South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-04-21
Garbage Unexposed
During Collection
Germany Has Accomplished
Much in Way of Sanitary
Disposal of Refuse.

Here is a lesson for America. We
quote the following from Mabel Pot
ter Daggets article The German City
and the Housewife" Pictorial Review
for May.
In Rosika Won Hoffman's fyless
city, the collection of household refusa
is accomplished without any mess or
any muss. From her door 10 the dis
posal plant, the contents are never
exposed. Here ours have TO be
spilled and scattered all the way. IN
New York they are emptied and
handled over some five times before
being deposited az their final destlna-
ton. The refuse that rattles by my,
house and the other houses in New
FORK in open carts this morning, viii
be thrown on some ga dumps" To-
Gated along our river fronts and some
of them in the heart of the most con-
gested districts OF the city. These
reebing dumps 10 which the wagons
are always bringing more refuse fast
er than the scOWs can take 1t away
down the river. are permanent mu-
nicipal fixtures as are the garbdgd
cans along the East Side curbs Rag1
pickers hunt here, sorting out old tin
cans and bottles and paper. Stray
cats and dogs drag off bits of refuse
onto the sidewalks. Rats and mice
and reaches carry scraps of oftal into
their holes in the tenements. Billions
of flies here, as among the garOag5
cans, breed and feed on the polluted,
decaying vegetable matter and buzz
away to settle on the food in our groL
Gerry stores, our delicatessen stores, our
bakeries and our kitchens. And thd
New York city board of health grows
buster and buster each year asking for
larger and larger appropriations with
which to combat disease and fight thd
menace OF the fly.
Rushed Out of City.
That isn't the way that the SanitatI
spolizei in Berlin take care of tn d
health Of Rosika Won Hoffman's famI
lily. Her household refuse is rushed
out of the city on a railroad tralni
And it's going is as orderly as the COLI
lection of the daily mail. In somd
cities, as in Munich and Hamburg, tho
refuse cans are set out in neat array
along the sid walk 10 be taken at cerI
tain hours. In Hamburg where they
are pot out at p. m. and emptied az
night. the hOusehOlders must brinG
them in by a. m. or the police wiz
take the can TO the station house
where il will cost one mark to res
claim it. In Berlin the cans are not
put out at all. but the collector rlnea
the door bell and calls for them. Thd
of the house. IS no more Objectionable
than the florists wagon. The can to
be emptied is carried to the side OF
the truck, rested a moment on ~
small platform, then held HORIZONTALLY
with the top engaged in parallel
grooves along which 1t runs to posiE|
ton over a trap door in the wagon
body. At that moment the trap doom
opens. the cover of the can drops and
Il, &c through fh6
aperture which in the meantime isl
completely covered The truck when
loaded is run onto platform abovd
a railroad car, a second trap door I'M
the bottom opens and deposits tnd
contents directly into the car, which,
transports yhem TO the disposal planu
% miles out of Berlin.
The German government looks out
for the interests of the Hausfrau. Nd
wonder their women excel as ecOnom-
ical and competent housekeepers.
Last year in New York. $4,000, 000l
pounds of food was condemned by thd
authorities to be destroyed as unfit fori
consumption because it was spoiled.
And because of that curtailment of
the food supply, every housewife in
New York paid more for the Vege-
tables and the fruit that remained
Twenty-Five million pounds of food
wouldn't be permitted to spoil in Ber-
lin. There are sufficient market ia
ciities for getting it quickly and eco
nomically to the people. And beneath
the municipal market Halle are stor-
age vaults for keeping any surplus,
Above the Halle are the offices of the
municipal sales commissioners, which
is an equally important fact.
No Rotting Fruit.
In Germany, the farmer does not
prefer letting his fruit and vegetables
rot on the ground to dealing with un-
certain transportation charges and
commission brokers. He doesn't have
to. He can consign his produce saLe0
ly TO the municipal sales commission
ers. These are bonded city officials
who are forbidden to be interested di-
rectly or indirectly in the trade in
market wares OF any kind. They never
send anybody's produce to the bottom
Of the river Spree. The commission
ers sell II, and from the daily price
report issued by the market. thd
farmer can see that he gets what Isl
due him. In the same way his cattle
Will be handled at the municipal abb
attOir, from which there will be ref
turned 10 him a receipt indicating the
weight and the price. All meat inf
Berlin must be municipality slaughter4
ed under the supervision of the YETI
Urinary police. There is only thel
butcher TO combine perhaps with
other butchers 10 achieve an artificial
price. When he attained il. the gov
eminent regulates him back TO hist
proper place. In 1912 when the price
of meat advanced 10 per cent thei
Reichstag heard a mighty murmuR
arising from the housewives of Berlin