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Co-operation

Co-operation image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
January
Year
1870
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Prof. H. L. Wayland, of Kalamnzoo, in a recent cnmtnuuication to the Chicago Standard, makes tbe following very seusiblo remarkg about oo operativo house keepiüg, espeeiaily ia lbo lauodry departmeut. It appears to rae that co-operation is emiucntly tho word for lbo Jiour. Cooperatiou is Qdced one of tho flrst steps tliat man takes ia his progresa from barbarism t civilization. It is i'.,(Vs5"Iub]y connected with división of labor which readers all the processor) of njJotry at om o more perfect and moru eeonomical. Co-operation alone can give opportunity for t!ie employmcnt of macbinery, which no'. ouly does ta work inoro rapidly and more cheaply, but incomparably better than chii be done by tho unauletl musdes. Whi.it fingors could rival the regularity and be:iuty of the stitohjs mude by a good sewing machine ? I im;igïne that evcry housekeeper, if oalled uu for her iestitnony, would affirm : "It is tho wajbitjg ani irotiing which 3 tho hcavit-st load und the greTest nuisanco of the weekly work. It is in a Dumbur of iuatiDco3, which Decessitatès tbe keeping of a sorvant ; it ia this which deinands a great consutnption of fuej, which usurps thestove when it is needed for the family dinner, which fill thu house with ïtoam and ill temper und which in co;iitless wuys produce embarragsment and atmoyance. If we were rid of tlic washing and ironiug, we could geton vcry comfortably. Now it is precièely t his household plague that co operatln ia emincntly dapted to relieve. Kvea without making any account of maobiflery, the wash ing of a hundred families could be done at a great stiving of labor and fuel and innonvenience. But tho union of a number of families would mako it possibic to fmploy stc:u;i nower and ed machinery with the very best results. Not far froia ayearago, ene or two very vüluabie anieles appeartd ia the Chicago Potton this subject. The writer s'ated, as t!;o rosult of personal nquiry, that at the large hotels in New York and othor great citics, where s'eain and machinory uva used in the laundry the netual eost of washing and ironing the linen of ilie establishment did no exoced treven cents a dozen. More ra cently inquirios condactjd, under the auspices of the Social öeictice Association of Western Michigan, resulted in ihe estímate tbat the washlng and ironing of families cou!d be dono for seventeen cents and a fraotion per dozen. ïo inaugnrate such aa ftnteiprise re quiL-cssome labor, eome faith, sonie capital, and the union of (say) a hundred families in lbo movament. Should the co-operatinn lauudry become an established faet in otfr 'citi.-s and large villagcs, a blessing would tic conferred whieh we cannot readily estímate. And the successful applicaiiöh of the principie to one deparloient ol dornestic labor, would soon lead to lts widü eiaployment. "But ivbát will become of the wnsber-omen ?" Tbe same that became of the stage drivers when railroad-t camo in. Sme will tind em]i!nyine;it at the laun dres at bettcr wages than they ever reccived befrtVo. Otbers perhafs will turn to ncw branches of influstry. But rucanwhilo tbc redaction in the expense of washing" will lead to aa incransed demand for clean clothes. Whero now fifty dozen p.ro washeí; then a hundred dozan Will be, and iü tbc ci:d it will be found that this, like all Industria] m provements, like tho loom, and the reap ing machine is for tho ultímate benefit of all classes; that n humanity, as in the church "f one moraber be gloriüed, all the mcuibers rejoice with hi:n."

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus