The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-10

verified into shoddy for mattress pur-
poses. AT the price at which these
mattresses are sold it would be i'm
possible to disinfect or wash them. 1t
appears to me that there can scarcely
be more dangerous and lurking trans
mitter of contagious or infectious dis
ease than shoddy wool comforts and
mattresses. What guarantee can the
consumer get that the filling Of i'm
ported shoddy wool mattresses is not
gathered rags from Constantinople or
Russia, the feeding grounds of the
present scourge? There is not house
furnishing store in the state that I
know of but what sells shoddy bed
ding. Many, no doubt, are innocent or
ignorant of this extract of filth used
for filing in this so-called wool bed
ding. Some states have very rigid laws
concerning this so-called wool hocks as
in appliance to the accurSed and
damnable stuff in Salt Lake city, max
ing it punishable by both heavy fines
and Imprisonment, and in my opinion
any one that would make or deal in
such goods knowingly should be made
to pay the penalty. 1t is we'll known
that one of the principle means for the
propagation and distribution of in
fectious diseases is by way of articles
of clothing, bedding, etc.. which have
been in contact with the sick The
germs of many diseases when received
on such materials, may retain their
vitality for months or even years, and
serious epidenlics have been traced to
articles so infected. In the light
of these indisputable facts it is
strange that hundreds of people
in Salt Lake city are, from
false sense of economy, daily
subjecting themselves and others to
the risk of infectious and loathsome
diseases. There are probably no ar
t1cles in personal use in so favorable
a position to convey the infection of
| diseases as the bedding on and under
which one sleeps. There is with these
the closest physical contact at a time
when the system is in its most re-
laXed and defenseless condition. Yet
a very large proportion of the mattress
ses and comforts used on the beds of
Salt Lake City are made of the most
disgusting materials, which in many
cases can hardly be doubted to con-
tain the germs of disease. The arti-
cles referred to are the mattresses and
comforters which go under the name
of "shoddy wool" or ''mungo." These
are made by the manufacturers from
every description of rags, cast-off gar
ments, old carpets, etc. In the process
SEES of manufacture this raw material
is torn by machinery into shreds,
which are then used as filling for the
mattresses or coverlet to be made.
The rags undergo no disinfection
whatever before being placed upon
the market in their new form, and
they receive only such cleaning as is
incidental, to the process of tearing
them to pieces. These rags are refuse
gathered from every possible source:
the waste raiment of pest house will
bring to the rag-picker as high a price
as the fashionable garment of last
season. AS this substance is indie
structable, no one can say how many
times it may have already done duty
in the same capacity. Utah has no
sanitary law on this subject, but the
people should take warning in self
defense. The cold-blooded statements
of this bulletin convey their meaning
! plainly, and need no elaboration. The
remedy is for every person purchasing
bedding to constitute himself COM
mjttee of one for his own protection.
Yours sincerely for good health.
!