STATEMENT AND REPORT 
OF THE 
Comittee of Twenty-one 
KEBPECTINO, THE 
EFROTS TO PROCURE RE Foil M 
ITS THE Si STEM OF 
CLE NING THE ST 
OF WE 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
NEW YORK : 
D •l.'GLAS TAYLOR. BOOK ANI) .JOB PRINTER, 87 & 89 NASSAU & ISO FULTON ST. 
1881. STATEMENT AND REPORT 
OF THE 
Citizens’ Committee of Twenty-one, 
RESPECTING THE 
EFFORTS TO PROCURE REFORM 
TN THE SYSTEM OF 
CLEANING THE STREETS 
OF THE 
°CITY OF NEW YORK. 
NEW YORK: 
DOUGLAS TAYLOR, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 87 & 89 NASSAU & 130 PULTON ST 
1881. Committee of Twenty-one: 
I). WILLIS JAMES, 
JAMES GALLATIN, 
THATCHER M. ADAMS, 
LAWRENCE TURNURE, 
JOHN L. CADWALADER, 
MORRIS K. JESUP, 
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, 
R. H. DERBY, M.D., 
CHARLES H. MARSHALL, 
JOHN C. PETERS, M.D., 
WILLIAM A. COLE, 
EDWARD PATTERSON, 
WALTER H. LEWIS, 
SAMUEL D. BABCOCK, 
JAMES TALCOTT,* 
BRAYTON IVES, 
JESSE SELIGMAN, 
WM. F. BRIDGE, 
R. T. AUCHMUTY,f 
HENRY E. PELLEW, 
JACKSON S. SCHULTZ, 
J. PIERPONT M01IGAN4 
* Resigned, and .Tosiah M. Fisk elected in his place, 
t Resigned, and J. H. Hall elected in his place. 
X J. Pibrpont Morgan added to the Committee. 
Sub-Committee on Legislation: 
JACKSON S. SCHULTZ, 
MORRIS K. JESUP, 
BRAYTON IVES, 
EDWARD PATTERSON, 
THATCHER M. ADAMS, 
JOHN L. CADWALADER, 
CHARLES H MARSHALL, 
HENRY E. PELLEW, 
WALTER II. LEWIS. 
Officers of Committee of Twenty-one: 
D. WILLIS JAMES, Chairman. 
JESSE SELIGMAN, .... Treasurer. 
WILLIAM F. BRIDGE, .... Secretary. STATEMENT AND REPORT. 
To the Citizens of New York: 
The following statement, and the copies of papers and documents 
appended to it, are submitted to the citizens of the City of New 
York as a record of the principal phases of the rise and progress of 
the movement recently undertaken to secure a permanent beneficial 
change in the matter of cleaning the streets of the city. It is 
proposed to narrate concisely the origin of the movement, its 
development, the efforts of the Committee of Twenty-one to 
accomplish its purpose, and the results of those efforts, culminating 
as they have in legislation demolishing the system of street cleaning 
in existence prior to June of the present year, but which legislation, 
for causes which will be mentioned in their appropriate place, does 
not accomplish the full object required by the people and advocated 
by the press of the City. The action of the Committee of Twenty- 
one will be stated in brief. To recount all that it has done in its 
numerous meetings, consultations with other bodies and with citizens, 
and conferences with State and municipal authorities, would con- 
sume too much space and make too large a volume for convenient 
use or for general reading. 
It had long been evident that the system of street cleaning in 
vogue in New York was one better calculated to advance political 
interests than to secure cleanliness and health. At intervals, within 
the last four years, efforts had been made by private citizens and 
various associations organized for sanitary, political and municipal 
reform, to secure a change in the laws regulating the subject; but 
in every instance political considerations prevailed to defeat those 
efforts. 
Early in the present year various circumstances forcibly attracted 
public attention to the utter failure of the municipal authorities to 4 
perform their duties connected with cleaning the streets, and im- 
pressed our citizens with a deep sense of the dangers which threat- 
ened the welfare of the metropolis. 
The unusually heavy snowfall during the winter months had been 
suffered to lie upon the ground and mingle with the ashes, garbage 
and street dirt until both had frozen into a solid mass. The early 
warm spring days melted this accumulation, which had been an eye- 
sore and hindrance to travel for weeks, and created offensive and 
unwholesome exhalations. The entire city presented an abhorrent 
and humiliating spectacle. All classes of the community suffered 
from this shameful condition of things, and the public indignation 
grew ripe for action leading to reform. 
There was no individual official who could be held responsible for 
the gross neglect, but only a board, composed of four commissioners, 
each member of which shifted the responsibility from himself to others. 
Vast sums had been appropriated to do the work, and an enormous ma- 
chinery of carts, horses, workmen and inspectors (particularly the 
latter) was engaged in the pretence of street cleaning. But the results 
of this large outlay and elaborate machinery were trifling. In the face 
of the experience of other cities in the same line of administration, 
and despite the assurances of practical men that the work could be 
done with the means at hand and at even less outlay of public funds, 
the people of New York were compelled to submit to dangers and in- 
conveniences which it is safe to say would not have been tolerated 
for so long a time in any other community. But at last the public 
patience was exhausted and the conviction became settled that 
no improvement was to be looked for from the action' of the con- 
stituted authorities. The system of administration seemed to be 
at fault, and the conclusion was reached that only by changing this 
and inducing a radical alteration in the method of street cleaning 
could permanent and practical results be expected. 
The Mayor, in his first annual message, referred pointedly to the 
foul state of the streets and the need of some better system of keeping 
them clean. The medical profession offered their testimony as to the 
evil consequences which threatened the public health if accumulations 
of dirt were allowed to remain in the public thoroughfares. At the 
annual meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine, Dr. Fordyce 
Barker, the incoming President, referred specially to the condition 
of the public health as affected by bad sewerage, filthy streets and 
a poisoned atmosphere, and said that the pecuniary loss to this city 
the present year from such preventible causes would, beyond all 5 
question, exceed the city debt. The President of the Hoard of 
Health (Professor Chandler) stated that “the health of 1,200,000 
persons is constantly menaced by the petrifying filth which covers 
the pavements and fills the street gutters.” The public press took 
up the theme and earnestly demanded immediate action. The 
Sanitary Reform Society labored in the same direction, and some of 
its members called upon the Mayor and offered their services to aid 
in the work of prompt and efficient reform. 
Finally the agitation, the real danger and the public indignation 
reached a climax in the early part of March last, and resulted in a 
call for a mass meeting of citizens. That call was as follows: 
THE CITY MUST BE CLEANED. 
The existing system of street cleaning in the City of New York has received 
a full trial and proved a complete failure. -— 
Liberal appropriations are made annually without adequate result—the 
accumulated filth of the streets still continues to offend the eye, entailing 
disease and threatening pestilence, while it obstructs commerce and injures 
property. 
Radical and immediate change is imperative. 
Therefore we, the undersigned, citizens and taxpayers of New York, irre- 
spective of party, do hereby call a mass meeting, to be held at Cooper Union, 
on Friday evening, March 18, 1881, at eight o’clock, to protest against the 
further continuance of a system which disregards the comfort and imperils the 
health of our metropolis, and to demand from our representatives in Senate and 
Assembly convened immediate action for relief in the premises. 
So large and so notable was the list of signers to the call, including 
as it did the names of sixty physicians, nearly as many eminent 
clergymen, besides merchants, lawyers, bankers, philanthropists and 
representative citizens, without distinction of party or nationality, 
that it is given in full in the Appendix. No similar popular up- 
rising had been seen in New York since the Union Square demon- 
stration at the time of the attack on Fort Sumter, or the Anti-Ring 
mass meeting at the Cooper Institute in 18VI. 
The meeting was called to order by Mr. Win. E. Dodge, who 
said that the merchant, the mechanic, the capitalist and the laboring 
man are deeply interested in the question whether New York shall 
be a clean and a healthy city. We have, therefore, determined to 
lay aside State and national politics, and to see to it that we have 
such a city. He then nominated Judge Charles P. Daly as Chair- 
man. Mr. William Wood read a list of Vice-Presidents and Secre- 
taries, after which Judge Daly made a few introductory remarks. 6 
In his personal experience of half a century, New York had ever 
been the dirtiest city of equal extent with which he was familiar. 
He reviewed some of the efforts which had failed to bring about 
reform, and created immense enthusiasm by saying, in conclusion, 
that a morning journal had expressed the hope that this meeting 
would not end in oratory and resolutions ; he could say for a large 
number of those united in the movement that such should not be 
the result, but that the meeting meant business. 
Dr. Alfred L. Loomis next appeared as a delegate from the New 
York Academy of Medicine to present a preamble and resolutions 
regarding the effect of the unclean streets on the public health. Tie 
incidentally discussed some of the causes of the alarmingly high 
mortality of New York, among which the large masses of putrescent 
animal and vegetable matter in the streets were important factors. 
Rev. Robert Collyer spoke of the moral deterioration due to the 
dirt which defiles and deforms New York. He said : We are proud 
of this grand city, as she lifts herself to the sky, and well we may 
be, for New York is a marvel of splendor ; but, as I have walked 
through our streets this winter, I have had to wonder many a time 
whether there was quite such a mingling of magnificence and mud 
anywhere else on this planet ; and I remember, when I say this, I 
am not yet two years from Chicago. And as the city is, so are the 
citizens. There is as fine a manhood, I will venture to say, on this 
island as you shall find anywhere, and there is a manhood close of 
kin to the dirt we wade in and deplore, and the question we have 
to answer is, Which shall run New York ? 
Mr. Sigsimund Kaufman, ex Commissioner of Emigration, made 
a spirited argument for the right of New York to regulate her local 
interests. When it had one of its foremost merchants as chief 
magistrate, a man who has at heart the welfare of the city, let him 
have full power to clean the streets, and he will not be found want- 
ing. 
Judge J. R. Brady spoke in a similar strain, and said that if the 
people of New York were resolved to have clean streets, they could 
get them within three months. 
Mr. Morris K. Jesup next read the following resolutions: 
Whereas, More than eight years have elapsed since the Board of Police 
became “vested with the power and charged with the duty of causing the 
streets of New York to be thoroughly cleaned and kept at all times thoroughly 
clean and 
Whereas, It is a matter of public notoriety that the streets entrusted to 7 
their care have become, and continue to be, offensive to the eye, partially im- 
passable for purposes of commerce, and hotbeds for the spread of disease ; 
and 
Whereas, The Legislature of the State has failed from year to year to act 
upon any of the measures whereby relief has been sought, until the increasing 
death-rate among our population gives ominous warning of the results of fur- 
ther inaction ; therefore, be it 
Resolved, That this meeting is convinced of the impossibility of keeping the 
streets of this city clean under the present system. 
Resolved, That in our opinion there must be a separate Department, under a 
single responsible head, for the purpose of cleaning the streets and removing 
the ashes and garbage ; and that whatever system may be adopted, whether by 
contract or otherwise, fitness, not politics, shall govern the appointment of the 
employees. ' 
Resolved, That in the name of the people of this city, we earnestly protest 
against any further continuance of this state of things, and we appeal to the 
Legislature for immediate and lasting relief. 
Resolved, That a permanent Committee of twenty-one be appointed by the 
Chairman for the purpose of obtaining the requisite legislation, and report on 
the same. 
Resolved, That when this meeting adjourn, it adjourn subject to the call of 
the Chairman. 
Mr. D. Willis James made an earnest plea on behalf of the tens 
of thousands of sad, weary and pale-faced little children in our tene- 
ment houses, whose homes are so dark, and whose sole playground 
is the street, piled up with reeking dirt, garbage and filth. He 
thought there were no insurmountable obstacles in the way of 
cleaning the streets, and instanced Commander Gorringe’s removal of 
the Obelisk as an illustration of the vast results which may be ac- 
complished by selecting a competent, faithful man, and giving him 
the necessary power and responsibility. 
Mr. Frederick R. Coudert spoke of the legal responsibility which 
belongs somewhere for the lives sacrificed in consequence of the 
neglect of the authorities to clean the city : if these officials could 
not do their duty, they should at least resign. 
Mr. Charles H. Marshall, on behalf of the shipping interests of 
New York, protested against filling up the harbor and slips with 
refuse in a manner destructive to our commercial future. 
Dr. D. B. St. John Roosa presented a detailed statement of the 
condition of a large section of the city, the result of an expert exami- 
nation made within forty-eight hours of the meeting, and claimed 
that the public health must be seriously injured by the prevailing 8 
filth. He said that when a committee of medical men recently 
called on the Police Commissioners to complain of the condition of 
certain streets, the stalwart head of the Street Cleaning Bureau 
said to the spokesman of the delegation, an eminent medical man, 
“ You are telling an untruth, and you know it.” 
Mr. Joseph IT. Choate was the last speaker, and his caustic refer- 
ences to the derelict Police Commissioners met with the heartiest 
approval of the audience. He said : As it has been entrusted 
to me to close this meeting, I propose to close it with a 
benediction upon the Police Commissioners. I have not heard 
half enough of indignation about these Commissioners. It 
was said that it was to he an indignation meeting, and I 
think we have not had half enough of indignation. If it is 
true that it is not possible for the Commissioners to clean 
the streets, why, it is possible to clean out the Commissioners. 
That, at least, is possible; and by the grace of God, and by that 
other Grace, whom the people of this city have chosen to execute 
their will, this thing shall be done. If you can find one man fit to be 
trusted, and who is energetic enough, give him this duty to perform. 
Let him be responsible for it, and it will be done. I believe we 
have that man. Although I am not of his political faith, although 
I did all I could to prevent his election, I believe that in the Mayor 
we have that man. I understand that in twenty years, by industry 
and by continued attention to business, he has made for himself 
a fortune of millions of dollars, and this by a well conducted busi- 
ness carried on for its own sake. This shows that he is fitted for 
a little job like this. Now, let us send our committees to Albany, 
and let them say that we want this power placed, where it ought to 
be placed, in the hands of the Chief Magistrate of this city, and 
want him not to be trammelled by any Board of Aldermen. We 
want this job to be put upon the Mayor, upon his sworn responsi- 
bility to perform his duty, and then let him go to work and execute 
this business as he has executed his own business. This work will 
then be conducted in defiance of politicians, and places will not 
then be given to men as refuges at the bid of politicians, but the best 
men will be selected for the work they have to do. If we stand by 
the resolutions adopted here to-night, and let the gentlemen at 
Albany know that we mean what we say, this job will be accom- 
plished. 
The resolutions read by Mr. Jesup were now submitted to vote 
and adopted by acclamation. The Chairman announced the follow- 9 
ing gentlemen as comprising the Committee of Twenty-one, provided 
for in the resolutions, and the meeting then adjourned amid much 
enthusiasm : 
D. Willis James, 
James Gallatin, 
Thatcher M. Adams, 
S. D. Babcock, 
John L. Cadwalader, 
Morris K. Jesup, 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
R. H. Derby, M.D., 
Charles IT. Marshall, 
John C. Peters, M.D., 
William A. Cole, 
Edward Patterson, 
Walter H. Lewis, 
Lawrence Turnure, 
James Talcott, 
Brayton Ives, 
Jesse Seligman, 
William F. Bridge, 
Ilenry E. Pel lew, 
R. T. Auchmuty, 
Jackson S. Schultz. 
Police Commissioners French and Mason occupied places on the 
platform. Both gentlemen afterwards protested against what they 
deemed the unfair tone of Mr. Choate’s remarks. Mr. Mason said to 
a Herald reporter that he was in hearty accord with the spirit of the 
meeting, in so far as it advocated taking the Street Cleaning Bureau 
from the management of the Police Department, but he thought the 
aspersions on the Commissioners very unjust. Commissioner French 
expressed similar views to a reporter of the Commercial, and said he 
had never held but one opinion, namely: that the control of clean- 
ing the streets should be given to the Mayor. 
The foregoing account of the Cooper Union meeting is given as 
an important part of the history of this reform movement. It indi- 
cates how general and widespread was the public interest in the 
subject and how imperative was the necessity for a change. It also 
emphasizes the importance of the principle of individual responsi- 
bility in the matter of street cleaning, and shows the general con- 
currence in the plan of confiding that duty to the Chief Magistrate 
of the City. 
The comments of the New York press upon the meeting were 
frank and cordial. Its magnitude and importance were fully recog- 
nized, and it was only feared that the earnest spirit manifested 
would result in inaction. The World characterized the meeting as 
“ practical and business-like,” and predicted that it would not end 
in indignant eloquence. It pointed to the need of striking at the 10 
root of the matter by securing “personal responsibility in municipal 
government.” 
The Tribune remarked : “ The size of the meeting, the hall being 
densely crowded, while hundreds of persons were turned away from 
the doors; the character of the audience, which comprised many of 
our most respected citizens, the proportion of grave men of middle 
age being noticeably large; the intense earnestness of the gathering 
—are signs that a gene al indignation has arisen upon this subject 
which it might not be extravagant to compare, in its way, with the 
storm under which the Tammany Ring went down ;” and added 
that it will not do to clean out the Police Commissioners if the old 
system is left. “It is the system that must be kept steadily in view 
as the point of attack.” 
The Sun accepted the meeting as a proof that the public at last 
appreciates danger from the steadily increasing mortality of the 
city. “ There has been ample reason for the meeting; now let the 
city be put in condition to withstand the summer’s heat by giving 
the Mayor power to undertake the work of street cleaning.” 
The Evening Post said : “ The citizens instinctively demand two 
things : first, that ample power to clean the streets shall be lodged 
in the hands of a single officer; second, that this single officer shall 
be held to a strict responsibility. This is suggested by common 
sense and is according to common business experience.” 
The Times declared the assemblage one of the most remarkable 
ever held in New York and a convincing demonstration that the 
people of the metropolis are not to be triffed with. 
The Journal of Commerce said : “ Personal responsibility instead 
of official responsibility is the object to be kept in view.” 
The Herald praised the tone of the speeches and suggested that if 
the authorities still delayed to clean the streets that the Committee 
of Twenty-one organize a volunteer movement to do the work. 
The salient feature of the meeting was thus accented and approved 
by the leading journals. The and Express alone attempted any 
defence of the Police Commissioners. The former denied that poli- 
tics had anything to do with maintaining filthy streets and charged 
that the hands of the Police Board had been tied with a dozen dif- 
ferent ligatures ; merely to transfer the task to others hands, with- 
out improving the laws, will effect little permanent benefit. 
The Express said the meeting was “ large, eminently respectable 
and well addressed.” The Police Board had failed not because 11 
incompetent or unfaithful, but because the business of street clean- 
ing does not belong to them. If we are to have clean streets, (1) 
get the Legislature to put the business of cleaning them into efficient 
and responsible hands, not already more than full of official work; (2) 
appropriate the necessary money to pay for having the work done 
well; (3) give sufficient power and discretion to the Street Cleaning 
Commissioner to meet any exigency that may arise, and hold him 
responsible for his acts; and (4) assist the authorities in keeping the- 
city clean, instead of increasing their difficulties and screaming over 
their shortcomings. 
The Committee of Twenty-one lost no time in perfecting its 
organization and deciding upon its future action. On Saturday 
evening following the night of the Cooper Institute meeting, an 
informal conference of the members was held, at which a sub-com- 
mittee, consisting of Messrs. James, Pellew, Adams, Marshall and 
Cadwalader, was chosen to arrange preliminary measures. Its mem- 
bers conferred with the Mayor and Comptroller on Sunday. The 
Committee of Five met at Mr. Pellew’s house the same evening and 
spent several hours in deliberation and in laying out the work for 
the day following. On Monday morning, the Committee met at the 
rooms of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of 
the Poor, No. 79 Fourth A venue, which had been courteously 
offered as its permanent headquarters, and at which all its sub- 
sequent meetings were held. Seventeen of the twenty-one mem- 
bers were present at the first meeting of the Committee. The four 
members who did not attend were all detained by pressing 
business, or were absent from the city. Mr. D. Willis James 
was elected permanent Chairman, and Mr. William F. Bridge Sec- 
retary. The Sub-Committee of Five reported that a conference had 
been arranged with the Mayor, Comptroller and Corporation 
Counsel. 
The Committee of Twenty-one had fully determined to embody 
in any scheme of street cleaning emanating from it the principle 
which it understood to be the paramount one with the people, as 
expressed at the Cooper Institute mass meeting and through the press. 
Its members were convinced that their efforts would not satisfy 
the public unless the existing system should be destroyed and a new 
one devised, which would possess as its distinguishing characteristic 
the feature of the responsibility of some one individual directly to 
the people. It was concluded that power and responsibility ought 12 
to be reciprocal, and that the surest guaranty of faithful service 
would he found when some one person having ample power to do 
the work would he liable to public reprobation and to punishment 
for neglecting or otherwise violating his duty. 
With that consideration as the guiding one, the Committee 
entered into conferences with the city authorities. It was ascer- 
tained that the Mayor was willing to assume the burthen of cleaning 
the streets, and would undertake the task, provided he could be 
untrammelled in his selection of the person to direct the work, 
and have the power to remove him at once in case of any dere- 
liction of his duty. The Committee, the Mayor, the Comptroller 
and the Corporation Counsel soon came to an entire accord in their 
views of a proper bill to accomplish the desired object. Several 
interviews, in which the whole plan was discussed, eventuated 
in the preparation of what, with a few amendments not affecting 
its cardinal principle, afterward became the famous “ Senate Bill.” 
That bill was drafted by the Corporation Counsel, assisted by Mr. 
Thatcher M. Adams and Mr. John L. Cadwalader, of the Com- 
mittee. Careful criticism was made of all of its provisions before 
it received the sanction of the Committee at large; it was discussed 
section by section at the meeting; the judgment of leading city 
officials upon its various requirements was obtained; it was submit- 
ted to gentlemen interested in the subject, but not members of the 
Committee, and it received the approbation of all who examined it. 
As soon as its details were arranged it was taken to Albany by 
members of the Committee, and introduced into the Senate by 
Mr. Robert H. Strahan, Senator from the 8th District. Modifica- 
tions were made of some of its minor provisions, and the Senate, 
conscious of the importance of the general demand and willing to 
come to the aid of the citizens of New York, promptly and heartily 
responded to the wishes of the people and passed the bill unanimously. 
The carriage of the measure in the Senate was confided to Mr. 
Strahan, and it is but simple justice to that gentleman to say here, 
as the Committee has elsewhere stated, that Mr. Strahan is entitled 
to the thanks of the whole community for the zealous and intel- 
ligent assistance he has given to this Committee during the whole 
legislative contest for clean streets. The full text of the proposed 
enactment as it passed the Senate is given in the Appendix. It had 
been discussed in the public press and was received with general 
approbation. As a specimen of the comments passed, the following 
extract from the Journal of Commerce of March 26, 1881, is given : 13 
“The new scheme perfected by the Committee, and now submit- 
ted to the Legislature, goes directly to the task of making provis- 
ion for the work, and holding some one responsible for its perform- 
ance. As far as we can see, it has not in it a line to which any one 
can object who wishes the streets thoroughly cleaned, and has no 
sinister end in view incompatible with the faithful performance of 
the task.” Everywhere the hope was entertained and expressed that 
the members of the Assembly would act with the promptitude, good 
sense and right feeling which had actuated the Senate in the 
matter, and such assurances had been given to the various members 
of the Committee as justified the belief that its labors would soon 
be terminated by the Senate Bill becoming a law. 
When the bill had been in the Assembly but a few hours the fact 
became evident that the sanguine hope of speedy success was delusive. 
Dilatory tactics, for some undisclosed reason, were resorted to by 
members who had not openly committed themselves either for or 
against the bill. These motives were not long in coming to light. 
Politics, plunder and patronage began their deadly work of defeat. 
The officials who had so long mismanaged the business committed 
to their charge, and even some members from the city, fearing 
the effect upon their political organization of giving the power 
under the bill to a political opponent, instituted a strong and 
aggressive opposition to it ; in other words, they desired to keep 
the disbursement of the money for street cleaning in the hands 
of their own faction. This assault upon the Senate bill gradually 
became consolidated and formidable ; no consideration of the 
public health, nor the combined efforts of the people, the press, the 
pulpit and the medical faculty, were availing to change the senti- 
ment of a majority of the Assembly, struggling for control of a little 
patronage and that portion of the city money which would be used 
in the work of cleaning the streets. 
The Committee on Cities, to which the Senate Bill had been re- 
ferred., made the first open move against the bill by substituting in 
place of the Mayor, when mentioned therein, the President of the 
Board of Health, a member of the political party in the majority in 
the Legislature, and reporting the bill so amended to the Assembly. 
But Professor Chandler at once discountenanced that plan, and 
declared that, should it be adopted, be would resign his position as 
President and member of that Board. The Committee of Twenty- 
one also presented to the Legislature a protest against this pro- 
position. 14 
When it was ascertained that the Assembly would not promptly 
pass the Senate bill, eighteen members of the Committee of Twenty- 
one, accompanied by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan (not at that time a 
member of the Committee), proceeded to Albany and remained 
several days, during which time the opponents of the bill, after much 
consultation, agreed to report to the House, in lieu of the Senate 
Hill, what is known as the Carpenter Substitute. In this emer- 
gency the Committee resolved to call another mass meeting, hoping 
that the direct and authoritative voice of the people might arrest 
the Assembly in its apparent disregard of the will of the inhabi- 
tants of the city. The meeting was held on the 12th of April, 1881, 
at Steinway Hall. It was a large and enthusiastic gathering, very 
demonstrative in its indignation at the conduct of the majority of 
the Assembly, and especially vehement in its disapprobation of the 
course of those members from the city who had first obstructed 
and then planned to prevent the passage of the bill. The meeting 
was called to order by Chief Justice Daly, who referred to the 
object of the call and introduced the Hon. John Jay, who acted as 
Chairman. Mr. D. Willis James read the report of the Committee 
of Twenty-one, which is here inserted in full as a necessary part of 
the narrative : 
Report of the Committee of Twenty- One, appointed at the Mass 
Meeting held at Cooper Union, March 18, 1881. 
The Committee of Twenty-one appointed by you at your mass meeting on 
the 18th of March last to effect a radical change in the present system of 
street cleaning, and to confide the same to one single responsible head, respect- 
fully report : That, upon the day following their appointment, they organized, 
and after consultation with the Mayor, the Comptroller and Corporation 
Counsel, caused a bill to be prepared imposing on the Mayor the duty of keep- 
ing clean the streets and investing him with full powers to that end. While 
appreciating certain objections to conferring upon a single individual such 
large powers, your Committee became convinced that it was absolutely re- 
quisite to have a single responsible head elected by the people, and therefore 
directly responsible to them, who from his position would be a safe depository 
of large powers. 
All these considerations pointed to the propriety of naming the Mayor as 
the official to be charged with the execution of the work. The duty was by 
the bill attached to the office, notylo the individual, although your Committee 
further ascertained that the present Mayor was prepared to undertake the 
work, provided ample power accompanied the responsibility, and he further 
pledged himself to faithfully perform it, absolutely regardless of party, party 
interest, or party patronage. This bill was introduced in the Senate by the 15 
lion. Robert H. Strahan on Thursday, March 24, and the Special Committee 
of the Senate, to which it was referred, gave your Committee an immediate 
hearing and reported the bill complete, after amending it in some particulars, 
on the 30th of March, and the bill, being then put upon its passage, received 
the unanimous vote of the Senators then present. 
Your Committee, and the public, their constituents, were greatly assisted by 
Mr. Strahan, by the Special Committee to which it was referred, by Mr. 
McCarthy, their Chairman, who permitted the bill to supersede the provisions 
of his charter, to which he had devoted much labor, and by Mr. Robertson of 
Westchester, who lost no opportunity to forward the purposes of your Com- 
mittee. 
Before the bill had actually passed the Senate, your Committee, eighteen of 
whom were present at Albany, placed themselves in communication with Mr. 
Sharpe of Ulster, the Speaker of the Assembly, and, in view of the urgency of 
the situation, suggested that the bill might be considered in the Committee of 
the Whole, without the usual reference to the Committee on Cities. It is 
proper to state frankly that the fear of delay was not the only motive for 
avoiding such reference. 
The relations existing between Mr. Carpenter of Suffolk, the Chairman of 
the Committee on Cities, and Mr. French, President of the Board of Police, 
were such as to create apprehension that the measure advocated by us, as your 
representatives, would be unfavorably received by the Chairman and other 
members on that Committee, who represented certain districts in the City of 
New York, and who did not appear to possess sufficient independence to 
emancipate themselves from similar influences. Your Committee, hdwever, 
largely out of deference to the Speaker’s views, abandoned any attempt to 
secure the passage of the bill without a reference to the Committee on Cities. 
The Speaker materially assisted the Committee in procuring an immediate 
hearing by the Committee on Cities, before the bill was technically before the 
House. At that hearing, which took place on the afternoon t>f the day upon 
which the bill passed the Senate, your Committee became aware that their bill 
was not likely to receive favorable consideration from several members of the 
committee. The first open move in opposition was made upon the further 
hearing before this committee on the following day, when Mr. George Bliss 
violently attacked the bill, its supporters and the Mayor, and his attack 
seemed to be in sympathy with the views of a majority of the committee. 
The committee thereupon appointed a sub-committee to report on the follow- 
ing morning such amendments as they might advise. This sub-committee 
consisted of Messrs. Hamilton, Brodsky, Everett and Andrews, with the addi- 
tion of Mr. Carpenter ex officio, all of whom, except Mr. Andrews, had by this 
time become outspoken opponents of your bill. On the following morning 
the bill was reported to the Committee on Cities amended, as your Committee 
are informed, on motion of Mr. Hamilton, by substituting the President of the 
Board of Health in the place of the Mayor, wherever named therein, and in 
some other unimportant particulars. 
The bill so amended was thereupon reported to the Assembly, and made the 
special order for the succeeding Tuesday, the 5th day of April. Professor 16 
Chandler, the President of the Board of Health, promptly stated to your Com- 
mittee and through the press that he had not been consulted in the matter, and 
that under no circumstances would he accept the responsibility sought to be 
thrust upon him, and that in his opinion the Mayor should be charged with 
the work. This refusal of Professor Chandler to act disconcerted whatever 
plan had been formed, and a successful motion for delay was made when the 
special order was announced on the 5th day of April. 
The motion to postpone prevailed by a vote of 59 to 56, and your Committee 
were satisfied that, could the bill have been fairly discussed and disposed of 
on its merits on that day, it would have been passed. 
On the morning of that day members of your Committee had an interview 
with Mr. Speaker Sharpe, again requesting his support, and received from him 
an assurance that when the bill came to a vote he would, although distasteful 
to him, vote in favor of the bill. In the meantime, and before the bill came 
up for discussion, every effort was made by the circulation of absurd and 
false statements to influence country members, and every means used to 
arouse partisan feeling. Meanwhile a small knot of the chief opponents of 
your bill were busily engaged in preparing a substitute therefor, and finally 
agreed upon what is now known as the Carpenter Substitute, which was 
offered by Mr. Carpenter, of Suffolk, on the following day, when the matter 
came up under special order. This substitute, retaining largely the language 
of your bill, charges the duty of cleaning the streets upon a subordinate 
official, called a Superintendent of Street Cleaning, to be nominated by the 
Mayor for the term of two years and confirmed by the Board of Health, and 
unhesitatingly gives to him the large powers which your Committee, only 
after great deliberation, had asked should be conferred upon the Mayor, and 
which Superintendent could be removed only by the Governor on charges. 
No such subordinate official, not elected by the people or responsible to them, 
should be vested with such powers. No official holding his office for a short 
time and depending on the Board of Health for confirmation could be expected 
to possess the necessary independence, and the difficulty in the removal of a 
faithless or inefficient official through charges before the Governor absolutely 
destroys the one principle for which your Committee have throughout con- 
tended—direct and individual responsibility to the people themselves. 
In other respects, this substitute is equally objectionable, and by 
means of a carefully worded clause continuing the Board of Police 
in the work' of street cleaning until the Superintendent is appointed, 
it is not unlikely that it is intended that no superintendent shall 
be confirmed who will not agree to divide the patronage, or 
who will not be anxious to show how shamefully the Board of Police have 
neglected those duties confided to them. In the discussion on your bill and 
the proposed substitute before the House, the opponents of your bill placed 
their opposition chiefly on the ground that this was a question purely and 
simply of patronage, subordinating thereto the matter of cleaning the streets: 
or, as expressed by Mr. Crasper of St. Lawrence, “This is not a question of 
cleaning the streets; business and politics are two different things. I believe 
that we, as members of the Republican party, should avail ourselves of the 17 
opportunity which is placed before us at this time. We have succeeded in 
carrying the State; we have the Executive; we have the Legislature, and now 
let us have what patronage belongs with it.” Or, as stated by Mr. Sharpe, 
the Speaker, “It is evident that the Mayor will nominate nobody who will give 
the patronage to the Republicans. What we ask is that it shall not be given 
solidly elsewhere.” 
In other words, the leaders in opposition to the bill preferred dirty streets, 
with the attendant consequences, to a loss of a little petty patronage. 
A vote being taken on a motion to order your bill to a third reading, under 
the issues thus raised, resulted in the defeat of the motion by a vote of 55 to 
65, and the struggle at this time was virtually ended. In this connection it is 
proper to remark that Mr. Skinner of Jefferson, Messrs Duguid and Alvord 
of Onondaga, Mr. Husted of Westchester and others, ardent Republicans, 
most conspicuously supported your bill and proved that they were not willing 
to oppose an honest measure on such paltry grounds. To them, to Messrs. 
Erastus Brooks and W. C. Andrews, who aided us in every way, and to all who 
voted for the bill, your thxnks and ours are justly due. 
Among those voting against the bill, Mr. Speaker Sharpe and Dr. Hayes 
require especial mention. The Speaker, having led your Committee to believe 
that he favored the general object they had in view, and stated that he would 
vote for the bill, appeared on the floor as the especial champion of the substi- 
tute, and used every effort to defeat your bill. Any one familiar with the 
power of a presiding officer will appreciate the injury caused by his defection. 
Dr. Hayes, having the day before spoken strongly in favor of your bill, having 
repeatedly stated that he should vote for the bill, and having been entrusted, 
for presentation to the House, with a petition signed by 250, or more, 
prominent physicians of the City of New York, advocating the passage of the 
bill, not only voted against it without explanation or excuse, but smothered 
the petition. 
To Messrs. Hamilton, Brodsky, and other small politicians, who proved 
recreant to their duties as representatives of the people, and obedient to the 
commands of their political masters in New York, the Committee make no 
reference, except to express a hope that their constituents will hereafter signify 
disapproval of their course, in a way which cannot be misunderstood. 
This completes the history of the work of your Committee at Albany. 
As matters now stand, the Carpenter substitute may come up at an early day 
for passage, and if passed will go to the Senate for concurrence by that body. 
In the opinion of your Committee, the passage of the Carpenter substitute by 
both Houses would result disastrously to the City of New Y"ork, and supply 
no effectual remedy for the evils that exist; and, on the other hand, a difference 
between the two Houses will result in no legislation, leaving the business of 
street cleaning precisely where it now is. 
Your Committee, in closing, cannot but state their deliberate conviction that 
this was the intention of the opponents of your bill from the outset, and while 
they regret that the scheme has thus far prevailed, they cannot but hope that 
you will, by proper expression of your'opiuions and wishes, succeed, even now, 
in turning defeat into victory. 18 
In this report, and in narrating the circumstances attending the defeat of the 
bill, your Committee have stated facts, and facts alone, and have intentionally 
refrained from giving expression to the regret and indignation which must 
follow such au experience as this. 
That a majority of the Legislature of the State of New York should be abso- 
lutely deaf to appeals for aid in this emergency from the metropolis of the 
country, and not only be willing to continue, but insist on the continuance of 
the present system or the inauguration of a worse one, carries with it its own 
comment. T). WILLIS JAMES, 
Wilt jam F. Bridge, 
Chairman. 
Secretary. 
Addresses were also made by Ex-Governor Solomon, the Rev. 
Dr. Hitchcock, Mr. J. S. Schultz, Dr. W. H. Draper and Mr. Joseph 
H. Choate. The following letter from the Mayor was read: 
Morris K. Jesup, Esq., Chairman. 
Mayor’s Office, April 12, 1881. 
Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your favor of this morning. I have heretofore 
slated to your Committee that, in the event of the Senate bill becoming a law, 
I should absolutely divorce the work of street cleaning from politics and 
require that it be managed as a simple matter of business, apart from all parti- 
san considerations. The matter touches too nearly the home of every family 
and the health of every citizen to be made a question of politics. It is simply 
a question of most urgent business, in which divided responsibility w ould only 
invite failure. Yours respectfully, 
W. R. GRACE. 
The meeting unanimously adopted the following resolutions: 
RESOLUTION 8. 
Whereon, The Committee of Twenty-one, appointed at the mass meeting held 
at Cooper Institute, on the eighteenth of March last, did present to the Legis- 
lature and urge the passage of a bill imposing the duty of cleaning the streets 
of the City of New York upon the Mayor, an officer elected by and directly 
responsible to the people, and to whom, for that reason, regardless of his per- 
sonal politics, large powers may safely be entrusted, which bill was unani- 
mously passed by the Senate, upon the thirtieth day of March; 
And whereas, the Assembly have refused to pass the same, or to separate 
definitely street cleaning from politics; 
And whereas, certain so-called leaders in the Assembly have prepared a bill 
known as the “ Carpenter substitute,” a measure of doubtful constitutionality 
and propriety, the passage of which is urged instead of the Senate bill: 
Resolved, That the course of the Hon. George II. Sharpe, Speaker of the 19 
Assembly, of the Hon. Everett A. Carpenter, Chairman of the Committee on 
Cities, and of Dr. Isaac I. Hayes and Messrs. Brodsky, Brelim, Hamilton, 
Trimble and Williams, members of the Assembly from this city, and of the 
other opponents of the bill, meets with the sincere and earnest disapprobation 
of this meeting. 
Resolved, That amidst the treachery of Dr. Hayes and the subserviency of 
others, the hearty thanks of the whole people are due and are hereby tendered 
to Mr. Husted, Mr. Skinner, Mr. Alvord, Mr. Duguid, Mr. Erastus Brooks, 
and to the other members of the Assembly, whether Republicans or Demo- 
crats, who have assisted the people of this city, as represented by the Commit- 
tee of Twenty-one, by their counsel, their sympathy and their votes. 
Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the so-called “ Carpenter sub- 
stitute ” is an objectionable measure of doubtful constitutionality, intended or 
calculated to leave the duty of cleaning the streets in the hands of the Board of 
Police, who have so long neglected it, or to subject their successors in that duty 
to the influence of politics, and to organize a new failure under a new name. 
Resolved, That the interests of the people of New York and every considera- 
tion of propriety demand that the control of the Board of Police over the busi- 
ness of street cleaning should cease once and for all, and that no member of such 
Board, whether as a member of the Board of Health or otherwise, should have 
any voice in the appointment or confirmation of a Superintendent of Street 
Cleaning, or any part in the organization of a new system. 
Resolved, That the duty and responsibility of cleaning the streets should be 
confided to the Mayor, or to a Department of Street Cleaning, the head of which 
shall be appointed and be removable by the Mayor; and that the citizens here 
assembled, without distinction of politics, earnestly call upon the Governor of 
this State, the State Senate and the Members of the Assembly, without regard 
to the manner in which they have heretofore voted on this question, to aid them 
in securing for the Mayor of the City of New York, under a proper bill, the 
undivided responsibility in this matter, freed from the control or interference 
of the Board of Police, the Board of Health, or of ward politicians. 
Resolved, That it is the duty of the citizens of this city earnestly to take steps 
to be represented in the Assembly by members able to comprehend, and suf- 
ficiently independent to advocate, the true interests of the City of New York, 
and willing to prefer such interests to politics and party patronage. 
Resolved, That the Committee of Twenty-one, appointed at the meeting of 
the 18th March last, be continued, with power to add to their number, and 
that they be empowered to take such action as may be deemed by them proper 
and judicious, including the organization of sub-committees in each Ward and 
Assembly District in the city. 
Resolved, That when this meeting adjourns, it adjourn subject to the further 
call of the Chair. 
Two days after the Steinway Hall meeting, several hundred of 
the leading physicians of the city held a meeting at Chickering Hall, 20 
at which they earnestly supported the Senate Bill. The proceedings 
of their meeting have been published. 
After these meetings at Steinway and Chickering Ilalls the Com- 
mittee of Twenty-one redoubled its efforts to carry into effect the 
principle of the Senate bill. The spirit of the majority of the Assem- 
bly became, if anything, for the time being, more defiant, but this was 
in part mere bravado. The obnoxious members, although visibly 
wincing under the castigation applied at the Steinway meeting, were 
obdurate in their opposition, but were evidently seeking some method 
of escaping, by suggestions of compromise, from the obloquy they had 
brought upon themselves. Nevertheless, the Carpenter Substitute 
passed the Assembly. Mr. Low, of Niagara, having seen fit to 
alter his position, gave the requisite majority of one, although it is 
asserted, with what truth your Committee are unable to state, that 
in case of need ten Democratic votes were held in readiness to aid 
Mr. Carpenter. 
Thereupon a Conference Committee of the two branches of the 
Legislature was appointed; it consisted of Messrs. Strahan, McCarthy 
and Hogan of the Senate, and Messrs. Hamilton, E. A. Carpenter, 
Brodsky, Andrews and Browning of the Assembly. This Committee 
would not allow the Committee of Twenty-one to appear or be repre- 
sented before it. In this there was a technical propriety. It is not 
parliamentary usage to permit argument before a Conference Com- 
mittee. However, the views of the Committee of Twenty-one were 
made known to the Chairman of the Conference Committee by tele- 
gram. Nothing was agreed upon by this Conference Committee, 
and it was discharged. Subsequently, another Conference Com- 
mittee was appointed; and as the result of its deliberations a bill 
for cleaning the streets of New York was passed. It is set out in 
full in the Appendix. 
The bill, as finally passed, is not endorsed by the Committee of 
Twenty-one. In the judgment of the Committee, the enactment 
is radically defective. It is a legislative compromise, to which the 
Committee of Twenty-one is not a party, and the responsibility for 
which it does not assume. It is obviously a measure originating in 
a desire to appease popular indignation, and to escape popular repre- 
hension by an apparent concession to the demand of the people for 
some change in the system of street cleaning. The objections to it 
are weighty. They are of such a grave character that Captain Gor- 
ringe, of the U. S. Navy, who it was hoped would accept the super- 
intendency of the street cleaning, declined the appointment because 21 
of the insufficiency of the provisions of the bill. The objections are 
summed up in a letter written by Mayor Grace as follows: 
Mayor’s Office, New York, May 23, 1881. 
Hon. W. S. Andrews, Assembly Chamber, Albany, N. Y.: 
Dear Sir,—During our conversation of Saturday last upon the subject of 
the street cleaning measure recommended by the Conference Committee, and 
passed by the Senate, I said I would state my objections to the bill more ex- 
plicitly in a letter, which you would be at liberty to use if you so desired. 
It is conceded by all who have studied the subject attentively that the solu- 
tion of the problem of cleaning the streets of New York requires full respon- 
sibility, coupled with ample authority. Divided responsibility has always 
produced inefficient work, and without large powers no one can grapple so 
formidable a task. 
The people of this city, through the press and public indignation meetings, 
have demanded that the present unsatisfactory system shall be abolished, and 
that some one whom they can hold to a strict accountability shall be author- 
ized to undertake the work. To give expression to this general sentiment, 
gentlemen of the highest standing in the community have unselfishly devoted 
their time, at great personal inconvenience, to perfecting a plan to clean the 
streets, and to bringing it to the attention of the Legislature. 
The bill embodying their views received the approval of the Senate, but a 
false issue having been raised by certain local politicians, it met with defeat in 
the Assembly. 
Under its provisions, the absolute power of appointment and removal of the 
Superintendent of Street Cleaning was lodged in the hands of the Mayor. 
This was, in my judgment, the vital principle of the whole measure. The 
responsible head of the city government was clothed by this means with 
authority to compel this officer to do his work thoroughly. 
It differed in this respect from the plan of the city charter, which prevents 
the Mayor from removing corrupt or negligent officials, except by the tedious 
formalities of a trial and the interposition of an authority foreign to the munici- 
pal administration. 
The bill which has been substituted for it provides that a Commissioner of 
Street Cleaning shall be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Board 
of Health, and that he shall hold office for a term of six years, and be remova- 
ble only by the concurrent action of the Mayor and the Board of Health. 
The confirming power is a subordinate board or department of the city 
government, charged by law with duties radically different from the one now 
proposed to be conferred. The provision is wrong in principle, and cannot be 
defended upon any ground of proper legislation. One of the members of the 
Board of Health is the President of the Board of Police, and connected with 
the present inefficient system of street cleaning; a second belongs to the State 
government, and is only ex officio a member; and a third is an officer whose 22 
term has expired. It is as absurd as if the Governor were obliged to submit 
his nominations for State officers to the harbor masters, port wardens or the 
State Board of Health instead of to the Senate. 
The power of removal is of more importance here than that of appoint- 
ment. Unless two of these subordinate officers, members of the Board of 
Health, concur with the Mayor in the necessity of removing a Commissioner 
of Street Cleaning, there is no remedy for filthy streets or lax administration. 
This officer will not be directly accountable for his acts or omissions to the 
head of the city government, but will naturally study to meet the divergent 
political views of the individuals who compose the Board of Health. If a 
Mayor should consider that the public service would be benefited by his 
removal, the delinquent official would seek to prevent it by personal and 
political importunities to the confirming power No single individual directly 
accountable to the people, as the Mayor is, would dare to abuse such an 
authority, but it will be easy, where responsibility is so diffused, as in this 
instance, for individuals who have long terms of office to evade or escape it. 
In addition to this fundamental objection, there are others touching defects 
in the bill which tend to further embarrass the workings of the new system. 
Among these are notably the provisions of section 11, which impose upon the 
Board of Health the duty of enforcing the provisions of the Sanitary Code, 
requiring that separate receptacles be provided for ashes and garbage. This is 
now the actual requirement of law; but it does not go far enough. The only 
force at the disposal of the Board of Health for the enforcement of these ordi- 
nances or regulations is a small squad of sanitary policemen, numbering less 
than thirty men, a body entirely inadequate to the discharge of such a duty, 
especially during the first months of the operation of the new system. 
The Board of Police have also under existing laws and ordinances well 
defined duties connected with this subject. The present bill will relieve them 
of all care and responsibility, and enable them to look complacently upon the 
fruitless efforts of the new Commissioner of Street Cleaning to keep the streets 
clean. If section 11 were drafted with a deliberate design to cause a failure of 
the new system it could not have been more cunningly devised. 
In the Citizens’ bill (Senate, No. 217), section 5 made it the special duty of 
the entire police force to enforce all ordinances relating to the cleanliness of 
the streets, to arrest offenders and report violations to the Superintendent of 
Street Cleaning, and sections 11 and 12 enjoined the Boards of Health, Police 
and Police Justices to co-operate actively to secure the observance of these 
regulations, and empowered the Mayor to institute prosecutions and suits for 
penalties. 
This co-operation of the different branches of the local government is essen- 
tial for the proper enforcement of the ordinances relating to cleaning the 
streets and disposing of the refuse therefrom. I fear that the defects of sec- 
tion 11 are sufficient to cause a failure of the new system. 
The requirement that all supplies shall be purchased by contract let to the 
lowest bidder, founded upon sealed bids, when they exceed $1,000 in amount, 
is a limitation likely to be productive of much embarrassment. Nor can 
horses, carts, tugs, scows, machines, tools or other necessaries be even hired 
without this formal bidding and acceptance. The Commissioner of Street 23 
Cleaning cannot manufacture carts, machines, or tools, as is done by a similar 
officer in the city of Boston, nor can he construct steam-tugs, scows, or other 
vessels. He would be especially hampered in any sudden emergency that 
might arise, as, for instance, such as would be caused by an unusually heavy 
fall of snow. 
The addition to the provision, incorporated from the citizens’ bill, which 
makes it lawful for the Commissioner of Street Cleaning to cause snow and 
ice to be dumped from the ends of piers into the East and North Rivers, that 
certain other things shall not be deposited therein, is now the law, and its reit- 
eration in this bill can give it no new sanction or authority. 
If the bill becomes a law I shall earnestly endeavor to secure the services of 
the most capable person I can find to discharge the work of the street cleaning, 
and shall do all in my power to secure the success of the new system. If, 
however, I am unable to obtain the services of such a qualified person, it will 
be solely the fault of a measure which may deter men of recognized public 
merit from risking their reputation in dealing with this subject. 
Yours respectfully, 
W. R. GRACE. 
In these objections, as stated by the Mayor, the Committee of 
Twenty-one concurs. 
The work of the Committee is not yet concluded. Its organiza- 
tion will be continued. It will observe carefully the operation of 
the new law. Its efforts so far have resulted in the destruction of 
the old vicious system of street cleaning by commission. Whether 
the substituted system will succeed remains to be tested. In the 
very nature of things it must bring about some improvement. Every 
citizen should heartily co-operate in the endeavor to make it a suc- 
cess; but legislation will be required at the next session to complete 
and perfect its details, if it is found on the whole to be sufficient, and 
if it is not so found, to procure another and a better law. The 
Committee will continue to exist, in view of these and other consid- 
erations. Certain trading politicians are relying upon the public 
becoming apathetic and indifferent on the subject, and being satis- 
fied with half-way concessions. They count upon the proverbially 
short memory of grievances of the citizens of New York. The 
Committee purposes not to let the subject be forgotten so long as 
there is occasion to preserve its remembrance. 
The Committee, under the power given to it, has added 
to its number by electing Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan a member. 
It was deemed expedient to retain the designation “ Committee 
of Twenty-one.” Messrs. Talcott and Auchmuty resigned their 24 
positions on the Committee, and their places have been filled by the 
selection of Messrs. Josiah M. Fiske and J. H. Hall. 
The details of the work of the Committee have been prepared by 
various sub-committees. 
In conclusion, the Committee begs leave to express the hope that 
the interest of the people of the city in the subject of clean streets 
will not abate; that they will recognize at the next election the 
necessity of sending to the Legislature men who will be pledged to 
this work of municipal reform. What has thus far been accom- 
plished requires perfecting, and that can be done at the polls. The 
lesson should be taught by the voters to their representatives 
that the comfort and the health of the citizens of New York, 
and the welfare of the whole city, are matters superior to 
petty considerations of the distribution of a few offices and a little 
public money among needy politicians as a reward for services to a 
party or faction; that the people’s servants are not the people’s mas- 
ters, and that when the public will is proclaimed, it is meant that 
the public voice shall be obeyed. 25 
APPENDIX. 
SIGNERS OF THE CALL FOR COOPER UNION MASS MEETING. 
William H. Van Buren, M.D. 
Abram Du Bois, M.D. 
Willard Parker, M.D. 
W. Parker, Jr., M.D. t 
Gouv. M. Smith. M.D. 
Isaac E. Taylor, M.D. 
Austin Flint, M.D, 
A. Clark, M.D. 
Wm. Detmold, M.D. 
T. M. Markoe, M.D. 
H. B. Sands, M.D. 
R. F. Weir, M.D. 
E. L. Keyes, M.D. 
Alf. L. Loomis, M.D. 
Fordyce Barker, M.D. 
David Webster, M.D. 
T. G. Thomas, M.D. 
W. M. Polk, M.D. 
F. Delafield, M D. 
F. H. Hamilton, M.D. 
F. E. Hyde, M.D. 
H. Dnoyes, M.D. 
Geo. M. Beard. M.D. 
G. A. Peters, M.D. 
F. N. Otis, M.D. 
Bev. Robinson. M.D. 
R. H. Derby, M.D. 
Ellsworth Eliot, M.D. 
J. Blake White, M.D. 
Woolsey Johnson, M.D. 
M. Clymer, M.D. 
C. Cleveland, M.D, 
Edward Loring, M.D. 
A. McLane Hamilton, M.D. 
John C. Peters, M.D. 
J. H. Emerson, M.D. 
D. B. St. John Roosa, M.D. 
R. McE. Emmett, M.D. 
E. Noeggerath, M.D. 
F. R. Sturges, M.D. 
A. E. M. Purdy, M.D. 
J. W. G. Goulay, M.D. 
C. C. Rice, M,D. 
David Magie, M.D. 
F. V. White, M.D. 
Jas. R. Wood, M. D. 
Lewis N. Sayre, M.D. 
Thos. F. Cock, M.D. 
Wm. F. Lusk, M.D. 
Sam’l Sexton, M.D. 
E. Herrick, M.D. 
T. A. Emmett; M.D. 
F. Le Roy Satterlee, M.D. 
J. H. Hinton, M.D. 
Thos. R. Pooley, M. D. 
0. D. Pomeroy, M.D. 
E. W. Lambert, M.D. 
Alf. S. Purdy, M.D. 
M. T. Mittendorf, M.D. 
Wm. O. Moore, M.D. 
Albert H. Buck, M.D. 
E. H. Peaslee, M.D. 
Francis M. Weld, M.D. 
W, Frothingham, M.D. 
H. C. Potter, D.D. 
R. D. Hitchcock, D.D. 
Morgan Dix, D.D. 
Samuel Cooke, D.D. 
R. S. Howland, D.D. 
S. H. Weston, D.D. 
Wm. J. Seabury, D.D. 
J. H. Rylance, D.D. 
J. Cotton Smith, D.D. 
W. W. Williams, D.D. 
F. C. Ewer, D.D. 
H. W. Bellows, D.D. 
T. Gallaudet, D.D. 
Geo. S, Baker, D.D. 
E. McGlynn, D.D 
S. I. Prime, D.D. 
Philip Schaff, D.D. 
R. R. Booth, D.D. 
M. R. Vincent, D.D. 
John Hall, D.D. 
N. W. Conkling, D.D. 
H. M. Field, D.D. 
W. M. Taylor, D.D. 
L. D. Bevan, D.D. 
G. B. Cheever, D.D. 
E. N. White, D.D. 
J. D. Wilson, D.D. 
T. S. Hastings, D.D. 
S. D. Burchard, D.D. 
W. G. T. Shedd, D.D. 
W. Ormiston, D.D. 
J. Spaulding, D.D 26 
C. A. Hand 
Henry E. Davies 
Howard Potter 
Smith Clift 
John Jay 
Thatcher M. Adams 
Samuel D. Babcock 
Fred. De Peyster 
J. W. Patterson, 
Robert Hoe, Jr. 
J. Taylor Johnston 
T. B. Coddington 
Morris K. Jesup 
John L. Tonnele 
A. M. Patterson 
Avery T. Brown 
George A. Robbins 
Andrew Warner 
Wm. T. Lawrence 
Geo. Blagden 
Jas. T. Leavitt 
Chandler Robbins 
J. D. Vermilye 
Benj. B. Sherman 
E. W. Corlies 
M. Bates 
Charles M. Fry 
Lawrence Turnure 
Jas. M. Brown 
Royal Phelps 
Wm. L. Jenkins 
Samuel Willets 
George Bliss 
W. Barnard Cutting 
Geo. S. Coe 
J. N. Phelps 
Parker Handy 
Fred Taylor 
H. H. Swift & Co. 
W. A. Ross 
D. Appleton A Co. 
John M. Scribner 
F. S. Winston 
George T. Hope 
W. K. Schenck 
Henry Butler 
James C. Carter 
Alfred Roe 
A. M. Kirby 
J. W. Gerard 
J. F. Kernoclian 
W. C. Schermerhorn 
A. C. Kingsland & Sons 
Geo. S. Coe 
Henry B. Hyde 
John S. Kelso 
Phelps, Dodge & Co. 
Robt. Colgate & Co. 
E. Ketcham & Co. 
Crooke Bros. 
Dickerson. Van Dusen & Co. 
G. A. & E. Meyer 
Bruce & Cook 
Naylor & Co. 
Jas. Ackman & Co. 
Ansonia Brass & Copper Co. 
T. B. Coddington & Co. 
John D. Locke 
J. L. Mott Iron Works 
Enoch L. Fancher 
W. H. Thorn 
F. T. Garretson 
Charles Coudert 
J. E. Burrill 
L. R. Marsh 
F. B. Jennings 
II. S. Cram 
E. R. Robinson 
Stephen A. Walker 
James E. Carter 
Alfred Roe 
Henry A. Cram 
Edward B. Merrill 
Henry J. Scudder 
Chas. F. Southmayd 
Chas. E. Beaman, Jr. 
George Hoffman 
Ernest H. Crosby 
Franklin B. Lord 
Daniel Lord 
A. H. Stevens 
A. C. Brown 
C. E. Souther 
W. Y. McDaniel 
E. F. Wheeler 
F. R. Coudert 
L. L. Coudert 
F. W. Stevens 
Charles E. Strong 
Charles Butler 
Charles E. Tracy 
J. L. Cadwallader 
C. II. P. Babcock 
Henry F. Spaulding 
J. Pierpont Morgan 
E. P. Fabbri 
G. Henry Warren 
John A. Stewart 
Edward Morgan 
H. A. C. Taylor 
Adrian Iselin, Jr. 
E. R. Robinson 
F. D. Tappen 
Clark, Dodge & Co. 
Woodward, Baldwin & Co 
H. Victor Newcomb 
Alfred Pell 
John J. Cisco 
A. F. Higgins 
Charles W atrous 
Carter, Hawley & Co. 
Buchanan & Lyall 27 
Eugene O’Sullivan 
George W. Lane 
John H. Kemp 
Fabbri & Chauncey 
David Dows 
Anson W. Hurd 
John D. Mairs 
Wm. H. Guion, Jr. 
H. C. Fahnestock 
J. A. Garland 
George F. Baker 
Fred. T. T. Thompson 
V. K. Stevenson 
Le Comte & Perkins Mf’g Company 
Chas. H. Marshall 
Wm. H. Appleton 
Wm. W. Appleton 
E. D. Randolph 
T. W. Evans 
W. Turnbull & Co. 
Funch, Edye & Co. 
Grinnell, M inturn & Co. 
Myers, Rutherford & Co. 
C. C. Baldwin 
Geo. Y. N. Baldwin 
James A. Burden 
James P. Blagden 
William F. Bridge 
W. B. Dinsmore 
James Gallatin 
William Wood 
Henry E. Pellew 
W. E. Dodge, Jr. 
Work, Strong & Co. 
C. J. Osborn 
B. W. Griswold 
Fred. W. Stevens 
J. A. Roosevelt 
Edwin S. Cole 
O. E. Schmidt & Co. 
M. Hoffman 
S. V. R. Cruger 
William R. Sands 
J. J. Astor 
A. W. Sherman 
G. Norris 
George Cabot Ward 
Henry Holt 
R. H. Robertson 
Joseph W. Drexel 
Samuel S. Sands 
Benoni Lockwood 
Buch. Winthrop 
Henry R. Winthrop 
Melville Brown 
James K. Gracie 
James L. Barclay 
James & Scrymser 
J. C. Westervelt 
Lewis Brothers A Co 
Wendell, Tay A Co. 
Van Volkenburgh A Leavitt 
Low, Harriman & Co. 
Kibbe, Chaffee, Shreve A Co. 
Wm. L. Strong A Co. 
Coffin, Alterman A Co. 
Strong Bros. & Co. 
Willimantic Linen Co. 
T. M. Ives, Agent 
H. J. Goodwin & Co. 
Ridgway, Poor & Griffin 
Mackintosh, Green & Co. 
Upliam, Tucker & Co. 
Wharton, Atkinson & Co. 
•James White A Co. 
•J. Wild & Co. 
Case, Leland A Co. 
Raritan Wollen Mills 
H. Hahlo A Co. 
Adolph Bernheimer 
F. Mayer A Co. 
Wise ec Holmes 
Hyde & Benton 
Thorne, Carroll & Co. 
Grosvenor A Carpenter 
Fairbanks. Martin & Co. 
R. K. Davies A Co. 
O. Strasburger & Co. 
Hazen, Todd & Co. 
Kessler & Co. 
J. W. Goddard & Son 
Sulzbacher Gitterman A Wedeles 
May A May 
John C. Wilmerding 
Theo. Shotwell 
Hewlett Scudder 
Wm. Greenough 
Alexander Dougan 
Norman Peck 
George P. Slade 
T. M. Ives 
W. D. Farwell 
S. S. Fisher 
Thomas Stewart 
Alfred W. Bates 
J. W. Cochrane 
John Sloane 
James M. Dunbar 
J. Catlin, Jr. 
Y. Mumford Moore 
Wm. J. Wilcox A Co. 
E. O. Lamson 
W. E. Adams 
Wm. H. Popham A Co, 
W. A. Cole A Co. 
Franklin Ward 
George H. Webster 
Stephen R. Post 28 
Charles D. Sabin 
Jules Yatable 
Robert Stobo & Co. 
E. A. Johnson 
D. B. Carr 
Chamberlain, Roe A Co. 
N. Brandt 
E. H. Perry 
Chas. S. May 
John F. Lewis 
A. B. Wetmore 
C. H. Cadwell 
C. W. Strachan 
C. H. Johnson 
E A. Kent 
J. W. Close 
Knoutli, Nachod A Kuhne 
Smith, Churchill & Scribner 
Francis Baker 
W. S. Taylor & Bloodgood, Jr. 
Augustus G. Paine 
Field, Morris, Church & Co. 
Haslehursts A Allen 
Faulkner, Page A Co. 
Wm. Lottimer A Co. 
Deering. Milliken A Co. 
H. B. Clatiin A Co. 
Wm. Turnbull A Co. 
Tefft, Weller A Co. 
Wm. Simpson, Son A Co. 
Sullivan, Yail A Co. 
Dunham, Buckley A Co. 
Bates, Reed A Cooley 
Butler, Clapp A Co. 
Converse, Stanton A Davis 
Wm. Knisely A Co. 
Sweetser, Pembrook A Co. 
Harbison, Shiner A Loder 
Halsted, Haines A Co. 
Dale, Dutcher A Co. 
Cornell A Amerman 
Graham A Aitken 
James P. Farrell 
Pomeroy A Plummer 
S. P. Dexter A Co. 
Todd, Mur-phy A Co. 
Valentine A Shaddle 
Bacon, Baldwin A Co. 
E. S. Jaffray A Co. 
Wm. Watson A Co. 
Horace Galpen A Co. 
C. M. Hinman 
Francis H. Slade 
James T. Leavitt 
Wm. C. Browning 
Frederick Almy 
Edward J. Chaffee 
Francis H. Leggett 
William J. Peake 
J. H. Filson 
James T. Swift 
J. L Hiil 
Woodbury Langdon 
Herman Funke 
Heilman & Hermann 
Hodges, Hersey & Co. 
Whitfield, Powers & Co. 
August Bernlieim & Barsels 
Lee, Tweedy & Co. 
Mills & Gibb 
Butler, Pitkin & Co. 
A. D. Juilliard & Co. 
Wm. Redmond & Son 
J. L. Little & Co. 
Keyser, Townsend & Co. 
G. C. Richardson & Co. 
Charles H. Smith 
John F. Cook 
A. S. Jewell 
Cornelius Smith 
Anderson Fowder 
Fowler Brothers 
John A. Cooper 
Marples & Shaw 
A. Wolff 
J. J. Stuart & Co. 
L H. Simpson 
Christian Bors 
H. De Maziere 
Wm. A. Cole & Co. 
D. B. Keeler 
Hugo Schumann 
T. F. Jeremiah 
Fred’k. W. Loew 
F. Booss 
W. & J. Sloane 
Gregg Brothers 
James G. Johnson 
James McCutchen 
Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co. 
J. Duncan’s Sons 
C. L. Tiffany 
Gorham Manufacturing Co. 
Herter Bros. 
Aitken, Son & Co, 
Wheeler & Wilson Manuf’g Co. 
Herman Koop A Co. 
Eugene S. Ballin 
Travers & Hackmann 
Thomas Nolan 
H. Avery & Co. 
A. P. Fisk 
Chas. Lanier 
Jacob H Schiff 
Chas. Jenkins, President 
Keefer, McKennie & Co. 
Willcox & Gibbs S. M. Co. 
Naumburg, Kraus, Lauer & Co. 
Passavant & Co. 
L. Morris 29 
M. Brown, Jones & Co. 
A. T. Demarest & Co. 
Clark Bros. 
Vogel Bros. 
J. Paulding 
Adolph Bernheimer 
C. Callmann 
John Thompson 
Max Stadler & Co. 
Steiner, Kahn & Co. 
Nichols Bros & Co. 
Forsch Deuzer & Co. 
H. Forbes 
Lewis Young 
R. Carter A Bros. 
I). Hexter 
H. F. Beebe 
J. Draper 
Theo. Kaatz & Co. 
D. L. Schulhoff 
Ferry & Napier 
E. V. Connett & Co. 
C. Oelberman & Co. 
D. H. Arnold & Co. 
Eben Baldwin A Co. 
A. B. Strange 
C. A. Auffmordt & Co. 
L. L. S. Clearman 
J. A. Metcalf 
A. S. Gorham 
W. H. Slavin 
T. W. Fellows 
P. J. Gough 
H. M. Barry 
Thomas A. Davies 
C. J. Lawrence 
W. A. Wood, M. & R. M. Co 
Eliplialet Wood 
Lawrence Bros. & Co. 
Tlios. C. Dunham 
J. W. Rosenstein 
William Brugiere 
Ballin, Joseph A Co. 
S. Loeb 
Clodius & Tescherdorlf 
Brooks Brothers 
H. V. Allen A Co. 
Dominick A Half 
Robbins A Appleton 
T. G. Brown A Sons 
E. Nollain A Co 
Baker, Pratt A Co. 
M. J. PaillardACo. 
Amasa Lyon 
Fisk, Clark A Flagg 
Rogers A Brother 
D. Woolverton 
W. Banks A Co. 
Union White Lead Co. 
Crooke Smelting and Refining Co 
J. A. Beall 
F. A. Zerega 
Charles Messick 
Fr. Cyrus 
A. Fachiri 
Edwin W. Clark 
Henry C. Perkins 
C. Von Meien 
M. J. Parott 
Siegf. Gruner 
H. W. Hanemann 
Wm. Woodward, Jr. 
John Travers, Jr. 
William V. King 
L. C. Lathrop 
W. P. Taber 
P. Fachiri 
Mayer Lehman 
Arthur Thomson 
Walter Graves 
H. Goldthwaite 
Alfred C. Howland 
Arthur B. Turnure 
Methodist Book Concern 
A. F. Decker 
Trustees of Samuel S. White 
Geo. R. Lockwood 
James Lidgerwood 
A. L. Ashman 
Johnson & Faulkner 
Eberhard Faber 
E. P. Dutton & Co. 
Whiting Manufacturing Co. 
Reed & Barton 
Lehman Bros. 
S. M. & B. Cohen & Co. 
Lesher, Whitman & Co. 
Adams, Bendix & Co. 
Goodyear Rubber Manuf’g Co. 
Collins, Downing & Co. 
Levy Bros. & Co. 
A. Levy & Bro. 
J. M. Morton 
Jno. Daniell & Son 
Park & Tilford 
Solley & Weber 
Pearce & Hall 
Folsom, Bayley & Thom 
Roberts, Cushman & Co. 
Chas. Fox, Son & Co. 
Mason A. Stone 
A. F. Wilmarth 
Joseph Brokaw 
E. W. Satterlee 
Wm. K. Lothrop 
J. L. Douglass 
R. Katzemmayer 
W. B. Ogden 
15. W. Albro 
Henry A. Oakley 30 
A. J. Clinton 
G. W. Montgomery 
Wm. B. Rice 
August Belmont 
J. Van Shaick 
Henry Eyre 
A. L. Egbert 
Lucius Hart & Co. 
The Bradley White Lead Co. 
John Jewett & Sons 
Brooklyn White Lead Co. 
H. R. Demilt 
T. J. Pope A Brother 
Leroy Shot and Lead Mf’g Co. 
Fred. Adee 
James Donald & Co. 
N. L. Cort & Co. 
J. H. Ackerman & Co. 
Behr & Steiner 
Benjamin II. Field 
H. B. Livingston 
Philip Schuyler 
W. D. Morgan 
W. H. Schieffelin 
Temple Prime 
Henry L. Slote 
John B. Leech 
T. M. Robinson 
J. G. Weld 
A. Schiffer 
W. H. Beede 
Henry Hentz & Co. 
J. L. Macaulay 
It. P. McDougall 
A. N. Selter 
Robert B. Forsyth 
D. C. Hipkins 
John R. Barrett 
George Staber 
I). G. Watts 
N. W. Emerson 
F. F. Dufais 
Thos. A. Patterson 
William Tubbs 
P. H. Williams, Jr. 
C. E. Rich 
Ch. Munzinger 
Stein Manufacturing Co. 
I). Huntington 
J. Q. A Ward 
T. Addison Richards 
H. W. Robbins 
Charles Calverley 
Jervis M’Entee 
J. G. Brown 
Alfred Jones 
Edward Gay 
J. C. Nicoll 
SENATE BILL. 
An Act to provide for the Cleaning of the Streets of the City of New York, 
for the Removal of Snow and Ice therefrom, and for the Collection of 
Ashes, Garbage, and Street Sweepings of said City and the disposal of the 
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do 
enact as follows: 
Section 1. The Mayor of the City of New York shall have power and 
authority for, and is hereby charged with the duty of thoroughly cleaning and 
keeping clean, at all times, all the public avenues, streets, lanes, alleys, places 
—not in any public park of said city—wharves, piers and heads of slips 
therein, and of removing from said city, or otherwise disposing of all street 
sweepings, ashes, garbage, and, as far as may he practicable, snow and ice, and 
of enforcing the provisions of this act. He shall appoint, and may remove at 
pleasure, a Superintendent of Street Cleaning, who shall be paid a salary at 
the rate of live thousand dollars per annum, and who, in addition to the 
authority conferred and duties imposed upon him by this act, shall possess all 
the powers and be charged with all the duties now vested in or imposed upon 
the Inspector of Street Cleaning, and not inconsistent with the provisions of 
this act. 
§ 2. The said Superintendent of Street Cleaning shall have the general 31 
superintendence and direction, subordinate to the Mayor, of cleaning the 
streets and removing ashes and garbage and other material. He shall, subject 
to the approval of the Mayor, have power to employ and discharge, from time 
to time, all such clerks, laborers and other employees, and to fix their compen- 
sation, as shall be necessary and proper in executing the duties hereby imposed 
upon him, and may make, and from time to time alter, rules and regulations 
for their government. The said Superintendent shall also, subject to the ap 
proval of the Mayor, have power to hire or purchase, at current market prices, 
horses, carts, steamtugs, scows, boats, vessels, machines, tools, and other 
property required for the economical and effectual performance of said duty. 
Whenever the said Superintendent shall deem it necessary he shall, with the 
approval of the Mayor expressed in writing, and he is hereby authorized to sell 
at public auction any plant, material, horses, carts, scows, or other property used 
in any way in connection with the work of cleaning the streets of the City of 
New York, and pay over the proceeds of such sales to the treasury of the 
city. The said Superintendent is hereby authorized, by and with the approval 
of the Mayor, to hire or lease suitable and sufficient offices for the transaction 
of the business under his charge, and also such stables and other buildings as 
may from time to time be necessary. 
§ 3. The work of street sweeping and cleaning and the collection and 
removal of sweepings, ashes, garbage, snow and ice, and other material, and 
the removal thereof from the city, shall be done by day’s work, by contract, 
or in such manner as the said Mayor may deem expedient , and such work 
may be done partly by day’s work and partly by contract. All contracts shall 
be entered into on behalf of the city by the Mayor, with adequate security. 
He shall advertise for proposals in such newspapers in the city as he may 
designate, not exceeding three in number, to perform the work in such form 
and manner and on such terms and conditions as he may prescribe. Such 
proposals may be for the performance of all or such part or portion of the 
work as the Mayor shall require. Each proposal must be accompanied by a 
certified check on a solvent banking incorporation in said city, payable to the 
order of the Comptroller, for five per cent, of the amount for which the work 
bid for is proposed in any one year to be performed. From the proposals so 
received the Mayor may select the bid or bids, the acceptance of which will, 
in his judgment, best secure the efficient peiformance of the work, or he may 
reject any or all of said bids. On the acceptance of any bid by the Mayor, the 
checks of the unaccepted bidders shall be returned to them, and upon the 
execution of the contract the check of the accepted bidder shall be returned to 
him. All contracts provided for in this section shall be made and entered into 
for periods not exceeding five years, and shall Ik? filed in the office of the 
Comptroller of the City of New York. The sureties upon all contracts hereby 
authorized shall be approved by the Comptroller, and all contracts and bonds 
securing the same shall be approved as to form by the Counsel to the Corpora- 
tion. 
§ 4. It shall be lawful for the Mayor, and he is hereby authorized and 
empowered to make, from time to time, such rules and regulations as he may 
determine to be necessary to have the work covered by this act, of cleaning 
and keeping clean the streets, thoroughly and effectually performed ; and also 32 
for having the snow and ice removed from such of the streets and avenues of 
the city as he may select, or any part or portion thereof. All such rules and 
regulations shall have the force and effect of ordinances of the city, and shall 
be obeyed and enforced as such. Any violation of the provisions thereof shall 
be treated as for a misdemeanor and published by a line not exceeding twenty- 
five dollars for each offence. 
§ 5 It shall be the duty of the officers of the police force of the Police 
Department of the City of New York, in addition to any other officers charged 
therewith by law, to enforce the rules and regulations of the Mayor made 
under this act, the ordinances of the Sanitary Code and the provisions of this 
act; to arrest all persons violating the same, and to report to the Superin- 
tendent of Street Cleaning the condition of the streets and all violations of the 
rules and regulations established under the provisions of this act. The Super- 
intendent of Street Cleaning shall have the use of the police telegraph. 
§ 6. The department, bureau, or city officer, authority or authorities, 
which shall from time to time have the management and control of the public 
docks, piers, and slips of said city, shall designate and set apart for the use 
of the Superintendent of Street Cleaning, or persons designated by him, such 
suitable and sufficient slips, piers, and berths in slips upon any part of the 
North or Hudson and East Rivers, as shall be convenient and necessary for 
his use in executing the duties hereby imposed upon him, except slips, docks, 
or piers on the East River set apart for the use of canal boats. The said 
Superintendent may, with the approval in writing of the Mayor, lease piers, 
slips or wharves for the necessary purpose of the duties by this act conferred, 
whenever suitable piers, slips, or wharves owned by or under the control of 
the city cannot be obtained, or are not set apart and designated as in this sec- 
tion provided. 
§ 7. Upon the requisition of the Mayor, and within sixty days after the pas- 
sage of this act, the Police Department shall turn over to the Superintendent 
of Street Cleaning all books, papers, records, leases, money accounts, claims, 
together with all the horses, carts, implements, tugs, scows, boats, and other 
property belonging to, or in the custody of the said Police Department, and 
used by the existing Bureau of Street Cleaning, and the said Superintendent 
shall receipt therefor to the Police Department. The Board of Police Com- 
missioners of the Police Department of the City of New York shall also trans- 
fer the control of any and all buildings, stables, and other premises now held 
and used, or occupied by the said Police Department, not including any pre- 
mises in the building now used as headquarters of the Board of Police, in the 
work of cleaning the streets, or any purpose auxiliary thereto, to the said 
Superintendent of Street Cleaning. 
§ 8. Upon requisition of the Mayor, setting forth the necessity for any such 
appropriation, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, by a vote of a 
majority of the members thereof, shall, at any time before the confirmation of 
the tax levy, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, appro- 
priate such moneys as may be necessary, for the purpose of constructing or 
purchasing sea-going vessels to be used in conveying street sweepings, ashes 
and garbage to sea, or for the purpose of cleaning the streets and removing 
snow and ice, or for building crematories or furnaces for burning street refuse 33 
or leasing or purchasing lands Iherefor. Any appropriation or appropriations 
so made by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment shall be added to the 
amount appropriated in the final estimate for street cleaning for the year one 
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, and the Comptroller of said city shall 
certify the same to the Board of Aldermen, and the same shall be raised and 
collected according to law, and revenue bonds shall be issued therefor in like 
manner as for the other expenditures of the City Government during the said 
year. 
§ 9. Expenditures under this act, made and to be made from time to time, 
shall be provided for and paid in the same manner as other expenses of the 
City Government, and all balances of appropriation made by the Board of 
Estimate and Apportionment for cleaning the streets under the Police Depart, 
ment, remaining unexpended at the time of the passage of this act, in excess of 
liabilities incurred by said Police Department for street cleaning, shall consti- 
tute a fund for the purposes of this act, and all bills and pay-rolls for expendi- 
tures under this act shall be certified by the Superintendent of Street Cleaning 
and approved by the Mayor, before presentation to the Finance Department for 
audit and payment. Said Superintendent of Street Cleaning shall render a 
monthly statement, under oath, to the Comptroller, showing the number and 
names of all persons employed by him during the preceding month, and the 
amount paid to each of them, and the particular kind of work in which each of 
them was employed during the month, which said statement shall be published 
monthly in the City Record. 
§ 10. The Superintendent of Street Cleaning, with the approval of the 
Mayor, may provide for cremating or burning street refuse or garbage, and 
may, through the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, lease or purchase land 
for the erection thereon of suitable crematories or furnaces. 
§ 11. All the powers and authority in regard to the cleaning of the streets 
heretofore eonferred on the Board of Police, or on any officer of the Police 
Department, are hereby transferred to and vested in the Mayor of said city; 
and it is hereby enjoined on the Boards of Health and Police, respectively, of 
the City of New York, and the Police Justices of said city, to aid and assist the 
said Mayor in the exercise of the authority by this act conferred. 
§ 12. The Mayor shall cause to be enforced the provisions of the Sanitary 
Code of the Board of Health of the City of New York requiring that separate 
receptacles be provided for ashes and rubbish, and for garbage and liquid sub- 
stances, and forbidding that the same be placed or kept in the same receptacle, 
and he shall see that the streets and sidewalks are kept free from incumbrance 
by said receptacles, except at such times as he may specify for the collection of 
their contents; and for violation of any of the said provisions of said code 
both the owners and occupants of all houses in the City of New York shall be 
severally responsible and subject to the penalties and prosecutions imposed by 
the said code, and all other provisions of said code and of the city ordinances 
relative to the cleanliness of the streets; and the Mayor is empowered to insti- 
tute prosecutions and suits for penalties for the violation of any such pro- 
visions, in the name of the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of 
New York. 
§ 13. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent of Street Cleaning to cause 
to be dumped, or authorize to be dumped, snow and ice into the waters of the 
East and North Rivers. 34 
§ 14. The several provisions of chapter six hundred and seventy-seven of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and of section sixty-seven of 
chapter three hundred and thirty-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
seventy-three, and all other acts or parts of acts, so far as they are inconsistent 
herewith, are hereby repealed. 
§ 15. No expenditure shall be made and no liability incurred, under this 
act, in excess of appropriations previously made therefor, except as the same 
may arise under contracts entered into in pursuance of the provisions of this 
act, and the expenditure made under such contracts, exclusive of any special 
appropriations directed by section eight of this act, shall not, in the aggregate, 
exceed, in one year, the sum of one million dollars. 
§ 16. This act shall take effect immediately. 
PROTEST AGAINST SUBSTITUTING PRESIDENT OF BOARD OF 
HEALTH IN PLACE OF THE MAYOR IN THE 
STREET CLEANING BILL. 
To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York, in Senate and Assembly 
convened: 
The undersigned, composing the Committee of Twenty-one, appointed at the 
mass meeting at Cooper Institute on the 18th of March, irrespective of party 
or party politics, object to and protest against the substitution of the President 
of the Hoard of Health for the Mayor, as the official charged with the work in 
the Street Cleaning Bill, and the substitution of any other official in the place 
of the Mayor, or the creation of any Board of Street Cleaning. 
The Mayor, as the head of the City Government, as an elective officer directly 
responsible to the people, and because he is prepared to undertake and perform 
the work, has been selected by the public of the City of New York therefor 
with singular unanimity. 
Confiding this duty to the head of any department already overworked, or 
the organization of a new Board to undertake it, weakens responsibilty, pre- 
vents a radical change of system, and renders the removal of an incompetent 
official almost impossible. 
The change proposed in the Bill introduces politics and political patronage, 
and simply perpetuates the present system under a new name. 
Any substantial change iu the Bill, as passed by the Senate, or delay in its 
passage, must be injurious. 
New York, April 2d, 1881. 
D. Willis James, 
Thatcher M. Adams, 
James Gallatin, 
Samuel D. Babcock, 
John L. Cadwalader, 
Morris K. Jesup, 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
Richard IT. Derby, M.D., 
John C. Peters, M.D., 
Charles H. Marshall, 
Wm. Cole, 
Edward Patterson, 
Walter H. Lewis, 
Lawrence Turnure, 
James Talcoit, 
Brayton Ives, 
Jesse Seligman, 
Wm. F. Bridge, 
Jackson S. Schultz, 
Henry E. Pellew, 
Committee. 
R. T. Auchmuty, 35 
STREET CLEANING BILL AS FINALLY PASSED. 
An Act to create a Department of Street Cleaning in the City of New York, 
and to provide for the cleaning of the streets of said city, for the removal 
of snow and ice therefrom, and for the collection of ashes, garbage, and 
street sweepings, and the disposal of the same. 
Chapter 367. 
Passed May 26,1881; three-flfths being present. 
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact 
as follows: 
Section 1. In addition to the Departments in the City of New York pro- 
vided for by Chapter three hundred and thirty-five of the Laws of eighteen hun- 
dred and seventy-three, together with the Acts supplementary to and amenda- 
tory thereof, there is hereby created a Department of Street Cleaning, which 
shall have exclusive charge of the cleaning of streets, and the removal of ashes 
and garbage in said city. The head of said Department shall be called the 
Commissioner of Street Cleaning. He shall be appointed by the Mayor, with 
the approval of the Board of Health, but if, after three ballots, the said Board 
shall fail to confirm or reject, by a majority vote, any person nominated by the 
Mayor, two affirmative votes shall be sufficient for his confirmation. He shall 
be subject to removal by the Mayor whenever the Mayor shall certify that in 
his judgment such removal is required in the public interest, but with the 
approval of the Board of Health; but if after three ballots the said Board of 
Health shall fail to approve of such removal, then two affirmative votes of said 
Board of Health shall be sufficient for his removal. He shall be paid a salary 
of six thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly, and shall hold his office 
for six years, and until his successor be appointed, unless sooner removed. 
The provisions of Section twenty-five of the aforesaid Chapter shall not be 
applicable to the office of Commissioner hereby created. 
Sec. 2. Said Commissioner shall have power and authority, and is hereby 
charged with the duty of cleaning the streets of said city, which shall include 
all the public avenues, streets, lanes, alleys, places, wharves, piers, and heads 
of slips therein, except such as are within any park under the control and 
management of the Department of Public Parks, to be thoroughly cleaned 
and kept clean at all times; and of removing from said city or otherwise dis- 
posing of, as often as the public health and use of the streets may require, all 
street sweepings, ashes and garbage, and of removing new fallen snow from 
leading thoroughfares, and such other streets and avenues as may be found 
practicable. The expenses of said Department of Street Cleaning shall be 
provided for in the same manner as the expenses of other departments under 
the said Chapter three hundred and thirty-five of the Laws of eighteen hun- 
dred and seventy-three, and the Acts supplemental to and amendatory thereof, 
but in no case shall the amount expended by said Commissioner exceed the 
amount appropriated for his said department by the Board of Estimate and 
Apportionment. Said Commissioner shall file with the Comptroller of said 36 
city, monthly, a statement, under oath, showing the number and the names of 
all persons employed by him during the preceding month, and the amount 
paid to each of them, and the particular kind of work in which each of them 
shall have been employed during such month. 
Sec. 3. Said Commissioner shall have power to engage, and in his discretion 
discharge, from time to time, all such clerks, laborers and other employees, 
and to fix their compensation, as shall be necessary and proper in executing 
the duties hereby imposed upon him; and may make, and from time to time 
alter, rules and regulations for their government. But the compensation and 
wages of such clerks, laborers and other employees shall not exceed the cur- 
rent market rate paid for similar services in private business. The said Com- 
missioner shall also have power to hire or purchase for his use as such Commis- 
sioner, at current market prices, horses, carts, steam-tugs, scows, boats, vessels, 
machines, tools and other property required for the economical and efficient 
performance of said duty; or contract for the construction of any such tugs, 
scows, boats, vessels or machines; the title to which property so purchased 
shall be in the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New York. 
All such hirings or purchases, or contracts, however, exceeding one thousand 
dollars in amount at any one hiring or purchase, shall be by contract, let to 
the lowest bidder therefor, founded on sealed proposals or bids, made in com- 
pliance with public notice advertised in the City Record; such notice to be 
published at least ten days prior to the opening of such proposals or bids. 
Whenever the said Commissioner shall deem it necessary, he shall, and he is 
hereby authorized so to do, sell at public auction any plant, material, horses, 
carts, scows or other property used in any way in connection with the work of 
cleaning the streets of the City of New York. The said Commissioner is 
hereby authorized to hire or lease suitable and sufficient offices for the trans- 
action of the business under his charge, and also such stables and other build- 
ings as may from time to time be necessary. 
Sec. 4. The department, bureau, or city officer, authority or authorities, 
which shall from time to time have the management and control of the public 
docks, piers and slips of said city, shall designate and set apart for the use of 
said Commissioner suitable and sufficient slips, piers and berths in slips, located 
as the said Commissioner may require, and such as shall be convenient and 
necessary for his use in executing the duty hereby imposed upon him, except- 
ing slips, docks and piers on the East River set apart for the use of canal 
boats. The said Commissioner may, with the approval in writing of the Board 
of Estimate and Apportionment, lease piers, slips or wharves for the necessary 
purpose of the duties by this act conferred, whenever suitable piers, slips or 
wharves owned by or under the control of the city cannot be obtained, or are 
not set apart and designated, as in this section provided. 
Sec. 5. In the work of street sweeping and cleaning, and in the collection 
and removal of street sweepings, ashes and garbage, the men may be provided 
with some distinctive dress or portion thereof, or some badge designated by 
said Commissioner, to be so worn that they shall be easily recognized as em- 
ployees of the department. 
Sec. (5. Said Commissioner may let out special contracts for periods not 37 
exceeding three years for the work of street sweeping and cleaning, or for the 
collection of ashes and garbage, or some part thereof, in particular districts, to 
be designated for that purpose by the said Commissioner, and the terms and 
conditions of which contracts shall have been first approved by the Board of 
Estimate and Apportionment, provided that such contracts shall, in all cases, 
provide for their termination on ten days’ notice by the Commissioner, with 
the approval of the Mayor. 
Sec 7. Said Commissioner shall have power to enter into contracts with 
responsible persons and parties for the final disposition, for periods not exceed- 
ing five years, of all or any part of the said street sweepings, ashes or garbage 
when collected, provided always that such contracts shall be approved, both as 
to terms and conditions, by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of said 
city. All contracts shall be entered into on behalf of the city by the Commis- 
sioner, with adequate security. He shall advertise for proposals in such news- 
papers in the city as he may designate, not exceeding three in number, for ten 
days, to perform the work in such form and manner and on such terms and 
conditions as he may prescribe. Such proposals may be for the performance 
of all or such parts or portions of the work as he shall require. Each proposal 
must be accompanied by a certified check on a solvent banking incorporation 
in said city, payable to the order of the Comptroller, for five per centum of the 
amount for which the work bid for is proposed in any one year to be per- 
formed. From the proposals so received he may select the bid or bids, the 
acceptance of which will, in his judgment, best secure the efficient performance 
of the work, or he may reject any or all of said bids. On the acceptance of any 
bid by him, the checks of the unaccepted bidders shall be returned to them, and 
upon the execution of the contract the check of the accepted bidder shall be 
returned to him. The sureties upon all contracts hereby authorized shall be 
approved by the Comptroller, and all contracts and bonds securing the same 
shall be approved as to form by the Counsel to the Corporation. 
Sec. 8. Upon the organization of the department hereby created and notice 
thereof from said Commissioner to the Police Department of the said city, all 
books, papers, records, property, leases, moneys, accounts, claims, and things 
of every kind and description belonging to or in the custody of the said Police 
Department, and used by the existing Bureau of Street Cleaning in the work 
of cleaning the streets in the said city, or of the removal of ashes and garbage, 
shall be transferred by the said Police Department to the Department of Street 
Cleaning herein created, and until such transfer takes place the said Police 
Department shall continue the work of street cleaning and removal of ashes and 
garbage, as now provided by law. At the same time that the above mentioned 
transfer takes place the Comptroller of the said city shall transfer to the credit 
of the Department of Street Cleaning any unexpended balances for street 
cleaning purposes that may be at that time standing to the credit of the Police 
Department in excess of liabilities incurred by said Police Department for 
street cleaning. 
Sec. 0. The said Commissioner of Street Cleaning, with the approval of the 
Mayor, may provide for cremating or burning street refuse or garbage, and 
may, through the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, lease or purchase land 
for the erection thereon of suitable crematories or furnaces. 38 
Seo. 10. It shall be lawful for the Commissioner of Street Cleaning to cause 
to be dumped snow and ice from the ends, or near the ends, of any piers into 
the waters of the East and North or Hudson Rivers. But no dead animals, 
carrion, street sweepings, garbage, or any putrid, offensive, decaying or refuse 
vegetables or animal matter, shall be deposited in violation of chapter four 
hundred and sixty-three of the laws of one thousand eight hundred and eighty. 
Sec. 11. Nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting in any way the 
powers of the Board of Health of the Health Department of the said city; but 
the said Board of Health shall cause to be enforced the provisions of its Sani- 
tary Code, requiring that separate receptacles be provided for ashes and rub- 
bish and for garbage and liquid substances, and forbidding that the same be 
placed or kept in the same receptacle, and requiring the streets and sidewalks 
to be kept free from incumbrance by such receptacles except at such times as 
may be designated by the Commissioner of Street Cleaning for the collection 
of their contents; and for violation of any of the said provisions of said code, 
both the owners and occupants of all houses in the City of New York shall be 
severally responsible and subject to the penalties and prosecutions imposed by 
the said code, and all other provisions of said co le and of the city ordinances 
relative to the cleanliness of the streets; and the said Board of Health is em- 
powered to institute prosecutions and suits for penalties for the violation of 
any such provisions in the name of the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of 
the City of New York. 
Sec. 12. The several provisions of chapter six hundred and seventy-seven of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and of section sixty-seven of 
chapter three hundred and thirty-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
seventy-three, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are 
hereby repealed. 
Sec. 13. Upon requisition of the Commissioner of Street Cleaning, setting 
forth the necessity for any such appropriation, and the specific purposes to 
which it is to be applied, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment may, at 
its discretion, at any time before the confirmation of the tax levy in the year 
one thousand eight hundred and eiglity-one, appropriate money for the pur- 
pose of constructing or purchasing sea-going vessels to be used in conveying 
street sweepings, ashes and garbage to sea, or for the purpose of cleaning the 
streets and removing snow and ice, or for building crematories or furnaces for 
burning street refuse, or leasing or purchasing lands therefor, but the moneys 
so appropriated shall not in the aggregate exceed three hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars; and any requisition for money for the purpose of purchasing 
such vessels shall be accompanied by plans and specifications of such vessels. 
Any appropriation or appropriations so made by the Board of Estimate and 
Apportionment shall be added to the amount appropriated in the final estimate 
for the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty one, and revenue bonds 
shall be issued therefor in like manner as for the expenditure of the City Gov- 
ernment during the said year, and the amount so appropriated shall be added 
to the tax levy for the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one. 
Sec. 14. This act shall take effect immediately. 39 
State of New York, ) 
Office of the Secretary of State, ] ' ‘ 
I have compared the preceding with the original on file in this office, and do 
hereby certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom, and of the whole 
of said original law. 
Given under my hand and the seal of office of the Secretary of 
State, at the City of Albany, this twenty-seventh day of May, 
[Seal.] in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one. 
JOSEPH B. CARR, 
Secretary of State. 
MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY WHO VOTED AGAINST THE 
SENATE BILL. 
James Armstrong 
Benjamin F. Baker 
Lewis Beach 
Solomon K. Bemiss 
George Bingham 
Henry Binninger 
Truman Boardman 
Samuel H. Bradley 
George Campbell 
Alberton A. Carley 
Everett A. Carpenter 
Isaac S. Carpenter 
Worth Chamberlain 
Chas. A. Chickering 
Joseph M. Gongdon 
John Cowles 
Ebenezer S. Crapser 
Patrick W. Cullinan 
Richard A. Derrick 
Joseph M. Dickey 
Andrew S. Draper 
James E. Dutcher 
David G. Evans 
Samuel 11 Everett 
Milton M. Fenner 
Addison W. Gates 
John E. Gillette 
James C. Goodman 
Wm. D Gorsline 
Elijah A. Holt 
Albert Howland 
Thomas Hunter 
Ilarvy J. Hurd 
David A. Jackson 
William Lewis 
Samuel H. Morgan 
Edward G. Nowlan 
George M. Palmer 
Daniel Peck 
Marcus II. Phillips 
James Raines 
John Reitz 
Thomas D. Roberts 
Rowland Robinson 
Frederick P. Root 
C. II. Russell 
David Russell 
Kidder M. Scott 
George L. G. Seely 
Albert R. Sheldon 
Frank Sipp 
Hiram Sisson 
Geo. Sharpe (Speaker) 
Marcus Turck 
Hector II. Tuthill 
Cornelius Van Buren 
William II Waring 
David A Wells 
L. C. Young 
Charles E. Brehm 
John R. Brodsky 
A. W. Williams 
City. 
Robert Ray Hamilton 
Dr. Isaac 1. Ilayes 
Wm. J. Trimble 40 
MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY WHO VOTED IN FAVOR OF THE 
SENATE BILL. 
Thomas G. Alvord 
William S. Andrews 
Thomas E. Benedict 
Thomas Bogan 
Shephard P. Bowen 
Erastus Brooks 
J. Stanley Browne 
John W. Browning 
George E. Bulmer 
Benjamin C. Butler 
William H. Catlin 
John M. Clancy 
William H. Clark 
John Cleary 
Townsend D. Cock 
Lewis Cohen 
Charles W. Dayton 
John J. Dominic 
Constantine Donoho 
Henry L. Duguid 
Moses Engel 
James Fanning 
William B. Finley 
Arthur W. Hickman 
Jeremiah Higgins 
Henry C. Hoffman 
James W. Husted 
George Lasher 
Charles A. Longwell 
James Low 
John H. McCarthy 
J. P. McDonough 
John McTernan 
William F. Moller 
John Murphy 
Michael C. Murphy 
Richard J. Newman 
Orlando L. Newton 
William W. Niles 
Matthew Patten 
Charles E. Patterson 
Edward H. Pinney 
Aaron B. Pratt 
John Shanley 
Thomas J. Sheridan 
Charles R. Skinner 
Thomas Smith, Jr. 
Francis B. Spinola 
James W. Steele 
Jacques J. Stilwell 
Barnis C. Strait 
Frederick Thilemann, Jr. 
Lawrence J. Tormey 
Patrick J. Tully 
S. R. Welles