5 Degrees above Zero; W. A. Paton

THE CITY GOVERNMENT in my home town took over the chore of col lecting garbage and trash several years ago. Previously this chore was largely taken care of by scores of small operators, keenly competi tive. I never had any difficulty in having my garbage, ashes, waste paper, brush from tree trimming, leaves, and other refuse removed promptly and efficiently. The pri vate operators had no special re quirements whatever as to pack aging, arranging, or locating the rubbish to be carted away. There was no rigid schedule of removal dates; the operator came when the individual householder asked him to come, .and where a time of colDr. W. A. Paton is well enough known in the United States and abroad for his work in Ac counting and Economics-and well enough known among local garbage collectors-that there's no need to mention hi. home town. 612 5° Above Zero W. A. PATON lection had been agreed upon it could be altered by a telephone call.

When the City took over waste collection there was an immediate decline in the quality of the serv ice. The fixed schedule set by the I)epartment of Public Works pro vided less frequent service than some families desired, but of course no special collection times could be arranged. Moreover, from the outset there have been fre quent deviations from the an nounced schedule. Requirements as to the householder's procedure be came more complex and rigid as time went on. Under one early rule ashes had to be sacked and placed in the garbage cans, in stead of being left on the back porch in cartons or other dispos able containers. Branches and 1972 50 ABOVE ZERO 613 other brush must now be cut up and placed in sacks of specified size (a very inconvenient, time consuming procedure) . Pebbles and stones will· not be removed under any circumstances .. Burning paper - or anything else - on the premises is now prohibited, re gardless of care and safety pre cautions taken. The fancy trucks used by the City are large and costly, and equipped with lifts to spare the backs of the accompany ing staff. The lifting apparatus is very noisy, being easily heard for a quarter-mile or more. Recently all citizens received a printed doc ument which set forth the rules and directives of the "new refuse collection system" as follows: NEW PROCEDURE On the day of collection a two man set-out crew will bring your refuse containers or tied plastic bags from the back yard to the curb.

Several hours later a drive-collector will come by and place the refuse in the truck. He will serve one side of the street at a time. After collection, the resident must bring his containers back from the curb to the back yard. If the resident uses tied plastic bags, only the bags will go to the curb and he will have no containers to retrieve. Plastic bags should be a 2 mill bag such as the Fire Department has for sale. On the day of collection the con tainers or tied plastic bags should be in one location, either behind the house, along the side of the house, outside the garage, or at the curb. Keep your driveway clear! The combined weight of each indi vidual container and its contents cannot exceed 50 pound5. Refuse should be available for col lection by 7: 00 a.m. If your refuse is NOT collected· by 4: 00 p.m. on your assigned day, please call City Hall, 761-2400 extension 257 so provisions for pickup may be made.

No animal waste will be picked up. When a collection day falls on a holiday, the schedule for the remain der of the week will be one day late, and the extra day will then be made up on Saturday. These requirements, with the new feature of a "set-out crew," will obviously make the collection proc ess more complex, more drawn out, and will justify more staff. Note the preemptory "Keep your driveway clear!" No private con cern issues such orders, and not even the U.S. Post Office has gone that far. For how long, one won ders, must this be done on the specified day, and must the house holder stand guard for hours to make sure the driveway is com pletely free of cars or other ob stacles? Note, too, the arbitrary weight requirement. To be sure that this rule is observed must the householder acquire scales 614 THE FREEMAN October and weigh all cans and sacks used, and perhaps leave some half-filled, where heavy materials are in volved? And what is the home owner .supposed to do with the dog dung littering his yard, de posited by roving animals that find the location attractive for the purpose? A side effect of the new rules, already much in evidence, is a marked increase in can$ and bags along our streets for lengthy periods, as a result of the diffi culty many find in meeting the 7: 00 a.ln. deadline plus the hours of delay before the truck arrives to make the collection plus the de lay - oftel]. for several days -:- be fore the resident gets around to removing the empty cans from the curb area. The net result· is un sightly streets, all over town visual pollution, to say the least.

And empty garbage cans left standing in driveways by the col lectors are a nuisance, and may be a hazard, especially after dark. Like It or Lump It As almost goes without saying, the city government took over the waste collection business without asking for any advice from indi vidual citizen customers. More over, in establishing rules, includ ing those of the "new system," the people served were given no opportunity to express· their opin ions. I should add that we. are not as yet prohibited from engaging a private rubbish collector, if we can find one - but such action will not reduce the levy for "utilities" service, or the bills for taxes. The winter of 1971-72 in south eastern Michigan was not charac terized by extremely low tempera tures, but we did have quite a lengthy spell when the thermom eter registered from a bit below zero to 5° above. During this peri od the refuse collection staff of our Public Works Department calmly announced that they would not report for work on days when the temperature was "5° above zero" or less at the regular re porting hour. And the gang main tained this position all winter, de- .

spite a few mild protests from citizens here and there. In my own case my garbage was not touched for one stretch of three successive weeks. 1 was reminded of the times on the farm when we attended to the chore of milk ing the cows when the outdoor temperature stood at 20° below, with the thermometer inside the stable door hovering around the zero mark. I suppose this was not in line with good modern. practice regarding working conditions. Why the Popular Support? One .of the signs of the times that continues to puzzle me is the attitude of some people in· my 1972 50 ABOVE ZERO 615 neighborhood regarding the sphere of government activity. Despite their personal, first-hand experience with the very ohjec tionable system of municipal gar bage and trash collection, many still clamor for more and more interference by government, at all levels, with private business oper ation, including outright take over in some fields, and are vocif erous in their support of the pro grams of nationally known "con sumer advocates" and other· crit ics of the automobile companies· and .business corporationsgen erally. They also tend. to applaud the continuing harrage of attacks on business - in and out of the legislative halls-by officeholders and candidates with strong so cialistic leanings.

Another,. and more widespread, attitude to be observed is the in difference, and lack of complaint, regarding the inefficiencies and failures clearly in evidence in fields where government· has long been in complete charge. This pos ture. is found among those some what sympathetic to private en terprise, as well as among the muddled critics of business and the outright socialists. The reali zation that it is well-nigh useless to try to induce government officials to mend their ways probably has a bearing. Here I'm reminded of the history of our local water service. Years ago this service was provided by a quasiprivate con cern,. and there was no lack of criticism and complaint. And that the water company took consider able heed of dissatisfaction, even in the case of the specific patron, was obvious. Finally, in line with the trend across the country, the municipality acquired the com pany's facilities. From that time on the desires of the individual customer have been completely ignored with respect to water sources, softening, additives, tem perature, extensions, and· so on, as well as the important matter of rates charged. And the tendency to complain, ask for improved service, and urge .lower rates, has gradually faded to the vanishing point.

From time to time, in contem plating the current scene, I get to wondering what it will be like if and when we abandon the free market entirely, and adopt the complete socialist program. What will the Naders and other maleon tents do when there are no private business activities left for them to bedevil? ~ CLARENCE B. CARSON THE FOUNDING OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 15 The Critical Period 616 AMERICANS established weak gov erments after they separated from England. Indeed, the governments were weakest at the points requir ing greatest strength, namely, in the conduct of relations with for eign powers and in the executive branch. It is easy to understand and sympathize with their reasons for establishing weak governments. Government, any government, has the potential for tyranny. Its mo nopoly of the use of force within its jurisdiction tends to make those under it impotent in conflict with it. Men are drawn to it by the opportunity it offers for the exer cise of power, and the likelihood of the abuse of power is almost as certain as death and taxes. Why not, then, guard against these po tentialities becoming actualities by keeping government weak? Let the power reside mainly in the people, and make those in govern ment come hat in hand frequently asking for what they need. Why not, indeed?