'*M Waring's "White Angels" parade before the public. Alland Collection, the new-yobk historical society. cd> on May 26,1896, New Yorkers lined the streets to watch what surely must have been one of the most bizarre processions to pass through the city's thoroughfares. Amidst the strains of martial band music, Waring, on horseback with the 2,700-man Department marshaled smartly behind him, acknowledged the cheers of the spectators. Column after column of Department equipment and white-garbed street cleaners, pushing their garbage carts before them, passed the reviewing stand where Mayor Strong and other municipal officials watched approvingly. Newspaper opinion unanimously acclaimed the unusual display for its success in .lifting the Department to the level of public acceptance and even acclaim. As one observer remarked, "The politicians denounced the outrage and ridiculed the act, but the actor triumphed.21 The following year Waring and his men again paraded, although this time the effect was less dramatic. A fine showing from the street cleaners no longer surprised New Yorkers. Parades were not the only part of Waring's deliberate scheme of keeping his Department in the public spotlight. Connected with this 21 The Ladies Health Protection Association of the City of New York, Proceedings of the First Convention (New York: 1896); Wilcox, The American City, 167; Times, May 27. 1896. William Potts, "George Edwin Waring, Jr." The Charities Review, VIII (December 1898), 465.