Page:McClure's Magazine v9 n3 to v10 no2.djvu/193

Rh and hazardous service because of the subsistence that they find in the cargo.

The question of final disposition had already become a very serious one during the administration of Mayor Gilroy, who appointed a commission to investigate the whole subject. The full report of this commission is interesting and useful. Much of what is now being done is its outgrowth, especially the pocket-dump and the self-propelling dumping-scow, both of which are due to the suggestion of Lieutenant-Commander Delehanty, Supervisor of the Harbor, who was a member of the commission.

The new system, when fully inaugurated, will be as follows (much of it is now in operation):

Each sweeper is supplied with a "bag-carrier," a little two-wheeled truck which supports an open bag, to receive street sweepings. On this truck he transports his tools: a broom with a scraper at the back, a watering-can, a short shovel, and, for asphalt, a broad, long-handled scraper. The sweepings are put into the bag as fast as they are collected. When full, the bag is tied and stood on the curb.

Householders are allowed to put nothing on the sidewalk. All receptacles must stand within the "stoop-line." This change from the old practice dates from 1895. Other changes, already begun, will soon be enforced universally. For simplicity they will be here described as though already established.

Garbage is kept separate from all else, and is set out in a proper vessel within a half hour of the scheduled arrival of the cart on its early morning round. This is delivered at the dumps to the scows of the Sanitary Utilization Company, and is taken to its works at Barren Island, where it is cooked by steam for some hours, and is then pressed for the extraction of its grease and liquids; the remaining solids are dried and ground. The liquid is reduced by evaporation to about the consistency of molasses. It retains most of its manurial value, and is mixed with the solids, the whole being sold as a fertilizer. The grease is roughly clarified, and is sold to soap-makers and others. The city pays to the company $90,000 per annum under a five-year contract. The operations are free from sanitary objection, and are believed to be profitable.

Ashes are kept within the houses in cans, from which they are easily transferred to bags by a Department man. These bags are tied and set on the curb, to be taken away by the cart that collects the bags of sweepings. Ashes and sweepings are hauled to the pocket-dumps, where the bags are emptied into hoppers which feed a bucket-elevator transporting their contents to elevated storage pockets; thence, on the opening of the gates, inclined floors discharge the matter into the pockets of the Delehanty boat, by which it is transported o Riker's Island, beyond Hell Gate. There will be a fleet of five of these boats: The "Cinderella," the "Aschenbroedel,"