Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1905-04-01

/ 'h 't''I powers OF Il constructive ma
turc ON the officers of the council. and
yet not Il citizen of Manchester nor an
accredited attorney of any vested in
tcrrSt uttered one sentence or express
, ed ON" sentiment against the general
/ principle of the establishment and cX-
tension of municipal enterprises
One Of the distinctive features of the
/ modern British city is its system of
/ public baths and Iaundrics. The latter
are termed "waShhouScs.' Liverpool
and Manchester ar" especially progress
i've i'll these institutions. Liverpool has
/ expended or appropriated NOR" than IA
million dollars on 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 adormmcmtS. Liver
pool has Il comprehensive system of
public lighthouses. and ii is its proud
boast that no citizen is more than
few minutes walk from public bath
Ing establishment
The CornWaliS street baths cost
about $l2I,OO0, and Liverpool has
begun the construction of buildings
at Pier Head which will demand an
expenditure of $4,000. made
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 Il
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 III half. You could
not get as good Il bath in the best ho-
tel in Liverpool or London for fifty
times the money
The average price of Il plunge bath,
with the use of the pool us long as de
sired, is less than Il cents. But the
free open baths of Liverpool are more
interesting and hardly less attractive
Whenever ii Is possible to secure an
open space the baths department con
StructS pool. provides warm water
and rrrctS shelters for the little ones
One day last summer 550O lads used
one of these open baths.
While the receipts from Lverpoors
baths are large, there is, of course. an
annual deficit. Last years receipts
were about 100000. 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,
Il man who has been connected with
bathing establishments for years and
to whose energy and forethOught is
due the planning and success of the
"sIum baths"
I'VE believe" said Mr. Court in the
course of Il thorough inspection of
these baths, that it is as important to
teach the children to bathc as it is to
teach them to read and write. The boy
who acquires an ambition t9 have
clean body will find a 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 much
attention to first class baths and not
enough to those within absolute touch
vi lllt' lll'lSS bl our NOIklllS GLASSES.
We shall accomplish that in very few
years from now"
picturesque and practical adjunct
to many of these bathing establish
mCntS is the system of waShhouSeS,
or public laundriCS. The average tene-
mcnt house dwcllcr in Liverpool and in
other large cities has no adequate
nf So,
washing. Hot water is expensive, and
even the most primitive tools are be
yOnd the means of many of these wO-
men toilerS. Again the municipality
comes to tn" rescue. Scattered all over
Great Britain are hundreds of public
WaShhOuSeS. TO these the housewife
takes her bundle of Soicd clothes.
There are placed ut her disposal the
machinery and appliances of Il modern
steam laundry.
Instead of spending hours over tub
i'll the Crampcd living quarters of her
tenement she is privileged to wash her
clothes by means of hot water and
steam, rinse them in Il flood of pure
running water, dry them in Il hydro
extractor by centrifugal force and com
plcte the process by hanging them for
few minutes in Il steam heated room
where they are exposed to Supcrhcatcd
air in motion. She then takes them to
the mangling and ironing room and by
the aid of the best of appliances speed
lily completes the task of washing and
ironing.
Two hours is the usual time con
Sumed by woman in washing, drying
and ironing the clothes for the average
family. The rate in most of the wash
houses is a penny an hour, though in
some of them an extra halfpcnny is
charged after the first or second hour.
At the most it costs the average pa
trOn of these remarkable establish
mentS , cents to do weeks washing
and ironing. and the work which once
took the best part of two weary days
IS now ended in two hours or less And
all this is in practical operation and
has been tested for years. with the re
suit that toe waShhOuSeS are not only
self sustaining, but actually yield a
revenue to the city of Liverpool.