The Evening Telegraph

THE PUBLIC BATHS.

For a number of years past we have urged the importance of ample bathing facilities during the summer months for the accommodation of those who are unprovided with bath-tubs in their houses, and who are unable to travel off to the sea-shore during the hot weather. Not only the comfort but the health of the laboring population would be greatly promoted if an opportunity were offered for a good plunge into the water every evening when the labors of the day are over, and lying, as Philadelphia does, between two large rivers, there should be no difficulty whatever in providing all the bathing facilities that may be required. The houses of this city are better supplied with water than perhaps those of any other place in the world, but very many, and perhaps a large majority, are totally unprovided with bathing accommodations. The laboring men who work all day out in the hot and dusty streets, and who more than any others need ample opportunities for bathing, are the ones who are most stinted for water in their homes. The exigencies of modern civilization prohibit public bathing on the river fronts, and a large portion of the population are thus cut off from a gratification to which they are fairly entitled. If the city prohibits public bathing, it ought certainly to provide some accommodations for those who suffer by the prohibition. In Boston, New York, and other cities public baths have been in operation for several years with much success, and we are glad to see that a practical movement for a similar accommodation to the public has been started in this city, through the able efforts of Mr. H. Huhn. Common Council at its last meeting appropriated $15,000 for the erection of public bath-houses, and it is to be hoped that the Select Branch will give its prompt concurrence, so that the baths may be put in operation immediately.

Very simple and inexpensive structures will answer every purpose, and the sum named above ought to be ample, for the present at least, if it is properly managed. The bath-houses do not require to be very ornate, and it is only necessary that they shall be strongly put together, and so arranged that they will hide the bathers from the public gaze. The erection of a series of these bath-houses, which any one may be at liberty to use at any time, will do more to promote the health of the city and to abolish disease than almost any measure that could be tried, and the sum of $15,000 expended for such an object will be one of the cheapest investments ever made by the city. This important matter has been delayed too long already, and another hot season ought not to find us unprovided with such a sanitary auxiliary as a series of public bath-houses will be.