The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-03-11
BANIsH FARM WASH DAY.

hAN1SH FAkSM WASH DA1s
Anyone who knows anything about
life in the country will not dispute
that q cooperative laundry is one Of
the most urgent needs OF rural COM
munities, writes L. r. Hiatt, in the
Kansas Industrialist. Take, for ex-
ample, family In the average rural
community. In this average family
there occurs every Monday morning
that operation Familiarity known as
''doin' the family washin'." when dad
! invariably finds that he has important
business in the nearby town for the
day. Then, its up to you" II you
are a boy-and especially unfortunate
il this il you happen to be q, mere boy
Ito run the washing machine and
turn the clothes wringer. and do all
the other homely and heartily hated
tasks connected with the art Of wash
ing clothes. At least two women OF
the average household spend nearly all
day Monday in doing the washing. and
nearly all of Tuesday in doing the
ironing for the family. Not only does
this work require two days. but the
work is of the most exhausting char
acter. since it generally requires the
women to be exposed to extremes Of
heat and cold without proper shelter.
The men OF the household oftentimes
are made to suffer from the effects
of wash day in the way Of hastily and
poorly prepared meals. These are the
conditions Of farm laundering today.
In hundreds Of rural communities,
especially in the dairy sections Of Wis
consin and Minnesota, creameries run
on g. cooperative basis are common.
1t would seem to be q logical solution
of the farm laundry problem to en-
large the building containing the
creamery, install up-to-date laundry
machinery, hire competent laundry
crew. and have the farm women's
hardest work done by machinery and
horsepower instead Of by backaches
and woman-power. In communities
where there are no cooperative
creameries usually there is need for
one. and it could be organized along
with the cooperative laundry. The
soiled clothes could be collected and
returned when laundered by the man
who collected the cream from the
farmers. This would be but little
more work for him and it would not
require much additional wagon and
uOISe S4ulRulcHt x4dVAAk q COAAPO-
tent laundryman at the head OF the
laundry would insure the work being
done in first class shape.
Two years ago. a thinking farmer
in Chatfield, Mimi, conceived the idea
of the rural cooperative laundry and
organized the first one in the world.
It has been running successfully since
it was started. about twenty months
ago, and the farmers who are con-
nected with it are all happy over the
results obtained. They find the cost
to be reasonable, and considerably
cheaper than the same work could
have been done at an "old line" laun-
dry. Furthermore, not one of the
farmers objects to paying the addi-
| tional cost.
The principal advantages Of this
scheme Of farm cooperative laun-
dries are that the farmers wife and
| her daughters have more time to de-
vote to the making of an attractive
home, to visit their neighbors, to read
good books and magazines, and to
music.
Miss Frances Brown, in charge of
home economics work in the extern
| sion division Of the Kansas Agricul-
tural college. will be glad to furnish
estimates and advice on the organiza-
| ton of a cooperative rural laundry
! to any community that is interested.