MODERN METHODS OF STREET CLEANING 



frequency of these orders or ordinances as Ennen,* 

 our authority, rightly observes, shows that the inhabi- 

 tants concerned themselves little about them. 



In the year 1587 there was no longer a city system 

 for the removal of refuse. The head of each family 

 was supposed to be held responsible for the removal 

 of the household refuse to the walls of the city 

 under penalty of a golden florin. One hundred 

 years later the records of the council show that 

 accumulations of refuse still existed in the streets. 

 Now, however, certain men were engaged by the city 

 to do the cleaning at the cost of the persons most 

 benefited. 



It was the injection of French spirit and enter- 

 prise which finally brought about conditions in some 

 , degree tolerable. Under the influence of the 



First Impulse 



for clean French at the time of the seven years' war, 



Streets 



the council provided for the lighting of streets 

 and, under date of September 6, 1761, for the first 

 time established definite times for cleaning the streets 

 and removing the refuse. The council decreed that 

 all refuse should be set out convenient for removal 

 on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 6 P.M. from April to 

 September and at 4 P.M. from October to March under 

 penalty of 10 stivers. Refuse was not under any cir- 

 cumstances to be swept into water courses and gutters. 

 The cost of the work was to be properly proportioned 

 for each neighborhood. The refuse was to be carried 

 to a heap in each district and from there taken out of 

 the city each Monday by carts. 

 In 1789 a law appeared which contained general 



* Description of the City of Cologne. 

 140 



