South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-01-20
pEFENDs PLUAlRING CODE.

Editor News Times
1 noticed that one of the committee
men on the new building code made
the remark that the present plumbing
ordinance was drawn up for the
benefit of the master plumber.
/ will say that the statement is not
true and is a slur on every master
plumber in South Bend and in de-
Tense of myself and every other mas
ter plumber in South Bend, / would
like to So that every pipe now call
ed for in the plumbing code is neces-
sary for the good of the public health
and not for the benefit of the plumb
er's pocket as this committee man
would like you to understand. Salts
faction in your plumbing is more es-
sential than in any other thing You
buy.
You can make a mistake in the Sc
lection of your tailor or your grocer
and yet rectify it with little loss.
Not so with a plumbing JOB. That
is put in your house to serve you Tor
years. How well it serves you is up
TO the ordinance and the plumbing
plumbing ordinar ces in the good old
HOosier state, and should be proud OF
il.
When we talk about the cost Of
plumbing being high that is not true,
Plumbing today is cheaper than 1t
was 20 years ago, at that master
! plumber would go out and look at a
| job and tell you 1t was so much and
! tell you his guess would be high, so
that he would not lose any money.
Today we have to figure every cent
| that goes into a job and add A little
profit and you have to make the profit
/ small or you will have no work.
| Today you get better plumbing,
| better goods and better s2Hitation for
J less money for the reason that the
competition is so strong you get the
/ best for the least money.
Plumbing has not advanced like
! lumber and other building material
/ the plumbing that costs you about
| $275 today would have cost you $500
/ or $500 Is or 20 years ago for job
not near as good or as sanitary. or
the goat. But the public and the
plumber himself is finding that he has
a good Legitimate profession. and is
/ entitled to a fair profit.
! The plumber is as necessary as the
| doctor, for if you have poor plum bling
with no revents to prevent syphoning
| Of traps You will need the doctor and
/ after you get through with the doc
| tor call a plumber and have him test
your house for sewer gas, and give
! him orders to put in sanitary condi-
/ ton.
If you do that you have the best
| ensuing policy for good health. The
/ plumbing in a city like the sanitation
| at the Panama canal or the city of
| Havana, Cuba The first thing that
| the Americans did was TO put in good
| sanitary conditions the same with
/ Gen Goethal at Panama He spent
| thousands OF dollars for sanitation TO
/ make success a possibility of the
Panama canal.
And this place was not fit TO live in
| and now we use it for health resorts.
! Why? Because we put it in sanitary
| condition and saved thousands of
lives. So il is with South Bend If
/ you had the plumbing that we had 20
J years ago we would have to have
twice as many doctors as we have
now and it would keep them busy.
/ SO let us be sure we are not doing
more harm than good if we revise the
plumbing code of South Bend IL
would be a step backwards, if we
were to go back TO our old way OF
doing plumbing.
l think that one or two changes
can be made that will lessen the cost
| of plum bling, but this should be done
by men of experience in the plumbing
J business and not by men that are
/ looking at the cost side of the ques-
ton only and not the public health.
We have a man in our trade that
has made the plumbing question q
| study in South Bend and has this
! knowledge under his hat until you
allow him to release il.
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