"The most and recent important improvement in vacuum-cleaning consists in having the vacuum or 'suction power' always 'on tap' on every floor. At convenient points in the corridors, nickel-plated taps are placed. To these, the housemen or maids can quickly attach the rubber hose connected with the cleaning-tools. Opening a valve turns on the suction or vacuum. Then, as fast as the tool is moved over the surface to be cleaned, dust and dirt are sucked through the hose into the pipes and away to an air-tight dust-tank in the basement. The 'on tap' vacuum is always ready for use. No need to telephone or send word to the engineer to start that pump or to stop it when the work is done.
"Although the vacuum, or suction, is kept on tap all the time, practically no power is consumed except when the cleaning is going on. Even then the amount of power used—whether it be steam or electricity—is automatically proportioned to the number and the size of the cleaning tools in use. Whenever you lay down the sweeper to move a chair, just so much less power is consumed while the tool is idle. If one sweeper is in use, only one-tenth as much power is needed as when ten sweepers are working. The little upholstery tuft-cleaner consumes only one-ninth as much power as the carpet-sweeper. This means a great saving of power and is a great improvement over the old vacuum-methods, by which it was impossible to keep the vacuum on tap and by which, once the apparatus was started, full power was consumed, no matter how many sweepers were at work."
The Linen-Room and the Linen-Woman.
The linen-woman has in her care all the beautiful and expensive linen in the hotel; if she is careless in counting it when sending it to the different departments, careless in counting it after it has been returned, there will be a deficit in the "stock-report" at the end of the month. The linen-room is a position of trust. The linen-woman should be as accurate in counting her employer's napkins and table-cloths as the cashier is in counting his employer's dollars.
The following set of rules and essential requirements are suggested for the management of the linen-woman:
1. She must be prompt to open the linen-room at 6:30 a.m.
2. Must not leave the linen-room without notifying the housekeeper.
3. Must sort the linen.