smiling vendors are adopts a
handling their wares. More ofteI
than not the inspectors nose is hi.
only guide. A brand new push car
with shiny oilcloth cover may displa.
only 6 few piles of wrapping papel
or something equally harmless, while
a search will reveal rotten peache.
or other spoiled fruit.
Orchard street north of Delaney i!
a scene that gives lasting impress
| sion. Push carts line both sides o
the thorcughfare SO close together
! that it is impossible to squeeze be
tween them. The narrow sidewalk:
are covered indiscriminately with gar
bage receptacles, boxes and barrels
! Under foot are odds and ends which
| form the overflow from the barrel!
| and cans. Here on this street the in
spectors find their hardest work TIL,
/! traffic is congested and it is impos
sible at times to make any headwa.
at ALL In this district the Jewish
peddler is predominant. as is tn,
4 Italian in Elizabeth street, but thost
who display their wares in Orchart
4 street object to the inspection o
their goods and do not smile ingra
tiatingly like the Italians. Indigni
ties and imprecations are heaped up
on the quiet inspectors who go abou
1 attending to their business. Often
4 thrown bottle will smash itself at tn
feet of an inspector but he pays nj
attention. In foul cellar, the othe
day, measuring scant twenty b.
nine feet and presided over by al
old woman, the inspectors confiscate
nearly two hundred pounds of dc
cayed potatoes.
The inspectors also closely watc
the kosher butcher shops, which ar
as bad as the push carts. On ever
trip the health department men hav
to confiscate large quantities of fis
that has lain exposed to the air to
long. Meats are tested by runnin
skewers into them.
1t is a rule of the health depar
ment that all edibles must be covel
ed, and this causes almost as muc
trouble with the push cart men as tn
rule againts too ancient food stuffs
The ice cream cone men just will nc
keep their wares covered, and insis
that they keep it clean by wiping tn
dust off with rags.
Attorney street, where the whole
salers have their stores also is visi
ed regularly by the inspectors, an
sometimes goods there are confiscate
but not so often as in the push cal
districts. Another place that keep
the inspectors busy is the fish marke
at Williamsburg Bridge. Daily lib
insnnctnrs work there and often III e