TABLE P.-Grading streets, alleys, and roads, 1912-Continued.

1919

Thirteenth Street NE., between Newton and Otis Streets, and Otis Street east
of Thirteenth Street.

1935 Woodley Road between Connecticut Avenue and Cathedral Avenue, and Twenty-third Street at its intersection..

Total..

15, 601.55

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF STREET CLEANING.

WASHINGTON, D. C., September 3, 1912. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the street cleaning division of the engineer department of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912.

CONTRACT WORK.

Throughout the year the following work has been done by contract under the direction of this division:

Garbage. The collection and disposal of garbage daily, including Sundays, from such hotels, apartment houses, markets, and other like places within the city of Washington and such of its suburban sections as may be designated, from time to time, by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

The collection and disposal of garbage daily, excluding Sundays, from May 16 to October 15, both days inclusive, and three times a week from October 16 to May 15, both days inclusive, from all places not embraced in the preceding paragraph within the existing fire limits of the District of Columbia and certain of the more thickly populated sections on the outside of and adjacent to the fire limits.

The collection and disposal of garbage three times a week from May 16 to October 15, both days inclusive, and semiweekly from October 16 to May 15, both days inclusive, from all places not included in the preceding paragraphs in the city of Washington and its suburbs, as such suburbs may, from time to time, be designated by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

The collection of garbage is made in wagons carrying a covered iron box which is lifted from the wagons and loaded on cars at the transfer station. This box containing the garbage is then shipped by rail to the disposal plant owned by the contractor, located about 32 miles from Washington, and the garbage is there disposed of by the reduction process.

Ashes. The collection and disposal of ashes within the existing fire limits of the District of Columbia and certain of the more thickly populated sections outside of and adjacent to the fire limits, weekly, from April 16 to October 31, inclusive, and semiweekly from November 1 to April 15, inclusive, from private residences, boarding houses, lodging houses of not to exceed 25 rooms, and apartment houses containing not to exceed four families, and other like places, as may be designated by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

The collection and disposal of ashes from all private residences and such other like places corresponding to those included in the preceding paragraph from the remainder of the city of Washington and its suburban sections, as said suburban sections may from time to time be designated by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, weekly, throughout the entire year.

The collections are made in wagons with canvas covers and disposed of by filling low ground on the outskirts of the city.

Refuse. The collection and disposal of miscellaneous refuse, in the city of Washington and its more densely populated suburbs, as such suburbs may from time to time be designated by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, once a week from all private residences, boarding houses, and lodging houses with not to exceed 25 rooms, and apartment houses containing not to exceed four families, and other like places, as may be designated by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and from such public waste boxes as may be established by the street-cleaning division in the machine-swept section of the city and District.

The collections are made in wagons suitable for this purpose and what is not salable is disposed of at an incinerating plant owned by the contractor.

Dead animals.-The collection and disposal of dead animals daily, including Sundays, throughout the year, form every part of the District of Columbia upon notification to the contractor of the existence of said dead animals.

The collections are made in vehicles suitable for the purpose, and the disposal is accomplished by the reduction process at a plant owned by the contractor located about 4 miles from the city.

Night soil. The collection and disposal of night soil from all privies, except such as are established by contractors on construction work, and from all streets, avenues, alleys, roads, and open lots in the District of Columbia upon receipt of notice from the superintendent of street cleaning.

The collections are made in air-tight receptacles designed for that purpose and transported therein on barges about 8 miles from the city and there used as fertilizer on a farm.

Ashes from public buildings.-The collection and disposal of ashes and refuse from buildings under the control of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia as such may accumulate.

This work is done by contract under the direction of this division, but paid for from the appropriation for the maintenance of each building in proportion to the quantity removed.

MUNICIPAL WORK.

Throughout the year the following work was done under the immediate direction of this division:

Machine cleaning.-The cleaning of all paved streets outside the white-wing area every two days. On July 1, when this work was taken over from the contractor, the area cleaned amounted to about 2,500,000 square yards. During the year transfers were made in favor of white-wing work, reducing this area to about 2,167,000 square yards.

Alley cleaning.-The cleaning of all paved alleys in the District of Columbia about once every week. Additional alleys have been paved and added to those previously cleaned, bringing the total area cleaned from 985,000 square yards on July 1, 1911, to 1,033,000 square yards on July 1, 1912.

Suburban cleaning.-The cleaning of all macadam, gravel, and unpaved streets not taken care of by the county, about once every 10 days. During the past year additional territory was taken from the division of county roads and the total area increased from 905,000 square yards to 1,416,480 square yards.

Hand patrol.-The daily cleaning of all streets in the central portion of the city, amounting to about 2,005,000 square yards up to April 1, on which date this area was increased by 398,000 square yards and on May 1 still further added to, the present area being 2,745,804 square yards.

Flushing. The flushing of cobble stone, granite, asphalt block and poorly paved streets in the white-wing section of the city, amounting to about 300,000 square yards, washed about twice weekly.

Squeegeeing.-The squeegeeing of nearly all of the smoothly paved streets in the white-wing area two or three times each week. Up to April 1 the area squeegeed amounted to about 1,368,000 square yards. Additional territory was added on this date, bringing the total up to about 1,766,000 square yards.

Dust prevention.-The sprinkling during the summer and fall of 1911 of about 60 to 70 miles of macadam, gravel, and unpaved suburban streets. No sprinkling was done during the spring of 1912. The oiling during the spring of 1912 of practically all the suburban territory, the entire area being covered about six times.

GENERAL.

The division of street cleaning serves a population of about 331,000 and covers an area of approximately 70 square miles.

The acts of Congress approved March 2, 1911, making appropriations for the expenses of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, authorized the commissioners to perform certain work, previously done under contract, namely, street sweeping, cleaning alleys and unimproved streets, $40,000 being made immediately available for the purchase of new equipment to be used in this service. Complete preparations, including the purchase of equipment to the amount of $24,404.40, were made to undertake the work of machine, alley, and unimproved street cleaning previously done by contract, and the work was started on the morning of July 1.

Unit costs have steadily decreased throughout the year and the averages are considerably lower than the cost of the contract work prior to June 30, 1911. In addition to the greater economy, it is believed that the work has been of a higher quality and the streets and alleys have been kept cleaner. The success of municipal street cleaning is attributed largely to the fact that it is much more flexible than the contract system.

Under the old method of machine and alley cleaning every street and every portion of each street received the same amount of sweeping and the same price paid for each thousand square yards swept, whereas under the present system more effort can be put on the streets and on the portions of each street which have the most traffic and therefore tend to be more dirty. Under the contract system, the schedules were arranged for each day's work and that amount performed each day whether it required a full day's work or not. Under the present system continuous schedules have been arranged so that each foreman and his gang clean as much area as is possible in the eight hours constituting a day's work and commences again the next morning where he left off the night before.

It has been found, by experiment, on certain well-paved and lightly traveled streets that by expending the same amount on white-wing work as was formerly spent for machine work it is possible to keep these streets in very much better shape, the white wings cleaning the streets every day, whereas the machines only cleaned every other day. On this account, it has been thought advisable to extend the white-wing work, on this basis, in certain sections and as funds are available, more men will be put to work on these streets and the squeegee work will be extended into this section, so as to put these streets on the same basis as the regular white-wing work. This is considered better than sweeping such streets by machine every day and costs about the same.

A number of experiments have been tried with the machine cleaning, in connection with the cost keeping to discover the most economical and efficient equipment for each section, and the conclusion has been reached that the machines do better work in batteries of three machines, one sprinkler, and four carts. The carts, however, are designed to hold nearly twice as much as an ordinary cart, as the machine sweepings weigh about half as much as dirt.

The alleys of Washington are well paved and wide, and, in the past, have always been cleaned by gangs consisting of one foreman, one one-horse sprinkler, six laborers, and three carts. On September 18, one one-horse sweeper was added, as an experiment, to one of the alley gangs, which has enabled this gang to increase the number of yards swept by about 25 per cent. On this account, steps are being taken to use one-horse sweepers with all the alley gangs.

In the fall of 1911 experiments in dust laying were tried on certain suburban streets with calcium chloride and emulsified oil instead of sprinkling with water, resulting in the decision to use only emulsified oil in the future. In the spring of 1912 practically all of the suburban streets were thoroughly cleaned and swept with a sweeping machine, without sprinkling, before an application of oil was made, and from then on applications of a mixture of about 1 gallon of oil to 6 or 7 gallons of water, spread in the proportion of approximately one-seventh of a gallon of the mixture to a square yard of surface, were made about once every 10 days or 2 weeks, the streets being cleaned with hand brooms previous to each application. By this method, the dust nuisance was almost entirely eliminated, less money was spent for sprinkling and oiling than for sprinkling alone during the previous year, less suburban street cleaning was necessary on account of there being less dirt and dust to be removed, and the general appearance of the streets was very much improved. By the oiling method, only enough equipment is required to cover the entire territory about once every 10 days or 2 weeks, while by the sprinkling method it was necessary to carry enough equipment in wet weather to cover the entire territory two or three times a day in dry weather.

Experiments during the previous year in street washing by squeegee and flushing machines proved so successful that this method has been permanently adopted and the work will be extended as funds are available. The squeegee machines are operated in batteries of one sprinkler and three squeegees, the sprinkler operated some distance ahead to allow the dirt which has become baked and stuck to the pavement to be softened by the absorption of water and easily dislodged by the squeegees. With one battery, which works in the hilly section of the city, it has been found necessary to use three horses in each squeegee machine. Four additional squeegee machines have been purchased during the year, making a total of eight. Two flushing machines have been purchased during the year, making a total of four. It has been the endeavor to cover nearly all the hand-patrol area two or three times a week with these washing machines, and in order to do this it has been necessary to work some of the machines on a double shift. By this system of street washing it is found that the streets are

almost entirely free from dust. Any dirt which may accumulate does not have time to be pulverized and the particles are too heavy to be disturbed or blown about by an ordinary wind. Under the old method of cleaning these heavier and coarser particles were removed, but most of the dust remained to become a source of annoyance when disturbed by the wind or rapidly passing vehicles, although the streets appeared to be clean.

In the leaf season of the previous year, when machine cleaning was done by contract, it was necessary to have an extra gang of sweepers, consisting of four machines, five broomers, and five carts and to pay the contractor at the rate of 22 cents per 1,000 square yards for all of the territory swept by this gang. No more machine sweeping, however, is required to gather the leaves than in ordinary times and the extra weight is not considerable. To provide for the additional bulk this season removable extension sides (which can be used again in future years) were made for all the carts, increasing their cubic capacity, and by so doing it was found that the cost of machine cleaning was not considerably increased.

In times of snow and ice it has been the practice in preceding years to clean the principal street-car intersections and the crosswalks. In addition to this in the past year spaces adjacent to the street-car stopping points were cleaned so as to afford access from the cars to the crosswalks. In order to have this done before the opening of business hours, the men commenced work earlier in the morning than in preceding years. At the same time the horses left the stable with sidewalk plows. After most of the snow was removed from the sidewalks to the gutters, the horse-drawn gutter plows were used to open the gutters so the water could run off as the snow melted. After the above operations the men were employed in opening spaces from the center of the street to the gutters, spreading the snow in sunny places and otherwise assisting the snow to melt and the water to run off to the sewers. No attempt was made to haul snow and ice from the streets except from the intersection of street-car lines and other congested or crowded localities.

While the city of Washington is subjected to a good many snowstorms, very few of them are severe, and the climate is such that during the greater part of the winter the snow melts very rapidly.

Appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, included an item of $128,600 for the purchase of a site or sites for the erection of a building or buildings thereon for a stable and storerooms for the street-cleaning division. A site was purchased, plans and specifications were prepared, and the contract let for the construction of a stable in square 1043. This has been completed and occupied since March 18, on which date the old stable in square 367 was abandoned. A contract was then let, plans and specifications having been prepared, for the construction of a new stable in square 367, the foundations and walls of which were completed at the expiration of this fiscal year. The capacity of both stables, in addition to storeroom and repair shop, will be something over 200 horses.

In designing the stable in square 1043, sufficient space was allotted for improved and extensive storerooms and repair shops in which a number of modern machines have been installed, driven by individual electric motors. The most important of these machines are: one power hammer, one machine lathe, one band saw, one planer and jointer, and one drill press. This shop, in addition to doing all repair and rebuilding work, manufactures new equipment such as carts, wagons, trash boxes, brooms,

pan scrapers, etc.

During the past year a cost-keeping system has been developed with the idea of attaining, through the study of comparative costs, greater efficiency and economy. This necessitated among other things the establishment of a modern method of storekeeping and the systematizing of methods of streets cleaning.

Under the present system of storekeeping, nothing is issued from the storeroom without a signed order from the foreman or assistant foreman and only enough supplies for the job then under way are issued at one time. The record of supplies on hand is kept on index cards, one card for each item, and shows the price, contractor, when ordered, amount on hand, and when and where issued, the index totaling about 1,600 cards. Another important feature of this card system is the establishment of maximum and minimum limits for each kind of stores, thus preventing any overstocking or shortages as stock is automatically purchased when the minimum limit is reached. Other advantages are the location of stock, all stock correctly priced, no stock lost, a check on supplies ordered, exact records of stock used and where used, and a perpetual inventory of stock always on hand and up to date.

No change has been made in the methods of keeping time for per diem employees, but the time book is now checked with the cost-keeping account, which eliminates possible errors.

Before being issued, the schedules of streets to be cleaned are platted on celluloid sheets mounted over maps and very carefully studied to prevent any dead travel. The areas of all streets cleaned have been accurately determined from the records of the surface division. Schedules are changed only upon order of the superintendent or assistant superintendent, and foremen allowed to clean only the streets on their respective schedules. Reports of the cleaned streets are sent into the office daily, and the areas computed.

With the idea of promoting the efficiency of the stables, what is known as the stable profile has been evolved. This is a record on profile paper showing daily the number of horses working, the total number fit for work, the total number convalescent, and the total number in stable. The line of full working force is also platted, and the curves of the various lines drawn in different colored inks. This record has also proven of great value in planning additions or changes in the working force, as the number of horses available can be ascertained at a glance. The stable efficiency, as shown by the profile chart, runs from 86 per cent in July, 1911, to 98 per cent in December, 1911. From December, 1911, to July, 1912, the average run is about 99 per cent, reaching 100 per cent in several places.

Each month every item of expenditure, such as stable costs, pay rolls, supplies issued to the work from the storeroom, rent, livery, etc., is distributed so that each street-cleaning gang is charged with its proportionate amount. This is shown on the section cost sheets, the totals of these sheets giving the costs for the month of each class of work. By dividing each heading, such as pay rolls, of the section cost sheets by the total yards cleaned, what is known as the unit cost sheet is obtained. This sheet, giving the amount per unit for each heading on the section cost sheet, is of particular value in comparing the costs of two different gangs or the changes due to variation in the methods employed, as the variation between any similar item for two sections can be investigated in detail.

Due to the amount of preliminary study necessary, the cost-keeping system has been subject to frequent changes. Since the 1st of May, however, the only changes have been minor and mainly in smoothing out various details. Computations are all made on a 20-inch engineer's slide rule and, of course, subject to error on that account, although checked wherever possible. The cost keeping for May and June checks with the accounting within $12 in a total of $59,000; an error of 1 in 5,000. Hereafter, it is intended to check the cost keeping monthly and correct any errors.

That the cost-keeping system has caused a saving in every class of work is brought out by the fact that the cost per unit is gradually lowered each month. The moral effect on both foremen and men is very evident from the increased efficiency when it becomes known that careful records are being kept of each branch of the work and comparisons made between the different gangs doing the same work.

Space has only been taken here to describe a few of the main points of the cost-keeping system, but after it has been in operation long enough to assure proper results it is intended to publish a separate report describing the cost-keeping system in detail and the benefits derived therefrom. In this report it is intended to add overhead charges, interest, and depreciation in the form of a percentage so as to allow of comparison with the costs in other cities.

The inspectors of the collection and disposal of city waste made investigations during the fiscal year of complaints and requests in number as follows: Garbage, 1,014; ash, 2,712; refuse, 4,087; night soil, 137. They furnished householders with regulation cards to the number of 5,073, served 2,033 unlawful garbage receptacle notices, and visited 48,419 houses.

The contracts for the collection and disposal of garbage, ashes, refuse, and dead animals are all five-year contracts and expire June 30, 1915. With a view to obtaining less objectionable, more efficient, and more economical services than are at present rendered by the contractors, the commissioners recommended to Congress that an appropriation of $10,000 be made for the purpose of investigating and reporting on the collection and disposal of city waste, including the preparation of plans and specifications for the construction of disposal plants. Congress did not see fit to make this appropriation, but the recommendation has been renewed in the estimates for the coming year.

It is estimated that the contractors for the disposal of city waste have invested in collecting equipment and disposal plants several hundred thousand dollars which they must have figured on recovering from the amounts received from the District of Columbia for the services rendered during the five-year term of their contracts, as these investments will be practically valueless on their expiration if they are not successful in obtaining the same contracts for the next term of five years. In other words, the District of Columbia is probably paying to the contractors, in addition to the cost of the work and the contractors' profit, the cost of complete disposal plants