Evening star., 1925-01-10
PARLEY ON SNOW
CALLED BY BELL
Plans to Clear Streets in Fu-
ture DoWnfaIIs Sought by
Commissioner.

While the street cleaning depart
ment prepared today to attack Wash
ington's second snowstorm with the
facilities available, Engineer Com
missioner Bell took the first step to-
day for the formation of a snow de-
fense committee.
He addressed letter to the Chamber
of Commerce, the Merchants and Manu-
facturers' Association and the Board
of Trade, asking them to send repre-
sentatives TO a meeting in his ONCE
at o'clock Friday, January IL, tc
organize this committee.
1t Is Col. Bells thought that such
a committee could work out com
prehensive plan for the removal OF
snow, deciding how much money
should be spent on storms OF Vari-
Gus proportions, what areas should be
cleaned first and how to muster to-
gether the necessary number or men
when the occasion arises.
Many Problems to Face.
TT is apparent" Col. Bell said in
his letter, that for light snow
falling at a time when weather con
ditions are favorable for its early
disappearance the expenditure OF
funds in it's removal would be
waste of public money. Our funds
are not so ample that we can anord
to spend any of them except for
very meritorious things. For snow
of medium depth, say from four to
six inches, we have a different prob
lem. The expenditure of some
money would, no doubt, be advisable
to afford convenience to the public
"a, z.t fy,Q NV nv
interfered with.
For a heavy snow OF more than six
inches, 1t seems to me. that we should
have an approved plan OF just what
should be done, as we had in the levee
defense work when l was on the
Mississippi River. We wish your
assistance in determining just what
should be done and how much money
should be expended.
TT has been estimated that It would
cost something like $1,000 a mile to
haul snow from our city streets with
trucks. Since we have nearly 400
miles of streets in the District of
Columbia it is apparent that to at
tempt to haul snow away from all the
street areas would cost over $4,000, ,00O
and consume with the limited labor
dumping places and trucks available
a considerable amount of time"
1T Is apparent, therefore, that the
areas which should be cleaned of snow
by this method should be selected with
great care.
Scrapers Fail Downtown.
For our suburban roads 1t seems
apparent that the use of scrapers oil
brushes of some kind would provide
the necessary relief by throwing the
snow to the sides of the road. Fol
our city streets, however, his means
of meeting the problem does not beal
promise Of good results. On most OF
our streets automobiles are parked
near the curb. and throwing the snow
from the center of the street woulc
result in creating a ridge which th'
automobiles would have to cross ii
going, to and from the curb" -
Col. Bell says in his letter that man.
different methods for the removal o
snow are suggested. such as the US
of snow, liquid flame and flushing
with water. Many OF these things, h
said, have been tried with unsatisfac
tory results, but he adds that any wei
considered suggestion should be givel
a trial.
The Street railway companies ha
some OF their sweepers in operation
this morning, and were keeping Il
communication with Morris Hacker
superintendent of city street cleanine {
so that they could combine force
later in the day in keeping transpor
tation open IL the snow shows evi
dence of piling up.