Year: 1877

cution in relation to the business of clean


ing the streets of New York among the


city officials, and as yet very little com


mon sense has been displayed by any


of the authorities who have discussed


the matter. Yet it seems very


simple problem and one which IT


does not require any very extraordinary
amount of genius to solve. We have in
New York about two hundred and fifty
miles of streets to keep clean. These have
to be swept, and the sweepings, together
with the ashes and garbage contributed by
the several dwellings and buildings in the
city. have to be removed. There cannot
be any difficulty about the disposal
| of the street sweepings and ashes,
as they are in demand all the time for the
| filling Of sunken lots, and there are no san
| itary objections to the use of the ashes for
that purpose The garbage, if faithfully
separated, would probably form one-third
OF the stuff to be removed, taking the aver
age Of the months in the year, and this
posed Of in some way not hazardous to the
public health. Under the present system
we pay about eight hundred thousand dol
lars year and the streets are not properly
cleaned; the ashes, sweepings and garbage
are mixed and dumped together, thus
creating dangerous nuisance if any
portion OF the street refuse is used
for filling purposes. and the stuff accu-
mulates on the hands Of the authorities,
who look about them with bewildered
air and do not know how to dispose OF it.
The question is, How can the work neglected
or untaithfully done by the present Street
Cleaning Bureau be thoroughly and satisfac-
torily performed and NJ what cost to the city !
This is plain, practical proposition, which
any person experienced in the street clean
ing business should be able to answer


The street cleaning authorities employ
at the present time five hundred men in the
work of street cleaning, and that they
have when pressed put on eight hum
dred men, but never more than the
latter number. It is impossible that with
this force they can honestly expend the
amount drawn by them from the city
treasury, even if the work were done and
the whole number of men employed every
working day in the year. The very state
ment is an admission that the public funds
appropriated to the Street Cleaning Bureau
are either misapplied or grossly squan-
dered in unnecessary expenses. Thou
sands of good laboring men in the city are
ready to work for one dollar day if they
o1< 4 n,,1o
and the authorities have, therefore, no right
to pay moro than that amount of wages for
street cleaning. One thousand men en-
ployed oil the year round and working on
every working day, excluding Sundays and
holidays, could 60 thoroughly over every
street in the city three times week, or at least
five times in two weeks, which would keep
the city as clean as it need be and much
cleaner than it has ever yet been. Four hum
dred carts, averaging ten loads a day each,
would in the 3O8 working days of the year
move 1,232, 900 loads, which is about one-fifth
pretend TO have removed in any one year
for the past four years. But it is notorious
that neither the sweepers nor the carts
could work every day all the year round.
There are times when the weather would
stop them. This would either save the cost
thus lost, or, what would be better, they
could be required to do extra work to
make up for the lost time and so insure
getting rid Of accumulations. The cost of
this force is not problematical. 1t would
be for the whole year, without any break in
the work, rs follows:-


one thousand at 81 day for 30s days s30S 900
-Four hundred carts At 81 30 pcr day Tor sos


days t$l, 900 per day.. sos, 900


Total. $6ls, 900


This would leave S1S4,OOO out of an
100000 appropriation for the expense
of dumping the garbage and. paying the
necessary clerk hire-an amount amply
sufficient to rid us Of all our present diff
fculties, give us clean streets and avoid
any peril to the public health from the city
garbage. This estimate is based upon
the experience of practical men, It is q
very simple calculation and proposition
which every man of common sense can un-
derstand as capable of being carried out at
any moment when competent and faithful
men are placed in authority over the street
cleaning business.


The present street cleaning authorities
pretend that they cannot get rid of the city
refuse which accumulates on their hands.
They are required to carry it out to sea and
dump 1T there, and their constant cry is
that the weather prevents their scows from
going outside the harbor and they have no
money to spend in building seaworthy
scows or in providing cremation
for the garbage. II they are thus
unable to remove the stuff, how is it that
they go on month after month spending
the full amount Of the appropriation just
as if the dirt and garbage were faithfully
collected and properly disposed Of? Be-
sides, if the garbage were collected separ-