THE PASSING OF THE BROOM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 28 May 1907, Page 4

THE PASSING OF THE BROOM.

Tlie broom threatens soon to jbe aobsolete as ihe old copper warming-pan, judging from the number of vac;,mn dust removers which are being paired upon the market. The eliange is one which muct meet with the nnmialilied approval of all who'know what a breeding ground of disease is the common dust of our liou-es. Every housewife who is possessed of cleanly instincts should welcome an apparatus which removes dust instead of scattering it in all directions lost to the senses, so to speak, for a time by iis attenuation in air, only sooner or later to settle again on the shelves, pictures, curtains nnvl carpets in a thin film. Moreover, the' removal of dust and iis collection in a receptacle by means of the vacuum; cleaner permit of its absolute destruction by fire. Bacteriological science can easily demonstrate the existence of disease germs in common household vdust, and there is evidence of an eminently practical character that dust is otherwise a source of disease; there could hardly be a more effectual means of spreading the infective and irritating particles than tlie old-fashioned broom. The method is not only insanitary, but absurd from the point of view of its application. The broom may clean the surface of a carpet, ejiair. or curtain effectually enough, but the dust is only remove,! to be scattered over au even wider area than bfore. The great anil impurlant differences between the cult of the broom and the vacuum cleaner may be summed up by saying that while the former is calculated to spread disease, the latter enables the. dust and its pathogenic contents to be. removed and destroyed by lire. The method of removing dust by means of the vacuum cleaner has, therefore, everything to be sai.l in it- favor, and it is to be hoped that the apparatus will become -n moderate in price as 1o be within the reach of all. The passing of tlie broom, when it comes to be uu fait acompli, will be a fact of greater sanitary significance.