Harrisburg Telegraph

TWO WEEKS TO MAKE GENERAL ASH CLEANUP

All Accumulated Waste Must Be Disposed of Soon, Council Rules

City Council at a special conference yesterday afternoon with representatives of the Pennsylvania Reduction Company and the American Surety Company, bonding the Harrisburg concern, granted the ash and garbage collecting company two weeks' time to make a general cleanup of all waste accumulated in the city and to resume regular collections.

At the session the City Commissioners also promised to co-operate wherever possible in having the regular schedule maintained and decided to enforce the part of the city ordinance requiring residents to use receptacles for ashes containing not less than one nor more than two bushels.

Council took the attitude, however, that it will be useless to attempt to enforce this provision if the reduction company does not meet its obligation by cleaning up the accumulation of rubbish and ashes of the last six weeks.

Edward F. Doehne, counsel for the company, explained that the failure to make the regular collections during the last month has been due to the difficulty to obtain men, and also declared much of the trouble was due to the failure to require uniform receptacles.

Citizens Demand Action

Commissioner Gross acted as the spokesman for Council. He told the reduction company representatives that the citizens demanded action, and said the householders could not keep uniform receptacles when their back yards were piled full of boxes, cans and baskets containing ashes which had not been collected.

Mr. Doehne warned the commissioners of the need of educating the residents of the city to have the proper kind of cans or boxes for ashes.

"When the city starts making the collections I am positive this part of the ordinance will be enforced because the officials will readily realize then the importance of it. That is why we want as much co-operation as possible now," Mr. Doehne stated.

In speaking of following up the complaints of persons not using improper receptacles after the clean-up, Dr. J. M. J. Raunick, city health officer, told the Commissioners it would be impossible for the two city sanitary officers to do this work because of the many duties they now have.

It was decided to consider a plan to have the city police officers in the various districts do the work. Council will probably act on this idea later.

E. P. Bailey, who acted as representative of the bonding firm, made no statement to Council at the conference but said he will return to the city soon to see that the reduction company carries out its promise.

In case of failure to make the clean-up and get back on schedule, Commissioner Gross and the other members of Council intimated drastic action might be taken, and the bonding company be called upon to carry out the contract or pay the bill if the city employs enough men and wagons to do the work.