San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-05-28
BE IE CLEAN.
How Bathing is PatrOnizPd in San
AntOniO-SOme Rough Estimates

The ancient hcathpn. though perhaps
unfamiliar with Oln popular quotation,
"CIcanIincsS is next to GOdlmeSS," GER
tainly lived up to the spirit of that say
ing. 1t may have been that they thought
cleanliness came next to Goodness and
not befOr" it, b"CauS" they had Such a
quantity of deitie>. though they surely
had their full supply of baths.
This great hygieniC pleasure was very
popular in the days of ancient Rome. The
great DiOCletan built numerous baths
some of which accommodated 5000 bath
erS, but when the Dark Ages threw their
dreadful mantle Of physical and mental
barbarism over all Europe, the glorious
baths of the anCientS vanished from the
earth, and if the historian Michelct tells
the truth, there was not, for LOCO years. a
man or woman that ever took a bath.
However, times have changed and the
healthful practice Of frequent bathing is
being apidly Reconstructed. and cleanliness
before long. will be considered not as next
to Goodness. but as a vital requisite Of it,
In Europe and in the north. great num-
Der of towns of our size are far ahead of
san Antonio in this important matter
they having fieh bathS.mOre public paying
baths and fully as many private baths.
Bent on finding about how many per-
sons of this city avail themselves of our
public pay baths. a reporter inquired Of
persons in position TO know. II was
estimated thai the baths connected with
the barber shops gave ON an average
eighteen or twenty baths per dav. There
being ten such establishments, the total
average number Of baths at thc>" places
taken per dav would be tWO hundred at
most. Then thor" are some bath houses
along the river. which let Us say. would
swell the number to go. Besides these
there are TWO establishments where the
| shy woman takes her bath. which in most
| cases consists )t some mrdiCatrd water
such aN sulphur or pin" needle baths.
! The prOpri"trrSS Of one Of these places
was very ready TO accommodate the
| writer to Il bath. but when She found that
! it was information, not m"dicat"d water
! he was looking for She quietly slid into a
| side door and vanished from his sight.
| From her remarks however. it could be-
easily seen that the ~tcrncr Russian
| bath was not "A favOrte with the
| San Antonio ladies, they preferring
! the lighter, mcdicatcd or plain baths.
| The two establishments in question. do
| each an average business of twelve to
| fifteen baths per day and this would
| swell the total number Of people who take
| their baths away from home to about
| three hundred.
Then come the baths at home. From
! tn" WatcrwOrkS company We find that
| about 1000 families take water for baths.
and calculating five bathrr> to every fam
! lily we have total of 1900 people taking
! home baths. If We add to this 5000
proplo who battle in ways not yet account
ed for, V" find that Of 5000 people only
! about 5000 persons bathC per dav. and
! by Il very liberal estimate at that.
Suppose that by some queer miracle
5000 ancient Romans be rcSurrrcted and
should fill our pacGs-undOubtedl with
| our present accommodations the law pro-
hibiting open bathing within public
view would have to be repealed.