MUNICIPAL CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGNS INTENSIVE COMMUNITY EFFORTS TO TEACH URBAN RESIDENTS THE NEED OF CLEANLINESS AND FIRE PREVENTION

Cooperative effort to give the municipality a thorough cleaning at least once a year, and, by so doing, to teach the citizen the importance of continuous cleanliness in and about his home, has been undertaken within the last ten years by most American cities. These intensive community efforts are popularly known as clean-up campaigns.

At first the clean-up campaign, lasting a day or two, was devoted to ridding homes and yards of rubbish and waste that had accumulated during the winter months. Later the campaigns were spread over a week or a longer period, and now not only is an effort made to collect and cart away the winter’s accumulation of waste, but the city also undertakes to educate its citizens in fire prevention work, fly and mosquito extermination, the beautifying of homes and yards, and the elimination of every unsanitary condition. Cellars, garrets, back-yards, vacant lots, alleys, public streets—in fact, every spot in the city, whether on public or private property, does not escape the scrutiny of the public officials and citizens’ committees.

The movement spread rapidly until practically every city had at least a spring campaign. Some repeated the effort in the fall. After two or three annual campaigns several municipalities, particularly the larger ones, thought that instead of making a limited intensive effort to clean house, a continuous campaign should be conducted. The advocates of this plan claimed that any periodical effort had a tendency to make the average citizen clean up only during the campaign, and that during the rest of the year he lapsed into his usual indifference. Within the last few years, therefore, some cities have abandoned the clean-up campaigns and have made greater efforts during the entire year to rid the community of all unsanitary conditions.

The clean-up campaign, however, has become a permanent municipal activity in America. It has taught the citizen not only his responsibility in and about his home, but also the need for greater activity by governmental agencies to eliminate general unsanitary conditions.

Initiating a Campaign

In order to initiate a clean-up campaign, an agitation for it must first be started. The press, civic organizations and industrial life insurance companies have been the principal agitators.

The industrial life insurance companies reach the individual citizen and endeavor to get his cooperation in the movement for more sanitary laws and conditions. Unlike the press they reach the foreigner and the class of people who do not read the newspapers, or at most only the Sunday editions.

Some idea of the possibility for individual and community good which these agencies hold in their power may be gained when one considers that one company alone has millions of policy holders in the United States and Canada. The collectors making their weekly or monthly calls distribute leaflets and circulars disseminating sound ideas in regard to public and private health.

It is not possible to over-rate the press as a factor in the clean-up movement. The work of the newspaper does not stop with the spreading of information both before and during the campaign—in some instances it takes part in the activities. The columns of the newspapers are open to everything of a news nature that will materially assist—news stories, special articles, editorials, daily programs, cartoons and advertisements.

While the removal of rubbish is essentially a municipal affair, in many instances it was not until civic organizations, such as chambers of commerce, women’s clubs and school clubs, started an agitation for community effort that cities realized their responsibility and inaugurated campaigns.

The Organization

In planning the organization of the campaign, the Mayor usually appoints a Clean-up Week Committee, consisting of one representative each from the Department of Public Works or Street Cleaning, Health and Fire. This committee outlines the plan and scope of the work. Usually the physical work is performed by or under the supervision of the Bureau of Street Cleaning, although in some cities the health officials have had charge of the work. After a plan has been adopted to interest every man, woman and child in the community, a proclamation by the Mayor starts the ball rolling and the campaign is on.

As it is only through local organization that cooperative specific community steps can be taken, an effort is first made to secure district organization. The industrial insurance companies with their already well organized plans on clean-up, baby welfare, health, fly and mosquito campaigns, are important agencies for such steps in most cities. The aid of public school principals, the clergy and others is also sought. Very effective organization is secured also through the help of the various welfare and civic organizations.

The official Clean-Up Week Committee usually appoints a Citizens’ Committee, representing the leaders of the financial, educational, business and religious life of the city. The members of this committee offer their time and services free. The Citizens’ Committee is subdivided, sometimes into as many as twelve committees, consisting, as in Philadelphia, of finance, press, poster and printed matter, trade associations, community associations, charitable and benevolent associations, schools and school children, churches, retail stores, street cars, vacant lots and fire prevention.

The following is the plan of organization that has been used by many small cities:

One man and one woman as directors of the general movement.

A committee on public buildings, factories and stores.

A committee on residences and outbuildings.

A committee on streets and alleys.

A committee on parking and planting.

A committee on painting and repair work.

A committee to interest school children.

A committee to supply the teams and remove the rubbish.

Captains for working crews for each day of the campaign.

The plan of Cincinnati is a representative one where the campaign is initiated and carried on by a civic organization with the assistance of public officials.

The President of the Chamber of Commerce of that city suggested it might be worth while to start a clean-up movement, and, accordingly, a number of letters were sent to prominent people informing them of the proposed movement, and asking, if they thought the idea worthy of merit, to meet at the Chamber of Commerce on a certain evening. Thirty-five persons, representatives of organizations and the city government, all enthusiastic over the idea, met as suggested. A committee, consisting of the Superintendent of Schools, Superintendent of Salvage Corps, Executive Secretary of the Chamber, and the Chief of Police, was appointed to plan the organization and name officers and members of committees. This committee submitted a report laying out a plan along the following lines:

1. Organization by districts coextensive with public school districts.

2. These district organizations to be uniform in character as far as possible.

3. The work in each district to be done by the people in that district.

4. General committees, the members to form the General Council in charge of the campaign.

5. An Executive Committee to be composed of the chairmen of the General Committees, and to be in immediate charge of the campaign.

6. The campaign to extend over a number of weeks and to be followed by a general inspection of the buildings of that city.

The report of this Committee, including its selection of the Superintendent of Schools as General Chairman and the Manager of the Civic and Industrial Department of the Chamber of Commerce as General Secretary, was submitted to a large meeting attended by representatives of the civic organizations, the State Fire Marshal, the schools, the Fire Prevention Bureau, the Salvage Corps and others. Its plan of organization was adopted and its selection of members of the committees approved. The Mayor promised the cooperation of all city departments.

Publicity Plans

The keystone in the arch of any successful campaign is effective publicity. This is obtained through newspapers, bulletins, circulars, buttons, rubber stamps, placards, posters, motion pictures, banners, trolley cars, bill boards and private advertising.

Cincinnati reports that no other factor contributed more to the success of its campaign than the newspapers. By giving daily reports of the progress of the work during clean-up week the press created a rivalry among the various wards.

In the Philadelphia campaign the total space devoted to newspaper publicity amounted to 14,225 lines, or 88 full length columns of printed matter, of one column a day for eleven days in each of the Philadelphia newspapers. For the benefit of the foreign born the same information was printed in every foreign newspaper published in that city. Cartoonists depicted Clean-up Week as a family affair and showed it to be a real pleasure as well as a necessity. The editorial writers in a more serious vein urged the necessity of cooperation and pointed the way to communal benefits to follow.

Bulletins, properly distributed, are effective in arousing civic pride and procuring the cooperation of householders. The first should be the official proclamation by the Mayor. The Mayor of Kirkville, Illinois, gave this advice in his proclamation:

If your store is dingy—paint it.

If your awning is ragged and old, get a new one.

If your walk is an eyesore to those traveling over it, repair it or have a new one.

If there are unsightly traps in front of your property, or broken limbs, burn them.

If in your back yard there are old, tumble-down sheds, tear them down. The ground is too valuable, and such things detract from the beauty of the home—and the town.

Clean out all barnyards and stables at once. Don’t give the flies a chance to breed.

Clean out the alleys back of your homes.

Take all rubbish and ashes from your back yard immediately.

By all means do your part to make Kirkville a cleaner and more beautiful city.

Some cities have obtained good results with circular letters signed by some public official. These are usually sent to the various organizations, ministers and physicians, asking them to urge the cooperation of their members, congregations or the households they visit.

A few cities have adopted the plan of sending letters to all advertisers and every concern known to manufacture, advertise or sell any kind of an article used for cleaning purposes, requesting them to increase the amount of local publicity.

New York City in one campaign used four million circulars printed in five languages. One circular reads as follows:

“To every owner, occupant, representative of any building, apartment, room, yard or vacant lot: You are hereby notified to prepare and place within the stoop line for removal all rubbish and waste material, from lots, lofts, fire escapes, cellars, yards, alleys, air shafts, rooms and apartments. Old bedding, rugs, paper, furniture, broken-up boxes, and barrels; glassware should be placed in barrels, boxes and bundles. It is against the law to throw materials in the streets. Neglect to comply with this notice will result in prosecution. The wagons will call at 8 A. M. Wednesday, May 20.”

Placards bearing the silhouette figure of William Penn majestically swinging a broom over the city from his dizzy perch on top of the City Hall appeared in every one of the 3200 trolley cars during a Philadelphia campaign. These were placed in the front and rear entrances in such a way that only the figure was visible from the outside. The appearance of the black and white sketch minus title or descriptive matter of any kind was perplexing to the passengers on entering the car, and they immediately looked at the reverse side for an explanation. They got it in the form of an announcement for the annual Clean-up Week, with just enough information and advice to be profitable, and most effective. This same figure was also distributed among the schools, libraries, railroad stations and other prominent places.

In various cities buttons are distributed bearing such inscriptions as “Clean Up and Paint Up. I Will, Will You?” and “Scoot Home and Scrub.” Slogans are usually selected after competition for a prize by the school children.

Among the most effective posters used are window signs to call rubbish carts, and cards to be placed in the windows of homes. One house poster announced “We are Assisting in the Clean-Up and Paint-Up Campaign. Are You?” Posters have also been used in street cars, and on wagons and motor trucks. Fire warning cards have been sent by some cities to cigar stores, fireproof material manufacturers, and gas companies.

Rochester, New York, was one of the first cities to have fire warnings printed on caps for milk bottles. Others have used the backs of transfer tickets issued by street railway companies. One of the most effective fire warnings read: “See that your good cigar or cigarette does not cause a bad fire.” Philadelphia distributed blotters among the school children. In Toledo the school children, dressed as little White Wings, carried banners bearing the inscription “B-R-I-G-H-T-E-N U-P.” The bill posting companies, in some instances, donate space for the use of large posters. Street cars and station platforms are also utilized in an effort to attract the attention of citizens to do their duty cleaning their premises. The delivery forces of department stores and milk companies are pressed into service, each wagon being supplied with pamphlets and cards to be left with each package or bottle of milk.

Motion pictures and lantern slides showing the ravages of the fly, and actual conditions existing from dirt are an important factor in bringing the necessity for cleanliness before citizens and school children. By way of stimulating effort in the school children of Kewanee, Illinois, motion pictures were shown depicting the success of children in beautifying their school grounds and gardens in other cities. The members of the New York Street Cleaning Department gave illustrated lectures during the Clean-Up Campaigns. On the screens of 205 motion picture theaters in Philadelphia were shown nightly for four weeks attractively arranged slides telling the audience what to do and how to do it. The “Before” and “After” clean-up pictures proved very popular and instructive. Because of the great popularity of motion pictures this form of advertising is especially effective. The general secretary of the campaign in Cincinnati had prepared a set of lantern slides from photographs one year and these were used to illustrate addresses given the next year.

In all large cities there is much private advertising during these campaigns. In some, the regular advertising pages of the newspapers for weeks have individual advertisements of department stores, calling attention to the reduced prices of articles used for cleaning purposes. The more enterprising managers try to outrival each other in the amount of space covered.

Rochester, New York, one of the pioneer cities in the organization of the clean-up movement, arranged its publicity for one of its recent campaigns thus:

The cooperation of the daily press.

The exhibition of slides in motion picture theaters.

Sending letters to all lodges and orders asking for cooperation.

Asking the light companies to print fire warnings on the backs of their bills, and the railway companies to do the same on their transfers. The light companies also displayed similar information on their electric signs.

Use of the Boy Scouts to distribute dodgers to householders.

The cooperation of the clergy in preaching proper sermon.

Cooperation of the real estate exchange in cleaning up and keeping clean all buildings, of which the exchange has charge.

Inducing manufacturers to print suitable copy on pay envelopes.

Sending fire warnings in printed form to cigar stores.

Arrange that all caps for milk bottles during clean-up week be printed with a fire warning.

Secure the cooperation of all concerns selling fireproof materials such as cement, asbestos, fireproof paint and roofing, by asking them to advertise heavily during the week.

The Commissioner of Public Works consented to allow posters to be placed on the back of rubbish wagons, and the Commissioner of Public Safety offered the use of the big fire engines for the same purpose.

The Cooperating Forces

The greater the number of cooperating forces and agencies the more successful will be the campaign. All contribute to make the city more livable.

The greatest factor in the clean-up movement is the children. Nothing that is done can be accomplished without their help. Of the hundreds of cities interested in clean-up campaigns very few can be found where the school children have not been actively identified with the work. No stone has been left unturned to encourage the teachers to give the children the clean-up spirit. One of the best means of reaching adults is through their children, and the education of the children themselves along these lines will contribute materially to their sense of proper community conditions when they become men and women. It is acknowledged that what is most needed in a boy nowadays is the right spirit, to insure him a clean life in talk, habits and associates; keeping the city’s streets clean is a certain responsibility that makes him more careful in his own habits.

Children are pressed into service in many ways,—through clubs composed of boys and girls, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, City Clubs, Junior League Clubs and Junior Civic Clubs. Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Spokane, Paterson, N. J.; Salt Lake City, Dallas, Texas; Toledo, Ohio; Denver, Colo.; Cincinnati, Pensacola, Fla.; Bay City, Oregon; Antlers, Okla.; Denison, Texas, are only a few of the cities where children have been active.

There are various ways of rewarding the children for their work. Some cities believe that money prizes appeal to children more than medals, badges, etc., and so have created special funds for that purpose, usually collected by some civic organization. Other cities give medals, buttons, puzzles, school equipment—stereopticon with lantern slides, maps, pictures, plans;—sporting equipment—baseball and football masks, balls and bats, cameras, free tickets to moving picture theaters.

In some instances the school children have become enthusiastic to the point of organizing magazines in the schools, devoted entirely to the Clean-Up Campaign. The children of the Clifton School in Cincinnati issued a magazine called The School Circle.

In some cities packets of flower and garden seeds are distributed among the children, and all vacant lots, back yards and stretches of ground not utilized are cleared of rubbish and dug up and seeded.

Under the direction of a Captain, school boys of Spokane, Washington, were organized into corps which cleaned up the residence section, then hauled the refuse away to the public dumps in wheelbarrows and express wagons.

Another method used to good advantage by Salt Lake City was to get the boys of each district bordering on dirty vacant lots to clean them up and prepare them for baseball grounds. After this had been done the Inspector of Public Health gave the boys baseball bats, balls and equipment.

At the suggestion of Mayor Cochran of Antlers, Oklahoma, the Progressive Club and the Ladies’ Civic Club combined in a program that was very successful. The boys of the city gathered up all the rubbish and placed it on the curbs, and the city wagons removed it. A committee appointed by the club solicited funds to reward the boys.

As a preliminary to the general clean-up movement in Bay City, Oregon, the Commercial Clubs, in conjunction with the Ladies’ Civic League, offered three prizes to the boys collecting the greatest number of sacks of rubbish by April 5.

One city in Ohio gave each child collecting one hundred tin cans a free ticket to a motion picture theater.

Judge Albert Besson of Chelsea, Mass., found a novel use for six boys, averaging fifteen years old, brought before him for sentence for entering freight cars and stealing candy. He sentenced them to keep a certain city street clear of waste for six months. The street in question is a long one, and friends of the boys living on it made things interesting for the culprits keeping the cigarette stubs, tin cans, papers and milk bottles picked up. The boys were supervised by two policemen.

The children of the sixth and seventh grades in one school in Inchester, Pa., started a tin can crusade, which aroused every citizen in the city. With two days of the contest still to run, the children had gathered 37,000 tin cans.

In accordance with the proclamation of the Governor, the Mayor of Montpelier, Vermont, observed April 25 as Arbor Day and Clean-Up Day. Outdoor exercises were held, including an address by the Mayor. The children were not required to attend school in the afternoon provided they spent two hours cleaning up the streets and grounds about their homes.

Toledo school children were divided into squads and to each was given a section of a ward. Each day a ward was cleaned and the results were printed in the next day’s papers, thus creating rivalry among the children.

Everywhere the Boy Scout has found his level in the Clean-Up Campaign. It is a Scout law that he must be clean. Almost every troop of Scouts has done its full quota in civic, local or county clean-ups. In patrol or by troop they care for school grounds, public grounds, make systematic campaigns against flies and mosquitoes, destroy their breeding places; plant trees, bushes and shrubs; in general, keep the streets free of litter and waste of all kinds. Divided into squads, they do much for city betterment. Vacant lots, waste property, fields and streets are rid of tin cans, milk bottles, scrap iron, weeds, and in their places flowers, vegetables and shrubbery planted; unsightly billboards removed. Sometimes they are paid for their work by the Civic Leagues, as in the case of Cornwall, N. Y., and St. Paul, Minnesota.

In many cities the Scouts have done splendid work in inspection duty, reporting all unsanitary conditions. In patrols, troops or companies they are assigned to investigate and report to the superintendent of streets or the organization having charge of the clean-up. The inspection is done day by day as the clean-up progresses, and any oversight or unsanitary condition reported at once.

Another method of interesting children is the organization of boys and girls into what is known as City Clubs, whose duty it is to keep the streets clean. The clubs are limited to 25 members each. The members wear buttons and each one is provided with blanks on which to report. In some instances these clubs work throughout the year but usually their work is confined to the spring clean-up, in which event they attend to the general clearing up of vacant lots, back yards, school property, and cart it to the curbs for the city dump wagons to haul away.

In Boston, under the auspices of the Women’s Municipal League, the Junior Municipal League, loaded with posters reading “Do you have pride in your city? Then Clean It Up,” and armed with brooms, shovels and rakes, proceeded to clean up. “Little Italy” was no small job. How the children first became interested in cleaning up this district is told about a little Italian girl who persuaded her merchant father to put covers on his barrels because the papers blew about and littered the back yard. This so improved the appearance that the child decided to sweep the back porch every morning before going to school. One morning a policeman saw her doing this and remarked on the improvement and gave her a button; immediately all the children in the neighborhood became industrious.

Gratifying results were obtained in Kewanee, Illinois, through the cooperation of the Superintendent of Schools and the Junior Civic Club, consisting of 650 members from the seven schools of the city. To each pupil desiring to become a member was presented a button in the school colors, bearing the words “I Will Help Kewanee.” A photograph was taken of the child’s home, showing as clearly as possible what he desired to improve. A letter was sent to the parents of the members of the Club, stating that the Kewanee Civic Club offered prizes to children who would make the most progress in cleaning up yards at home, plant flowers, make gardens, and do any other work. For the best showing in each school district $5 in gold was first prize, and $2.50 in gold second prize. To all the children who made an honest effort to clean up and beautify their yards were given diplomas of award signed by the Superintendent of Schools and the Committee. The taking of the pictures was a most expensive plan, but the expenses were materially reduced because the Camera Club of the High School contributed largely of their time. A contest in growing vegetables and making gardens was begun in the summer, and in the fall prizes were offered for the best showing. In order to stimulate interest in that direction, motion pictures showing what children had done in other cities were used.

A school in one city presented a one-act play typifying the following characters: Fly, waste, paper, fire, soot, dirt, microbe, sickness, death, sorrow, poverty, cleanliness, swatter, refuse pail, fire prevention, paint, scrub brush, soap, water and flowers. Lines were fitted to each character, and in the end cleanliness and happiness overcame sickness and dirt.

Although not always taking an active part in the cleaning up, women’s clubs have been a great factor for good in instigating general clean-up. There is scarcely a city in the country where the women in one way or another have not done much propaganda work, and in many instances offered active service and financial support.

Cincinnati is unanimous in its opinion that it owes its successful campaigns to the Cincinnati Woman’s Club, which organization was responsible for the first effort toward a general clean-up years ago.

The prominent women residents of Cornwall, N. Y., members of the Improvement Society, having failed to get the Moodine Creek and adjacent property cleaned up by the Board of Health, after an appeal, formed what they called the Tin Can Committee, and started a campaign of housecleaning on their own account. Flanked by a squad of Boy Scouts, they marched to the Moodine with rakes and hoes and began to clean up the thickets of the creek on both sides.

Special Activities

Besides the general cleaning work for the removal of rubbish and waste many cities add special activities to their programs. These are found to be helpful in improving both sanitary and esthetic conditions. In a few cities drastic measures are resorted to in special cases. In Philadelphia, for example, the names of 600 owners of unimproved property which required cleaning were obtained and to each was sent a written request to improve conditions. The results were gratifying. In other places photographs of unsanitary conditions have been taken and the pictures either published or sent to the owners or occupants of the premises.

In Chicago an agitation was started to clean the roofs in the downtown district, as it was claimed that most of the dirt filling the air and streets was blown from the roofs, which had not been cleaned since they were built.

School gardens and tree planting are popular in many cities and are made a part of the Clean-Up Campaign program.

Through tireless energy the Director of Social Centers of the public schools in Cincinnati succeeded in having hundreds of school gardens planted. Many of these were planted in vacant lots which had formerly been the abiding place of heaps of rubbish. One was upon what had been for years an objectionable public dump adjacent to a school. Several loads of dirt were applied in the fall and the cost defrayed from the campaign fund. In September an exhibit of school garden products was held and prizes offered.

Intensive vacant lot and back yard gardening campaigns were conducted in most American cities during the spring and summer of 1917. Although these campaigns resulted from the need to increase production, they assisted materially in eliminating many unsanitary spots in every city.

A Cincinnati firm in former years distributed trees in great numbers among the school children of the city and adjacent communities. Upon the suggestion of the Clean-Up Committee it decided again to make such distribution as a part of the Clean-Up Campaign, this time peach trees. Cards were given to all the school children who would agree to plant and care for the trees. Eighty-four thousand of these trees were distributed. The trees planted will bear fruit worth many thousands of dollars. The distribution of them formed a distinctive and unique feature of the Cincinnati campaign.

Fire Prevention and Inspection

The fact that in Philadelphia in one year the loss by fire from combustible materials alone was $300,000 shows how important is fire prevention in the clean-up work. Realizing the conditions and the effective means which clean-up campaigns offer to improve them, many cities have laid special emphasis upon safety as well as sightliness and cleanliness. The effort of Cincinnati illustrates the results that have been achieved in many other communities.