Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/855

 THE FIRST GERMAN MUNICIPAL EXPOSITION 823

under police direction as in most cities. The regulations require the cleaning of sidewalks twice a week and sprinkling twice a day, the removal of snow, and the strewing of some such material as sand or ashes during icy weather. Upon request, however, the street-cleaning department undertakes this work except the strewing of ashes at low rates. Berlin and some other municipalities clean the sidewalks, but leave to the landlords the removal of snow and ice, and the strewing of ashes, as above. Dresden is the only municipality which embraces, as one of the regular duties of the street-cleaning department, the cleaning of the sidewalks, including removal of snow and ice.

The sprinkling of the streets varies according to weather and season. On dry summer days the chief streets are sprinkled four or five times per day; all others in Frankfurt a. M., for example at least twice a day. In the same city, asphalt streets are no longer sprinkled at all during the day, for the thorough cleansing which they receive renders sprinkling unnecessary.

The refuse and litter swept up by the street cleaners is loaded into handcarts in Dresden, for example and carried to collecting points, whence it is carted away by contractors. In Frankfurt the collection of sweepings is made immediately by wagons from the municipal stables. In case the use of handcarts, or of a small number of dump carts, should strike one as being ludicrous, one must remember that the streets are cleaned so regularly and so frequently that no great amount of material is allowed to collect, even where the amount of traffic is great.

After a snowfall emergency rules, carefully worked out, go into effect. The number of districts of the street-cleaning department is immediately increased by subdivision. The working force is enlarged by the employment of extra men from other city departments, as well as men seeking work. One or two of the regular sweepers are placed in charge of each of these subdistricts to direct the extra men. The Dresden department employed as many as 2,105 extra men in a single