Missouri Housekeepers 1 Conference Association. 435 



offer an effective barrier to its entrance upon the third stage of its 

 progress. 



In the improvement of conditions of living through the adop- 

 tion of new household devices, and of new methods for doing work, 

 we may find the same three steps. Certain schemes are still 

 in the theoretical class. Among these may be noted a very en- 

 ticing plan for window cleaning advocated in a recent Utopian 

 romance. By this plan, upon the touching of a spring, liquid was 

 to be directed in jets across the window pane and when it had done 

 its work was to be carried off without injury to any of the house 

 furnishings. All this was to be done with no further expenditure 

 of energy upon the part of the housekeeper than that involved in 

 the pressing of a button. This scheme, it is needless to say, has 

 never been put into operation. On the other hand, improvement in 

 household conditions by the removal of the dirt and noise involved 

 in the delivery of coal, the care of fires and the removal of ashes 

 has been shown to be possible, for heat can be delivered to private 

 residences from a central station. That this much-desired change 

 waits merely upon the reconciliation of warring human interests 

 is shown by the fact that in large institutions where there is no 

 conflict of interests because the buyer of coal and the user of the 

 heat are one, central heating plants are employed without question, 

 even for buildings which are widely separated. The central heat- 

 ing plant is but one of a large number of useful appliances which 

 so far as technique is concerned, are within the reach of all house- 

 keepers. It is perfectly possible to send hot water for cleaning as 

 well as for heating purposes from a central station. One town, 

 Colorado Springs, is seriously considering laying pipes for a central 

 pneumatic cleaning plant in the belief that such a device is practic- 

 able. This unusual example of progressiveness is probably due to 

 the fact that the dangers from dust in Colorado Springs are so 

 great as to make a peculiarly loud appeal to self-interest. So far 

 as progress is dependent upon knowledge and inventive skill, there 

 is no reason why housewives should not have the benefits of air com- 

 pletely free from dust and soot; why all goods should not be de- 

 livered within town limits in electric automobiles and manure 

 banished from the streets; why contractors and builders should 

 not be educated to supply as a matter of course concave baseboards 

 and doors without horizontal ridges for collecting dust, like those 

 in use in good hospitals ; why clothes should not be as well laund- 

 ered in public places as in private basements; why women's ex- 

 changes and similar commercial enterprises should not enlarge 



