PART TWO
EDITORIAL
PAGES ONE TO TEN
PART TWO
SOCIETY
PAGES ONE TO TEN
VOL. XLHI-No. 3.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING-, JULY 6, 1913.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS
Cleanin
Great Among Modern Domestic Art
vs" tainod in tho churn has passed through tho gar- .Jr
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i HE fac tbatthe .National Cleaners' and
:T3yers havo been organized . but six
years, .suggests that tho cleaning and
, dyeing business as a large scale industry
is comparatively' new. And so .lt Is.
Even six years ago it was not near what It Is now.
Every year brings new Inventions and new conven
iences to tho business. Every year adds new facili
ties that widen tho scope ot the work done by a
first-class cleaning and dyeing establishment. Every
year n new device is added to the machinery, or a
new machine is Invented to do the work better, with
less danger to the eostly clothing, and with better
results generally . until -now dresses; worth from
$J?G0 to $300 are. cleaned, trimmingB and all,
brought out in perfect condition, with not a fiber
destroyed and with not a particle of the odor of
the gasoline clinging to the garment,
It was a Frenchman who discovered .the dry
cleaning process. It -is a process that -does not
shrink the clothing, while washing with water and
soap will naturally shrink many kinds of goods.
The most modern dry cleaning process used In the
up-to-date cleaning plants now-a-days does not-takq
any ot tho newness' o?. the goods. ,
Modern In Strlot Scnce. " ' '
Up to twenty years ago the cleaning- business
was practically not a business. It was a Job otr
an individual who somewhero In a hack; room or
even in his back yard tolled over a tub of gasoline
with a brush and? a few rags. Maybe 'he spoiled
a garment and maybe he did not. The owner of
tho garment had- to. take that chancel Naturally
when a garment coBt a great deal of money the
owner did not like to take tho chance. Twenty
yeara ago no more war known about the modern
elaborate cleaning plant than wad known about an
automobile at that time, and that was next to
nothing as will be remembered by those who know
the history of the automobile industry.
Twenty years ago, or even fifteen years ago, in
many Instances tho cleaning outfit consisted of an
iron or two, a gasoline or gas stove, a pressing
block, a little table and a couple of yards of canvas.
The whole outfit din't cost more than $15. Today
a plant like that of the Dresher Bros. In Omaha,
tor example, Is valued at $67,000. From a dark back
room as a workshop the business has evolved to
whore It requires , buildings covering a fourth of
a block, requires many horses, and automobiles for
delivering purposes, a great engine plant to furnish
power for the endless amount of machinery, re
quires tons of- gasoline, and a force of seventy-five
men and women to operate the plant. Skilled
labor, too, is required, for in such a plant the
principle of the dfvlsto'n ot labor comes Into play.
Expert tailors are employed. Skilled men who do
nothing but Iron with patent automatic steam
rons costing $800, while the old-fashioned irons
cost 35 cents apiece, are employed. Skilled men
are employed in the cleaning rooms where great
tanks and churn-like devices filled with gasoline
are handled. Here men must know their business.
Here they must know when gasoline reaches the
danger point in temperature. Here they must
know the Intricacies of the elaborate distilling ma
chinery that distills the gasoline after It becomes
dirty from much cleaning. 1
Saving tho Gasoline.
For tho gasoline is not thrown out of the .back
door when it Is once used to clean garments, Ex
actly 400 gallons of gasoline are used in cleaning
a suit It is wortji 20 cents per gallon, That
ce&n that $80 worth of gasoline goes to the clean
ing of a suit And the customer pays $1.50 for tho
cleaning which has taken $80 worth of gasoline to
accomplish.
Kow comes the work of the elaborate systeia
HfeyCoali:, Omzfi. V!ce. fires, Nci. Ats'n
of distilling the gasoline, The dirt the' gasoline,
took ' from the suit must be removed from the
gasoline. . The liquid goes Into great tanks, is
t'.-awn through other tanks, through water and,
then through other heated tanks, finally evaporat
ing and again being condensed, so that when it
reaches the final tank It is as clean as it waa bo
fore the first suit was cleaned. This process of
cleaning clothes and then cleaning the gasoline,
goe.fi on continuously, and all that the plant loses
is the little bit of gasoline that actually evaporates
while the various processes are in operation.
What a Illg Plant Contains.
Instead of. being a plant of a tub and a scrub
brush today, the first-class cleaning plant is a plant
as-clean, '"'as pure, and as sweet-smelling as the
v morning air. ,, . . . ,
'njljero. lB four timeB as much money invested in
the glovo-clearilng machine alone today than there
UBCd to bo in a whale flock of complpto plants
some years ago. Thero Is enough nionoy invested
in. the cash register In the front office of a modern
plant today to have bought out all the cleaning
establishments in Omaha fifteen or twenty years
ago.
Coming into the cleaning room of a modern
plant one is reminded of the largo creameries,
Slrolchlng away from one end of the great room
to the other is a row of four or five churn-like
devices. Not like the churns that mother used to
run on the farm, but like the great cylindrical
churns ot a giant creamery plant. These are in
fact churns, They are complicated and intricate
churns 4hat churn the clothes in a tank of gaso-
of elaborate piping, steam pumps, great intricato. line. Tho Inside ladles are so smooth that no dam-
cnurus, centrifugal wringers, hot-air driers and ft.Ke is aone to tno garment, ajinougu tne cnurns
purifiers, so that when the clothes are finally taken Attain, a terrific speed. Here a single garment is
to the room ready for delivery, they are as fresh, thrashed around until the volumo of gasoline con
tained in tho churn has passed through tho gar
ment 6,000 times.
Drying Garment By Machinery.
OUt comes tho garment and into tho centrifugal
wringer. Wringor thl must bo called fdr it takes
the pjoca of theod wringer in everything, but
thchnblt vpt4eax;iiig-;olothea andr.Baap.ping buttons
off. For the centrifugal could not toar tho finest
fnbrlo. Thero is absolutely no Btrftln and yet the
garment -is rondorod very dry in the process. Tho
centrifugal drier is a groat cylindrical contflvanco
with perforations around tho surface. It revolves
at terrific speed. When tho garment Ib thrown into
the cylinder it is hurled 'to the side by the forco ot
the j evolution. Tho pressuro generated by the'
great speed forces the gasoline out of tho perfora
tions and when the machine stops tho garment
is dry.
Of tho big, churn-llko devices for cleaning,
four or flvo nre necessary in order that garments
of different colors he not cast into tho same churn.
By this process tho plant escapod all possible
danger of coloring one garment with the fading of
another If there should be any garment that might
fade.
So carefully 1b the process of modern. cleaning
worked out that the most delicate embroidery, oven
ot gold" laces, la cleaned with the dresses and other
garments, without even being removed. It is not
necessary. No fabric is injured. Dresses of three
or four differont colors, counting trimmings, and
even with from three to five separate, and distinct
kinds of goods, counting trimmings, embroideries
and ' laces, are handled In this modern cleaning
procoss in such a way that when they come out
they 'are as good as new, and no one but an ex
pert could toll they had ever been worn.
Foe the Heavier Goods.
In another department of a modern cloanlng
plant will be found the rug cleaning department.
Here only rugs are handlod. First thero is a
gigantic patent rug beater in which the ruga aro
beaten until most of tho dust 1b removed. This is
a large tin or sheet iron enclosure in' which smooth
and harmless paddles operated by steam beat and
thrash the carpet and rugs until the dust la largely
jemoved, They aro taken through the several
processes of cleaning, drying and stretching until
when they are complete, thpy have not lost their
shape, but aro exactly as they weije when they
came from the store or homo.
Back in the sixteenth century there, woro clean
ers, or rather dyers, for in those days thero waa
Business Program
' MONDAY, JUfcjr if '.
8.a, m. to 1:25 p.- m. Industrial Exposition Hall opened to delegates and; guests. -1:30
p. m. Address of Welcome by Mayor James C. Dahlmau. nponW by
President William It Moryens, . Delivery of Convention haltyothe' Net
tlonal Association of . Dyers and Cleaners by C. V. Higby, presiaenlNe-'
braska Cleaners' and Dyers' Association- Convention called to-order'
by 'President Worsens. Roll cajl of delegates. Regular order ofjbuil-".
ness,
TUESDAY, JULY 8.
8 a, m. to 10 a. m. Industrial Exposition hall, open to delegates and guests.
10 e, m.-Conveatlon called to order. Regular igrder of business , .
12 m, to 3 p. m. Industrial Exposition-halt open." , ' ,t
3 p. m, Convention called to order. Lecture (to be announced.) ; .
Regular order of business,
WEDNESDAY, JUpY 9.
, 8 a,' m. to 10 a. m. Industrial Exposition hall open.
10 a. m.Convcnt!on called to prder. Regular order of business.
Uin, to 3 p. m. Industrial Exposition hall open.
8 'p. nv Convention called to order. Lecture (to be announced.)
Regular order of business. ,
THURSDAY. JULY 10.
8 a. m. to 10 a. m. Industrial Exposition hall open, . -
a. tn. Convention called to order. Regular order of business.
13 m. to 3 p. rn Industrial Exposition ball open. ' '
3 p. m. Convention called to order. Lecture (to be announced.)
Regular order of business. Adjournment
Entertainment Program
, " V MONDAY. JULY 7, ,
7 a. m. to 13 m--ArrJval and greeting of delegates at Hotel Rome, 16th and Jack
i 1' son streets.
Sp. m. sharpFor the Men-Grand Ak-Sar-Ben initiation and opera at "Den"
of "Samson," 8th and Spruce streets. Special cars leave Hotel Rome
at 7:30 p. m. '
8 p,'m.-For the Ladles Reception at Hotel Rome. Entertainment and re-
freshments,
TUESDAY. JULY 8.
I -p. m For the Ladles Automobile sight-seeing trip for ladles. Automobiles will
leave Hotel Rome at 8 o'clock sharp. The tour . Will Ingluda principle
t business and residence sections, together with parks and pther points 6f
, Interest A very Interesting feature will be a ride over part of the
path of the tornado which vlalted Omaha Easter , Sunday.
8 p.m.-3ood Fellowship meeting at Hotel Rome. A Dutch lunpb wlll beserved
and there will be ample liquid refreshments. Bomethlnff doing 'all the
time. For members and ladles and their friends.
WEDNESDAY, JUpY 9.
10 a. m. Shopping tour for ladles, with luncheon.
9 p. m. Theater party at tho Empress theater, 151M Douglas street, for mem
bers and ladles. Special vaudeville program. Including a sketch written
and staged expressly for this occasion by Edith Spencer O'Donnell.
Something original that will drive away the blues. ,
THURSDAY. JULY 10.
7:30 p. m. Banquet for members and ladles at Hotel Rome, Something different
In a menu, and a fine list of toasts.
.more dyolng than cleaning. - Wlien-a-gafment be
came so Bollod that H could not be worn with de
cency, it could not always bo thoroughly cleaned
without destroying the fiber or ruining tho gar
ment, but ltcpudd vorjrroadlly bo dyed some other
color, so that the soiled plapes were carefuly con
coaled. From that day to twenty years ago little
prog-osa was made in the cleaning business, except
that the use of gasollno was introduced. This was
for a time used by hand in a tub, until the intro
duction ot modern machinery in the modern plants.
Steam Furnishes tho Power.
While a strong right arm furnished power to,
wield tho brush for cleaning purposes twenty
years ago, today tho modern plant Ijas a large
engine room, where the power for the plant la
genoratod, Hero great furnaces roar, and stokcrB
havo coal to supply tho energy for working the
plant. The various cloanlng and drying rooms
aro a network of belts, gearings, belt wheelB and
pulleys. Tho Bhovo ot a lover starts tho machinery
humming, Tho press of a button stops or starts any
ono ot the great churn-like cleaners. A' network
of wator pipes and sledm pipes' overruns the walls,
many ot them for no other purpose than for tire
protection in caso of an emergency, resulting from
a possible' gasoline explosion.
Tho nlr-drylng process for tho dollcato gar
ments is ono of the interesting devices of tho mod
ern plant. It Is a largo drum-like device, much
like the dryer in a feather renovating outfit. A
fow garments aro placed Into It at a tlmo so that
they have plenty of room as tho cylinder revolvcB.
Very hot air Is forced Into tho cylinder as it re
volves. Tho garments are flown back and forth
from side to side in tho revolving cylinder until
they aro dry and fluffy as feathers. This process
not only thoroughly drios tho garments, but It
renovates them as well, so that not the remotest
trace of a gasollno odor is to bo found on the gar
mont when it Is taken from tho cylinder.
In tho Ironing Itooms.
From this place It is ready to bo taken to tho
ironing room, Hero is a great room with numerous
patent and automatic steamirbning devices. Many
makes and sizes of theso irons are necessary to
best adapt each to tho klndot work it la 'expected
to do. Thus tho irons that press out sleeves aro
vastly different from the irons that press tho tail
of a coat The irons that press the legs ot trous
ers aro of n different size and shape from those
that press tho collar of a coat, Likewise, every
workman works with his ono. iron and. does not
run about tho room using every, iron in the houso
according to the garment he happens to bo cross
ing, ito stays by his iron. He is an expert, highly
specialized in tho uso of the iron to which he la
'assigned, and he presses the part ot tho garment
for which his Iron is made,
Thus the system of division of labor 1b as elab
orately worked out as it is in a largo modern meat
packing plant, and the whole gigantic machinery
ot tho plant rolls on grinding out old garments
as -good as now from morning till night.
Thus the system of division of labor is as elab
orately worked out as it is in a largo modern meat
packing piat, ad tho whole gtgatic machiery ot tho
plant rolls on grinding out old garments as good
as new from morning til night.
Perhaps no place in the country has the clean
ing and pressing business bettor specialized than
has Omaha, for certainly few if any places do the
work for loss money than jt is dono'by tho larga
and elaborate plants In this city, It is said by thos
who know that thero are no better cleaners la tbt
world than thero are In Omaha,