STREET CLEANING, a term used to include all operations of municipal departments charged with keeping the streets free from litter which might affect the public health or com fort, or offend the public taste. In the larger cities of the world the work consists of the daily sweeping of all paved streets; the col lection of house refuse garbage, ashes and light waste when deposited by the house holder in cans on the sidewalk or adjacent thereto; the removal of dead animals from the street; summer sprinkling to lay the dust; and the disposal of snow in winter. In small com munities the term covers only the more pressing of these functions the removal of dead ani mals and household garbage and ashes, with a spring cleaning of the streets after the melting of winter snows, and an autumn cleaning after the fall of the leaves.
The routine work of street sweeping and the removal of household waste is performed by men regularly employed by the department; while work which varies much with the season, such as the removal of dead animals, street sprinkling and the disposal of snow, is, in most cities, let to contractors who are subject to the call of the department, but are better able to supply the sudden demands for men and teams at any point.
For a long time in Europe, and of late in America, the men of the departments of street cleaning have been protected in their employ ment by civil service rules which insure their positions during efficiency and good conduct: and in Europe they receive pay during sickness and pensions on retirement. This has had the effect of providing a class of men suited to the work and contented with their positions, and in raising the morale of the departments. In Europe the men sometimes wear distinctive caps or some other badge of employment, and in some cities they wear a modest uniform. In New York City the sweepers are garbed in white, because this is most conspicuous on a crowded street and conduces most to the safety of the men and the efficiency of the depart ment; and because these uniforms, to be kept white, must be thoroughly washed and always in good sanitary condition. In many of the
older and larger cities of Europe Vienna, for example where strict obedience to law has long been rigidly enforced, each house holder keeps his portion of the sidewalk uni formly and always clean, having it sprinkled and swept twice daily in summer and kept clean in winter; while in New York few house holders regard it as a duty and a point of honor to keep their individual sidewalks clean in sum mer and free from snow and ice in winter. In New York it is very common to see a news paper dropped on the street with no protest, whereas in Europe such an act would almost certainly cause a man's arrest if he refused to pick up the paper. There are streets in New York where one sweeper keeps clean 20,000 square yards of pavement; there are other streets, in the crowded districts, where one man's work is to keep clean 1,000 square yards. In the latter case the pavement is laboriously swept seven times daily.
The late Street Commissioner Waring, of New York, at the close of his administration made a report considering in succession 13 fac tors which were deemed to be beyond the con trol of the department, and for each was de termined approximately its relative difficulty. They were: (1) Kind of pavement asphalt, 100; wood. 100, brick. 100; granite, 150; Belgian block. 160; cobble, 400.
(2) Condition of pavement good. 100; fair. 120; bad. 140.
(3) Amount of traffic light, 100; medium, 140; heavy. 180; dense, 250.
(4) Amount of car track on basis of 30-foot street with single track.
(5) Kind of car track rail none, 100; flat or grooved, 110; T rail, 120.
(6) Amount of sanding little. 110; much. 120. (7)) Amount of sprinkling heavy. 125.
(8) Elevated railroad 110.
(9 Character of population good, 100; fair, 200; bad, 300.
(10) Presence of schools 110.