Washington’s experience is illuminating. Notwithstanding changes in method as work progressed and considerable expense attached to the purchase of new equipment the street cleaning department was able to show at the end of the year under the municipal system that the average costs were less than contract prices. At the end of the second year for the expenditure of the same amount of money over 25 per cent. more work was accomplished than during the last year of the contract system and the general opinion was that the streets were in better condition than they had ever been before.
Street cleaning departments of many progressive cities within the last few years have given particular attention to the preventive side of street cleaning work, _i. e._, reducing the amount of avoidable dirt on street pavements. Various methods have been adopted to secure results. Local civic pride and the cooperation of the public have been stimulated by means of educational campaigns. One result has been the more general use of waste paper and refuse street cans. Cleveland tried to organize volunteer corps among the school children to use their influence against the useless littering of streets. Departments have also established a closer relationship with the health and police authorities for the enforcement of street cleaning regulations, such as those prohibiting the sweeping of litter from stores and houses onto paved streets. The success of preventive work depends upon the amount of cooperation the street cleaners can get from these sources.
In Chicago an analysis was made of the character and percentage of waste thrown about by pedestrians in the streets and by business houses in densely populated sections of the city. It was found that a great portion of the street dirt collected by street cleaners consisted of waste paper and other light litter. The Chicago Civil Service Commission in a special report says: “It would appear that with the cooperation of merchants a considerable portion of such litter could be kept off the streets and if street cleaners would patrol the street for loose paper and deposit the same in the street dirt boxes provided at different points along such streets, a great portion of the cleaning work would be saved and the streets would generally appear cleaner. The litter of streets in tenement and manufacturing districts is a matter which can be greatly minimized by proper distribution of work and cooperation of the street cleaning forces and residents. The quantity of street dirt collected from the pavements in market places illustrates an instance where pavements become unavoidably littered.”