Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-02-18

must furnish the heat to make this waite
available for washing.
This problem Of the possibilities of coop
erative cleanliness has been to . certain ex.
tent solved In the building put up by ths
Improved Dwelling association in 1881.
Bayard Cutting was made president Of the
association and Cornelius Vanderbilt CON-
tributed LARGELY. Seven other millionaires
took part in the experiment, and half of the
block between Seventy first and Seventy
second streets, facing on First avenue, was
purchased. A building six stories high, en-
tirely freproof, and 80 arranged around q
great interior court that every room had Q
large window opening to the sun, was then
erected. The apartments are ample in size,
containing from three to four good-sized
rooms, with several closets. These rent from
six and quarter to thirteen dollars month,
and have water, a coal and garbage ELEVATOR
and an ash chute.
On the ground floor in each of the four
divisions is large bathroom divided into
closets, each containing a zinc-lined tub
quite as good as those in the private homes
of wealth. These have both hot and cold
water, and are open to the women and chill
dren from ten to five, and to the men from
five to seven. They are quite free, the only
must wash it carefully and provide his own
soap and towels. In two of the houses are
general laundries on the first floor, and from
these the clothes are dried in the court,
while the other two have theirs on the top
aoor and utilize the roof for drying, thus
giving ample room to all. These laundries
contain stationary tubs and an excellent ar
rangement for the Infection of steam I'm
stead of hot water, by which the clothes can
be boiled in tho tub itself. Upon payment
Of the rent the tenant receives four tickets
which entitle him to entrance to the laundry
one day in each week, either Monday, Tues-
day or Wednesday, as he may prefer.
The cost of supporting these laundries is
not great; the coal required for pumping wa
ter throughout the entire establishment, for
heating water for the baths and laundries,
and heating the halls, amounts to only nine
tons a month about fifty dollars-the laun-
dry and baths being the smaller portion of
the expense, as the power to send water
through 80 large house is very considerable.
The cost Of laundrying the clothes of each is
only few cents month.
The first suggestion of cooperative house
keeping as a solution for many domestic diff
heulhes was made nearly twenty years ago
by New England woman. Mrs. Melusina
Fay Pierce, who published series of arti-
cles under that title in the Atlantic Monthly
in 1868, and afterward collected them into q
volume.
Mrs. Pierce has, in her little book, some
sharp things to say to women. The wrongs
and oppression of women, of which SO much
is heard in these later days, are, in large
measure, due to the very fact of her having
failed to keep step with the tendency Of
modern civilization. She has learned no
lessons of organization as to her labor or
methods of spending the money which the
man earns for the support of the family.
Labor-in this country at least-is we'll paid,
and if families do not live in comfort it is
largely because the money earned is not care
fully and wisely spent