Imperial Valley press., 1914-12-03
Public Baths and Laundries.
(By Frederic j. Haskin.)

lineSS was established in New York
City by the opening of a municipal
wet wash laundry in connection with
one of the public bcth houses. The
new plant is under the direction OF
the Bureau of Public Health and Hy-
giene of the New York Association for
Improving the Children of the Poor,
and it is expected to supply crying
need long felt in every large city. The
responsibility of the municipality in
providing public baths is now estab-
lished. Health officials agree that it
iss of comparatively little use to
cleanse the body unless clean clothes
are provided to cover it. Despite the
objection of paternalism urged by
conservatives, it seems incumbent
upon every large city to see that some
provision is made for washing the
clothing as well as the person.
In most of the large cities some al
tempts have been made to provide
wash house facilities in connection
with public bath houses. These wash
houses provided the women of the
tenements with tubs, drying facilities
and an unlimited supply of hot and
cold water for washing their clothes.
The value of the public wash house
as an adjunct to the bath is well
established. In most cities the only
fault found is that they are not nu
merous enough to meet the demand or
near enough to the people who need
them.
But many women have to work all
day and have not time to carry their
clothes to the public wash house or
time to wash them there. They have
no convcniences for washing the fam
ily clothing at home other than the
kitchen sink. What wonder that gar
ments are frequently worn which
have no acquaintance with the WASH
tub from the time they are first put
on until they are worn into tatters
and thrown into the dump heap. 1t
is to help families so situated that the
wet wash public laundry is opened.
A number of commercial laundries
have wet wash divisions, but their
prices place them out of the reach of
those who need them most. Often
too, the wet wash work is done in Il
dark unsanitary cellar and the cloth
ing is exposed to disease germs. The
wet wash laundry just opened in New
York is upon the second floor Of the
Milbank Memorial Bath Building. 1t
will wash thirty pounds of family
clothing for 25 cents. If they are call
ed for and delivered, the charge will
be As cents. A careful study of the
conditions indicate that the work can
be made self supporting at these
prices, so that the objection of its
hauperizing it's patrons cannot be sus
tanned. The sanitary advantage OF
having the clothing well washed in a
bright, sun shiny room and partially
dried by the centrifugal hydro extrac-
tor, instead of few of them being
roorly washed at home, is indisput-
able.
In most of the European cities are
found municipal laundries in which
clothing can be washed at prices
within reach of all, and also munici-
pal wash houses in which men and
women can wash and dry their own
clothing. They are deemed to be OF
equal Importance with the public
hath houses to which they are usual
ly attached. Less than twenty mum
cipal wash houses are now in opera
ton under municipal control in this
country, and the New York wet wash
laundry is the first effort in the direc
tion of supplying clean clothing. Sew
eral others are under consideration
and will doubtless be in operation
within the next few months. All are
to be in connection with public bath
houses.
W PoPUi"i cA'~A'
bathing facilities in American far ex
ceed those in most European cities,
and they are being enlarged each
year. The daily allowance of water
per capita in large American cities
ranges from 100 to 200 gallons. In
The Hague, the capital of Holland,
which is sometimes referred to as the
cleanest city in the world, the daily
allowance is twenty seven gallons per
capita. In Berlin, it is seventy five
and in no European city does it exceed
100 gallons. The number Of public
bath houses in American cities has
doubled within ten years, in addition
to facilities offered by the Y. NJ c. A.
and other organizations.
Despite the much vaunted love OF
the Englishman for his bathtub, bath
rooms. are not regarded as absolutely
essential to the home equipment Of