from The North-China Herald, May 23, 1900 pp.916-917 For very many years the foreign residents of Shanghai have had to submit to having their clothes washed by the native laundry men according to the rough methods adopted by them. Formerly there was no help for this, so foreigners endured the evil as cheerfully as possible without enquiring too closely as to the process through which their linen passed, though the rapidly destroyed shirt fronts, cuffs and collars caused much forcible language to be used.

>From this condition of affairs, with few exceptions, there was no chance of escape, and therefore foreign residents put up with it as philosophically as possible, while occasional cases tried at the Mixed Court let them into the secret that the native washermen were fond of wearing their customers' underclothing, and there was, besides, a somewhat confused idea that the washing of their garments was not conducted on strictly sanitary principles.

But when, in January, 1898, Dr. Macleod made his famous report to the Municipal Council on the prevailing system of washing clothes in Shanghai, the horrible state of affairs he then disclosed came as a severe shock to the foreign community and it was rightly felt that some change for the better was imperative.

The Council made an attempt to control the native washermen and to insist upon the work being performed more decently than was customary with them, but the disinclination of the native washermen to admit reforms caused the project to fail.

There was then a fine opportunity for foreign enterprise, and this was taken advantage of with as little delay as possible by certain residents.

It naturally took some considerable time to collect the information necessary to lay before the public, but in October last year the promoters of a Steam Laundry Company were in a position to issue a prospectus for its formation and the required capital was at once subscribed.

It should be distinctly understood that the Company was not started for mere speculative purposes, but the prospectus pointed out that "owing to the insanitary and careless methods employed by the native washermen, such a Company would meet a long felt and >growing want amongst the community," and, further on, it was very truly and forcibly stated that "briefly, the venture only requires the support of the community to eventuate into a great public boon, and the Directors have every confidence in inviting the co-operation of the public."

In order to make the Company as co-operative as possible, care was taken by the Directors to allot the shares in the first instance to those who had applied for a single share, and so on upwards, and that this was the proper principle to follow cannot be denied.

A contract was entered into with the Troy Laundry Company, Limited, of New York, to provide a first-class steam laundry plant with all the latest improvements, and a suitable lot of land was secured at No. 5, Hanbury Road [now Hanyang Road], where this plant was erected under the superintendence of an engineer specially sent out for the purpose.

The main building is constructed of brick, occupying an area of 100 ft. by 50 ft., the walls to the eaves being 15 ft. in height, while a high-pitched roof and a large skylight secure good ventilation and light. On one side of this room the four washing machines and two wringers are screened off by a partition, and are driven by a 20 h.p engine that is placed in an adjoining building.

The centre of the main building is devoted to the ironing room, the principal machine being a large mangle which is capable of finishing 3,000 pieces per day, and there are, besides, four steam-driven ironing machines, and a novel hand-ironing machine to supplement these; and perhaps the most interesting sight in the establishment is to watch how wonderfully these machines manipulate the various parts of a gentleman's shirt, or nicely finish some other complicated garment.

On the opposite side of the building to the washing machines are twelve dryers, each of which will hold forty pieces, while it takes two hours to completely dry starched articles, but only one hour to dry those unstarched.

The various machines do the entire work of washing, wringing, starching, drying, and ironing, and the pieces are not handled by the workmen more than is necessary to feed the machines, while the whole of the work is carried out under skilled foreign superintendence.

The delivery of the clean linen is by carts, and from first to last the utmost care is exercised that there should be no contamination of the washed articles, and consequently there is no risk that they will transmit disease as was the danger under the old system.

How extremely dangerous that old system was, and still is, to the foreign community is best shown by quoting the concluding paragraph of Dr. Macleod's report to the Council.

"The application of these facts in their relation to the great bulk of the community is not a little startling when it is realised that the table napkins with which lips are wiped, table cloths off which food is eaten, handkerchiefs applied to eyes, nose, and mouth, towels drying the whole body, all underclothing, collars, shirts, bed-sheets, in fact, all clean clothes in many conceivable ways are exposed to infection from the time they leave till they return to the owner.

"This must be so unless it can be shown that the washermen and their families are exempt from the diseases of their neighbours, such as various skin diseases, diphtheria, syphilis, small-pox, measles, scarlet-fever, chicken-pox, etc. It is lamentable that clean clothes should be made the vehicle for the spread of disease.

"It is not to be wondered at that medical men are at times unable to trace the origin of mysterious cases of small-pox, measles, etc. Even if it were possible to say that disease is not spread in this way, it is disgusting to think that our linen has been subjected to such treatment in such surroundings."

The work that the Company have to do has already increased considerably, so that it is under contemplation to extend the premises, and extra machines for certain parts of the process are shortly expected in Shanghai. The management have come to the conclusion that they have to accept the clothes sent in with their masters' lot by the house boys, as is customary with the native washermen, and so avoid that opposition which the house boy knows how to use to his own advantage; but for reasons that will be readily understood it has been decided that the washing of house boys' clothing shall take place in a separate building.

It is further decided to engage the services of a thoroughly competent foreign Manager to take the place of the present Manager, who was engaged for a limited time only in order to start the undertaking. It must not be supposed, however, that the Company have had no difficulties to contend against.

>From the very first the opposition of the native washermen was excited, and they have been industriously at work to try and ruin the Company's business by the underhand actions in which Chinese are such adepts, their principal efforts having been directed towards bribing the native employees of the Company to spoil and disfigure the clothes of their customers after passing through the wash.

Strange as it may appear, there are still many foreign residents in the Settlement who are unaware of the existence of the Company, and it is chiefly with a view to dispel this ignorance that these lines are written, as the health of this community largely depends upon the progress made by the Steam Laundry Company.

Contributed by Eric Politzer