The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-02-17
SUPERINTENDENT COIN
WANTS PHYSICALLY FIT
Says Street Cleaning Work Demands
Men Who Are UP TO Normal
In strength
BOARD BACKS SUGGESTION
Hereafter All Applicants For Positions
In Street Cleaning Department Mast
Submit to Physical Examination by
City Doctor.

dent Henry Cohn. OF TIE street Clean
ing Department. the Nj,ail 'strative
Board yesterday adopted a resolution
placing the dep1rtmeu. uEeu the ply
steal ability basis
Every applicant for position in the
street Cleaning Department from now
on must go through physical exalnl-
nation, 10 be conducted b. DIR. j. X.
German, OF the Virginia Hospital
In making his recommendation, My.
Cohn explained that there were many
men in his department physically amt
for some parts Of the work. Heavy
articles must be lifted. and men VINO
are not physically able TO attend TO
the duties are detrimental TO the i'm
provement OF the service.
Superintendent Cohr yesterday sub
mitted his annual report to tho Mayor,
The document Is an interesting one:
Mr.. Cohn deprecates the necessity OF
Cleaning up weeks" II the law were
carried out, he said. there woul0 re
no such occasion. md II the people
cleaned out their premises every weck,
as they should. there would be no de-
mand for extraordinary cleaning The
report says;
mo branch Of public service more
Closely touches the daily lives ana
varied interests OF the people OK or
cities than that which 10 responsible
for the condition Of the streets II
tho streets are well kept and x they
are clean. they are HCt only pleasing
to the eye and comforting is the mind
but the atmosphere which hes over
and above them carries n menace
to >he health OF those VINO must
breathe 1t.
AS these truths have become to
be recognized tho jewellers IN cIUes
become more and more concerned as
the conditions Of their streets ana
more interested in those ontrusto-
with the care % the streets.
1T seems that the interest shown
in our city has been only ~ tao eA-
tent OF fault-lndiug
''On April J. 1915 ~ order 81 the
Administrative Board Of our city the
Department OF Street Cleaning seas
reorganized and divided into two d.
visions east and west from Fifth
Street the West End stables being
located at tho Fair Grounds and the
East End stables, "a heretofore, at
Marshall and Fifteenth Street
The men and equipment wcre
nearly equally divided, and all were
placed IN charge OF q district super
intendent with three forerueu. each
Of whom has direct charge. respective
~. OF street cleaning. collection Of
ashes and trash and. collection %
garbage.
THE d,f-tslon of the force has I'm
proved the efficiency % tho depart
ment. and the result ;heretrom Is very
gratifying.
Should Take Pride In streets.
The streets belong "a the people
and they should take some pride IN
helping 10 keep them clean instead
OF littering them with trash and other
refuse.
.'The present careless ana tndirer-
ert manner in which the citizens re-
gard the laws of the city, ten times
as many men as are on the force
would have f. hard tim. IN keepinR
same clean,
III Is hardly comprchen=. bic that
grown men and women should he so
devoid of all respect for the Jaws I'M
der which they lie
Why should II he necessary 10
have cleaning up week. Were The
laws adhered TO. this would prove IN
necessary. The department has rec
commended regulation size recepta-
Gle Gas they have In other rtt.es) for
ashes and trash but same ha" never
been adopted, Ashes are being placed
in receptaCles of all sizes ana when
filied weigh from three pounds 10 500
pounds.
There are about e12 miles Of
streets and SO miles Of alleys In the
city. There are sixty-three men with
which to do this work
lis 1t reasonable 10 suppose that
such a small force can keep this area
clean? This meanr that each man
has three and a half miles. Of streets
and two and third miles OF alleys 10
keep clean
Prom the records Of the Building
Inspectors Office We find that there
are a. 800 buildings lin the city from
| which to make collections Of ashes,
trash and garbage.
Each of these buildings has trash
Of some description 10 be renewed.
"Etghty-two men are detailed for
/ this work. and 1t can be seen that one
man is expected to collect the refuse
from 3S4 buildings,
Nineteen men are collecting sarb-
age from the above number Of houses.
. which makes an average or LOO
buildings from which garbage Is coll
. lected by one man. Collections are
made twice each week throughout the
year, and during that time tod calls
are made at each house. making a
total OF 17e.S00 calls during the year.
or b64.s calls per day for each coIlec-
tor.
The disposal of garbage during the
year became a weighty question during
the summer months.
THE disposal plants would not burn
all of the garbage, therefore. we be-
gan hauling the overflow to the coun-
try to the nearby places until the
county officers called u halt; then tAe
haul had to be made as much as ten
miles one way to get rid of same
This was done by auto trucks and
horse drawn wagons. and as much as
500 tons was carried to be disposed of
in this manner, which was very un-
satisfactory.
1T is TO be hoped that the same
conditions will not prevail another sea-
son
The city pound for dogs and goats
Is still situated at the extreme end
of St. John Street. 1t was hoped that
by this time it would have been rebuilt
on the stable lot located at Marshall
and Fifteenth Streets. but we find that
funds were not available.
During the year 2.027 dogs were
taken up from the streets, thereby
Kidding the city Of great nuisance
"On April ! the hands and carts
Force. under the City Engineers de-
nartment, was abolished and the men
and teams placed under the Depart
ment of street Cleaning. to be done
under the supervision OF the superin-
tendent of this department.
1T is a recognized fact that this
handful of twenty men have done
good work, building and repairing