The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-05


| The average lanltor yentilateS solely 10
! produce or reduce temperature. beyOhu
| that he has not the slightest know ledge OF
! the science of ventilation.
When it is hot he opens the windows
! when cold, he closes them. Under MS sys-
| TEN of ventilation you never get any fresh
air unless the atmosphere becomes lnsup-
portaOly heated.
A good example of this is to be found any
day at the Public Library readng-room.
You Will find the room crowded. 1t is
large room and part of the ceiling Is very
high SO that the ventilation could be admir-
able.
But it is net. Go there on cold day and
you will find every window closed tightly.
Go there on n rainy day and You will fnd
that not breath of the outside air is per
mitted to get inside.
The average janitor would rather let in
foul air than damp air. Because 1t Is wet
outside the air inside ought TO be completely
carbonizcd Is his theory II not exactly The
way he puts it.
But the truth is that the outside air is
never so pure as just after or during heavy
rainfall. The water washes the air as II
does the streets and windows. OF course
Il Is damp, and the dampness Will hurt you
II II strikes you as a draught, with proper
ventilation il will not strike you in that way,
aud the air you breathe viii be pure and
sweet.
More than this there is electricity in the
outside air when IL IS raining, ana you
ought not TO miss inhaliDg this deeply IN
your lungs.
ANY doctor in the land will tell You all
these things, and so very simple are they
that he wont even think OF charging you
fee for their telling.
Yet if you needed them more you would
have less use for the doctor.
A good many of the employees IN the
Posioffice building recognize the value OF
hair
penalty that must be paid for going With
cut 1t.
AFTER the 4th OF March Wen all have
fresh air enough" said the superintendent
Of the city deliyery-room, Mr.. Cox. 49,.
That is true enough so far as the p0lltl-
cal employees 20, but how about thoSe VINO
hold under the civil service sys'emT ana,
at all events, there is no good reason why
the ventilation should be bad and the air
foul simply because the men who have TO
inhale it are changed every four years
new victims.
Aud night here. in Mr.. CoX's department,
the atmosphere is something terrible.
The room is about 70 feet in length. or
perhaps longer, and but 20 or 70 feet in
depth. On one side there Is a row OF
windows. Beneath each window sits a
comeiy young woman.
Now. the only possible way to yentilate
that long, narrow room is by opening these
windows. If you open a window to-day
the chances are there will be a vacant seat
tomorrow.
For the women are but flesh and blood
and cOrsets, and from long hours OF toll In
foul air they have become so devitallzed
that it only takes a gust or two of fresh air
striking them as a draught 10 bring on all
manner Of colds and asthmas and what not.
And the healthiest OF wOmen-0r men
either-couIdn't stand that kind Of Ventila-
ton for many hours at a time.
And the consequence IS there IL nc VENT
latiOn at all. though from - TO 100 men and
women work here constantly day and night.
MT. Cox has a room at one end OF this
long city deliyery-room and opening out
into it,
There is one way to ventilate Mr.. Cox's
little room. That IS to lower the window
above his lady typewriter. That would
mean adraught striking the typewriter aud
the superintendent. The window 10 kept
closed and the foul air inhaled.
But, as Mr.. Cox says, be will have fresh
air enough soon.
In the Money Order Department there is
but one way to let in the fresh alT-Opeu
door or a window.
This room is a bake oven in summer and
a refrigerator in winter, with a sad lack of
fresh air al all times.
The Chinese Bureau. occupied by Captain
Ruddell aud his assistants. is another of
the public Offices of this city that is dis
grace.
This is A wee small room with one French
window that Opens like a pair Of folding
doors. rs either freeze to death or smother
in this room. If you open the window ever
so little the draft strikes abr0adside. and
there IS the grip and the pneumonia 20 pay.
Better cE0ose the lesser evil and slowly
staTye the lungs for the want Of fresh air.
Adj lining the Chinese Bureau are the
/ Offices of the superintendent Of the railway
1 mail service and his assistants. These are
very small rooms and all have the French
windows.
/ The atmosphere here is very foul, for the
/ hardest Of the clerks dare not open one Of
! the windows unless the thermometer gets
/ up above so.
1t means crick in the neck, a stiff back.
the caiarTh and a score OF other evils to sit
in one Of those little rooms with an open
window.
So the windows remain closed.
A md there is no relief for these men
with the new administration, for they are
only appointed after passing very rigid
examination.
There are a few patent ventilators in the
old Postofice and CustOm-house building,
where these Offices are located, but they are
so few and their creYices so badly filled ND
with dust and dirt that they are about
useless.
None Of the public buildings Of San Fran
! cisco are properly ventilated.
The new City Hall is positively a danger
/ Gus building for one TO work in if one has
/ 10 run out into the corridors very often.
The latter are always damp and unwhOle-
/ some. Al night they are inundated by
water, which is allowed 10 dry as best it
| can. Having no aid from the outside air, it
/ permeates the atmosphere in the vanlt-like
/ corridors, and gives Il more than its share
! OF poisonous aqueous matter.
Nowhere else in the world are marble
! floors cleaned the way those are cleaned at
! tie new City Hall.
! Everyw here Else dampened sawdust and
a soft broom does the work effectualy.
Here foods and floods Of water are used.
and those who pass Us and down the CORR
doris must inhale all this dampness.