The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1914-07-21
Wash Tubs Fame
NOWOn The Wdne
Farmers Wife To Be Relieved Of
Drudgery Of Blue Mondays And
Bluer Tuesdays
WORKS AT CHATFIELD
Run In Connection With Cooperative
Creameries, Thereby Saving
Overhead Expense

The wash tub must go! That in
strument of torture which has filled
the days Of the farmers wife with
despair and her nights with troubled
dreams is doomed. The "back to the
land'' movement gets much of its
impetus from the fact that better
things now obtain in the farm home
than ever before, but no message more
potent for joy and comfort has ever
been borne to the rural regions.
Work Is MOnOtOnOus
Long years ago the scythe, the
cradle, and the fail 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 mixers,
riding plows, etc., has eliminated much
of the back breaking work on the
farm. For the farmers wife inven-
ton has done but little. Her chief
abomination is wash day, and the
task of keeping the family clothes
clean undoubtedly has been the rock
upon which more than one house
hold has split. Summer and winter
the Monday session at the wash tub
and Tuesday at the ironing table have
taken their toll of her strength and
health. The monotony of farm life,
its never ending round of household
duties, and the lack of opportunity
for mental or physical relaxation,
have all had their effect on the coun-
try woman, and through her have
reached down to the children.
1t is believed that the conservation
of the strength and health of the
farm woman will do much toward
checking the undesirable effiux of
population from the country to the
city, which is now generally recog-
nized by farm economists as large
ly due to the conditions which OBJ
tain in the farm home.
Laundry Solves Problem
The cooperative laundry will go a
long way toward solving the problem
by relieving the farm home of its
heaviest burden. The practically of
the idea has been demonstrated be-
yond a doubt in the little town of
Chatfeld in Minnesota where the plan
originated. A cooperative creamery
on much the same lines as the cream
cries on number of the Government
irrigation projects throughout the
West was in successful operation,
and the superintendent OWNED the
idea of utilizing the same power to
run washing machine. An old
churn, operated by belt from the
shaft which runs the creamery ma
chinery did the trick. The more pro-
gressive men in the company quick
ly seized upon the idea of extending
the work to include the laundry for
the patrons of the plant and up to
date machinery was installed at a
cost of about $4,000. The gross re-
ceipts for the first year, just closed
were $5,403, of which 70 per cent was
paid for wages. 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 weeks wash.
Not Extravagant
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 fol
i washing. All fat work is ironed ii
E the mangle and no extra charge i!
5 made. The rough dry is ironed By
hand and is charged according to tn
e time it takes a girl to iron it, at fiji
3 teen cents per hour. The Minnesota
| plant at the end of the year, with 16t
! patrons, was able to pay back to eacl
: ten per cent of their wash bill fol
: the year, and the average cost pc
7 family was s4.61 per month, which
5 included the laundering and ironing
: bf their shirts and collars.
Has Cash Compensation
: While this laundry does not add t.
the farmers income as the creamery
does, it is indirectly productive en-
terprise, lifting the heavy burden from
the farmers wives, saving then
strength for their own duties, and
increasing the efficiency and comfor'
of the farm home many times more
than enough to recompense for thu
outlay of s4.61 for eight days of bach
breaking work.
Cooperative creameries have al.
ready been established on several %
the Government irrigation projects
and it is hoped that the time is not
far distant when laundries will b
run in connection with each of these