SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said "Sver'tbing comes t' him who waits 8-xcept a loaned book." /^5>/* 7* ^Ac jJ f J- < I 8 3 S | \ ^ oH C B 2. d co 9- 5 g a CO r-K Hj- * 8 a 3 £ ' CD .CO CD d 3 « o po CO n id if M O p. ft M O CL CL a £> Is 3 d O CD re 5' Q O aT 2 co O 5. CTQ 3 ft cn *< ea O 2. i-h 3 3 n o 3 3 o CD >1 O >-h 00 •1 CD CD 31 <— ► O CD Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/streetcleaningdiOOwari_0 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library STREET-CLEANING AND THE DISPOSAL OF A CITY'S WAS 1 ES: METHODS AND RESULTS AND THE EFFECT UPON PUB- LIC HEALTH, PUBLIC MORALS, AND MUNICIPAL PROSPERITY STREET-CLEANING AND THE DISPOSAL OF A CITY'S WASTES: METHODS AND RESULTS AND THE EFFECT UPON PUBLIC HEALTH, PUBLIC MORALS, AND MUNICIPAL PROSPERITY J* 0* BY GEORGE E. WARING, JR., COMMISSIONER OF STREET-CLEANING IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. 1899 Copy right, 1897, by DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO WILLIAM L. STRONG MAYOR OF NEW YORK TO WHOSE EARNEST SUPPORT SUCCESS IN MY DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN SO LARGELY DUE CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE L History 1 II. Conditions under Recent Administrations . . 6 III. The Effect of Political Control as Shown by the Condition of the Department at the Beginning of the Present Administration .... 12 IV. The Reorganization of the Force . . . . 19 V. Street-sweeping 37 VI. Carting 43 VII. Final Disposition of Garbage 47 VIII. Final Disposition of Street-sweepings and Ashes . 68 IX. Final Disposition of Paper and Rubbish . . 74 X. Stock and Plant 81 By Major H. C. Cushing, Assistant Superintendent. XL The Removal of Snow ...... 91 By H. L. Stidham, Snow-inspector. XII. Street-railroads and Pavements in New York . 110 XHL Street-cleaning in Europe: A Report of Observa- tions Made in the Summer of 1896 . . .117 XIV. The Juvenile Street-cleaning Leagues . . .177 By David Willard, D. S. C, Supervisor. XV. Conclusion 187 Appendix 193 Index 225 vii * LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Annual Parade ........ 3 In Front of No. 9 Varick Place, March 17, 1893 between pp. 6, 7 The Same Street, May 29, 1895 .... between pp. 6, 7 Morton Street, Corner of Bedford, Looking toward Bleecker Street, March 17, 1893 . . . between pp. 8, 9 The Same Street, May 29, 1895 .... between pp. 8, 9 A Section Foreman 39 A Sweeper with his Bag-carrier and Tools ... 40 Sweepers' Tools 41 Near the Light-ship, Sandy Hook. Unloading Deck-scows with Forks 69 A Barney Dumper at Sea, with its Tug .... 70 The Delehanty Self-propelling Automatic Dumping-boat "Cinderella" 71 Loading a Scow with Refuse 75 Sorting the Rags and Other Articles of Value under the Old-fashioned Dumping-board 76 Travbling-belt and the Picking-gang .... 77 The Belt Rising to the Feed-door of the Furnace . . 78 Streets Cleaned of Snow in Average Storm, Prior to 1895 96 Streets Cleaned of Snow, February 12 to February 16, 1897 99 Figs. 1-9, Diagrams of Pavement and Railroad-track 111-115 Comparison of Formel with Present Removal of Snow . 191 ix CHAPTER I HISTORY UP to 1881 the cleaning of the streets of New York was under the charge of a bureau of the Police Department. There is little to be found in the city's records as to the manner in which the work was done, but it was evidently very unsatisfactory to the people. In 1881 the Department of Street-Cleaning was created by law, and Mr. James S. Coleman was made the first commissioner, being appointed by the mayor, with the approval of the Board of Health. He held the office for nearly nine years. In 1882 he let out the cleaning of the streets south of Fourteenth Street to contractors, doing the work north of that street with his own forces. * The contract system was continued through nearly his whole term. He said: " Broadway below Fourteenth Street is not included in the contractors' districts. Nominally it is cleaned partly by the city and partly by the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad Company, the charter of the latter obliging it to clean that portion of the roadway which 1 * 2 STREET-CLEANING lies between the car-tracks and within two feet of them on either side; the Department of Street-Cleaning has charge of the remainder. As a matter of fact, however, the whole work is done under a special agreement whereby the possibly conflicting and complicated double work by the railroad company and the department is avoided." This contract is still maintained. In Mr. Coleman's report of 1889 he speaks of numerous aggravating impediments to good work, many of which still exist. Laws and ordinances seemed to have had no effect on the people. Mr. Coleman says: " A good deal of time might be employed in the enumeration of cul- pable acts and shameful delinquencies on the part of the merchants and householders. It has frequently happened that the street-sweeping machine has passed down the street, and before it has reached the nearest corner men and women have been seen deliberately emptying recep- tacles full of refuse and rubbish from their shops or residences upon the pavements just swept. Handbills and other printed matter distributed to pedestrians were thrown on the sidewalk or street. . . . Such things were not done, perhaps, because the offenders had resolved to be blameworthy and contemptuous, but because they were imbued with the spirit of indifference to the public welfare and had long been accustomed to do such things without fear of the law." He estimated that there were " close to fifty thousand " vehicles in the streets, while the law regulating the deposit of building-material ;.nd rubbish was notoriously disregarded. Gutters were ob- structed by such material, stopping flowage and causing pools of stagnant water to stand on the street. Mr. Horace Loomis held the office of commissioner from January 17, 1890, until April 4 of the same year, 4 STREET-CLEANING when Mr. Hans S. Beattie was appointed. He was suc- ceeded by Mr. Thomas S. Brennan, September 17, 1891. In 1892 the department was entirely reorganized, as the result of a careful investigation of the whole subject made by a committee appointed by Mayor Grant. Mr. Brennan was reappointed under this law. He was suc- ceeded by Mr. William S. Andrews, July 21, 1893, and he by the writer, January 15, 1895. The report of Mayor Grant's committee is very full and instructive. It shows practically that the depart- ment was not efficiently managed, and gives ample details as to its defects The committee reached the following general conclusion: " With good labor, skilfully organized and properly superintended, the streets can unques- tionably be kept clean. With labor employed on the present methods, no organization, however skilful, and no superintendence, however faithful, can produce en- tirely satisfactory results." After reciting the laws and ordinances, the committee expressed its opinion that New York should be one of the cleanest cities in the world. " Practically it is one of the dirtiest, because they are so habitually violated and so feebly enforced as to become dead letters." Concerning the cost of the work it is said that " this sum of more than a million and a quarter of dollars, however, b = no means represents the total amount ex- pended for street-cleaning and removing refuse. It is well known that many householders, in order to secure clean streets in front of their premises, employ private street-cleaners; others employ private ashmen to take their ash-barrels from within the gate under the stoop, so as to avoid putting the ashes out in front of the house; and still others fee the public ashman to perform HISTORY 5 this service— a practice which, it is stated, makes the position of ashman on certain routes much sought after." This committee set forth with emphasis the serious objections to the universal practice of standing trucks in the streets. It also conducted an experiment in the sweeping of a certain district by the " block system." This portion of its report is worthy of very careful consideration, be- cause it resulted in the adoption of the system now in vogue. The reports of Commissioner Coleman and of Mayor Grant's committee are copiously quoted in the Appendix, and those readers who are interested in anything like a careful study of the subject will find reference thereto most important. The more recent history of the department and its operations relates to the conditions existing immediately prior to the inauguration of Mayor Strong and to what it has since done. This is given in the following chap- ters relating to specific branches of the subject. CHAPTER II CONDITIONS UNDER RECENT ADMINISTRATIONS HAVING thus stated the prominent historical facts in connection with the Department of Street- Cleaning of New York, attention will now be given to the conditions which obtained under the ad- ministration of the new law of 1892, this being during the last fourteen months of the administration of Com- missioner Brennan and all of that of Commissioner Andrews, or from May 9, 1892, to January 15, 1895, when the control of the work fell to me. The very unsatisfactory condition of the streets, and the demoralization of the department at that time, were, and still are, matters of notoriety. The character and the causes of this condition are sufficiently shown in the preceding chapter. The kernel of it all lies in the fact, especially set forth by Commissioner Beattie, that men were not employed for work in the Department of Street-Cleaning because they were suitable for the work, but because their ap- pointment was urged by politicians and for political reasons. 6 a FORMER CONDITIONS 7 The necessary result of such a state of affairs appeared very fully in the illustrated description of the condition of the streets, and of the degree of their encumbrance and their neglect, made by a committee of the City Club, with a view to securing the removal of Commissioner Brennan for neglect of duty. A large number of photographs were taken, showing the condition of the streets in March, 1893, and affidavits were published, describing the manner in which the work of street-cleaning was done and neglected. Two of these are reproduced here, in contrast with pho- tographs of the identical spots taken the end of May, 1895. Such illustrative contrasts might be duplicated for the entire collection of the City Club, for every block in New York is now as clean as those shown here. The condi- tion of the streets as photographed in 1893 was further set forth in the accompanying affidavits, which testify to the inefficiency of the department at that time. These affidavits are very voluminous, and they relate to some hundreds of different points. The photographs were taken at a time when the snow and ice had not entirely melted, and due allowance is to be made for this. The following are some of the descriptions set forth in the affidavits: " Opposite No. 379 [East Fourth Street] there was about a ton of ashes, garbage, old cloth, tin cans, and five old barrels. ... In front of Nos. 344 and 346 there were seven barrels, refuse overflowing all over the sidewalks. ... The general condition of this street was bad. I have enumerated the most filthy places; but all along the street it has the appearance of being the dumping- ground of the whole ward. 8 STREET-CLEANING "This street [Pitt Street] was also very dirty; mud, ashes, filth, and garbage lay all over it to the depth of about eight inches. " On Ludlow Street, from the corner of Stanton, the street is very filthy. Trucks, wagons, and carts were standing in filth of every kind from one to two feet deep, and the street was covered with old paper, rags, ashes, garbage, straw, and general refuse. " On the west side of Thompson Street, from Houston Street north, were piles of snow, ice, mud, garbage, and general filth, from three to four feet high, on which trucks and wagons were piled. Opposite nearly every door there were overflowing barrels of refuse. On Sullivan Street, from Houston to Bleecker, barrels of ashes and garbage were in front of nearly every door; and along the side of the street piles of garbage, old rags, tins, oyster-shells, old paper, and general refuse, from two to four feet high, from which a bad stench arose. " On Bedford Street, in front of No. 139, were two barrels of refuse on the sidewalk, and about three barrels more dumped around them. . . . This street was dirty all along. I have specified the worst places only. " A man named Calder, of 688 Washington Street, volunteered the information that the ashman had not been there for six weeks. "The whole block [in Greenwich Street] was in as bad a condition throughout, and twenty-one trucks were stationed upon it. In No. 395 a woman informed me that ashes had only been taken away twice in two weeks. The box in front of this house has the refuse of four houses dumped into it, and she said it should be emptied at least three times a week to keep the refuse from being MORTON STREET, CORNER OP BEDFORD, LOOKING TOWARD BLEECKER STREET, MARCH 17, 1893. € FORMER CONDITIONS 9 scattered over the walk. At this time a heap of ashes lay in front of the house on the street. " There was a pile of garbage in front of Van Holten & Bay's store at 500 Ninth Avenue. A clerk in the store said that people had to dump the garbage in the gutters, because the carts of the Street-Cleaning Department did not take it away. He could not remember the last time the block was cleaned." I remember, as a characteristic incident, that a few days after my appointment I drove down-town with my wife, and passed through Elizabeth Street, which was no worse than most other obscure streets of the city. She begged me to resign at once and go back to Newport, saying, "It is utterly hopeless. You surely can never clean Elizabeth Street; you will only disgrace yourself by trying to do it." This street was lined on both sides at midday with unharnessed trucks; the sidewalks were thick with overflowing ash and garbage receptacles; black mud was several inches deep in the street, and the side- walks themselves were slimy with the filth tracked on to them from the crossings. The people had a squalid and hopeless air, and the outlook was certainly very dis- couraging. The same condition prevailed throughout the more densely peopled quarters, and even in the relatively quiet and respectable streets running from Bleecker Street toward the North River there was little evidence that systematic cleaning had been carried on for a long time. I have no knowledge of the methods prevailing under the predecessors of Commissioner Andrews; but I do know that he had done the best that he could, under his limitations, to improve the situation. The department still feels, and always will feel, the influence of his in- 10 STREET-CLEANING telligence and zeal in the theoretical part of his work. He secured the passage of several amendments to the law organizing the department which are of the greatest value— amendments which could be obtained now only by an influential Republican politician, and without which good work would be almost impossible. He told me during my tutelage many things confirma- tory of what is said in the following chapter as to the effect of political control. He had been promised abso- lute independence in the matter of appointments and dismissals. He very early found it necessary to dismiss an important member of the clerical force, whose habits made him practically worthless. He immediately felt the weight of a higher authority, and was told, " So-and- so is my man; you must take him back." He did take him back, and he took a back seat from that time for- ward. I have recently been told by a stable foreman, who is a " hold-over from Tammany times," and who is a most excellent and efficient officer, that it was absolutely impossible to get work properly done under the old re- gime. For example, a man had been sent to him to be put " on the floor," meaning that he was to be used as a general utility man about the stable. The foreman found him inefficient, and told him he must go to work. The man replied, "I did n't come here to work." He was reported at once for dismissal, and was suspended. He returned the next day, reinstated and irremovable. I could give a hundred instances of similar cases, but the above are sufficient. Reasoning backward, one could now reconstruct, by restoring the former methods, the same horrible condition of the streets that then existed. That condition was a natural consequence of the stultify- ing of the efforts of any commissioner by the superior FORMER COXDITIONS 11 power of ward politicians and their superiors. The streets of the city are now measurably clean— cleaner than they have ever been before; but if the hands of the commissioner and his staff were tied by the absolute destruction of discipline which political control must give, they would relapse into their former condition within three months. The records show that at the end of Commissioner Andrews's term the uniformed force consisted of the following: 1 general superintendent, 1 assistant superin- tendent, 11 district superintendents, 58 foremen, 1275 sweepers, 908 drivers. As to the plant, there were 684 horses, 619 carts and trucks, 87 sprinkling-wagons, and 76 sweeping-machines. CHAPTER III THE EFFECT OF POLITICAL CONTROL AS SHOWN BY THE CONDITION OF THE DEPARTMENT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION ^ I ^HE tendency to ascribe former defects of the Department of Street-Cleaning in New York City A to one political party, as such, seems to me not to be fair. I had this prevailing tendency myself when I first took office; but experience has taught me that it was a question, not of party, but of politics. I have no reason now to suppose that matters would have been in any wise better had the other party been in control of the city government. Whatever may be the differences of their members in avocation or in attainments, when it is a question of the government of the city by the spoilsmen ^or the party, there is nothing to choose be- tween political organizations. I am, to this extent, no more an anti-Tammany man than I should be an anti-Republican man if Republicans had brought about the same defects had their party been in power. In describing the former condition of the streets and of the department, I am making no criticism 12 POLITICAL CONTROL 13 of Tammany Hall, only of politics as the ruling factor in city government. The improved present condition could not have been brought about without an absolute disre- gard of all political considerations in the management of the business. My work has succeeded because it has been done for its own sake alone. The same success awaits any competent man who will manage any other of the city departments on the same principle. If the whole city is ever so managed the people will be glad. Whatever the cause, no one will now question that the former condition of the streets was bad— very bad. No one can question the truth of the following description: Before 1895 the streets were almost universally in a filthy state. In wet weather they were covered with slime, and in dry weather the air was filled with dust. Artificial sprinkling in summer converted the dust into mud, and the drying winds changed the mud to powder. Rubbish of all kinds, garbage, and ashes lay neglected in the streets, and in the hot weather the city stank with the emanations of putrefying organic matter. It was not always possible to see the pavement, because of the dirt that covered it. One expert, a former contractor of street-cleaning, told me that West Broadway could not be cleaned, because it was so coated with grease from wagon-axles; it was really coated with slimy mud. / The sewer inlets were clogged with refuse. Dirty paper was prevalent everywhere, and black rottenness was seen and smelled on every hand. The practice of standing unharnessed trucks and wagons in the public streets was well-nigh universal in all except the main thoroughfares and the better resi- dence districts. The Board of Health made an enumera- 14 STREET-CLEANING tion of vehicles so standing on Sunday, counting twenty- five thousand on a portion of one side of the city; they reached the conclusion that there were in all more than sixty thousand. These trucks not only restricted traffic and made complete street-cleaning practically impossible, but they were harbors of vice and crime. Thieves and highwaymen made them their dens, toughs caroused in them, both sexes resorted to them, and they were used for the vilest purposes, until they became, both figura- tively and literally, a stench in the nostrils of the people. In the crowded districts they were a veritable nocturnal hell. Against all this the poor people were powerless to get relief. The highest city officials, after feeble at- tempts at removal, declared that New York was so peculiarly constructed (having no alleys through which the rear of the lots could be reached) that its commerce could not be carried on unless this privilege w T ere given to its truckmen; in short, the removal of the trucks was " an impossibility." There was also some peculiarity about New York which made it inevitable that it should have dirty streets. Other towns might be clean, but not this one. Such civic pride as existed had to admit these two unfortunate drawbacks. The average annual death-rate from 1882 to 1894, in- clusive, was 26.78 per thousand persons living— equal to more than fifty thousand deaths in the year on the basis of the present population. Eye and throat diseases due to dust, and especially to putrid dust, were rife. No effort was made to remove snow for the comfort of the people, only for the convenience of traffic. But little more than twenty miles of streets were cleared after a POLITICAL CONTROL 16 snow-storm. As a result, the people, especially the poorer people who could not change their wet clothing and could not buy rubber shoes, suffered to an alarming degree from colds and their results. The department itself was such as its work would in- dicate. Like all large bodies of men engaged in any stated duty, its force had much good material, but it was mainly material gone to waste for lack of proper control. It was hardly an organization; there was no spirit in it; few of its members felt secure in their positions; no sweeper who was not an unusually powerful political worker knew at what moment the politician who had got him his place would have him turned out to make room for another. A ledger account of patronage was kept with each Assemb'y district, and district leaders are even said to have had practically full control of the debit and credit columns, so that they could deposit a dismissal and check out an appointment at will. Useful service can be had from no force thus controlled. Nearly every man in the department was assessed for the political fund. I have seen an order, signed by one of my predecessors, practically directing every sweeper and driver to pay to the chief clerk a certain percentage of each week's pay. This was to be used for " political n purposes— how or by whom or for whom was not stated. The working-men of the force generally were in a miser- able condition; they were the objects of ridicule and scorn, and they knew it. They did such work as they were compelled to do, and, as a rule, they did no more. Nominally, they wore a uniform, but they were not dis- tinguished by it. The district superintendents and foremen, as a rule, either could not exercise effective 16 STREET-CLEANING control over their men, or they did not take the trouble to do so. Nothing was done with a will ; the organiza- tion, as a whole, was a slouch. The stock and plant were what they might have been expected to be under these conditions. In some of the stables there was not even an extra set of cart-harness, and some that were in use were mended by the drivers, on the streets, with bits of wire and string. Disorder and demoralization were the rule. This is a severe condemnation of a department that spent $2,366,419.49 in a year (in 1894), as against $2,776,- 749.31 in 1896, and did ineffective work with it; but it is just. The condition of the streets, of the force, and of the stock was the fault of no man and of no set of men. It was the fault of the system. The department was throttled by partizan control— so throttled it could neither do good work, command its own respect and that of the public, nor maintain its material in good order. It was run as an adjunct of a political organization. In that capacity it was a marked success. It paid fat trib- ute; it fed thousands of voters, and it gave power and influence to hundreds of political leaders. It had this appointed function, and it performed it well. When I took charge of the department I found the district superintendents and foremen more or less uni- formed. Few, if any, of them wore the complete uni- form, and still fewer had a promising look. They seemed to be an easy-going, happy-go-lucky set of men, who had made up their minds that it was not possible to improve the state of affairs, and who had learned to make the best of the situation. The sweepers wore a sort of brownish suit, save when they found it more convenient to wear something else, and, pretty generally, grayish- POLITICAL CONTROL 17 brown caps with the letters " D. S. C." on the front. They kept their tools at home, in cellars under saloons, in yards behind corner groceries, in livery stables, or wherever else they could get permission to store them. Their roll-calls were at the street-corner or on the gut- ter. They had no habitation, and they seemed hardly fit to have a name. Commissioner Andrews had inaugurated a system of section stations, by which the men of each two sections adjoining would have a place of meeting and storage- room for their tools in a room of their own; but this custom had by no means become general at the time when he left office. The stables were ill kept and dis- orderly, and w r ere largely the resort of friendly idlers of the neighborhood. It is hardly necessary to extend this description. The only thing that could be said in favor of it was that it was quite uniform in iis lack of uniformity. There was little evidence of a controlling central authority. As I have since had ample occasion to learn, very many of the officers, and of the men as well, were first- rate material, who needed only proper guiding to become effective. In fact, it is not too much to say that the best of the workmen and some of the best of the officers of to-day were among those described above. There seems to have been no effort made to restrain the tendency for drink, which was conspicuous, especially among the drivers. Dismissals in the working-force for gross drunkenness were, of course, frequent; but a man could safely drink pretty steadily throughout the day without endangering his position. The neighborhood of the various dumps to which the drivers take their loads of refuse used to be specially valuable as sites for the 18 STREET-CLEANING liquor traffic. One owner tells me that in 1894 opposite one of the dumps he had four saloon-keeper tenants, whose rents ranged from eleven hundred to fifteen hun- dred dollars per annum. There is now only one of these saloons left open, and that pays a rental of only four hundred dollars per annum. My early acquaintance with the department was not without its amusing incidents. I found, for example, that the general superintendent had an unusual capacity for handling the roughly organized force employed in the removal of snow. He had been reported to me as a Tammany captain, and as one of the chief agencies through which his political organization had worked the department. He was strongly recommended for dis- missal. Remembering the wise injunction " not go swap horses when crossing a stream," I waited until the snow season had passed. I then sent for him, and told him that he had been represented as a "rank Tammany man," etc. He said with mild submission, " Whenever you want my resignation, it is at your service." I said, " Don't be quite so fast; let me hear your version of your case." He said, " Do you know what a Tammany man is? It is a man who votes for his job. I have been a Tammany man, and a faithful one. I have worked for the organi- zation; I have paid regular contributions to it. But I am a waring man now." He probably saw an unex- plained smile on my face, for he said, " Don't misunder- stand me. If Tammany comes into power again I shall be a Tammany man again." This frankness met its re- ward, and I have had the great advantage of Mr. William Robbing's active and earnest assistance from that day to this, and I trust to have it for many a long day yet. CHAPTER IV THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE I ACCEPTED the commissionership of street-cleaning with the positive assurance of Mayor Strong that I should not be interfered with in the matter of ap- pointments and dismissals, and that I should " have my own way " generally. His power to dismiss me is un- limited, and he could get rid of me any day if I did not suit him; but so long as I should remain I was to be the real head of my department. The mayor has lived up to his promise from that day to this. I have sometimes been a sore trial to him, especially in my relations with certain pensioners and labor leaders, and he has wished he might wash his hands of me more than once; but he saw reasons for bearing with my conduct until the storm blew over. He has never tried to influence me in the matter of " patronage," nor has he ever insisted on con- trolling the policy of my work. If he had done otherwise the result would not have been the same. At the outset the employees of the department ex- pected to be turned out, as a matter of course. Their positions were spoils which belonged^to the victors, and 19 20 STREET-CLEANING they were filled with apprehension as to their future bread and butter. They knew the public would not longer put up with unclean streets, and that the clean sweeping demanded might properly begin with them. Knowing that organizations of men are good or bad according to the way in which they are handled, that " a good colonel makes a good regiment," I paid attention first to those at the top— to the colonels. I found the general superintendent to be an excellent man for his duties, while most of the others were from very indiffer- ent to decidedly bad. These were got rid of. In filling their places I sought men mainly with military training or with technical education and practice, not one of whom had any political alliance which he was not willing to sever. They were nearly all young men. When the important offices had been filled attention was turned to the rank and file of the working-force. The men were assured that their future rested solely with themselves; that if they did their work faithfully and well, kept away from drink, treated citizens civilly, and tried to make themselves a credit to the department, there was no power in the city that could get them out of their places, so long as I stayed in mine. On the other hand, if they were drunkards, incompetent, black- guards, or loafers, no power could keep them in. When they found that I really meant what I said— and it took them some time to get such a strange new idea into their heads— they took on a new heart of hope, and turned their eyes to the front. From that day their improve- ment has been constant and most satisfactory. Their white uniforms, once so derided, have been a great help to them, and they know it; and the recognition of the people has done still more for them. Indeed, the parade THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE 21 of 1896 marked an era in their history. It introduced them to the prime favor of a public by which, one short year before, they had been contemned; and the public saw that these men were proud of their positions, were self- respecting, and were the object of pride on the part of their friends and relatives who clustered along their line of march. What has really been done has been to put a man in- stead of a voter at the other end of the broom-handle. The " White Wings " are by no means white angels, but they are a splendid body of men, a body on which the people of New York can depend for any needed service, without regard to hours or personal comfort. A trusted sweeper, for example, will stand on a windy dock-log all night long, and night after night, protecting the city against the wiles and tricks of the snow-carters. He gets no extra pay for this, but his extra service and his hardship are compensated by the consciousness that he is doing good work, that his good work is appreciated by his officers, and that the force to which he belongs is winning public favor partly because of what he himself is doing. In other words, the whole department is actuated by a real esprit de corps, without which no organization of men can do its best, either in war or in peace. The discipline is rigid and uniform. It is regulated and enforced according to these rules, which are posted in all section stations and stables: The following abstract of the offenses of drivers and sweepers in the de- partment. and the penalties prescribed therefor, is published for the infor- mation and guidance of all concerned. Hereafter any offense will be reported (on the prescribed form and in the exist tag manner, through the stable fore- man in the case of drivers, and through the section foreman, approved by the district superintendent, in the case of sweeper^) as a lirst, second third, or 22 STREET-CLEANING fourth violation of Rule , and the recommendation for punishment must not exceed the code of penalties. When the prescribed penalty is dismissal, the offender may be suspended without pay, awaiting the action of the commissioner. A fourth violation of rules, of whatever character, will indicate that the man is incorrigible, and he may be dismissed. Except in the case of men recommended for dismissal, there will be no suspensions. The punishment will be forfeiture of pay, and men who refuse to work while subject to such forfeiture will be at once dismissed. This order will be posted on the bulletin boards at stables and section stations, and every employee of the department will be assumed to under- stand it. Explanation : " D " means dismissal. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 mean the forfeiture of so many days' pay. PENALTY •I CHARACTER OF OFFENSE Offense ^ 1st 2d 3d 4th 1. Absence for more than five days without authority of the commissioner . D 2. Failure to report or send notice to foreman when sick 1 3D 3. Absence from roll-call at proper hour ... 1 2 ? D 4. Failure to return to stable or section station prompt- ly after work is over and reporting time to stable foreman, section foreman, or clerk .... 2 3 5 D 5. Failure to provide himself with the prescribed uni- form, oilskin suits, sweater, and badge after rea- sonable time . . D C. Failure to wear prescribed uniform and badge while on duty in the manner directed by orders . 3 D 7. Neglect to keep uniform and cap in neat condition 1 2 3 D 8. Failure to keep horse, harness, cart, machine, etc., in g ;od order, and failing to report injury to them to foreman at once 1 3 5 D 9. Driving, using, or interfering with any horse, cart, harness, machine, etc., not assigned to him by proper authority, without good reason ... 1 3 5 D 10. Neglecting or abusing a horse, whipping or striking a horse, using a horse which is sick or lame, and fail- ing to take such horse to stable or reporting him to foreman D 11. Neglecting to adjust harness properly while at work 1 3 5 I) 12. Neglecting to have lost shoes replaced on horse at nearest department stable as soon as practicable . 1 3 5 D 13. Leaving cart, etc., and horse unattended in street without good reason 1 35 1> 14. Failure to feed horse properly during swing . . D 15. Failure to water horse properly during work hours . D If). Failure to remove bits and to dump carts while feed- ing at noon 5 D 17. Deliberately trotting or galloping a horse ... 5 10 D 18. Failure properly to rare for horse, harness, cart, etc., before leaving stable after return from work . I> 19. Loitering at work 2 5 1) THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE 23 PENALTY 1 CHARACTER OF OFFENSE Offense g 1st 2d 3d 20. Failure to clean up his route or area of streets as- signed, properly, by reason of neglect or loafing .3 5 1) 21. Failure or refusal to obey orders of superiors . .1) 22. Having a helper or conductor with him without au- thority D 23. Sorting over or picking over refuse or permitting others so to do D 24. Neglecting to pick up and remove small stones found on route, and failing to report large ones or. other obstructions lying in the street, ~such as gutter- planks, etc., to* section foreman .... 25. Taking up anything but ashes, garbage, and street- sweepings, except where they are mixed in small quantities in a receptacle or ash-barrel . 26. Removing the contents of more than one receptacle so mixed, from one place, and neglecting to report such condition to section foreman .... 27. Mixing ashes and garbage together in districts where it is forbidden 28. Neglecting to report to district superintendents, sta- ble foremen, or section foremen, where suitable receptacles are not provided, where they are im- properly filled, and where refuse is spilled on side- walks or streets 29. Neglecting to keep load covered and allowing it to blow or spill on street 30. Failing to have cart number exposed .... 31. Failing to provide himself with the xiroper imple- ments to perform the work assigned him 32. Accepting or demanding a fee or gratuity for work done 33. Entering a liquor saloon during work hours 34. Being under the influence of liquor while on duty . 35. Using abusive or threatening language to a superior 36. Failing to turn over his dump ticket at end of day's work to foreman or clerk at stable .... 37. Failure to report promptly defects in brooms or mechanism of machines to foreman 38. Neglect of driver or sweeper to water street properly to lay the dust 39. Using machine before street is sprinkled . 40. Neglect to close hydrant after use .... 41. Failing to report change of residence to foreman 42. Removing improper material 43. Being boisterous or using profane language or any incivility to citizens 44. Failure to keep gutters and culverts clear and clean 45. Failure to keep dirt -piles at the regulation distance from the curbstone 48. Absence from post of duty without reasonable ex- cuse . . . 1 3 5 I) 9 5 2 5 D 5 D 3 5 D 3 D 3 5 D 1 3 5 D D 3 D D D 3 D 1 3 5 D 3 5 I) D 5 D 10 D 10 1) 1 3 5 1) 3 I) 1 3 1) 1 9 3 1) o 3 5 I) 3 1) 24 STREET-CLEANING „ PENALTY •3 CHARACTER OF OFFENSE Offense 1st 2d 3d 4th 49. Failure to clean up any dirt, ashes, or garbage left or spilled upon the street or sidewalk by any de- partment driver or drivers ; or failure to report the facts to the foreman on same day, giving name or names and badge number or numbers of the driver or drivers, if known, with the exact place and time, as near as possible, at which such ashes or garbage was spilled or left upon the street or sidewalk .1 3 5 D 50. Failure to replace receptacles within the stoop or area line after emptying the contents of same into cart 1 3 5 D During the first year of my administration as commis- sioner of street-cleaning I found that in the maintenance of discipline frequent appeals from my decisions were made by the men. These decisions were necessarily based mainly on official reports. In order that no em- ployee should be treated unjustly, I undertook, in the beginning, either to give each complainant a hearing myself, or to deputize some other official to do so for me. This occupied so much time as to interfere with the regu- lar department business, and was not always satisfactory to the men themselves. After a study of the Belgian method of " arbitration and conciliation," and of the experiences in this country of the mason builders and the bricklayers, I conceived a scheme which would afford the men an ample hearing before a competent and unprejudiced committee of their own creation. The earlier stages of each investigation would be absolutely under the control of this committee, and the entire force would be in close touch with its work. The feature of this scheme which requires a prelim- inary consideration of all questions, whether personal or general, by a body constituted entirely of representatives of the employees themselves, is, I believe, original. Early in January, 1896, I addressed the following THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE 25 unofficial communication to the " Employees of the Department " : In order to establish friendly and useful relations between the men in the working-force and the officers of the department, I shall be glad to see an organization formed among the men for the discussion of all matters of interest. This organization will be represented by five spokesmen in a " board of conference," in which the commissioner will be represented by the general superintendent, the chief clerk, one district superintendent, one section foreman, and one stable foreman. It is suggested that the men who gather at each section station and the men at each stable (with the boardmen from the nearest dumps) each elect one of their number to represent them in a general commit- tee of forty-one (thirty-two from section stations and nine from stables), and that this general committee elect the five spokesmen by whom it is to be represented in the Board of Conference. The general committee will meet in a room, to be provided for it, at 2 P. If. on every Thursday, except the third Thursday of each month. The members will not have their time docked for this. Their meetings will be secret, and they will be expected to discuss with perfect free- dom everything connected with their work, their relations with the commissioner and his subordinates, and all questions of discipline, duties, pay, etc., in which they are interested, or which their sections, stables, and dumps may have submitted to them. The Board of Conference will meet at 2 P. M. on the third Thursday of each month, or as near to this date as the exigencies of the work will allow. The ten members of the Board of Conference will be on a perfect equality. It will establish its own organization and rules of procedure, and will elect one of its members permanent chairman and another per- manent secretary, one of these to be chosen from the five officers, and another from the five spokesmen. It is hoped that this board will be able to settle every question that may come up to the satisfaction of all concerned, because most differ- ences can be adjusted by discussions in which both sides are fairly represented. Should any matter arise as to which the board cannot come to a sub- stantial agreement, the permanent^ chairman and the permanent 26 STREET-CLEANING secretary will argue the case before the commissioner, who will try to reach a fair conclusion upon it. In conformity with the foregoing call, the sweepers and drivers organized the Committee of Forty-one, represen- tatives being chosen entirely by themselves. This com- mittee, after several meetings, elected from its number five men— three sweepers and two drivers— to represent it in the Board of Conference, The Board of Conference held its first meeting Febru- ary 20, 1896. Every appointee was present, and in or- ganizing the board a sweeper was unanimously chosen as permanent chairman, and the chief clerk as permanent secretary. The following is taken from an account of the opera- tions of the system, written by the secretary of the Board of Conference: " From the beginning it was evident that a large num- ber of the men had a very full appreciation of the purpose of the plan. They welcomed it in a manly spirit, and entered heartily into every detail of organization. This was the more strange in view of the radical change of venue, as it were. A large percentage of the men were members of, and amenable to, organizations which had existed in the department under former administrations, and the influence from these sources could not be ex- pected to cea^e without an effort on the part of those whose success depended upon dissensions which mi^ht occur, or which they could create, between the commis- sioner and the men, and who often deceived and misled into serious and embarrassing situations those whose interests they were supposed to have at heart and to protect. THE REORGANIZATION* OF THE FORCE 27 "Aside from those identified by membership with these organizations, there were many, not members, who held a latent sympathy with the old system of set- tling difficulties by strikes. In fact, it was generally understood that wrongs must be either borne or righted by coercion. Arbitration was looked upon as a far-off theory, applicable, perhaps, at times, somewhere, and under certain conditions; but the idea of its adaptation to and adoption by a municipal department of the city of New York, and especially by the Department of Street- Cleaning, where political preference was the only rule they had ever known, had never entered their minds. In fact, they were warned by skeptics, both outside of the department and among themselves, to 1 look out for War- ing; this is one of his tricks.' That any commissioner of street-cleaning, even though he were an ' angel/ should honestly intend and honestly endeavor to deal fairly with the rank and file of those under him was too much to believe. There must, they thought, be some sinister motive behind it. " Gradually, however, the better element among the men did believe in it; and as their faith grew stronger the malcontents were either converted or thrust out, and slowly but surely the Committee of Forty-one became a body of earnest and honest cooperators with the com- missioner toward the mutual confidence so essential for contentment on the part of the men, and without which the best results from the combined efforts of the com- missioner and themselves could not be expected. " A very false impression obtains among the public at large that the men constituting the membership of the department sweepers and drivers are below the average in intelligence and acumen. TJis is not the case. Not 28 STREET-CLEANING all of them have enjoyed the advantages of a scholarly education (although some of them have), but it would be a happy day for this country were the average legislator to display the fairness and judgment of these men who have been chosen by their respective constituents as representatives. " Of course, in the beginning, and while the proposed plan of arbitration was an unknown quantity to the men, and they themselves unknown to each other, dead-wood drifted in and disturbing spirits appeared; but, as inti- mated above, this element was soon detected and in an orderly manner eliminated. " The Committee of Forty-one has, since its first meet- ing, met every Thursday, except the third Thursday in each month. Its meetings are held with closed doors, and its discussions have, therefore, been free from any surveillance or influence, and, as was intended, entirely private and unrestrained. " Perhaps the best way of explaining the general character of the work is to cite illustrating sample cases. For instance: " Driver A of Stable has been reported by an in- spector as entering a liquor saloon during working-hours and in full uniform, and remaining inside for ten minutes — this in violation of a very important rule, the penalty for the second offense being dismissal. Driver A admits entering the door of the saloon, and also admits remain- ing inside for ten minutes, but has an explanation to make as to his reasons for so doing. Argument in all such cases cannot be allowed, lest the officers of the de- partment would have time for little else than to listen to lame excuses and bogus explanations. Driver A has now, however, another recourse. He calls upon his rep- THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE 29 resentative in the Committee of Forty-one and explains the matter to him fully, confirming his statement in writing. His representative submits the case at the next meeting of the committee, and there the plea of A is read and discussed by his co-laborers. His explanation is that the door which he entered is one of two leading to the saloon, but which also leads to a tenement in the rear of the saloon, in which he has his home. It appeared from his explanation that his wife had been confined recently, and that, as his home was on his way to the dump, his natural anxiety promp f ed him to stop for a moment. He submitted, in confirmation of his statement, the certifi- cate of a reliable physician in the neighborhood, in whose hands his wife's case was, and, having requested his fore- man to accompany him to his home, submitted a letter from him substantiating his statement. He also pro- duced letters from both his foreman and his district superintendent stating that he was never known to have been under the influence of liquor, nor had he ever been charged with entering a saloon before. These officials said that he was a reliable and careful driver. "At its next meeting the committee investigated the matter, and after gathering confirmatory testimony is persuaded that A's claim is a just one, and there- fore referred the case to the Board of Conference, with such additional light as it had been able to obtain. This board is so constituted that no matter what the charac- ter of the case referred to it by the Committee of Forty- one may be, there is always one member representing the commissioner qualified by his position and experience to judge of its merits. " The man has now taken lr> case two steps toward the commissioner, and thus far without the latter's 30 STREET-CLEANING knowledge. To facilitate quick adjustment, these mat- ters are, before being considered by the board, referred in an informal way to one of its official members. This official brings with him to the meeting the result of his informal investigation and copies of the department records relating to the case. Thus the board is able to consider A's claim impartially, and also to determine its truthfulness. After due consideration the matter is re- ferred to an official in the department having charge of such business, with the recommendation that the fine be remitted. " By the foregoing process a budget of papers relating to each case is arranged in chronological order and sub- mitted to the commissioner, who at a glance can com- prehend it from beginning to end and quickly decide as to its merits. A report of his decision is added to the budget, and transmitted by the secretary of the Board of Conference to the secretary of the Committee of Forty-one, and it, among others, is read to the com- mittee at its next meeting. In the case in question, where the commissioner's decision was in favor of the man, the amount forfeited by A was credited to him on the next pay-roll. " The following case is somewhat different in charac- ter: " At one of the board meetings a communication was received from the Committee of Forty-one calling atten- tion to an ordinance of the city requiring householders to clear snow from the gutters in front of their premises, and pointing out the very great saving in expense to the city which would result were the ordinance enforced. Not only would it be a saving to the city, but it would afford quick relief to the public at cross-walks, which THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE 31 would otherwise be flooded in wet or thawing weather if there were snow on the ground. This matter was care- fully considered by the board, and referred direct to the commissioner, with the suggestion that he request the assistance of the Police Department. The commissioner thanked the committee for its suggestion, and imme- diately took the matter up anew, having already con- ferred with the Police Department on the subject. " It might appear at first glance that the machinery, as indicated above, is cumbersome and the process slow. Such, however, is not the case. The system is so pre- cisely arranged that when once a case has been started it goes along without delay. No case need remain un- settled for more than thirty days after its submission to a representative or to the Committee of Forty-one direct, and, as a matter of fact, very many cases are settled by the Committee of Forty-one in half that time, or less. " The matters referred by the committee to the Board of Conference vary in character. They are not all com- plaints. The board frequently receives suggestions from the men as to improvements in the department service, or perhaps for some modification or change of a rule. A number of these suggestions have been approved and adopted, and the service has been benefited thereby. Of course there are many cases submitted to the Committee of Forty-one which are so trivial that they are thrown out of court at once, and never reach even the Board of Conference. Occasionally, however, a complaint of this character does get through, perhaps inadvertently, and reaches the board; but it ends its career there. " Of all the cases considered by the Board of Confer- ence during its first year, there was but one upon which it could not agree. On this case The board was divided 32 STREET-CLEANING evenly, the representatives of the men on one side, and those of the commissioner on the other. This liability to a dead-lock had been anticipated in the original call, and provided for; accordingly, the chairman and the sec- retary of the board argued their respective sides of the question before the commissioner. This case, occurring toward the end of the year, was a novelty; and as the members of the board were very earnest in their respec- tive convictions, the matter was watched with much in- terest, it being considered, as it were, a test case. "The commissioner's decision in the matter w T as in favor of the complainant, and the fine which had been imposed was remitted. He stated, however, that ' tech- nically, and in accordance with all rules of discipline, the fine was a just one, and should be imposed in all similar cases. At the same time, I cannot avoid the feeling that this violation was made for no improper reason, and per- haps with a laudable desire to help the service; and, in any case, probably the ends of justice and discipline are as fully satisfied by the mental anxiety to which the driver has been subjected, and the full discussion the subject has received in the Committee of Forty-one and the Board of Conference, as they would be by the enforce- ment of the penalty. I therefore direct that the fine be remitted/ " The fcMowing is a brief statistical statement of the year's work of the Board of Conference, and relates en- tirely to cases referred to it by the Committee of Forty- one, or matters brought up by the members of the board representing the men: Matters explained satisfactorily at the same meeting at which submitted 15 Fines remitted or reduced 22 THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE 33 Fines sustained . . . . .. . . .13 Suggestions from employees for the comfort and conve- nience of the men, or for the betterment of the depart- ment service, approved and acted upon by the com- missioner 24 Cases considered by the board, but on which it determined that no action should be taken . . . .14 Employees dismissed, reinstated upon satisfactory evidence that the dismissals were unmerited .... 8 Employees dismissed, but, because of unsatisfactory expla- nations, not reinstated 17 The total number of cases considered by the board (an average of over ten for each meeting) . . .124 The above is in no way connected with the statistics of cases considered or matters discussed at the meetings of the Committee of Forty-one. During the year the Committee of Forty-one consid- ered 345 cases, of which 124 w r ere referred to the Board of Conference, 221 being settled satisfactorily by itself. So far as I have been permitted to judge, the system of arbitration as above outlined has appealed to the men as a straightforward and perfectly open channel for the communication of their grievances, and the officers of the department who are in closest relations with the em- ployees so describe the generally prevailing feeling. In the beginning, however, as has been said already, this feeling was tinctured with a quite natural suspicion that the scheme was a cut-and-dried affair, and that the delegates elected would be so subservient to official in- fluences that their consideration of the various cases coming before them would, under the flattery of implied power, be merely perfunctory. In other words, it was regarded as a sop to stay the growth of that repressed 34 STREET- GLEANING bitterness under injustice and injury— real or fancied— which, in the old days, had so often culminated in an outbreak that was the only method known to the men of asserting themselves, and whose power for causing harm and suffering to the people of the entire city they so well appreciated. Except from an occasional malcontent, whose dismissal is the consequence of some offense so flagrant and ap- parent that his case receives but scant consideration in the Committee of Forty-one, we no longer hear that the delegates are the commissioner's men, and not the laborers' representatives. Indeed, the men themselves realize that the preponderance of leaning, so far, has been toward their side, the five officers representing the commissioner in the Board of Conference, in their desire to be perfectly fair and to avoid even the appearance of arbitrariness, preferring to exercise too much leniency rather than too little. The Committee of Forty-one corresponds in one way to any other representative body; but it is a great deal more. Each one of its members is elected by a small circle of men to every one of whom he is intimately known through the association of daily labor performed in common. This man must jealously watch and guard the interests of his constituents, or be obliged by them to give place to one who will do so. But the most marked difference of all lies in the fact that the dele- gate is forced to present the complaint of any one of his constituents to the Committee of Forty-one. He has no chance for the display of favoritism, nor can he be the recipient of bribes from individuals or lobbies. There is always a hearing for any constituent, however weak or preposterous his plea. Should he, however, be refused by his delegate, or should his case be neglected, he may THE REORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE 35 go directly before a member of the Board of Conference and receive a sanction for the consideration of his com- plaint by the Committee of Forty-one. Furthermore, the session of the Committee of Forty-one is never adjourned sine die, and no case can be crowded out or rushed through for lack of time. As will readily be seen, a delegate in his daily associa- tions is under constant surveillance by his constituents. All of his working hours are office hours for his fellows, and he can escape their importunities only by resigna- tion. Some of the men who have found the position the reverse of the honorable sinecure they were seeking have given way to others who are prepared to assume, at a considerable sacrifice and with unselfish zeal, the extra w T ork and the great responsibility entailed. It is only fair to the laboring-man to say that among no other class is this disinterested devotion to the welfare of his mates more frequently met with. The presence of a delegate in each of the divisions of the laboring-body is, in its way, a check upon the con- duct of the foremen. Discipline, which is the life of the department, is in no manner interfered with. On the contrary, it is effectually freed of the objections so often resulting from the excessive use of authority. Harsh- ness, loud-mouthed profanity, and brutality are not likely to be indulged in by foremen, with so powerful an inter- mediary as the delegate always present. Naturally he is not allowed to interfere actively. During his working- hours he is a laborer pure and simple, and superiors must be obeyed, no matter how unjust or unreasonable they may be. His power begins only with his weekly appearance as a member in the Committee of Forty-one, where, alone with his fellows, he is given the opportunity of stating his case with any degree of heat that may 36 STREET-CLEANING seem to him fitting, and with the certainty that it will be judged by no one but laborers with similar associa- tions and like sympathies. The committee transmits it, divested of all incidents of passion, to the Board of Con- ference, where the laborer is, for the nonce, on an abso- lute equality with his officer. Thus far our arbitration system has proved a most gratifying success, and it is with much pleasure that I note its indorsement by practical business men and large factory-owners. It has, I am firmly convinced, a bright and growing future, not only as far as this department is concerned, but in the general adjustment of the labor question throughout the country. I indulge the hope that the modest experiment here described may prove, in its expansion, to be a factor of no inconsiderable importance in the ultimate solution of vexed questions of difference between employer and em- ployed. Even if it be shown to be limited in sphere to its present field of action, its creation has certainly not been in vain. The benefit it has conferred on this de- partment by suppressing the tendency to strike, by the creation of an esprit de corps, and by cementing men and officers together in a bond of common sympathy and fellow-feeling, has been of incalculable assistance toward the results I have striven to achieve. It has not only furnished a channel for settling individual grievances, but it has prevented misunderstandings between the men and their commissioner, and has given him the means for ascertainirg their real feelings in regard to changes in policy, new rules, methods, and equipment. In a word, with but little labor and the slightest tax upon his time, it has brought him face to face with every one of his three thousand employees. CHAPTER V STREET-SWEEPING NATURALLY the most obvious, as well as the most important, part of the work of street-cleaning is that which is done in removing accumulations from the surface of the streets. In New York forty per cent, of the entire disbursement of the department is for sweeping, and sixty per cent, of the laboring-force is em- ployed in this part of the work, which here is done entirely by hand. Machine-sweeping was formerly almost universal, es- pecially when work was done by contract; and, as a rule, contract street-cleaning throughout the country is exe- cuted in this way. At the beginning of operations under the present administration there was still a considerable amount of work done by machines, which were employed almost universally at night. The dust raised by them, even with preliminary sprinkling, constituted such a nuisance as to make it improper to sweep by machine during the day. After very careful comparisons of cost and of the character of the work done, it was determined that there was little, if any, economy in using machines 38 STREET-CLEANING if they were made to do the best work of which they are capable, and that it was not possible, under any circum- stances, to do such uniformly good work by machinery as by hand. In the summer of 1895 the use of machines was entirely abandoned. Two years' experience with hand-work has satisfied me that it is incomparably more advantageous than machine-work, and it is not likely that the latter will again be resorted to in this city. We have four hundred and thirty-three miles of paved streets (which alone receive our attention) ; and we have actually at work, at this writing, about fourteen hundred and fifty sweepers— broom-men. This gives a little less than one third of a mile, on an average, to each sweeper. There are naturally great deviations in this respect, the actual number used in different parts of the city varying about from one to a mile to seven to a mile, according to the character of the pavement, the character and density of the population, the character of the district, whether manufacturing, resident, tenement, etc., and the char- acter and amount of traffic. It is to be understood that under the law our men work only eight hours per day. This short time is to an important degree offset by the fact that their places are very desirable, and that they work hard, and in emergencies for longer hours, in order that they may keep their places. It is a further induce- ment that their positions are permanent. Under the law as it now exists, and is likely to remain, an employee of the department can only be dismissed for cause. One of these causes is incapacity, so that these are by no means life-positions, but good only for the effective working- years of lite. That part of Manhattan Island lying below One Hun- dred and Fifty-second Street is divided into fifty-eight STREET- SWEEPING 39 sections, having pretty uniformly seven miles of street each. The number of men in these sections varies from fifteen to thirty-five. Each section is under the control of a foreman, who has one or two assistants. The uni- form of the foreman consists of a close-fitting grayish- brown coat, throat, with a sersof the same; a shield similar The assistants form, with a delta (A) hang- The sweepers in white duck. buttoned to the rolling collar; trou- a white helmet; and to the police badge, wear the same uni- small silver-plated ing below the shield, are dressed entirely The coat is a sort of A SECTION FOREMAN. Norfolk jacket, with a leather belt and metal clasp, with metal buttons; trousers which are rather loose; and they wear helmets similar to those of the foremen. Each wears on his left breast an oval metal badge bearing his number. He is obliged to appear always at morning roll-call in a tidy condition. As a rule, the suits are changed on Thursday and on Monday, but if soiled from any cause they must be changed more frequently. Each suit costs one dollar 40 STREET-CLEANING and twenty-five cents. The cost of the entire outfit— two suits, five buttons, belt and clasp, and helmet with monogram— is four dollars and sixty-three cents. Each sweeper is supplied with the following imple- ments: a two-wheeled bag-carrier and a sufficient number of jute bags for his day's work; a broom of African bass with a steel scraper at its back, a shovel, A SWEEPER WITH HIS BAG-CARRIER AND TOOLS. and a short broom. In summer he carries also a water- ing-can and a key for opening hydrants. If he has any considerable amount of asphalt in his beat, he uses for this a steel scraper about three feet broad, which is very effective for taking up fresh droppings and other accu- mulations. If the section is traversed by one or more avenues of heavy traffic, a number— and sometimes all— of the men of the section are worked in gangs early in the morning for the first thorough cleaning of these. After that they disperse and go each to his own route. As a rule, this STREET- SWEEP IX ( i 41 route is not changed; the same sweeper is employed upon it from one end of the year to the other. He becomes familiar with its people, its shops, its stables, and what- ever else may have to do with the incidents of his work. Occasionally, from some change of condition, the amount of work to be done is permanently increased. In such cases the length of the route may be shortened; but ordinarily, if a man grows slack in his methods and fails to keep the route in good or- der, he is dismissed and a more capable man put in his place. The sprinkler must be used always in dry w r eather, dur- ing the season when it is al- lowed to open the hydrants— from April to November. Fines are imposed for raising a dust. The accumulations on the streets, of whatever character, are, where necessary, loosened by the scraper, and are then swept into little piles within a short radius. These are then, with the aid of the broom and shovel, transferred to the bag, which is held open by the car- rier. When the bag is filled it is stood on the edge of the sidewalk. In wet weather, when the sweepings are in a state of solution, they are allowed to stand in piles until the free water has drained away; but even then the material is wet and heavy, the bags are much less easy to handle, and the cart-horses are apt to be overloaded because of this. 42 STREET-CLEANING A few remote streets of little population and light traffic are kept in suitable condition with one daily sweep- ing; ordinary streets are swept twice a day, and others from three to five times, according to the exigencies of the case. At present the work is divided about as follows: 63 J miles are swept once a day; 283J " " " twice a day; 50J " " " three times a day; 35J " " " four or more times a day. This makes a total average sweeping of 924. This is not perfunctory work. The streets are really clean, and except for the littering, which the police have not yet succeeded in preventing, they always look clean. Mud is unknown, and dust is vastly diminished in comparison with former conditions. CHAPTER VI CARTING EXT in importance to the sweeping of the streets is the work of removing not only the product of -L 1 the sweeping, but all domestic and some trade wastes, such as ashes, garbage, paper, and rubbish. In the New York department thirty-two per cent, of the dis- bursement is for " carting," and twenty-five per cent, of the laboring-force is employed in this part of the work. This includes about six hundred drivers, with horses and carts. Most of the stable force is charged to carting. The carts start out from the various stables at an early hour, and go to the sections to which they are assigned, the same men generally working on the same routes year in and year out. They first remove a load of ashes. After this they devote themselves to the carting of gar- bage until this is all removed. The rest of the day is occupied in collecting the remaining ashes and the sweep- ings that may have been gathered during the day. As the sweeping continues until four o'clock, the cartmen are obliged to work much later. They take from one and a half to two hours' " swing " at noon, but even so they 43 44 STREET-CLEANING work regularly more than the eight hours required of the sweepers. We try to so arrange it that every cart shall return to the stable before 6 P. M., but even this is not always possible. In the down-town district, owing to the crowded con- dition of the streets during the day, it is necessary that both sweeping and carting be done at night. There is very little population here, and the material to be re- moved is mainly incident to business traffic. The garbage hauls are very long, as there are only six garbage-dumps for the whole city. These dumps are supplied with scows or other vessels by the Utilization Company. The department loads the garbage upon these vessels, and its connection with this portion of the work is then at an end. For street-sweepings and ashes we have seventeen dumps at different points, so located as to be within convenient reach, except in the case of the district lying west of Central Park. On that side of the city we have no dumping facilities of any kind be- tween Forty-seventh Street and One Hundred and Thirty- first Street, a distance of nearly five miles. The removal from the central portion of this district is across the park to the foot of Eightieth Street, East River— a distance of two and a half miles, but over very much better grades than the route to Forty-seventh Street or to One Hundred and Thirty-first Street. The street-sweepings are collected in bags, as described in the previous chapter. The bags are loaded on the carts without being untied, and are emptied at the dump, where they are cleaned and dried for the next day's use. Thus far ashes are almost entirely collected from metal cans and other receptacles which are set on the sidewalk inside of the stoop-line or in the areas in front CARTING 46 of the houses. It is in contemplation soon to extend throughout the city an improved system which has been in successful operation for more than a year. Under this system, each house is supplied with a can supported on a tripod six or eight inches above the floor. It has a hinged cover, and the bottom is closed by two flap-doors. The cartman takes a bag into the house or area or back yard,— for it is only required that the can be kept out of sight of the street and protected from the rain,— passes the bag under and around the can, and attaches it to the top frame of the tripod. He then closes the cover to prevent the flying of dust, and operates the mechanism which opens the doors at the bottom. The ashes run out into the bag, which is tied and set on the sidewalk to be removed with the sweepings. These bags also are emp- tied only at the dump. Formerly the practice prevailed of removing in the same cart the sweepings shoveled from little piles in the streets and the entire waste of the house, which was put indiscriminately into the receptacles— garbage, ashes, paper, rubbish, and everything, save only such large ob- jects as furniture, mattresses, etc. In 189G the separa- tion of these materials was taken in hand, and has now been completely effected. The treatment of all other material than garbage, sweepings, and ashes remains to be described. The re- moval of this constitutes what we call the " paper and rubbish " service. It is ordered that all wastes of this class be kept in the house, or at least under cover and out of sight of the street. A cart of special construction is used for the removal of this material. It is a very large low-hung box on two wheels, and is drawn by a lighter and more active horse than is required for the 46 STREET-CLEANING heavy loads of the sweepings and ash service. This material is called for only on the exposure— as in the basement window— of a special " call " card. This is red and of diamond shape, with the letters " P. R." in con- spicuous form in white on the front. Printed instruc- tions are given on the reverse side. This card relates to the following articles: paper, gen- eral rubbish, bottles, rags, tin cans, excelsior, pasteboard boxes, old shoes, leather and rubber scrap, carpets, broken glass, barrels, boxes, discarded furniture, wood, and all metals. Thus far the carts carrying these wastes dump their loads upon the scows which also receive the sweepings and ashes, but measures are now being taken to deliver them at " Picking-yards," where a thorough sorting will be done and everything of salable value culled out and made ready for the market. This is more fully described in Chapter X. CHAPTER VII FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE TIME-HONORED custom of the city of New York has been to send its garbage to sea with all of 1 1l its other wastes, save only the fat and bones collected by the scow-trimming Italians at the dumps. By far the largest proportion of garbage consists of vegetable refuse, much of which floats in sea-water. As a result of this method of disposal, the bathing beaches of New Jersey and Long Island have often been made unfit for use by the immense amount of offensive material washed ashore, especially during storms, and the water in the front of the beaches is often too foul for bathing because of the watermelon-rinds, cabbage-leaves, etc., floating in it. The outcry for years against this fouling of the beaches has been loud and strenuous. Efforts have been made on the part of the authorities of the State of New York and of the United States to seek a practicable remedy. This remedy has at last been found in the separation of garbage from all other material, and its delivery to a company which is charged with its care. My expert as- 48 STREET-CLEANING sistants have been actively engaged in the consideration of this subject since the very beginning of this adminis- tration. The result of their investigations is well set forth in the following report of Mr. Macdonough Craven, in chief charge of the investigation, written in Decem- ber, 1895, as follows: REPORT OF MACDONOUGH CRAVEN ON THE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS MADE FOR THE DEPARTMENT AS TO GARBAGE AND ITS TREATMENT When it was decided, early in the year, to dispose of the city's garbage by some better method than the old process of dumping at sea, an effort was made to learn what system would be best suited to the city of New York, with its limited space and its large amount of material to be cared for daily, and what the economies of such a system might be. Early in March last, therefore, the various companies in this country engaged in the treatment of garbage were invited to present to this department informal bids showing the prices at which they would be willing to receive and properly dispose of the garbage of New York City. Twenty-six answers were received and opened on March 26, but only one company was willing to accept a contract from the city without a subsidy to aid in the work. The average of all bids from companies which proposed to cremate or destroy by fire was ninety cents per ton of garbage delivered, to be paid by the city; and from companies which proposed to utilize the gar- bage, or convert its available parts into grease and fertilizer, the average of all bids was fifty-five cents per ton. Only about half of the twenty-six bidders were believed by the department to be sufficiently experienced and responsible to make offers from them acceptable to the city. Under these circumstances, it was deemed advisable to make an independent investigation of the various methods proposed, since, on the one hand, the city should not be allowed to pay FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 49 more than, under economical management, would secure efficient service, while, on the other hand, it would be disastrous to ac- cept a low bid from any company which, on limited experience, might have underestimated the cost, and find itself losing money and obliged to cease operations. No financial return in the form of bonded security could recompense the city if it should find its garbage uncared for in the midst of a heated summer. Acting upon this theory, a circular letter was prepared and sent to each of the companies, proposing an examination of its plant and system by two competent men from this department, the scope of the examination to include the cost of operation, the value of the commercial products, and the very important questions of the permissible character of the process and its adaptability to the needs of this city; the minimum time of test to be thirty days; the salaries and expenses of the examiners to be paid by the company; the numerical results of the test to be considered confidential information to this department. Several of the companies acquiesced in the value of such an examination, and expressed their willingness to accede to its terms. Competent men were therefore selected for the work, differ- ent ones being sent to different plants, in order that the exami- nation might be impartial and unprejudiced, and the result obtained within a reasonably short time. The tests were of necessity summer tests, when garbage becomes most quickly offensive, when any odors arising from the treatment would surely be noticeable, and when also garbage contains most water and is least valuable for utilization purposes. More than three thousand tons of garbage in the cities of Buffalo, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and New York were treated by different methods, under the supervision of your in- spectors. One point made clear by the investigation is that when gar- bage is collected daily from each house, from clean cans, and con- veyed at once to a properly equipped reduction plant, it has not time to ferment, even in summer, before it is safely stowed away 50 STREET-CLEANING within the steam-tight cooking-tanks of the reduction plant; and that under these conditions, and under experienced management, the operations of such a factory can be carried on with little more offense than arises from a large kitchen. The first difficulty experienced, in the endeavor to operate a satisfactory system of collection and disposal, arises from the tendency of some householders to consider the cleanliness of the private garbage-can as the affair of the city. If the house- holder daily delivers to the garbage-collector only the table and kitchen refuse of the past twenty-four hours, it is evident that there cannot be serious offense in what was so lately fit for the table; but if the can is not thoroughly cleaned each day after being emptied, it will soon give rise to odors and just com- plaints. The second difficulty is found in the natural tendency of men engaged in handling such waste material to regard it as essen- tially unclean, and therefore to fail to maintain in a state of cleanliness the carts, wagons, and machinery in use. When our observations on this point are condensed, they amount simply to a statement of the facts that garbage twenty- four hours old is not offensive to the smell, either in small or in large quantities, but that even minute remnants do become offensive in two or three days, and that only unremitting care can keep the cans, carts, and machinery employed in a cleanly condition. Kitchen refuse consists of animal and vegetable scrap, con- taining and mixed with a large amount of water. The animal scrap is of value for utilization purposes, because it furnishes the principal part of the grease and ammonia which are the salable products of garbage; and since the cost of treating such waste is approximately the same, be it rich or poor, it is plain that the commercial value of garbage varies almost directly as its proportion of animal matter. If the amount of grease and ammonia recovered are sufficient to defray the expense of treat- ment, the people of any city may have their garbage disposed of without cost; and while this condition probably does not now FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 51 exist anywhere on the continent, it is an end worth striving for if it can be accomplished without loss to the householder. Some practices of the citizen which affect the value of gar- bage have been reported. A large proportion of people keep un- covered garbage-cans or -barrels, and a vast majority of these keep them in yards or outhouses, where they are accessible to every stray cat or prowling dog that comes, and soon they come regularly. Some of the investigators have watched troops of cats making their nightly rounds from yard to yard, pulling out of each accustomed barrel and can the accessible pieces of meat, bone, and other delicacies; and thus not only is a public nui- sance maintained in the form of a howling mob of homeless cats, but the garbage is culled of the only parts that go to make it valuable to a contractor or help to reduce the price which the city must pay for its disposal. The same trouble intensified is found when garbage is col- lected only three times, or perhaps twice, a week. The cats and dogs do just so much more work. And then, too, the tidy housekeeper, to whom a waste-can is an eyesore under the best of circumstances gets tired of smelling or imagining the odors due to two or three days' decomposition, and begins to consign, not to the garbage-can, but to the kitchen fire, all that burns most easily— of course the scraps containing grease. This is waste of good material, but it is much better than foul odors and the midnight cat. If in this city, where garbage is collected daily, the householder will only keep a cover on his can, he will do much toward lessening the cost of final disposition. One can scarcely conceive of a crematory which destroys garbage by fire becoming a self-supporting concern, since con- siderable fuel is necessary and the only residue is ashes; but the fact that there are garbage " utilization " plants at once sug- gests that under certain conditions the utilizable material may pay for its own extraction. It is perhaps needless to say that the word "garbage "—which is so loosely used in this and a few other cities to denote any kind of waste, or a mixture of them all, including ashes and street-sweepings— is for the pur- o2 STREET-CLEANING pose of this investigation limited to animal and vegetable refuse from markets and kitchens. Only this is desirable in a utiliza- tion plant. A small admixture of cans, bottles, and berry-boxes entails extra expense for separation, but is not prohibitory of the process, while any such mixture as we have in New York to-day, of ashes, garbage, and a little of everything, is pro- hibitory. Garbage must be separated from everything else to be effectively and properly treated, and the other things must be separated from garbage to find, in their turn, any useful outlet. In connection with the tests, I beg to call attention to the uniform courtesy with which the examiners have been received, and the willing assistance offered at the various working plants inspected. As noted above, the salaries and all expenses of the examiners, and the additional costs incidental to the tests, have been cheerfully borne by the companies, and no trouble or ex- pense has been spared by them to further the interests of the investigation. The Merz Universal Extractor and Construction Company submitted its operations to our inspection for a term of four weeks in Buffalo and two in St. Louis; and for a further test of New York and Brooklyn garbage, and to demonstrate the Preston process, which is controlled by the above company, experiments were carried on for two weeks in a special plant in Greenpoint, Long Island. The Sanative Refuse Company, at an expense of several thousand dollars, equipped a plant in New York City and conducted a continuous test of two months for the purpose of allowing us to study their system and to learn the character and composition of New York garbage. The works of the American Incinerating Company in Philadelphia treated eighteen hundred tons to illustrate their utilization sys- tem and the character of Philadelphia garbage, while, for a similar purpose in Brooklyn, the American Reduction Company reduced eighty-four tons under our inspection. The Holthaus plant at Bridgeport, Connecticut, has undergone an exhaustive and costly test; and as the company operating this system apparently does not receive all the garbage of the city, it is FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 53 working under difficulties and at an unnecessary expense. Not withstanding this, however, every facility has been given to the department examiners. The Standard Construction and Utilization Company of Phil- adelphia was inspected under the same conditions as the above- named companies, but, owing to difficulties unforeseen by its managers, it proved impossible to complete the test. Systematically arranged, the tests already made appear as follows: NAME OF COMPANY LOCATION DATE Merz Universal Extractor and Construction Company Buffalo . . June Merz Universal Extractor and Construction Company St. Louis . July Sanative Refuse Company . . . New York . August At these three plants grease is extracted by the use of hydro- carbon oils, and the remaining solids are converted into a fertilizer base. NAME OF COMPANY LOCATION DATE The Preston process .... Greenpoint . July The Bridgeport Utilization Company . . Bridgeport . February American Incinerating Company . . Philadelphia July At these three plants grease is extracted by mechanical pres- sure, and the remaining solids are made into a fertilizer base. NAME OF COMPANY LOCATION DATE Sanative Refuse Company (Pierce process) New York . September American Reduction Company . . Brooklyn . May Both these companies make the garbage solids into a complete fertilizer ready for the farmer's use, but the first extracts the grease by means of a solvent, while the second uses acid. NAME OF COMPANY LOCATION DATE The Standard Construction and Utilization Company Philadelphia August 54 STREET-CLEANING At this plant the cooking is done in steam-jacketed caldrons, the charge being agitated meanwhile, and the grease separated by flotation and skimming. These comprise most of the best-known systems, and illustrate nearly all of what in this country has been reduced to practice in the treatment of garbage. As yet we have derived from the house and hotel garbage only grease and fertilizer materials. Our two best-known means of extracting the grease are (1) by dissolving it in some liquid which, after being drawn off, may be separated from the grease and recovered, and (2) the mechan- ical method of forcing out warm grease under heavy pressure. During this summer's tests these two methods, and all others submitted, were carefully examined as to the cost of operation and the results obtained. The importance of this becomes at once evident when it is known that the forty to fifty pounds of grease in a ton of garbage may be extracted in such condition as to sell for three and a half cents per pound, making in value about half the available material in garbage, and that if any remains unextracted it is doubly lost, since it detracts from the selling value of the fertilizer. The facts to be learned, then, in reference to grease extrac- tion by each method were (1) the cost of operation; (2) the amount ol grease extracted; (3) its condition— freedom from dirt, water, etc.; (4) the amount unextracted; and by determin- ing these four points we have not only established the relative efficiencies of the different methods practised, but have learned the character and value of New York garbage as compared with that of other cities. A special oaper upon the condition and probable future of the grease trade has been prepared from information furnished by dealers and consumers expert in the business, and this enables us to give to garbage grease, offered in small or in large quantities, its proper place and value, and to gage the accuracy of estimates which determine the figures submitted by bidders. Regarding the solid matter of garbage, which after being FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE r,r, cooked becomes tankage or fertilizer base or complete fertil- izer, there has been established a similar kind of information as to (1) the cost of getting rid of the water; (2) the amount of dry matter saved (and it is strange that the same kind of gar- bage shows such various results by different methods); (3) the condition of this dry matter— whether it is in a form suitable for the fertilizer manufacturer (and again it is strange how it varies); and (4) the amount of solid matter lost. Here, too, a paper on the fertilizer trade, similar to that on the grease trade, has been prepared, and from similar sources. The relation of these factories to the health of the commu- nity in which they are situated is determined by the cleanliness of the building and machinery, the manner and condition in which the garbage water is got rid of, and the character and amount of odors which escape. So much progress has been made of late years, and so many difficulties have been over- come, some by one company and some by another, that it seems safe now to say that if the best that is known on the subject could be put into practice in one factory, that factory could with freedom be located in any city on the continent. It has been found necessary also to make a detailed study, covering several weeks of the present disposition of the gar- bage and grease wastes of the city hotels, restaurants, and large boarding-houses. Many of these had made contracts with private parties for the disposal of their garbage before the city was in position to care for it, and even since that time the hours of removal by the city have not always met the necessi- ties of such establishments, and many of the private contracts have been continued. This study was part of the general plan for determining the character and amount of recoverable kitchen waste in this city of meat-eaters not noted for exces- sive economy, and a valuable part, since in these places the separation of garbage from other matters has always been carefully made. An examination of the libraries has furnished much useful in- formation from the cities of Europe in reference to the amount 56 STREET-CLEANING of their garbage, its value, and the adopted methods of disposal, and both prepared the way for a comparison of their methods with ours, and enabled us to set a standard below which we need not fall. The reports from the various examiners, upon being submitted, have been collated and corresponding tables prepared. A gen- eral report is herewith submitted. The methods considered cover the hydrocarbon, acid, and mechanical processes. Hydrocarbon processes extract the grease more thoroughly than any other method inspected. Acid processes do not, as a rule, give good results as far as grease is concerned. Mechanical processes extract a fair percentage of the grease. The tankage is of varying quality, according to the method used and the class of garbage handled. All reduction methods, properly conducted, can be made unobjectionable from the sanitary point of view. The faults seem to come from a want of experience in construction, for what has been found offensive in one plant has been so handled in another as to be entirely without offense. The material received in the different cities shows a great difference. This is due to the following causes: 1. Season of the year. 2. Geographical and trade location of the city. 3. Variation of the regulations in force. 4. Delinquencies of the officials in enforcing proper separa- tion, and the consequent carelessness of the collectors, resulting in the delivery at the dumps or works of many things not prop- erly belonging to city garbage. The different seasons of the year show different classes of garbage. During the winter the garbage is less in bulk and greater in weight. This is due to the fact that many canned and only a few green vegetables are used. During the summer the quantity is larger, but the weight in proportion to the bulk is less. This is due to the fact that the green stuff or waste FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 57 from fresh vegetables is predominant. During the summer months, also, a much larger proportion of refuse incidental to the handling of fruits and vegetables is mixed with the gar- bage. The different seasons may also be divided, as, for ex- ample, periods covering such as green-corn time, pea-pod time, melon time, and so on. Geographical location controls garbage to the extent of determining the classes of vegetable and animal food that are in general use. Furthermore, as all cities are more or less trade centers and cosmopolitan in character, the floating population varies with the season of the year, and the markets' business varies in accordance therewith. The increase in population makes an increase in the waste. The regulations of the various municipalities in some cases permit rubbish to be mixed with the garbage, and the quality and quantity of this rubbish are not clearly defined. The delinquencies of officials, drivers, collectors, etc., arise from carelessness, personal gain by collusion with those inter- ested in the works or with the householders, or an honest belief that they can improve on regulations and benefit the cities thereby. The last-mentioned class is very small. It is found by investigation that the averages of collection and disposal vary. This variation can be traced to several causes: 1. Method of disposition. 2. Whether the city or a contractor makes the collections. 3. The regulations; that is, whether they permit of the gar- bage being overhauled by rag-pickers, etc. 4. Frequency of collections. If the garbage and general refuse are hauled to dumps, and the haul is long, the cartmen or drivers, especially in rainy or otherwise disagreeable weather, if opportunity offers, will lessen their work by dumping at the most convenient place. If the city refuse is burned, the material best adapted to the furnace is generally delivered, that is, combustible refuse. If, on the other hand, it is reduced, combustible refuse is not especially desirable. * 58 STREET-CLEANING If the city makes the collections, and the cartmen are not closely supervised, they are liable to give poor service, and the householder, in order to improve on that service, will employ private collectors. The collections made by private cartmen are not handled by the city as a rule, and therefore all record of such collections is lost. Again, if a contractor makes the collections, it depends largely on the basis of payment; that is, if the payments are made in a lump sum, the tendency of the contractor is to collect as small a quantity as possible, whereas, if the payment is per ton or per cubic yard, there is a tendency to collect everything of sufficient weight or bulk to make the collection as large as possible. Percentages of collections per capita, therefore, vary. The third case under consideration depends on the inspectors, police, health board, or whomsoever controls the work or super- vises it. Should the supervision be lax, or the regulations per- mit, a large part of the refuse will be culled from the receptacles by rag-pickers and scavengers, and large quantities will thus be disposed of in an insalutary manner, also to the detriment of correct data of quantity, and the streets will be strewn with rubbish aL- well. Nothing better than the method of collection pursued in this city has so far presented itself. The frequency of collection has a strong bearing on the quantity collected. This is shown by the annexed tables, and may be due to several causes. Infrequent collection affords more opportunities for scavengers, both men and animals, to overhaul and deplete the waste. The rubbish mixed with garbage is mainly tin cans; besides these there are bottles, rags, crockery, berry-baskets (especially in fruit season), wood scraps, metal, and all conceivable kinds of refuse. A three-foot section of sixty-pound T-rail was deliv- ered at one of the works as garbage. The cans are sold, the solder is in some cases recovered, and the body of the can melted down. They are a great nuisance FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 59 to reduction plants, as in several processes they, or a part of them, are dumped into the extractors or the driers, as the case may be. If these cans do not fall bottom side up in the extrac- tors, they not only hold what grease is in them, but also what- ever finds its way into them while in the extractor. The cans in quantity in the driers cause considerable wear on the ma- chinery, which may more than offset their value as auxiliary disintegrators, as will be set forth in the discussion on driers. Those that are culled from the fresh or green garbage— all rubbish, in fact, culled from garbage— should be disinfected before being marketed. The next matter of importance, as far as rubbish is concerned, is the rags. These rags are in some cases delivered with the garbage in large quantities. They are culled for various rea- sons—for marketing, to be used as combustibles in furnaces, and also to keep them clear of the machinery, which they are liable to clog to a great extent, more especially in rotary driers. The other rubbish, with the exception of the bottles and crockery, is generally thrown into the furnace and consumed. The above remarks apply more generally to reduction plants than to crematories, as in crematories combustible refuse mixed with the garbage aids and cheapens the cost of cremation, and tin cans keep the garbage more or less separated, thus permit- ting the heat to work through. Nearly all the nuisances that arise or are complained of in regard to garbage originate from the free water mixed with the garbage. This drips from the carts, or is spilled from them in dumping, in varying quantities. It has that sour or swill smell so prevalent and so well known. This free water can be traced to three causes: rain, waste water of cooking, exudations from the vegetables themselves. The rain-water is not, as a rule, of sufficient quantity to de- mand attention. If, however, the haul is long, the cart open, and the receptacles have been standing some time before col- lection, then the quantity of rain-w<^ter mixed with the garbage is more than would be expected, and is, in fact, at times very 60 S TREET- CLEANING large. The usual quantity of free water is in the neighborhood of ten per cent, by weight, or from twenty-five to thirty gallons per ton. The waste water of cooking forms a large part of the ten per cent.,— in fact, nearly all of it,— and is something to be avoided. Should it go to the sewer? Certainly it should not be permitted to pollute the public streets through the bottoms of leaky carts. The small quantity which exudes from the garbage itself can hardly be considered. It is this swill water and the grease which clings to the sides and bottoms of the household receptacles and of the garbage carts which make them offensive; and if these receptacles and carts are not cleansed properly, and as often as necessary, the foul odors which arise give constant and just cause for com- plaint. This free water is not desired by crematories, but is ad- vantageous to certain reduction plants. In connection with the above, it might be well to speak of the receptacles and carts in general use. The receptacles are not, as a rule, of the proper shape, being cylindrical in form and too high in proportion to the diameter, making them difficult to empty. A receptacle of wide mouth and narrow bottom could be more rapidly emptied, more easily cleansed, and would therefore be more acceptable to both the householder and the cartman. " Galvanized-iron pails with covers are recommended. If the contents are kept properly dry, fermentation and the production of offensive gases are avoided, even although the temperature of the air is high " (" A Treatise on Hygiene and Public Health "). The carts in general use are of metal and tight-bottomed. The patterns vary; some are covered, some open. " Large metal carts, like our ' trucks,' with springs to prevent noise, and with close-fitting wooden covers, made in sections, so that the entire cover need not be raised for the introduction of each pailful of garbage, are most in favor in German cities." Daily removal is best. After culling, the garbage treated at the different works FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 61 visited was, as a rule, similar in character. It was principally summer garbage and largely vegetable and fruit waste. This summer garbage, on account of its bulk, has to be handled more rapidly than that of the winter. It is therefore not so carefully culled, although, as it contains fewer ingredients of value, it may be more rapidly worked. The winter garbage does not contain so much vegetable waste, but on account of the season of the year, and the large quantities of ice occasionally contained therein, more fuel is necessary to dispose of it; but the value of winter garbage is greater than that of summer. The variation in the per cent, of useless tailings from reduc- tion plants is due to the " efficiency of separation " by the cities, also to the manner of screening in use at the various works; but it is not due to the process. That is, the percentage of availa- ble solid matter for fertilizer contained in garbage is practically constant, but if the authorities permit extraneous matter to be mixed with the garbage, or if the mesh of the screen used in screening dried tankage is small, then the per cent, of waste is increased. These tailings are used for various purposes, but are gener- ally burned. They have a distinct value, as compared with coal, as a fuel. Although the fires have to be carefully cleansed after each burning of tailings, still they reduce the price of fuel per ton of garbage worked. In many of the processes more of the tailings could be used for fertilizer if the process of separating them was complete. The only question is, Would a more expensive process, and one ' taking more time, pay for the slight additional percentage of available tankage over and above the gain made by the tailings used as fuel ? The gases and vapors that are driven off from the garbage during the working of the same are disposed of in two ways— by condensation and by cremation. Vapors that are condensed are liable to be more offensive in the end than those thnt are burned. Condensation also is not 62 STREET-CLEANING liable to be very effective, as the foul vapors are driven off to- gether with large quantities of steam. The steam and vapors will naturally mix as far as possible. These vapors, surcharged with steam, are carried to the condenser and there expected to take up or to be taken up by greater quantities of water. The condensed vapors, however, mixed with the water of condensa- tion, are carried off to the sewer. Gases passing over with the vapors would presumably be washed in this process; they would not of necessity be made harmless, and the water might be very disagreeable. Where the gases are burned they are passed directly through the furnace fires and thence up the stack to the open air. They, together with the vapors, are heated to a high degree of tem- perature, or burned, and float away over the heads of the people, instead of running under their feet, as in the condensa- tion process. If the stacks are high enough and the tempera- ture sufficiently great, these heated vapors will float to a long distance before cooling and descending to an objectionable level. They are probably by that time so mixed with air as to be scarcely appreciable. On damp or rainy days, however, they would undoubtedly be brought to the ground more rapidly than during dry weather. Sentiment controls largely the complaints which arise on ac- count of garbage. The householder who properly separates the garbage will not find it more offensive than the soiled plates removed day by day from his table, and if the receptacle was as religiously cleansed as the soiled plates there would be no offensive odors therefrom. Fresh garbage is inoffensive. Where garbage is collected and permitted to stand in quanti- ties, it is not generally dangerous to life until it becomes putrid. This condition arises, of course, more rapidly during the heat of the summer than at other seasons of the year. Where this garbage is collected in mass and allowed to stand, disinfec- tants are undoubtedly necessary. This would also be the case where the collections are made, as they are in some cities, at FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 63 intervals of three days or, when Sunday intervenes, four days apart. Garbage collected every day can be hauled through the streets without being specially disagreeable to the passer-by. It is not prejudicial to the public health when fresh, and cannot be gen- erally considered so until it makes itself offensive. Disinfectants in general use are well known— chloride of lime, permanganate of potash, and the dead oils of tar. A very ad- vantageous method of disinfecting both carts and garbage is in use in Buffalo. Creolin, mixed with water, is loaded in a tank charged with compressed air. This tank is fitted with a short hose and spray-nozzle and is attached to the cart. When the cartman finds a receptacle that, in his judgment, needs disin- fecting, it is first emptied and then sprayed. The garbage on the cart is then sprayed with the disinfectant. This gives, ap- parently, very good results. Dead oils of tar and permanganate of potash are generally used in and about the works and on the floors thereof. The dead oils of tar, ^n account of their cheapness and because they have no appreciable odor of their own, are in common use. In the hydrocarbon processes the hydrocarbons used while extracting grease are also well known as disinfectants, naphtha being generally used in the preparation of edible greases. In the mechanical processes, or steam processes, steam itself is a disinfectant. Where rubbish such as tin cans, rags, etc., is disinfected, it is generally done with steam. Steam at a temperature of 220° F. will destroy all disease germs in four hours' time. Steam under pressure is more valuable, for the reason that it is more penetrating. Steam in motion is also more efficacious than steam at rest. Heat is the oldest disinfectant known. It is also probably the best, as it is destructive of all organic life. The driers in general use are cylindrical driers, steam- jacketed, with revolving reels. The shell of the drier is of cast-iron or steel plate. The cast-iron shell is preferable, as it does not erode as rapidly under the jetton of the gases or the 64 STREET-CLEANING grinding of the material. The shell, also, of cast-iron driers is not subject to leakage, as is frequently the case in steel-plate shells. The garbage is dried either while fresh or after treatment. Where fresh garbage is shot into the driers, the swill water is advantageous, because it assists in disintegration. Tin cans and other hard refuse, such as crockery, etc., are also advantageous lo a certain degree, as they help the revolving paddles to grind the material. It will thus be seen that a cylindrical drier fills three positions when used on fresh garbage: it dries, it grinds, and it cooks. The dried garbage, therefore, is pretty thor- oughly cooked and pulverized when it leaves the drier. In general, in this part of the process about sixty per cent, of moisture is driven off. The operations of driers are continuous. They are loaded from the top and discharged from the bottom. There is no necessity of shutting them down, except for repairs. When the material is dried after treatment the drier also acts partially as a mill, but in this case no cooking goes on. A certain proportion of foreign substance is also useful in this partial milling process. The work of the drier in this latter case is not so great as where the green garbage is first dried, nor is tfeg£ wear and tear on the machinery so great, nor is so much heat necessary, as there is a less quantity of moisture to evaporate. As will be readily seen, therefore, the number of driers per ton of garbage would be less than in the former case. The gases and vapors driven off by the driers go to the con- densers or through the furnaces. In cases where cooking is first done, the gases and vapors go from the digesters to the condensers or through the furnaces. The lead pipes to the con- densers or furnaces should be of cast-iron, as wrought-iron has not been found satisfactory in actual practice. This is due to the erosive effect of the vapors driven off. It is conclusive, then, that it would be advantageous to have the driers or digesters as close to the furnaces as is practicable. The extractors and digesters as a rule are of about five tons. FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE 65 capacity, although they are generally considered to hold much more. Whether the overestimate is the fault of the construc- tors or of the operators, it is difficult to ascertain, as the gar- bage treated therein varies in proportion of bulk to weight through the different seasons of the year. Constructors are liable to make the extractors as small as possible, on account of the room which they occupy in a building. For this reason their cubic contents may have been, in some instances, de- creased. The operators are desirous of showing as large a capacity in their plant as possible, and therefore may overestimate the weight of green or dried garbage that the extractors hold. This portion of the machinery is built of varying weights of metal, as different operations and operators use different pres- sures of steam or naphtha, as the case may be. In cases where the grease is extracted by pressure the presses inspected have been of the same general character. The re- sults shown are sufficient to indicate that the pressing process, although more rnpid than the naphtha process, does not extract so large a percentage of grease. Constant advances are being made in this direction, however, and the presumption is that within a short time much better results will be obtained than at present from the press. The tankage from the press is generally more noticeable, as far as odor is concerned, than that from the extractor in hydro- carbon or acid processes, the hydrocarbons and acids acting as deodorizers. As this tankage has been thoroughly disinfected by steam boiling, etc., and has been maintained at a tempera- ture above 212° F. for several hours, it is presumably as thor- oughly disinfected as in any other case; but there is a stronger odor, which has been so frequently described as that of sweet- ened coffee, plum-pudding, gingerbread, caramel, etc. The choice of a name depends largely upon the last dinner eaten. The milling and screening are generally done in separate rooms. The finished product is screened in rotary screens, and the foreign substances and coarse material separated from the 66 STREET-CLEANING fine material. The foreign substances and coarse matter from the screen, generally termed tailings, are separated on the tail- ing-board. The coarse fertilizer stuff is carried to a mill and ground. The tailings, composed of combustible and non-com- bustible refuse (but very little of the latter), are burned or thrown away. The product of the mill is mixed with the screened material. In some cases everything which comes from the drier or ex- tractor goes through the mill, only the coarser and more appa- rent waste being separated before milling. This gives a more even run of finished tankage, but presumably one that would not show so high an analysis, tankage being sold by analysis— that is, in accordance with the phosphoric acid, potash, and ammonia contained therein. During the process of milling, care must be taken that the finished product does not ignite. There is so much iron and metal of other kinds in the finished tankage that care has to be observed to prevent firing in the mill. While milling or screen- ing, also, quantities of fine dust are liable to be freed and mixed with the atmosphere. It is this fine dust which carries the odor from the factory, especially if the rooms be not closed and a breez. has an opportunity to get at this dust. It is a ques- tion, also, if the insurance companies do not consider that this floating material adds to the risk of insurance. That, together with the naphtha used in some processes and acids in others, would, and probably does, affect the rate of insurance. The dust from the mill is taken care of in various ways, usually by means of a suction-fan, the mill itself being tightly inclosed. This dust, on analysis, shows a higher per cent, of merchantable products than the milled stuff itself; but it is so small in proportion to the bulk of material handled that it would scarcely pay to collect it. The screens used are of varying diameters and size of mrsh. The rapidity with which they are revolved is also another factor to be considered. They clog chiefly from nails and rags, and it may be found necessary to stop them at intervals in order to FINAL DISPOSITION OF GARBAGE G7 free the mesh. These rags, by the by, are a difficult factor in the working of garbage during nearly all stages of the process. TABLE SHOWING QUANTITY OF GARBAGE PER CAPITA COLLECTED Buffalo 0.245 lbs. per day Boston 0.946 11 Wilmington .... 0.805 " St. Louis .... 0.277 " New Bedford . . . 0.890 " Cincinnati .... 0.566 " " Philadelphia . ~ . . . 0.332 " " for 3 districts Lowell 0.408 " TABLE SHOWING AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF GARBAGE AND ITS SELLING VALUE Three thousand tons of summer garbage, from different cities, treated by different methods, show a general average compo- sition of Rubbish . . 7 per cent., or 140 lbs. per ton of garbage Water . .71 " " 1,420 " Grease . 2 "40 " Tankage . .20 " u 400 " 100 * " 2,000 " The selling value of a ton of garbage when thus treated is: Grease, 40 lbs., at 3 cents $1.20 C Ammonia, 13 lbs., at 8 cents .... 1.04 Tankage % Phosphoric acid, 13 lbs., at 1 cent . . . .13 ( Potash, 3 lbs., at S\ cents 10 &U7 CHAPTER VIII FINAL DISPOSITION OF STREET-SWEEPINGS AND ASHES HUS far most of the matters collected by the de- partment carts, with the exception of garbage, A have been all dumped together on the scows and taken to sea. The separate treatment of paper and rub- bish has been inaugurated, and will before very long be- come universal, so that it is proposed in this chapter to treat the final disposition of street-sweepings and ashes as it is to be when this shall have been made com- plete. At present there are thirteen Barney dumping-boats and a varying number of scows used for this service. The carts collect ashes and street-sweepings at the same time, and dump them together upon the vessels. These are towed to a point beyond the light-ship, some ten miles outside of Sandy Hook, where they are either dumped or unloaded by hand into the sea. When there is a demand for this material for filling (as there happens to be at this writing), so much of it as is called for is loaded on deck-scows and taken by contractors to the lands to be filled, and unloaded by them, the scows being returned 68 DISPOSAL OF SWEEPINGS AND ASHES 69 to the dumps. The contractor receives for the service a cash sum, which is considerably less than would be the cost to the department of towing to sea. This w r hole system is soon to be radically changed. It is proposed to use all of the ashes and sweepings collected NEAR THE LIGHT-SHIP, SANDY HOOK. UNLOADING DECK-SCOWS WITH FORKS. About twenty Italians unload the cariro <»f a deck-scow in about two and one half hours. In 1896 over TOO. (XX) cubic yards of refuse were disposed of in this manner, on 1531 scows, at an average cost of 17.9 cents per cubic yard. by the department at Biker's Island, in the East River, nearly opposite Morris Point, for filling in a shoal behind a bulkhead constructed for its protection, or for raising the level of the lower part of the land. Outside of the bulkhead there will be constructed, with suitable piling, a pen or inclosure into which the vessels will be taken, their contents being there dumped. Pump- 70 STREET-CLEANING ing-machinery will be provided of sufficient capacity to take up the material so dumped and move it in a strong current of water through the pumps and through long pipes or canvas conveyers to the point of deposit. This system for moving earth, etc., has been largely and suc- A BARNEY DUMPER AT SEA, WITH ITS TUG. The boat has been opened and is being towed along, the seaway washing out the load. When empty the boat closes by dotation. The department employs a fleet of thirteen Barney dumpers, which in 1X9(5 carried to sea over 1, 140,000 cubic yards of refuse, al an average cost of 13.8 cents per cubic yard. cessfully used on the Potomac Flats at Washington, in government work at League Island, below Philadelphia, and on the Cambridge border of Charles River, near Bos- DISPOSAL OF SWEEPINGS AND ASHES 71 ton. It was also used in the construction of the North Sea Canal in Holland. It is proposed to employ for this work a type of vessel THE DELEHANTY SELF-PROrELLING AUTOMATIC DUMPING-BOAT " CINDERELLA." of peculiar construction, known as the Delehanty boat. The first of these (the Cinderella) is now in successful use for the transportation of svveepings and ashes to sea. 7:2 STREET-CLEANING The department is building two other boats of the same character— the Aschenbroedel and the Cendrillon. Two others, the Cenerentola and the Asschepoester, are to follow. This fleet of five boats will be adequate for the entire transportation of all of the ashes and sweepings from all parts of the city. It would not be profitable to use them under the present arrangement of direct dumping from carts. Their economical use will require the construc- tion of elevated " pocket-dumps." One such dump is now completed, and is in successful operation at the foot of East Seventeenth Street. When all of the dumping- places are provided with the new structures, theDelehanty boats will be loaded without loss of time, and can make from two to four trips per day to Riker's Island. The pocket-dump is a steel structure about one hun- dred feet long and fifty feet high. A continuous link-belt conveyer passes under the pockets, into which the carts are discharged, continues up past one end of the build- ing, returning horizontally under its roof, and down at the other end. It discharges its material into any one of the ten elevated pockets provided, as may be desired. These pockets have sloping floors and are closed with gates. The gates being opened one after the other, the contents of the pockets fall into the vessel. The Delehanty boat is a catamaran, or double-hull vessel, with a space twelve feet wide between the two hulls. This space' is occupied by pockets rising to a considerable height above the deck. The floors of the pockets are formed of two doors hinged at the sides arid opening downward. They are controlled by heavy chains worked by steam-power. When they are released they fall away and the load is delivered, in the case of Hiker's DISPOSAL OF SWEEP IXGS AND ASHES 73 Island inside of the dumping-pit above described. These boats have two propellers with independent engines, are entirely seaworthy, and are easily controlled, so that little time need be lost in placing them under the dumps. The contract price of the Delehanty boat is $40,000. The capacity is about five hundred cubic yards each. The pocket-dumps cost something less than $20,000 each. There will be at least fifteen such dumps provided for the handling of garbage, sweepings, and ashes only. The cost of delivering material at Riker's Island and depositing it in place will be about one third of the present cost of sending it to sea. It is estimated that the land thus reclaimed will cost $1400 per acre, and it will be worth at least twice that amount for the city's use. It is estimated that the fleet of five Delehanty boats (with the shorter trip to Riker's Island) will supplant thirteen Barney dumpers, thirty-five deck-scows, and the equivalent of five tug-boats, in constant use. The cost of these going to the light-ship was, in 1896, $308,600; the cost of transporting the same wastes by the new fleet will be about $96,000; that is, while delivery at Riker's Island will cost only 5 to cents, the cost of delivery at sea is 14 cents, per cubic yard. CHAPTER IX FINAL DISPOSITION OF PAPER AND RUBBISH WE now come to one of the most interesting features of the operations of the depart- ment—an outgrowth of the necessity for using hand-labor to " trim the scows." When carts are dumped upon these vessels it is necessary, in order to keep them on an even keel, to employ shovelers to level off the load and distribute it evenly from side to side. This is " scow-trimming." Some sixteen years ago it cost the city about $11,000 per year for labor. The work was done by Italians, a race with a genius for rag- and bone-picking and for sub- sisting on rejected trifles of food. These Italians were observed by others to have a job which offered great advantages. Competition arose and continued until, in 1894, when the amount of material delivered at the dumps had greatly increased, the city received for the scow-trimming privilege about $50,000 worth of labor free and more than $90,000 in cash. The most important item of the scow-trimming re- covery then consisted of bones and grease. The paper 74 PAPER AXD RUBBISH 75 dumped with the refuse of the streets and ashes became so soiled and wet as to have but little value, and the LOADING A SCOW WITH REFUSE. value of even the rags was much reduced by their dirty condition. For nearly a year past we have been collect- ing paper and rubbish separately, so that rags and paper 76 STREET-CLEANING are much cleaner; and although fully $50,000 worth of bones and fat are now withdrawn in the garbage which is sent to the Utilization Works, the city is still receiving at the rate of about $50,000 for what is left. As paper and rubbish are still dumped upon the ash-scows, much SORTING THE RAGS AND OTHER ARTICLES OP VALUE UNDER THE OLD- FASHIONED DUMPING-BOARD. valuable material is lost, and much of what is recovered is more or l^ss soiled. The system has already been well inaugurated of transporting the paper and rubbish to picking-yards, where it arrives in clean condition, and where all of value that it contains can easily be sorted out, the mere, refuse being either burned or, if not combustible, dumped on the scows. PAPER AXD RUBBISH 77 The yard that has been longest in use is that at Xo. 012 East Eighteenth Street. It contains large sheds for the storing of material, pens for bottles and for tin cans, a " treasury" for the safe-keeping of metals and other trifles of value which would tempt pilferers, and the TRAVELING BELT AND THE TICKING-GANG. machinery that is used in connection with the work. This consists mainly of a traveling belt about eighty feet long, which rises out of a shallow pit into which the con- tents of the carts are thrown, and runs horizontally for fifty feet between two rows of workmen, each engaged in selecting the kind of paper, rag, or other material to 78 STREET-CLEANING which he is assigned. The belt rises on a steep angle to the mouth of the furnace, where straw, excelsior, bits of wood, and worthless paper are burned. In connection with this furnace there is a large steam-boiler, which THE BELT RISING TO THE FEED-DOOR OF THE FURNACE. furnishes the power for moving the belt, and from which, thus far, a great amount of steam under high pressure is going to waste. When means are found for utilizing this waste steam still further economy will result. This yard receives daily about fifty large loads of all manner of refuse which householders, storekeepers, manufac- PAPER AND RUBBISH 79 turers, and others wish to get rid of. The average sales per week during the months of July and August were as follows: Other materials . . . . 43.47 Total $261.24 This is for the collections of ten carts of the one hun- dred and fifty in use. It is only a general indication. The outlook is that the returns will increase. The second yard is being provided with a belt and small engine only, all wastes being sent to the scows, and no account being taken of steam. Still another yard is being arranged, where a vastly greater burning capacity will be furnished, and where it is thought that two hun- dred loads per day can be handled. The experiments with these three yards will enable us to determine which is the more advantageous method to be adopted, and especially to decide the very important question as to whether this work shall be done in a large number of yards within the city, or whether all of the paper and rubbish shall be transported to Rikers Island, there to be picked over and sorted in one large establish- ment, for which ample space can be furnished. The sav- ing in rent would be very great, and the present indica- tions are that this and the simpler and more economi- cal administration will outweigh the cost of transpor- tation. It is impossible to say what will be the amount to be received by the city as a profit on these operations; but there are already indications that the easy facility Paper Rags $128.40 89.37 80 STREET-CLEANING afforded to householders to get rid of all manner of wastes is leading them to discard more and more of things that they have hitherto thought worth saving. That the profit will greatly exceed any amount hitherto received for scow-trimming is already demonstrated. CHAPTER X STOCK AND PLANT BY MAJOR H. C. CUSHING, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT WHEN the Department of Street-Cleaning came under its present administration the plant wc-s inadequate and in bad condition. This was particularly the case in the matter of carts, harness, and horses. Of the first two items many were out of repair and showed a lack of systematic care. A great many of the horses were low in flesh and of a class un- fitted for their peculiar work, being large and long-legged. Such animals, when once they get reduced, are very diffi- cult to recuperate. A new standard was determined on, and the horses purchased thereafter were typical cart- horses, and of such uniform excellence that the expert judges who have passed on the merits of the various stables at the annual parades have stated that it would seem hardly possible to assemble together such an even lot. The stables were deficient in the necessary supplies, and were run in a very loose way as to discipline. They were the resort of the local politicians, and the foremen 81 82 STREET-CLEANING were at the mercy of these. If an inefficient employee was laid off or discharged, all he had to do was to go to his ward leader to get himself reinstated. This was a serious drawback to discipline, for the stable foremen could not do what was proper without prejudicing their own positions. The very first thing, then, that was done was to change the existing conditions entirely. Every one in the service, from the highest to the lowest, was given to understand that his position implied work ac- cording to his responsibility; that so long as he did that work his personal opinions and politics would not be con- sidered ; and that the stables must no longer be a lounging- place for outsiders. A system of day-and-night inspection was inaugurated, and at inopportune periods the higher officials would drop down on a stable, often discovering some one absent or neglecting his duty. After preliminary warning, men who w r ere proved to be persistent offenders were discharged and their places filled by better men. The stable employees soon found that a" they had to do was to attend to business. New material was obtained as fast as possible, that on hand was repaired, a sufficient force was placed in each stable to keep it in order, and a spirit of rivalry was encouraged. The result is that to-day, on the testimony of some of the largest and most experienced liverymen, there are no public stables run in a more systematic manner than those of the department, nor kept in as fine condition. One of these gentlemen went so far as to say that lie doubted if there were ten private stables in New York which, in all the essentials of stable management, could excel them. This result has been secured by the rigid application of systematic rules and, furthermore, by the encouragement STOCK AND PLANT 83 of special prizes of banners, etc., given to those stables which, both in the care of the equipment and the condition of the animals, exhibited the most merit. After the first annual parade, which demonstrated so markedly the con- dition of the department, it was resolved to send a cart from each stable for exhibition at the National Horse- show. This innovation at such a fashionable function was a decided success and added much to the increasing popularity of the department, besides greatly raising the esprit de corps of the drivers. This, in general terms, shows how the condition and morale of the stable department have been raised. There are nine stables in all, situated in convenient parts of the city, near the water-front, and from Hamilton Street on the south to One Hundred and Fifty-second Street on the north. One of these, Stable A, in addition to being a stable is the great depot and repair-shop. To it all new stock is brought, horse-dealers bring their horses for ex- amination and purchase, and broken carts, etc., are sent for repair. It is a very busy place. The other eight are purely stables, and only the ordinary harness-repair- ing and simple work on vehicles are done at them. All horses are shod by contract, at a fixed price per month. There are three veterinary surgeons on duty daily. The assistant superintendent has general charge of all stables and of the carting force. He is responsi- ble for the condition of the men and of the stock; he is also charged with the carrying out of all disciplinary rules affecting drivers. His immediate assistant is the super- intendent of stables, whose duties are such as are implied by his title. A regular system of reports and returns, affecting both the personnel and the material, has been inaugurated, similar in all its essential details to that of 84 STREET-CLEANING the army. Each stable has a foreman, an assistant fore- man, clerks, and hostlers. In addition thereto there are various stablemen to cleanse harness and carts and to do the usual work. The number of these depends on the capacity of the stable, i. e., so many horses to the man. This force takes entire care of the horses. The ash-cart-driver is not required to do anything more than to hitch up his team and unhitch it when he returns. The morning hitching up is very rapidly and systematically done. The carts are grouped in the stable according to the sections they work in. When the bell sounds for roll-call, drivers fall in by sections, immedi- ately proceed to the stall floors, harness and lead their horses to the cart floor, hitch up, and start off for daily work. Frequently the whole force of a large stabk has been timed as getting out to work in ten minutes or thereabouts. After the drivers leave the stable, and until they return thereto at night, they are controlled by the district superintendents. Their work is of a variable na- ture. On the outset they remove a portion of the ashes, for their second load they take away the garbage, and on the last round the street-sweepings. It depends a good deal on circumstances as to how long they are employed during the day, but no driver may return to the stable until he has cleaned up his route. Nor must he mix one of the above classes of material with another. At noon he has a hy-off or owing of from one and a half to two hours. During the day the various officers are moving about the streets, and when a driver is found derelict in his duty he is reported to the main office for proper pun- ishment. A specific code of rules governs him, and he knows exactly what to expect for violation thereof. The lot of a driver is hard as compared with that of a sweeper. STOCK AND PLANT 85 The latter simply sweeps the street, collects the rubbish in bags or piles, and his work is done. The driver has to collect all this refuse; has to have animated conflicts with janitors, servants, saloon-keepers, etc., as to whether their garbage is garbage or their refuse material ' 1 proper " ; and, finally, has to satisfy exacting foremen bynotloitering, and critical dump-inspectors as to the character of his loads. Then, he must not enter a saloon, nor trot his horse, nor do many things. For all that, the position of driver is quite popular. It is wider and more varied in its ex- periences than that of the staid and respectable sweeper, who is confined to one restricted locality. A driver of a convivial or amatory turn has hazardous opportunities to get a surreptitious drink, and can occasionally indulge in a brief flirtation. There are two classes of drivers— regulars and extras. The latter are eligible for work only when a regular is absent or sick. There are generally about tw T enty or thirty extra drivers on the list at each stable available to be called on. Drivers are uniformed in brown canvas suits, with brown helmets. It would be impossible for them to use the white uniform of the sweeper. The same general system as regards the organization and discipline above noted of the stable force obtains with the sweeper force and the mechanic force. To carry on the operations of a department which has arisen to such importance and w T hich deals with so many problems requires a variety of employees, each of special aptitude, from the sweeper who manipulates his broom and the driver who handles his ash-can in a workmanlike manner, up to the scientific expert who deals with ab- struse sanitary problems. All have their specified work, and all are held to a rigid accountability in the perform- 86 STREET-CLEANING ance of it; and the commissioner holds himself to as rigid an accountability as any. Furthermore, the carrying on of this business neces- sitates a large plant— stables, repair-shops, section stations, as well as incumbrance-yards where derelict trucks are impounded, yards where the refuse is sorted for sale, dumps, scows, etc. Incidental to all this there must be special men employed as inspectors to keep a watchful eye on everything, and whose timely reports may be considered as the lubricant which makes all the various wheels turn around in unison. The department is divided into five great divisions: (1) the sweepers, under the control of the general superin- tendent; (2) the stables and drivers, under the assistant superintendent; (3) final disposition, under the superin- tendent of final disposition; (4) the mechanics, under the master mechanic; and (5) the clerical force, under the chief clerk. The sweepers are directly under the control of district superintendents and section foremen. The drivers are under the same control while out on their work. The city is divided into eleven districts and sixty- five sections. Each two sections have their section sta- tion, where the sweepers assemble in the morning to be sent to work, and where the brooms, watering-cans, etc., are kept. There the men leave their ordinary clothes and assume their white uniforms. These section stations are kept in fine order, and are a vast improvement over the old assembling-places at the street-corner. The superintendent of final disposition controls the movements of the various dump-boats and the final dis- position of all the refuse. This in winter is sometimes a very serious problem. Lastly, there is the snow-inspector, a district superin- tendent detailed for the winter who directs the removal. STOCK AND PLANT 87 of snow and ice and supervises the contractors who attend to it. The clerical force at the main office is under the direction of the chief clerk. Its employees come from the civil service, and are engaged in various classes of clerical work and the preparation of statistics. This bureau, while not impressing itself so markedly on the general public as those above cited, is a very important one, as may well be imagined. Having thus given a general idea of the various de- partments and duties, it is only necessary to recapitulate in the tabular form all the information as to personnel and material in the main items to enable the reader to understand what an important department this is; and it here follows: TABULATED STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STREET-CLEANING, CITY OF NEW YORK, JUNE 13, 1897 Grade Pay L-ay Month Year Commissioner . $6000 Y Deputy commissioner 4000 Y. Chief clerk 3G00 Y. Gen. superintendent . 3000 Y. Asst. superintendent 2500 Y Supt. of stables . 2000 Y. Supt of final dispo- ? sition ... > 2000 Y Assistant supt. of ? final disposition 3 1500 Y. Master mechanic 1800 Y. Private secretary 1500 Y. Time-collectors 1200 Y. MISCELLANEOUS Force Officers Men Specific Dona Controls everything. (Assists commissioner; makes I purchases. Charge of clerical force, f General executive: charge \ particularly of sweepers. ( < Itinera] executive ; charge of \ stables and drivers. Special supervision of stables. ^ Charge of dumps, scows, and \ refuse. Assistant to above. ( C harg e of mechanics, con- \ struct ion. repairs. S Charge of oommisstoiisr'a cor- \ respondence, etc. ( Collect time-books; also spe- \ eial inspectors. Total miscellaneous 88 STREET-CLEANING CLERICAL FORCE General bookkeeper . Assistant Supt. pay-rolls . Assistants Application and ? registration clerk) Incumbrance and |_ contract clerk ^ Stenographers and type-writers . Complaint clerk Property clerk . Pay Day Month Year $1750 Y. 900 Y. 1750 Y. 900 Y. 1800 Y. 2000 Y. 360 to Y. ' 1500 ! 1000 Y. 1800 Y. f 1500 ) General clerks . < to Y. > I 900 ) Specific Duties ^ Bookkeeping. | Pay-rolls. J Registration of applications I for position. C Charge of seizures made for < incumbrance, and of con- ( tracts and legal business. Duties indicated. Attends to complaints. < Charge of property stored at ( main depot. Clerical work. Total clerical force 6 10 District superinten- dents Section foremen Assistant section foremen . Regular sweepers 1800 Y. 1200 Y. 900 Y. 600 Y. } 660 Y. 720 Y. ! SWEEPER FORCE 11 58 167 Total sweeper force . Extra sweepers . . 2.00 D. 69 Charge of districts. Charge of sections. Assist in charge of sections, detailed men, and various duties. 1614 Sweeping streets. 1781 210 Employed temporarily to re- place absent sweepers. Stable foremen . Assistant stable foremen . Hostlers . 1300 Y. 1000 Y. 720 Y. 600 Y. DRIVER FORCE 9 11 92 S 600 V. i c Driving earts, collecting ref- 660 Y. \ 893 < use, and detailed work in 720 V. ) ( stables and elsewhere. Charge of stables. Assist in charge of stables. Grooming horses, etc. j Driving earts, collecting ret' Total driver force Extra drivers 2.00 I). 985 249 Employed temporarily to re- place absent drivers. STOCK AND PLANT FINAL DISPOSITION Pat G ™>* Ntogfa Offi^T^Men Specific Ditties Year Dump-inspectors . $1200 Y. 17 Charge of dumps. A fpt4tors dunil> " in " } 900 Y. 10 Assist in charge of (lumps. T spcctors S, '° W " in ' \ 1200 Y. 10 Charge of tugs and scows. Masters . . . 110 If. 1 Onboard of Cinderella. Mates .... COM. 1 44 Engineers . . . 100 11 1 Assistant GO M. 1 " " 44 Firemen ... 40 M. 2 Deck-hands 40 M. 1 Cooks .... 30 M. 1 44 Total final disposition . 55 5 MECHANIC FORCE Mechanics . . | J £j* J- 76 General mechanical work. Mechanics' helpers $ ."'rQ jj" [ (General mechanical work. Total mechanic force . . 82 RECAPITULATION Officers Men Miscellaneous 13 Clerical force 6 10 Sweeper force GO 17S1 Driver force 20 985 Final disposition 55 5 Mechanic force 82 Grand total 163 8808 Officers and men :>,\ »:;_» Extra sweepers and drivers 4<;x 9 $ All told, regulars and extras :;5oo MATERIAL AND PLANT BWXBFBBS 1 i'Ki'.\i;TMKNT. AUGUST 31 ARTICLE, ANIMAL, PROPERTY, ETC. M Ml Ml Bicycles 75 Brooms 5. 1 4 1 Bags 30,760 90 STREET-CLEANING SWEEPERS' DEPARTMENT, AUGUST 31— CONTINUED ABTICLK, ANIMAL, PKOFKKTY, ETC. NUMBER Bag-carriers 1,355 Cans, ash- 681 Cans, sprinkling- • 2,007 Cans, paper-, fruit- 83 Carts, lioky-poky . . . 20 Hose 3,138 Receptacles 207 Incumbrance-yards 2 Section stations 41 drivers' department, august 31 Ash-carts 875 Ash-trucks 6 Wagons i* .-. .. . 13 Light wagons . r 31 Sweeping-machines 18 Water-carts ..33 Paper-carts 150 Trucks . 10 Snow-plows, etc. . . . . 20 Hose-carts 10 Harness sets 1,316 Horses 945 Stables 9 FINAL disposition, august 31 Dumps 14 Barney dump-boats, hired 13 Delehanty dump-boat 1 Scows 22 Crematory 1 Stake-boat 1 Tug-boats, hired 4 H. C. C. CHAPTER XI THE REMOVAL OF SNOW BY H. L. STIDHAM, SNOW-INSPECTOR HE removal of snow has always presented one of the most vexatious problems confronting the A various administrations. The removal of " new- fallen snow from leading thoroughfares and such other streets and avenues as may be found practicable" is a duty made obligatory upon the commissioner by law, and with each year the moral obligation to the vast traffic interests of congested Manhattan Island becomes more insistent. Of late, also, the question of the health of the community has entered with great force into any consid- eration of the subject. With the crowding of the im- mense tenement population into that human beehive, the East Side, there has been an actual bulging out from the houses to the now clean asphalt streets. Whether it be winter or summer, the people must have this additional room opened up for them, and a delay in the removal of the almost knee-deep snow and befouled slush is at the cost of much sickness, and probably many lives, each winter. 91 92 STREET-CLEANING With such an uncertain quantity to estimate upon as the yearly snowfall, the annual appropriations for this important part of the department's work have been nominal sums of $25,000 or $40,000. Between the years 1882 and 1892 the annual expenditure was never more than $45,000, and averaged nearly within the $25,000 allowed. In the past three years, with the enormous increase in the amounts of snow removed, there has necessarily been a much larger annual expenditure. Any sums needed beyond the yearly appropriation are transferred from other department accounts by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, and are after- ward replaced by the sale of revenue bonds. In the small amounts of snow removed each winter up to January, 1895, the work was performed mainly with the regular department force, hiring additional laborers and carts when the fall was a heavy one. The quantity of street area opened to traffic by this method was necessarily insignificant, and was centered in a small portion of the down-town districts. Here nearly al^ the sweepers from the various sections through- out the entire city were concentrated into piling and load- ing gangs, and the department carts in use in the hauling of ashes and garbage during the day were sent, with fresh horses and drivers, to the snow district for the night duty, which constituted nearly all the work. In the early months of 1895 the removal by day's work was continued, but, for the first time, each of the eleven districts did its own work, and its head was made respon- sible for the hiring of most of the additional carts and laborers required. In this the first year of the present administration the work was extended materially, and the mileage of streets cleared increased in all parts of the THE REMOVAL OF SNOW 93 city, with the securing of many more hired carts than were ever used before. In the autumn of 1895-96 the first proposal for the re- moval of snow and ice by contract was advertised for, and the contract was let to the only bidder, Herbert Tate, at 56 cents per cubic yard. No snow was removed under this agreement until after the first of the year 1896. With the beginning of 1896 a new era began. Quan- tities hitherto undreamed of were removed in every storm, and the mileage of cleared streets increased enor- mously. The work was done by the contractor in the manner and at the places ordered, and a temporary bureau was organized and placed in entire charge of the burdensome details that had so long hampered the regu- lar department work. Because of the letting of the contract in cubic yards, it was necessary to arrange for inspectors at the loading- and dumping-places, to tally the loads and to protect the city's interests. All cartmen had to get their loads from the regular loading-places and dump them into the river before receiving the token of the city's indebtedness. Under the contract system, the department was relieved entirely of the care and labor incident to the hiring of carts and men, keeping their time and making up pay-rolls; and the vexatious delays in payment of the emergency forces formerly attending the removal of snow were obviated altogether. The contractor, by paying both cartmen and shovelers promptly after each storm, made possible the removal of the present extraordinary and constantly increasing daily totals. The department laborers were retained in their own sections upon the necessary cross-walk and gutter work, and the interruptions to the regular department routine were reduced to a minimum. Snow removal be- 94 STREET-CLEANING came a mere matter of dollars and cents. Much better results were secured (by the contractor paying by the load) from the limited supply of vehicles at the disposal of the city. The drivers, instead of hauling eight or ten loads for a day's work and then leaving, as formerly, worked continuously and as rapidly as their horses could be made to move, in the endeavor to get in as many loads, and therefore secure as much money, as possible. In the autumn of 1896 there were three bidders for the contract for the season of 1896-97, and it was let to G. M. Furman for 42 cents per cubic yard. It will be seen from the table below that the amount of snow re- moved under this contract is considerably more than the totals for both of the tw T o previous winters. The table show T s for every winter the official snowfall in inches, the number of loads removed by the depart- ment forces and by the respective contractors, the totals for each winter, with the total cost and the cost per load. (A load of snow is taken as one and one half cubic yards.) The second column comprises the day's work of the de- partment in every winter, and in addition the removal by Contractor Tate for 1895-96 and by Contractor Furman for 1896-97. The third column shows the amounts re- moved by the contractors who, from 1882 to 1888 inclu- sive, had entire charge of the street-cleaning work below Fourteenth Street, and were compelled by their contract to cart away snow without extra cost to the city. In the fourth column likewise is given, wherever the separation could be made, the number of loads removed each winter after that of 1885-86 by Holland & Co., who cart away all the snow on Broadway from Bowling Green to Park Place for the Metropolitan Street-Railway Company, with- out expense to the city. THE REMOVAL OF SNOW 95 Neither of these columns, then, the third and fourth, although included in the totals by winters, enters into the costs of removal, which are made up solely from the bills presented for the work done by department forces and Contractors Tate and Furman, as shown in the second column. These costs, also, are all exclusive of super- vision by the department inspectors, foremen, and super- intendents. Winters. Snowfall in inches. IPS ~ 8 M 3 c e ti Loads by the contrac- tors below Four- teenth Street. Loade by Holland & Co., lower Broadway. Totals. Total cost per winter. 3 u o O 1881-82 *23,174 *23,174 *$22,551.24 x $.973 1882-83 18,475 17,927 36,402 15,360.04 .831 1883-84 40,709 30,124 70,833 27,352.05 .672 1884-85 36.6 22,313 18,195 40,508 20,213.22 .906 1885-86 23.9 21,578 26,807 48,385 15,035.24 .697 1886-87 49.5 30,973 32,203 1,332 64,508 24,420.53 .789 1887-88 47.4 51,894 18,320 5,886 76,100 47.474.40 .915 1888-89 21.V 4,010 64. grease extraction, 54, 65. importance of prompt collec- tion, 49, 58, 60, 63. importance of separate storage, 52, 58. investigation of various pro- cesses, 49. mills and screens, 65. reduction-works need not be of- fensive, 55, 56. results of tests, 53, 56. thrown in the streets, 8, 9, 13. value of, 55, 67, 76. variations in quality and quan- tity, 56, 67. General superintendent, 18, 86. Genoa, cleaned by contract, 174. police of, 174. wages of cleaners, 174. Grant, Mayor, report of committee appointed by, 4. Hand-sweeping better than ma- chine-sweeping, 38. Horses of the New York depart- ment, 81, 90. shod by contract, 83. under supervision of veterinary surgeons, 83. Hours of labor, 38, 43, 132, 137, 151, 159, 167. Hydraulic carrier for ashes and sweepings, 70. Implements used by sweepers, 40, 120, 139, 147, 149, 151, 173, 175. Improvements in methods sug- gested by employees, 31. Income from picking-yards, 79, 122, 128, 155. from sale of fertilizers, 126, 136, 163, 166, 169. from scow-trimming, 74. Incumbrance-yards, 86, 90. Inspectors, 86. Juvenile Street-Cleaning Leagues, 177. badges and certificates of, 180. facilitate control of foreign pop- ulation, 185. pledges of members, 183. songs of, 181. system introduced in schools, 179. weekly reports of, 183. 228 INDEX Kleinpest, 125, 128. Length of paved streets in New York, 38. of streets kept clean, 42. London, amount of refuse, 154. disposition of refuse, 153, 155. experience with destructors, 153, 155. made up of independent com- munities, 150. Paddington refuse-disposal works, 156. street-cleaning force, 151. the "City" proper, 150. washing of streets, 151, 152. Loomis, Horace, 2. Machine-sweeping, abandoned, 38. in Berlin, 130. in Brussels, 167. in London, 157. in Paris, 138, 139, 146. in Vienna, 119. its disadvantages, 37. Master mechanic, 86. Mechanics, 86. Methods of using sweepers' im- plements, 41. Munio 1 " 1 ., cleaned mainly by con- tract, 171. women sweepers in, 171. Paddington refuse-disposal works, 156. Paper and rubbish service, 45, 76. Parades, annual, 20, 83. Paris, an a cleaned, 137. cleaning asphalt in, 139. cost of street-cleaning in, 137. final disposition of wastes, 143. machine-sweeping in, 138, 147, 149. rag-pickers of, 143. size of street-cleaning force and rate of wages, 137. snow removal in, 144. street-cleaning in, 136. street-sprinkling in, 138. washing streets of, 139. Paved streets in New York, 38. Pavements in Berlin, 131. in Budapest, 124. in New York, 110. in Paris, 136. in Vienna, 117. Picking-yards, 46, 76, 77, 79, 122, 125, 154, 156. Plant of the New York depart- ment on January 15, 1895, 11, 16. on July 1, 1897, 81, 89. Pocket-dumps, 72, 73. Politics as a factor in early work, 6, 10, 12, 15. Public indifference, 2, 175. Refuse of Berlin, 135. of Birmingham, 161. of Brussels, 168. of Budapest, 125. of London, 152. of Paris, 142. of Vienna, 122. Reorganization of the New York department, 19. Repair-shops, 83, 86. Riker's Island, ashes and sweep- ings used for filling, 69. cost of delivering ashes and sweepings at, 73. value of reclaimed land, 73. Robbins, William, 18. Rubbish, final disposition of, 7 1. 78. removal of, 45, 75. Rules governing employees, 21. Salt in snow removal, 147, 149. 169. Sanding of streets, 131, 139, 140. 158, 159. Schools, teaching civic cleanliness, 179. Scow-trimming, 74, 167. Section foremen, 39, 86. Section stations, 86, 90. INDEX 229 Sections, number of, 38, 86. number of employees in, 39. Separation of refuse before collec- tion, 45. Sidewalks in London, 152. in Vienna, 119. Snowfall, official records of, 94, 97. Snow-inspector, 87, 91. Snow-melting machines, 102, 108. Snow-plows and ice-scrapers, 106. Snow removal, agreements with street-railways, 100, 145, 148. collection and control of extra men, 104. contracts for, 93, 94, 100. cost of, 92, 95, 96, 102, 108. experiments in piling, 107. importance of, 91. in Brussels, 168. in Paris, 144. in Turin, 173. in Vienna, 121. laws regulating employment of extra men, 101, 103. method of keeping tally, 105. mileage of streets cleared, 92, 93, 98, 102, 106. record of loads, 95, 96, 98, 102. under former administrations, 14, 92, 96. Stable force, 84, 86. Stable management, 81. Stables, number of, 83, 90. Steam-pit for snow-melting, 102. Stidham, H. L., report on snow removal, 91. Stock of the New York depart- ment, 81. Street-cleaning, children's clubs, 177. songs of Juvenile Leagues, 181. in Berlin, 128. in Birmingham, 158. in Brussels, 164. in Budapest, 124. in Cologne, 172. in Genoa, 174. in London, 150. in Munich, 171. in Paris, 136. in Turin, 172. in Vienna, 117. Street-railways, 110. condition of tracks, 110. obligations of, 1, 145, 148. various forms of rails, 111, 118. Street-sprinkling, properly a muni- cipal function, 176. in Brussels, 168. in Paris, 138. in Vienna, 123, 175. New York method unique, 175. required in dry weather, 41. Streets,cleaned dailv or of tener,42. length of, in New York, 38. used for storing trucks, 2, 8, 9, 13. Superintendent of final disposition, 86. Superintendent of stables, 83. Superintendents, general and as- sistant, 18, 26, 83. Sweepers, in gangs, 40, 130, 137, 167. number of, 88. regulars and extras, 88. Sweepers' tools, 40, 120, 139, 147, 149, 151, 173, 175. uniforms, 15, 16, 20, 39, 129, 134, 172. Sweeping bv machine abandoned, 38. Sweeping in New York, cost of, and force engaged in, 37. frequency of, 42. made difficult bv street-railroad tracks, 113, 116. Sweepings of New York, final dis- position of, 68. Tammanv officials and employees, 18. Trucks stored on streets, 2, 8, 9, 13. Turin, cost of cleaning, 173. enforcement of laws against littering streets, 174. force employed and wages, 173. street-cleaners uniformed, 172. 230 IXDEX Uniforms, cost of, 39. in Berlin, 129, 135. in Munich, 172. in Turin, 172. of drivers, 85. of employees of the New York department, 15, 16, 20, 39, 85. of foremen and assistant fore- men, 39. of sweepers, 39. Vehicles stored in streets, 2, 8, 9, 13. Veterinary surgeons, 83. Vienna, cost of sweeping in, 121. hano 1 -sweeping in, 120. machine-sweeping in, 119, 123. street-sprinkling in, 123. streets and sidewalks of, 118, 119, 121. Wages, rates of, 101, 131, 159, 165, 173, 174. Washing of streets, 125, 139, 151. 152. Women sweepers, 137, 172. ) i