The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1922-06-21

OF ten muddy centuries. Perhaps
Henry thought it was time to
wash up-hence the order of the
bath. Candidates for the order were
selected by the king, but before a
candidate could be initiated, ne
must take q bath There was the
rub. Having been led into the bath.
and having survived the shock, the
knight became a shining example TO
others. who, though less favored.
were equally in need of water.
Habit ever clings like a clinging
vine. for even now, when a man is
about to be initiated into a secret
order, he takes a bath on suspicion
The irst bath tub that held the
bather as well as the water was
also made in England in 1880 by
Lord John Russell. A dozen years
later. Adam Thompson after visit
ing Russell. brought the idea to
America. He had a cabinet maker
make a tub of mahogany. lined
with sheet lead and from that first
crude tub has grown the plumbing
industry Of today. which does a
business of omething like a thou
sand million dollars a year. Had
Adam Thompson introduced his tub
a few centuries earlier he might
OF been the center OF a bonfire. For
instance Philadelphia, the cradle
of liberty" Hartford, Providence,
Wilmington and other cities block
ed the bath habit at every angle
Boston forgetting her little tea par
upon medical advice, one had to get
a doctors prescription to take a
bath. (sort of an eighteenth amend
ment plunge).
One thing always leads to some
thing else. the bath tub lead to a
flow of water into the home and
flow Of waste out of the home and
the two lead to a new field of en-
deavor. In 1850 President Fillmore
had the first bath tub installed in
the White House. thereby putting
his stamp Of approval upon a new
indu stry.
BY 1860 every first class hotel in
New York had bath tub. Now
hotels advertise. 1000 rooms-1oOO
baths
The shower. the latest type Of
bath, is replacing the tub bath in
the United States to a great extent
in the past ten years, because of
its comfort. ease and economy of
time, and in this I mean in the
manufacture of bath equipment
America leads the. world and
thanks to the ingenuity of the
American plumber, any home, no
matter where or how small can
now afford it's own fountain Of
youth.
And 1 may add that the modern
plumber even though he is COM
ponent part of the largest industry
in the world today, the building
industry. second to none in size
and second only to that Of agri-
culture in mportance-seems to be
obliged to bear the brunt of many
iocular criticisms, or as Mark Twain
once dubbed the profession. men
who make their living with the
proverbial use of a lead pipe with
out direct application to the back
of your cocoanut. or commonly
known as the robber." However.
statistics show that plumbing and
| heating have a greater rental value
than any other part Of the building
construction, with the possible ex-
! ception of elevators.
Can you picture Michigan avenue
property in Chicago selling for the
| fabulous sums that it does with a
vault on the rear? or the CONT
mental Commercial Bank building
houiing it's sixty five hundred peo-
pie without the aid of its sanitary
equipment using daily. a half q,
million gallons of water?
Less than forty years ago yellow
fever and small pox were frequent
| callers and before that cholera
boldly stalked the highways count
| ing it's victims, plague spots dotted
| our landscape, but now that is
changed and what did it mostly?
! This and nothing more: Pure water
piped into the home and poisonous
waste piped cut OF the home; bath
| ing; learning how to live; the
science of living or sanitation; they
mean the same. They have to do
with heat, light. water, cleanliness
! and ventilation, the fundamentals
| of sanitary engineering and these
in turn have to do with the six
! most important things in life
| Comfort, Health, Ambition. Eff
cheney, Happiness and Success.