The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-11
Public Baths for Scranton.


Public Baths for Scranton.
The sad drowning accident which
took place on Monday afternoon in
Roaring Brook would probably not
have occurred If there were in this
city a public bath where young boys
and men of the class to which the un-
fortunate lad Comerford belonged
could satisfy that craving for the ply
steal refreshment which comes from
bath, and that instinct of personal
cleanliness which is a hereditary trait
of civilized man. In city of the size
and population of Scranton, with its
unequalled facilities as an inland town
for the storage of fresh water, 1t seems
the strangest thing in the world that
there are not public baths and plenty
of them. This is an undertaking
which is within the province and is es-
sentially the duty of the city council.
Considering the murkiness of the
work in which the majority of the
laboring population of the city and it's
suburbs are engaged, it is scarcely
credible that Scranton is destitute of
such d primary condition of health,
cheerfulness and cleanliness as a pub
tic bath. Bathing, whether for cleanli-
ness or pleasure, is so indispensable TO
the preservation of perfect health un-
dcrmodern conditions of urban life that
public baths are regarded in all cities
that are administered with some re-
r1 70 ho n nP
the citizens as of little less importance
from a hygenic point of view than a
rerfect system of drainage is from the
sanitarian standpoint. Indeed one is
the rational and scientific complement
of the other. The superficial washing
Of the face and hands by the man or
boy who works hard and perspires
much is not enough to induce that
healthy action of the entire body which
is the result of the pores of the skin
being kept unclogged. The body is
continually undergoing a process of
waste and reconstruction. The normal
regularity of this physical phenomenon
is promoted by frequent baths; it be-
comes retarded and irregular from the
want of them, and ill-health, disease,
and premature disability are the re-
suit.
The wise men of the east said dirt
was brother to the plague. They knew
whereof they spoke. One-half. if not
three-fourthS, of the epidemic, en-
demic and contagious diseases with
which mankind is afflicted are directly
the outcome Of dirt, not necessarily in
its rudimentary aspects, but in the
more insdious form of personal and
household slovenliness. The CRIME with
which a miner is coated after he leaves
his work is not dirt. 1t is mere dessi-
Gated dust. But every miner and every
breaker boy in the valley would feel all
the better and all the healthier for a
good swim in the summer or warm
bath in the winter if the facilities were
provided for him. The household tub
until something better is provided
must of course satisfy the bathing re-
qurements of our working population.
Rut there is no earthly reason, tinan-
cial or otherwise, why something more
universal and accommodating should
not be provided here. We are conf
dent that public baths. even as a pri-
vate enterprise, would pay large divi-
dends from the start.
1t is not within our province to show
how these might be provided, or to es-
innate their cost The water catch
| ment on the mountains that surround
| the Lackawanna valley is practically
| inexhaustible, spring, summer, autumn
and winter. Two or three artesian
wells sunk in the proper localities
would supply all the water that could
possibly be required, if open reservoirs
were found impracticab'e for such a
purpose, or too expensive. Here is a
work which is ready TO hand; a fran
! chise to be given for the mere request
| A boom in baths would be a boon and
| a blessing to Scranton and it's neigh
| borhood and source of large and inn
mediate revenue to its enterprisins
| projectors.