Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1905-03-28

ef1CR Upual0 hUdu10l
expended or appropriated more than a
million dollars OH its public baths.
The CORVALLIS street baths of Liv-
erpool compare favorably with any
public or private establishment, no mat
ter where located, save perhaps In the
matter of useless adornments. Liver
pool has a comprehensive system of
public lighthouses, and 1t is its proud
boast that NO citizen is more than a
few minutes walk from public bath
ing establishment.
The CORVALLIS street baths cost
about $125,00O, and Liverpool has
begun the construction Of buildings
at Pier Head which will demand an
expenditure of $375,O00. made a
careful inspection Of some of these
establishments. The swimming pools
are large, and the temperature of the
water is automatically regulated.
There are several classes of baths with
varying prices, and one can have
plain tub bath with hot and cold wa
ter, soap, sponge and towels, all for
the sum of cents in our money or
penny in theirs. Two days in the week
this price is cut in half You could
not get as good a bath in the best no
| tel in Liverpool or London for fifty
times the money.
The average price of plunge bath,
with the use Of the pool as long as de-
sired, is less than 6 cents. But the
free open baths of Liverpool are more
interesting and hardly less attractive.
Whenever it is possible to secure an
open space the baths department con-
structs a pool, provides warm water
and erects shelters for the little ones.
One day last summer $500 lads used
one Of these open baths.
While the receipts from LiverpooPs
baths are large, there is, Of course, an
annual deficit. Last years receipts
were about $4,000, and the deficit was
not far from the same amount. But
this is one Of the enterprises conduct
ed without hope of financial gain. The
city is fortunate in its baths engineer
and chief superintendent, w. r. Court,
man who has been connected with
bathing establishments for years and
to whose energy and forethought is
due the planning and success Of the
''slum baths."
1--WE believe" said Mr.. Court in the
course Of thorough inspection OF
these baths, chat it is as important tc
teach the children to battle as it Is tc
teach them to read and write. The boy
who acquires an ambition to have g
clean body will find way to an educa
ton. If / have any criticism to make
concerning our system as it stands to-
day it is that we have paid too mucl
attention to first class baths and moi
enough to those within absolute toucl
of the mass of our working GLASSES
We shall accomplish that in very few
years from now
A picturesque and practical adjunc
to many of these bathing establish
ments is the system of washhouses
or public laundries. The average tene
ment house dweller in Liverpool and II
other large cities has no adequate
means of doing the regular weeks
washing. Hot water is expensive, anC
even the most primitive tools are be
Il
men toilers. Again the municipality
comes to the rescue. Scattered all ovel
Great Britain are hundreds Of public
washhouses. To these the housewife
takes her bundle Of soiled clothes
There are placed at her disposal thu
machinery and appliances Of modern
steam laundry.
Nrtr nee Inn h0r1 n f11I
in the cramped living quarters of he
tenement she is privileged to wash he
clothes by means Of hot water ant
steam, rinse them in food of pur,
running water, dry them in hydro
extractor by centrifugal force and com
plete the process by hanging them fo
few minutes in steam heated room
where they are exposed to superheatet
air in motion. She then takes them II
the mangling and ironing room and b.
the aid Of the best Of appliances speed
lily completes the task Of washing ant
ironing.
Two hours Is the usual time con
sumed by a woman in washing, drying
and ironing the clothes for the averag
family. The rate in most Of the wash
houses is a penny an hour, though II
some Of them an extra halfpenny /
charged after the first or second hour
At the most 1t costs the average pa
tron Of these remarkable establish
ments cents to do a weeks washin
and ironing, and the work which one
took the best part Of two weary day
is now ended In two hours or less. An
all this is in practical operation an
has been tested for years, with the re
suit that the washhouses are not onl
self sustaining, but actually yield
revenue to the city Of Liverpool