| According to the above estimates, the total quantity of soap used every year in the metropolis is 12,000 tons, and this, at 50l. per ton, comes to | £600,000 |
| Professor Clarke reckons the gross consumption of soda in the metropolis, at 250 tons per month, costing 10l. a ton; hence for the year the consumption will be 3000 tons, costing | 30,000 |
| The cost of water, according to the same authority, is 3s. 4d. per head per annum, and this, for the whole metropolis, amounts to | 400,000 |
| Estimating the cost of the coals used in heating the water to be equal to that of the soap, we have for the gross expense of fuel annually consumed in washing | 600,000 |
| There are 21,000 laundresses in London, and, calculating that the wages of these average 10s. a week each all the year round, the gross sum paid to them, would be in round numbers | 550,000 |
| Profit of employers, say | 550,000 |
| Add for sundries, as starch, &c. | 50,000 |
| Total cost of washing of metropolis | £2,780,000 |
Hence it would appear, that viewed either by the individual expense of the great bulk of society, or else by the aggregate cost of the materials and labour used in cleansing the clothes of the people of London, the total sum annually expended in the washing of the metropolis may be estimated at the outside at two millions and three quarters sterling per annum, or about 1l. 3s. 4d. per head.
And yet, though the data for the calculation here given, as to the cost and quantity of the principal materials used in cleansing the clothes of London, are derived from the same Report as that in which the expense of the metropolitan washing is estimated at 5,000,000l. per annum, the Board of Health do not hesitate in that document to say that,—“Of the fairness of the estimate of the expense of washing to the higher and middle classes, and to the great bulk of the householders, and the better class of artizans, we entertain no doubt whatever. Whatsoever deductions, if any, may be made from the above estimate, it is, nevertheless, an under-estimate for maintaining, at the present expense of washing, a proper amount of cleanliness in linen.”
Proceeding, however, with the calculation as to the loss from the imperfect scavenging of the metropolis, we have the following results:—
LOSS FROM DUST AND DIRT IN THE STREETS OF THE METROPOLIS, OWING TO THE EXTRA WASHING ENTAILED THEREBY.
| According to the Board of Health, taking the yearly amount of the washing of the metropolis at 5,000,000l., and assuming the washing to be doubled by street-dirt, the loss will be | £2,500,000 |
| Calculating the washing, however, for reasons above adduced, to be only 2,750,000l., and to be as much again as it might be under an improved system of scavenging, the loss will be | 1,375,000 |
| Or calculating, as a minimum, that the remediable loss is less than one-half, the cost is | £1,000,000 |
Hence it would appear that the loss from dust and dirt is really enormous.
In a work entitled “Sanatory Progress,” being the Fifth Report of the National Philanthropic Association, I find a calculation as to the losses sustained from dust and dirt upon our clothes. Owing to the increased wear from daily brushing to remove the dust, and occasional scraping to remove the mud, the loss is estimated at from 3l. to 7l. per annum for each well-dressed man and woman, and 1l. for inferiorly-dressed persons, including their Sunday and holiday clothing.
I inquired of a West-end tailor, who previously to his establishment in business had himself been an operative, and had had experience both in town and country as to the wear of clothes, and I learned from him the following particulars.
With regard to the clothes of the wealthy classes, of those who could always command a carriage in bad weather, there are no means of judging as to the loss caused by bad scavengery.