The Fight Against Tacoma's Rubbish

Clean up! That is the order of the health department. It is the demand of the Pure Food Council of Women. It ought to be the policy of every Tacoman. While the Boosters are boosting and the county is spending $6,500 to attract people to Tacoma this summer, the city should be brightened up and made attractive. Building Inspector Hebbieth and Health Officer Sargent have been waging a relentless war on old shacks; they have seen 91 torn down since the first of the year. This is doing well, but there are other things besides shacks to look after. On Commerce street, within a good throw of the city hall, adjoining Shothart Hotel, there is enough old rubbish and filth scattered to make a refuge for a thousand rats and breed a typhoid epidemic that might cost the city thousands of dollars. Such filthy spots are found in many sections. A petition went to the council last week showing a number of them in the heart of the city. It is time to wipe out these pest holes. There is no one to give the children sulphur and molasses for a system cleaner and then turn them out on streets lined with rubbish on every vacant lot. It is expected that half a million visitors will see Tacoma this summer. They are being told that they will 'like it,' but if they do, there are a lot of rubbish heaps that will have to be wiped off the main streets. It is time for everybody to get a box of matches, a rake and a spade. Burn up the old board piles and rubbish heaps, rake up the debris and spade up the ground for flower beds. There ought to be 10,000 planting sweetpeas and other flowers during the next few weeks in Tacoma. The world is being invited to the city. Company is company, now clean up!