Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1919-10-04
REFORM
Administration Deals Death Blow to
Their Slogan of
Economy.
Street Cleaning a Lost Art With Our
Reform Board of Public
Works.
The Raise of keystone Police and
Firemen Draws Ire of
Taxpayers.
THE VACUUM CLEANER PASSES.

The decision of the courts against
the city on the street car strike,
which doesn't seem to have surprised
anyone, is just another expose of
the mistakes and blunders of the
local reform" administration, and
go where you may there is hardly
any criticism against the men or the
company, all of the resentment be-
ing displayed against near Mayor
Smith and the bungling reform"
administration. There were two pet
words used freely by the reform"
crowd In their prediction promises
one was reform" in our city and
county government and the other
was economy" Well, the numerous
holdups, assaults, graft charges
against the police, bugs in the
hospital food, etc., have given the
quietus to Old Man Reform and now
IL is apparent to everyone that the
economy" cry of Smithy and his
administration is being given a
knockout. This week the near Mayor
comes forward and asks for an
appropriation of cool million
dollars to run the city until thd
taxes are collected, being 100000
more than he asked for last year,
and the highest amount ever
borrowed by any Mayor to carry the
city over at this season.
The Street Cleaning Department
confessed early in the season that
there would be no funds to clean
the streets during the summer, and
judging from the looks of our
streets and alleyways today they
certainly told the truth. Way down
in the corner of our daily papers
this past week il was mentioned that
the Board of Works had decided to
do away with the vacuum cleaners
which cost thousands of dollors. the
hoard now savsnU that rklae cleaner
was unsatisfactory and II would cost
too much to get brushes. ETC. Alas
and alasl When we turn to the
files of the Louisville Herald, the
official organ of the ECONOMY" and
reform" administration, and read
about the purchase of the famous
street vacuum cleaners, In glowing
words the Herald complimented the
Board of Works for its splendid
foresight, and just dotted on how
much man power the wonderful
cleaner would save. Our streets
would be clean as a pin and Louis
Vile would be regular Utopia
from a street cleaning standpoint.
But what sad awakening. The
famous vacuum cleaner would only
work on certain streets and had a
bad habit of picking UP lighted cigar
butts, necessitating calling out the
fire department again and again.
Then it was found out that 1t need
ed all kinds of help, one man to
steer, one man to handle the refuse,
four or five to go in front. and pick
UP paper. straw. ETC., that wasn't
good for the cleaners digestion,
another to watch for the deadly
cigarette butts and finally a fore
man of the crew. All of the men
employed to assist could have
cleaned the streets easily without the
aid of the costly and bad acting
vacuum cleaner.
That's part of the sample
economy" practiced on the streets
in the center of the city, but you'll
have to score one for economy" In
street cleaning in other sections of
the city, as the board economical by
not cleaning the outlying sections
anu dllC10 ttl EoOllO OdNAA6
there. On Tenth street, south of
Oak, street cleaning is lost art,
that thoroughfare being correct
representation of one of the war
torn roads in Europe. Lately some
of the residents have resorted to
diplomacy and have placed pictures
of "Howdy Ed" Morrow in their
windows. Speaking of war there is
= - txkx~ ~
and Grand. There is a correct
portrayal of a war trench on that
street, which has mystified the
residents as to why 1T was built.
and some one is authority for the
statement that the trench takes the
place of a sewer in that section.
Score another for economy.
Geel how we used to read those
box scores OF the Louisville Herald,
in which it told how many jobs the
Board of Works was abolishing and
how much money would be saved
for street cleaning and improve
ments. Later on we believed this
to be true when we saw the Board
of Works and Board of Safety
spending money freely, believing the
money was coming out OF the fund
saved by abolishing useless jobs, :"
as the Herald said The board
purchased costly house boat for
motor boats, with day and night
Waterman attached, and while there
are not 100 motor boats In Louis
vile, New Albany and Jefferson
vile, no one kicked because the
board, through Davy Rose. who was
then Chairman, bought it, as It was
thought, out of the saving fund.
But what sad awakening. After
a year of economy and reform"
administration the boards street
cleaning fund is depleted and the
near Mayor has to borrow a million
dollars to conduct the taxpayers
affairs. Here's one more table or
box score many would like to see
the Louisville Herald publish, and