The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1913-12-17
COOPERATIVE POSSIBILITIES
The Nature of Cooperative Govern
ment Projects is Such That Much
Labor Can be Saved.

The following article from the
publicity department of the reclama-
ton service is reprinted for the reas-
on that the chances are excellent for
having electric power distributed
over this valley from the great plant
at Lahontan which is owned by the
water users of this project
The washtub must go. That in
strument of torture which has filled
the days of the farmers wife with
despair and her nights with troub-
led dreams is doomed. The back
TO the land movement gets much of
its impetus from the fact that bet
ter things now obtain in the farm
nome than ever before, but no mes
sage more potent for joy and COM
fort has ever been borne to the rur-
al regions.
Long years ago the seythe, the
cradle and the fall were relegated to
the junk heap. Today, the farmer
with gasoline or electric power to
drive his machinery and perform
the heavier tasks, with patent milk
ers, riding plows, etc., has eliminat-
ed much of the backbreaking work
on the farm. For the farmers wife
invention has done but little. Her
chief abomination is washday, and
the task of keeping the family cloth
es clean undoubtedly has been the
rock upon which more than enc
household has split. Summer and
winter, the Monday session at the
washtub and Tuesday at the IRON
ing table have taken their toll of
her strength and health. The mon
otony OF farm life, It's never ending
round of household duties and the
lack of opportunity for mental or
physical relaxation, have all hau
their effect upon the country woman.
anG through her have reached down
to the children.
II 5 believed ;hat the conser, 4.
ton cf the stren.s..l and health OF
the farm woman will 10 muck tow.
ard checking the undesirable efflux
of population from the country to
the city and which is now generally
recognized by farm economists as
largely due to the conditions which
obtain in the farm home.
The cooperative laundry will go a
long way towards solving the prob
lem by relieving the farm home OF
its heaviest burden. The practic-
ality of the idea has been demon
strated beyond doubt in the little
town of Chatfeld, Minnesota where
the plan originated. A cooperat-
i've creamery upon much the same
lines as the creameries upon a num-
ber of the government irrigation
projects throughout the west was in
successful operation, and the super
intendent OWNED the idea of using
the same power to run a washing
machine. An old churn, operated
by a belt from the shaft which runs
the creamery machinery did the
trick. The more progressive mea
in the company quickly seized upon
the idea of extending the work to in
clude the laundry for the patrons OF
the plant and up to date maehin-
cry was installed at a cost OF about
$4,000. The gross receipts for the
first 10 months were $4,000. The
farmers bring their laundry when
they come with the cream, and on
their next trip to the creamery they
carry home, ready for use, the week
wash.
The laundry bill is charged to the
cream account and taken out OF the
cream check at the end of the
month. Five cents per pound Is
charged for the washing. All fiat
WOTh is lIOutu III ihS ihohSiS eAN
no extra charge is made. The
rough dry is ironed by hand and is
charged according to the time 1t
takes a girl to iron it, at 15 cents
per hour. The Minnesota plant at
the end of the year, with 100 pat
rons, was able to pay back to each
10 per cent of their wash bill for
the year, and the average cost per
family was s4.61 per month, which
included the laundrying and iron
ing of their shirts and collars.
While this laundry does not add
to the farmers income as the cream
cry does, 1t is indirectly produc-
tive enterprise lifting the heavy bur-
den from the farmers wives, saving
them strength for their other dut-
Concluded on Page two)