The sun., 1916-12-22
CITY STREETS LIE
DEEP IN OILY OOZE
Rain, Snow and Clay Give Mud
Baths to Christmas
Shoppers.
SEWER OPENINGS CLOGGED
Mire Promises to Continue
Over Yulctide Unless
Frost Arrives.

Unless frost or the Street Cleaning
Department intervenes New York will
have n dark brown Christmas. The
streets OF the town were thick yesterday
with an ooze made up In equal parts
Of dirty snow. excavated clay and water
Under the feet Of the shoppers and IN,
other walking throngs the mire was dis.
trlbuted equally throughout the city.
Fftful flashes of the sun gave no relief
from the mud.
II was a slime that chung. From the
millions OF wheels of motor cars. truck,
and street cars 1t was flung upward. 4,
dropped from the ~ structures; IA
fell from window lodges and c~orrlces.
Everything AMI everybody WAS saturated
with II. The homegoing hordes I'D.
peared as II just from battle trenches.
Responsibility IL hard to place. Much
Of the blame rests, Of course. on the I'm.
removed snow. The piles that had been
left In streets since last weeks storm,
with the white layer that fell on Wednrs.
day night. dlsintegregated and spread
out thinly. They blended happily with
the muddy heaps OF dirt tina, subway
construction and other digging work
have left in every part OF town. The
day broke warm and dismal. melting
much OF what remained Of the snow.
Many levers Are Damned.
Ordinarily the sewers would have re-
ceived much Of he muck. but they have
! been overlooked with the snow OF re-
cent days. Tit mud clotted agains, the
drain openings and damned the natural
flow.
The bruised thorouKhfarc. Broadway.
looked more forlorn than ever after
several million feet had sloshcd along
it. Wooden pavements swcl'ed up. the
holes IN what remain of the asphalt be-
came pools. 1t was "A veritable sluice-
way.
Fifth avenue presented little better
appearance. Vehicles from every par,
OF town brought to It dirt and mud that
remained where put. except when the
hurrying wheels splashed IL into the faces
of those who had to cross the highway.
Seventh avenue. beneath most of which
subway work Is going on. was nothing
but a mudnat. Lexington avenue. which
also has its share of subway construc-
ton, was an avenue in flow.
In Madison avenue building operations
and the snow piles that had been lef,
between 1t and Park avenue made it,
ear tracks rivulets for the ooZe.
Other Acres of Mud.
Eighth avenue with its bumps and
c~revicee In the asphal. perfectly accom-.
moda;ed the mud. West street was wha.
one shivors about in dreams. What little
Z there is Of Park avenue was the most
pr seutahle t~horourhfsrc in Manhattan.
The side streets were even worse than
tho longitudinal channels. All the way
from Fourteenth street TO Fifty-u.n'h
and then In the main crosstowrs streets
above that the condition vas indescyb b.
able.
II was n situation that brought horses
to their knees at every few blocks. one
that made automobiles skid. even those
with chains. Necessarily all vehicIla-
traffic va compelled To slow down and
tn : added to the towns pligh, or the
sidewalks tn" grip under foot was ,t''s
bersr. Hundreds OF women laden VITA
bundles slipped aud fell in tho mud.
The other borourhs shared Mammal.
tan's fate. Street cleaners KEEP; 20 Their
work as best they could. but their hos,
merely was a transfer of ;h" mud from
one spot To another. as the sewers ve-s
filed TO OVERLOOKING. Only after uieh'.
fall, when there seemed To he lt'le ycoe.
poet Of n sudden odd wave, could they
battle properly with the problem ~
flushing the streets. This did not r..
LEV" th" pressure ON the sewers. IN; {
diluted the dirt, 50 the town may present
u better appearance this morning