Committee to End Pay Toilets in America

A pay toilet in Paris, France.

The Committee to End Pay Toilets in America, or CEPTIA, was a 1970s grass-roots political organization which was one of the main forces behind the elimination of pay toilets in many American cities and states.

History

“	When a man's or woman's natural body functions are restricted because he or she doesn't have a piece of change, there is no true freedom.	”
—Ira Gessel[1]

Founded in 1970 by then-nineteen year old Ira Gessel, the Committee's purpose was to "eliminate pay toilets in the U.S. through legislation and public pressure."^[1][2][3]

Starting a national crusade to cast away coin-operated commodes, Gessel told newsmen, "You can have a fifty-dollar bill, but if you don't have a dime, that metal box is between you and relief."^[4] Membership in the organization cost only $0.25, and members received the Committee's newsletter, the Free Toilet Paper. Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, USA, the group had as many as 1,500 members, in seven chapters.^[1]

The group also sponsored the Thomas Crapper Memorial Award, which was given to "the person who has made an outstanding contribution to the cause of CEPTIA and free toilets."^[1]

In 1973, Chicago became the first American city to act when the city council voted 37–8 in support of a ban on pay toilets in that city. According to a book by Bruce Felton and Mark Fowler, this was "... a direct response, evidently," to CEPTIA.^[4][5][6]

According to the Wall Street Journal, there were, in 1974, at least 50,000 pay toilets in America, mostly made by the Nik-O-Lok Company. Despite this flourishing commerce, CEPTIA was successful over the next few years in obtaining bans in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, California, Florida, and Ohio.^[7] Lobbying was so successful that by June 1976, twelve states had enacted bans and the group announced that it was disbanding, declaring its mission mostly achieved.^[8] By the decade's end, pay toilets were almost unknown in America.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Pay toilet
• Urinetown

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Wallechinsky; Wallace, Irving. The People's Almanac. Doubleday and Company, Inc. p. 1256. ISBN 0385041861. 
2. ^ Franckling, Kenneth (21 Aug 1974). Ban on pay toilets disputed, The Dispatch (Lexington), Retrieved October 19, 2010
3. ^ Geringer, Dan (2 May 1972) A New Kind of Protest, The Palm Beach Post, Retrieved October 19, 2010
4. ^ ^{a b} Felton, Bruce; Fowler, Mark (1994). The Best, Worst, & Most Unusual. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. p. 262. ISBN 9780883658611. http://books.google.com/?id=tpu2du-miikC&pg=PA262&lpg=PA262&dq=committee+to+end+pay+toilets+in+america. 
5. ^ Wiggins, Ron (2 August 1973) Comfort-For-Pay Being Flushed Out, Evening Independent, Retrieved October 19, 2010
6. ^ (25 July 1973) Group seeks to end pay toilets, Sarasota Journal, Retrieved October 19, 2010
7. ^ Clinched fist rising from commodes ends. Hamilton. August 19, 1976. pp. B–6. 
8. ^ Dunphy, Robert J. (20 June 1976) Notes: Pay Toilets, The New York Times

Further reading

• Ralph Slovenko, "On Answering The Call Of Nature", 24 Wayne L. Rev. 1555 (1978).