Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-02-03
COMFORT STATIONS
COST BUT LITTLE
Expense In Washington as Low
as 81 Mills a Person.
Used BY 1900 Per-
sons Each Day.
From Domestic Engineering.

bStAb iilS.
When the congress of the United
States approached the question of ap-
propriating for the construction of pub
lie comfort stations in Washington. it
wisely substituted convenience for
comfort"
A public comfort station should be a
convenience station" in every sense of
the Word. While their primary purpose
is to provide toilet facilities (also called
conNenlences) they are capable of being
made a public convenience in many 9TH
er WAYS. Bootblack stands are quite
comma a%djuncts and drinking foun-
tains have been added in a number Of
instances.
H. Washington you may have your
parcel checked for 5 cents, or YOU may
nave the use of a private compartment
'arse enough for n dressing room. to-
gethcr With a clean towel and an indi-
Flduai cake OF soap for the same sum,
or You may rent Il clean towel at the
public lavatory for . cents. where
llquid soap n plenty of good hot wa
ter are provided free. You may tele-
phone Your friends, or borrow a clothes
bfush of the attendant for nothing,
and buy a comb for 8 cents. City direc-
tories will shortly be added to the
equipment. Pins or 81 needle and thread
may be had For the asking. Each sta
ton is provided with a restroom for
women. which contains a sanitary reed
E~',ss c'sSA q llLGSC III are
large enough for a surgeon to operate
in ii necessary.
Towels In a Slot Machine.
'-cent fees received are Tailed
with an ordinary street car fare regis
ter. the total of which is reported to the
office once each day. Nh 2-cent fees
arc now kept rae of roughly by the
number Of towels Numbered, but it is
expected shortly to have a machine
perfected which will deliver d clean
towel on dropping two pennies in the
slot. or "A clean towel and return change
on dropping n nickel. The receipts from
these two fees in the three stations in
operation in Washington total up above
800 u month. The receipts for check
ing parcels. shining shoes. sale Of up
k1ns and combs accrue to the attend
ant making the sale.
The stations are open from s O'Clock
IN the morning until midnight. two
shifts of attendants changing off at 3
p. IN. The present wages are 81, 1929
and $3.50 for male attendants and 81
and $l.25 for female attendants.
me present cost of operation of the
$3.50 a month each. including all charg-
es for wages, repairs, laundry. electri-
cal current and general supplies.
During one fiscal year the total num-
Der OF patrons was nearly 1,000.O 900 for
each station. or actually 1900 a day,
4o6 per hour and over six and one-half
a minute for the time that the stations
We're open. Twenty per cent OF the to-
tai number of users were women, who
contributed s per cent of the amount
received from fees. The total cost of
operation amounted to about 81 mills
a person using them, and with receipts
from fees deducted. this was reduced
to 2A mills. The cash receipts for the
year We're about $1,000. Both the at
tendance records and the cash receipts
are increasing every month, running
about 100000 attendance n $500 re-
S~pectively at the present time.
Station No. 1, entirely above ground,
cost $4,000 to build. Stations No. 9
and No. 3. entirely under ground, cost
$4,000 and $4,000 respectively.
These mounts are all exclusive OF
cost of site.
While practically every underground
station in the country has llad trouble
with the problem of ventilation, our
station has been q success in that re-
spect. and the cost OF operation and
other consideration being in favor of
that type, as many as possible Of flu
ture stations here will be built under
ground. I believe the success of our
first station to be due to entire alb
sence Of vault lights and consequent
freedom from dampness due to con-
densation. Ihe walls and ceilings of
Ahe station are hollow, the lighting ar
cient to completely renew the air 15
in the new station. each with a heat
ing plant capable of keeping pace With
the ventilnting plant.