Hey Tom. look at the curb line in some of those photos, there is a LITTLE trash laying around, especially the one where 2 guys are sitting at a pier with a low barge behind them, newspaper blowing/laying around, I think that was a New York photo. Remember, back then, there was really no "throw it away" containers. The "Rag man", the "Junk man", they came around all the time looking for stuff to pick up and sell. Soda bottles (POP bottles) had a deposit on them and we eagerly went looking for them. There was virtually no garbage on the streets. Here in Philadelphia, "garbage", the food kind, was picked up every few days by farmers who made a living picking up garbage, They took it and fed it to their pigs, most of their farms were outside the city. My grandmothers (plural) put their garbage out in cans that were lined with brown paper bags and as soon as the garbage man left, they washed the cans out. Those cans were as clean as their kitchens, and the garbage man didn't dare dent the can by banging it on the side of the truck. A lot of those photos were taken in the early 50's and the country had just recovered from WWII and gotten over the depression, both were times when nothing was wasted. My father took us to the Butchers to pick up meat (everything was sold in a store that specialized in that product, Bakeries, Butchers, Produce stores, etc.) and I can remember the Butcher saying.."the only thing you can't use from a pig is the Oink". One of my Great Uncles had the last horse drawn milk route in the city. We used to watch him go down the street, jumping off the wagon (it was all white - the horse, the wagon, the wheels, which were rubber and painted white, everything including his uniform and bow tie was white), he'd have a wire basket filled with milk bottles with paper tops crimped over, Butter in wax wrappers. He'd put them in boxes on the front steps and never said a word to the horse it would move down the street and stop automatically at the next stop. The older ladies would come out after he left and scoop up the manure for their flower and vegetable gardens. I'm just old enough to remember the end of that era, coal dealers delivering coal, and ash pickup day, Sunday morning breakfast after church and the entire street smelled like bacon and eggs. Ah, the good OLD days. <lv4142003>
P.S. Does anyone remember what the name of the machine was that carried wood underneath it. It was a tall 4 legged thing with a little cockpit on top in the middle where the engine and driver sat. It had chain drive to the rear wheels. It would maneveur over a stack of wood, sling it underneath, pick it up and drive around the city delivering it. Can't find any photos of it on the net. Thanks
