cooperation of the Superintendent of Schools and the Junior Civic Club,
consisting of 650 members from the seven schools of the city. To each
pupil desiring to become a member was presented a button in the school
colors, bearing the words “I Will Help Kewanee.” A photograph was taken
of the child’s home, showing as clearly as possible what he desired to
improve. A letter was sent to the parents of the members of the Club,
stating that the Kewanee Civic Club offered prizes to children who would
make the most progress in cleaning up yards at home, plant flowers, make
gardens, and do any other work. For the best showing in each school
district $5 in gold was first prize, and $2.50 in gold second prize. To
all the children who made an honest effort to clean up and beautify
their yards were given diplomas of award signed by the Superintendent of
Schools and the Committee. The taking of the pictures was a most
expensive plan, but the expenses were materially reduced because the
Camera Club of the High School contributed largely of their time. A
contest in growing vegetables and making gardens was begun in the
summer, and in the fall prizes were offered for the best showing. In
order to stimulate interest in that direction, motion pictures showing
what children had done in other cities were used.
A school in one city presented a one-act play typifying the following
characters: Fly, waste, paper, fire, soot, dirt, microbe, sickness,
death, sorrow, poverty, cleanliness, swatter, refuse pail, fire
prevention, paint, scrub brush, soap, water and flowers. Lines were
fitted to each character, and in the end cleanliness and happiness
overcame sickness and dirt.
Although not always taking an active part in the cleaning up, women’s
clubs have been a great factor for good in instigating general clean-up.
There is scarcely a city in the country where the women in one way or
another have not done much propaganda work, and in many instances
offered active service and financial support.
Cincinnati is unanimous in its opinion that it owes its successful
campaigns to the Cincinnati Woman’s Club, which organization was
responsible for the first effort toward a general clean-up years ago.
The prominent women residents of Cornwall, N. Y., members of the
Improvement Society, having failed to get the Moodine Creek and adjacent
property cleaned up by the Board of Health, after an appeal, formed what
they called the Tin Can Committee, and started a campaign of
housecleaning on their own account. Flanked by a squad of Boy Scouts,
they marched to the Moodine with rakes and hoes and began to clean up
the thickets of the creek on both sides.
Special Activities
Besides the general cleaning work for the removal of rubbish and waste
many cities add special activities to their programs. These are found to
be helpful in improving both sanitary and esthetic conditions. In a few
cities drastic measures are resorted to in special cases. In
Philadelphia, for example, the names of 600 owners of unimproved
property which required cleaning were obtained and to each was sent a
written request to improve conditions. The results were gratifying. In
other places photographs of unsanitary conditions have been taken and
the pictures either published or sent to the owners or occupants of the
premises.
In Chicago an agitation was started to clean the roofs in the downtown
district, as it was claimed that most of the dirt filling the air and
streets was blown from the roofs, which had not been cleaned since they
were built.
School gardens and tree planting are popular in many cities and are made
a part of the Clean-Up Campaign program.
Through tireless energy the Director of Social Centers of the public
schools in Cincinnati succeeded in having hundreds of school gardens
planted. Many of these were planted in vacant lots which had formerly
been the abiding place of heaps of rubbish. One was upon what had been
for years an objectionable public dump adjacent to a school. Several
loads of dirt were applied in the fall and the cost defrayed from the
campaign fund. In September an exhibit of school garden products was
held and prizes offered.
Intensive vacant lot and back yard gardening campaigns were conducted in
most American cities during the spring and summer of 1917. Although
these campaigns resulted from the need to increase production, they
assisted materially in eliminating many unsanitary spots in every city.
A Cincinnati firm in former years distributed trees in great numbers
among the school children of the city and adjacent communities. Upon the
suggestion of the Clean-Up Committee it decided again to make such
distribution as a part of the Clean-Up Campaign, this time peach trees.
Cards were given to all the school children who would agree to plant and
care for the trees. Eighty-four thousand of these trees were
distributed. The trees planted will bear fruit worth many thousands of
dollars. The distribution of them formed a distinctive and unique
feature of the Cincinnati campaign.
Fire Prevention and Inspection
The fact that in Philadelphia in one year the loss by fire from
combustible materials alone was $300,000 shows how important is fire
prevention in the clean-up work. Realizing the conditions and the
effective means which clean-up campaigns offer to improve them, many
cities have laid special emphasis upon safety as well as sightliness and
cleanliness. The effort of Cincinnati illustrates the results that have
been achieved in many other communities.
INSPECTOR’S REPORT (1915).
“CLEAN-UP AND PAINT-UP” CAMPAIGN.
Under Auspices of Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.
[Illustration]
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ _Ward_ INSPECTOR’S REPORT _Precinct_ │
│Location.................Date.....................................191│
│Occupation...........................................................│
│Owner or Agt.........................................................│
│Address..............................................................│
│ │
│Instructions—Inspect Entire Premises. │
│ Note Defects by Opposite Key Nos. │
│ 1st Insp. 2nd Insp. │
│Cellar...... │ ........ │ ........ │ 1. Rubbish (including rags │
│Hallways.... │ ........ │ ........ │ and waste paper). │
│1st Story... │ ........ │ ........ │ 2. Garbage in other than │
│2nd Story... │ ........ │ ........ │ covered metal cans or pails. │
│3rd Story... │ ........ │ ........ │ 3. Ashes in other than │
│4th Story... │ ........ │ ........ │ covered metal cans or pails. │
│5th Story... │ ........ │ ........ │ 4. Old lumber or furniture. │
│6th Story... │ ........ │ ........ │ 5. General Unclean Condition. │
│Attic....... │ ........ │ ........ │ 6. Fire Escapes Obstructed. │
│Yard........ │ ........ │ ........ │ 7. Hallways or Stairways │
│Alley....... │ ........ │ ........ │ Obstructed with goods. │
│Vacant Lot.. │ ........ │ ........ │ 8. Unsanitary Toilet. │
│Stable...... │ ........ │ ........ │ 9. Privy Vault. │
│Store....... │ ........ │ ........ │10. Open manure pile. │
│............ │ ........ │ ........ │11. Frame Fire Risks to be │
│............ │ ........ │ ........ │ Torn Down. │
│ │
│Other Defects..................... Do Not Fill Out │
│.................................. Referred to Date │
│.................................. State F. M.......................│
│.................................. Police Dept......................│
│.................................. Fire Dept........................│
│.................................. Health Dept......................│
│.................................. Bldg. Com........................│
│.....................................................................│
│Department....(Signed)........................, Inspector │
│Fire Map......Vol........Page.......Block............................│
│ │
│ │
│No. and Street.......................................................│
│ Items for Clean-Up Attention │
│Front Yard Ashes Paper │
│Side Yard Ashes Paper │
│Back Yard Ashes Paper │
│Sawdust Wood Rubbish │
│Old Barrels, Boxes, etc..............................................│
│Vacant lot to be rid of..............................................│
│Other Conditions.....................................................│
│ │
│ Items for Public Health Attention │
│ │
│Garbage..............................................................│
│Outside Vaults.......................................................│
│Stable Nuisances.....................................................│
│Drainage.............................................................│
│Other Conditions.....................................................│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
“The success attained in the Cincinnati campaign in 1914 so impressed
the State Fire Marshal that he assigned one of his assistants to spend
his entire time in the 1915 season going about the State organizing in
the different cities clean-up campaigns based upon the Cincinnati plan,
and in which inspections by the State Fire Marshal’s department played
an important part. Since it is estimated that 80 per cent. to 90 per
cent. of all fires are caused by accumulation of waste, rubbish or trash
of some sort, a thorough renovation of all premises in the city must
decrease the risk of fire. Therefore the more thorough the Clean-Up
Campaign the more work done toward fire prevention. The $600,000
reduction in fire loss, from $1,341,348 in 1913 to $793,796 in 1914, may
be traced largely to the result of the Clean-Up movement. This means a
reduction of insurance rates in the business district of from 5 per
cent. to 8 per cent. and an annual saving of perhaps $160,000 in fire
insurance premiums.”
Sanitary Inspection
As a preliminary to the Clean-Up Campaign in Kirkville, Missouri, an
inspection was made of all grocery stores, drug stores, bakeries, and
dairies by the State Pure Food Inspectors. The work continued over many
months, and every Sunday one of the local newspapers devoted an entire
page to the report of the conditions, good and bad. Each concern was
scored on various points of sanitation on the basis of 100 per cent.
perfect, and the Sunday papers printed scores of all concerns inspected
the previous week. Thus the interest of the public was aroused to watch
the scores. In the instances where the low scores were made the effects
of public disapproval were instantly felt.
Flies and Mosquitoes
Swatting the fly and destroying breeding places play an important part
in the Clean-Up Campaign of every community, and in nearly every city
fly extermination literature is distributed during clean-up week.
Bulletins, rubber stamps, fly traps, motion pictures, lectures, lantern
slides, and everything available are used to depict the ravages of the
fly. Fly extermination leaflets are sent to business establishments, to
mothers’ clubs, and post cards to merchants whose places of business
might be noticed to be fly infected. Boy Scouts distribute the
literature and also report as to stable conditions. Letters directed to
business establishments, suggesting the use of fly swatters and traps as
advertising material, are a further movement against the house fly. In
Cincinnati a circular explaining the need of exterminating the winter
fly was distributed through school children, and a marked reduction in
the number of flies was secured. A special general committee on fly
extermination was named and became one of the most active factors in the
campaign. Classes in manual training in the public schools made fly
traps, the Public Library had prepared a complete set of lantern slides
on fly extermination, and the committee had prepared and printed and
distributed 50,000 circulars on the house fly and methods of
extermination.
Results of Campaigns
A tour through any city on the first day after Clean-Up Week will
convince the most incredulous that in promoting this movement the
municipality materially lessens the fire risk and makes a marked
improvement in sanitary conditions. Everywhere are heaps of waste
materials and discarded articles, such as old bed springs, mattresses,
sofas, glass, crockery, stoves, carpets, baby coaches, piled along the
curb.
The following are some of the results conceded worth while in most of
the cities engaged in the movement:
A continuous campaign accomplishing permanent good.
Stimulation of business. A canvass of the cities having clean-up
campaigns resulted in the showing that 71 per cent. of the
merchants were positive that their business had been increased.
Improvement of housing conditions.
Distinct educational value for the young.
Prohibition of open garbage cans in some cities.
Sanitation in the handling of food products.
Better laws and methods for the disposal of garbage and rubbish.
Reduction in fire loss; thus reduction in insurance rates.
Elimination of unsightly lots and spots.
Hundreds of school gardens.
Renovation in most of the homes in a way they had never before been
renovated.
A great reduction in the number of flies and mosquitoes.
A stimulation of civic pride and cleanliness and safety of the home.
A united effort by practically the entire population toward an end
for the public good.
The education of school children toward a better idea of living
conditions.
The razing of dangerous buildings.
Elimination of public dumps, prospective early elimination of many
more.
Hundreds of new street litter cans.
Cleaner yards and vacant lots.
Distribution of thousands of fruit and shade trees.
Collection of combustible waste by Salvation Army, relieving Street
Cleaning Department, and reducing dump evil.
Development of community spirit through united action in a movement
for public welfare.
The fact that most cities have repeated their campaigns from year to
year should convince those which have not yet inaugurated the movement
that the effort is well worth while. There are, however, a few large
cities, New York being one, in which the congestion of work which a
campaign entails creates a temporary situation which is unsatisfactory
and expensive. These municipalities, and even many of those which have
annual campaigns, are advocating more methodical care of light rubbish
throughout the year, thus avoiding such a large spring cleaning. As a
remedy several cities have lengthened the period of cleaning to several
weeks. Generally speaking, however, clean-up campaigns justify the
effort and extra expense by making safer, cleaner, healthier and more
beautiful cities.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Removed “6. METHODS AND COST OF COLLECTION OF GARBAGE” from p. xii
as there is no Table VI in the book.
2. Footnotes [27] (was Table I N before renumbering), [28] (was Table I
R), [32] (was Table II A), [33] (was Table II X), [34] (was Table
II C), [35] (was Table II H), and [72] (was Table VII d) are
missing their anchors.
3. Changed “department houses” to “apartment houses” on p. 146.
4. Silently corrected typographical errors.
5. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
6. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.