Evening star., 1922-02-06
SNOW FOUGHT WHILE FALLING
UNDER PFHLADELPIiIA'S SYSTEM
Fleet Of Speedy Motor Plows. 1890 Men.
LILO Teams and City's Sewers
., - Keep Streets Cleared.

subordinate inspectors. Each inspec-
tor in charge of a district was pro-
vided. of course. with a set of plans
\ and specifications and was required
to keep in close touch with his con-
tractor by telephone, to be familiar
with the location OF the pIow truck
| garages and the addresses or the
crews. The police precincts also CO.
operated In making up and mobiliz-
ing contractors and city laborers for
snow work
The city telephone bureau in City
Hall was on duty day and night and
was required to notify the writer by
telephone at the first sign of snow
during the night. 1t was then his
duty to determine whether 1t would
be necessary to order out the snow
plows. If so. he notified his two
principal assistants by telephone.
They in turn each called their in
spectors-fn-cha of districts. These
! inspectors notified the plow contrac-
tors and within one hour after de-
eision to begin plcwing thirty power
1ul fast-moving plow trucks were
working in the snow districts. When
1t was decided that the storm would
warrant calling out the snow-removal
force OF men, trucks and teams word
went forth to that effect by telephone
10 the contractors and then very
quickly to the lahorers. through the
police officials. Usually by O'Clock
on the first morning of The storm
upward of 1000 men and 900 trucks
ana teams were at work. The plows.
WORKING during the night. had cleared
the main travelled way of the streets
and traffic conditions were almost
normal. And after the plows had
nnlshed the central streets they were
sent to outlying ESecttons- even, in
Iact. on main country roads. where
they operated in pairs or batteries
Formed Within Three Weeks.
The snow organization described
above was completed and put into
effect in Philadelphia within three
weeks of the snowstorms of Christ
mas eve. 1872.
The city engineers made their snow
ORGANIZATION successful in spite of
the very heavy handicaps of having
practically no funds, for. although
the cost of snow removal in Phila-
'deiphla sometimes amounted to sew
eral hundreds of thousands of dol
lars per annum, the annual appro-
priations available before the work
was done was never over $500
hardly enough to pay for a few
hours work. The balance had to he
met during the spring by deficiency
system been successful from the start
but many cities have based their
snow force reorganization more or
less on the Philadelphia plan. Or
course. the scope of the work varies
in different cities. For instance. while
Philadelphia undertakes to clean fifty
miles of streets. New York city flas
a program embracing over 800 miles,
but the practice is the same in both
cities. and every northern city should
adopt it.
The mayor of Philadelphia invited
various northern cities to snow
conference, which was held in that
city April 1917, 1914. Representa-.
tives of sixteen cities were present
and their report was presented at
the meeting of the American So
ciety of Municipal Engineers in De
cember, 1914. 1t might be noted tnat
one of the most active delegates I"
the snow conference and one Wh"
made some very valuable Suggestions
as to possible improvements in snow
removal practice was a former stree.
cleaning Commissioner of the city OF
Washington, ID. G.
Cost Of PIOws Slight.
In conclusion, 1t is suggested that
the recent snowstorm in Washingtcii
would not have caused ANYTHING IKE
been thirty or forty heavy auto
pIows. beginning on the evening OF
Saturday, January IS. and working
throughout the night and following
day. 1t costs comparatively little TO
coup a motor truck with "A plow
blade. 1t might readily be done at
the Army. Navy or Post Once
garages or machine shops in Wash
ington quite cheaply with surplus
war materials, of which the War De
partment has such large stores: The
government trucks are operating IN
Washington in large numbers ana
are under the control of engineer
Commissioner. having been recently
placed under his jurisdiction as
chief co-ordinator of motor trans
port by the director of the budset
II should. therefore, be within the
mower of the District officials to pre-
mare almost Immediately the snow
lighting motor plow equipment, which
most cities find has solved the most
important factor of the problem.