Vincent Vinikas, in Jo~~rnal
of Social History (Summer 1989), Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213.
During the 1920s, soap suddenly became hard to sell. Paved streets, automobiles, electricity, and gas stoves were eliminating much of the filth and muck that had per- meated American life. To make matters worse, the expanding cosmetics industry was making it hard to peddle Camay, Lux, and other soaps as beauty products.
To meet the crisis, the soap producers created a trade association...