Advances in toilet paper technology arrive slowly. It has been a long circuitous trip from large leaf to corncob to Sears catalog page to lush, pillow-soft, perforated 3-ply squares on a roll. In 1890 the cardboard inner tube was introduced to speed up the delivery system. In recent years, manufacturers did away with the tube altogether, apparently leaving it up to You the Consumer to drill and install the roll properly. Save some cardboard, waste some time. But tube or no tube, thank god by 1930 paper was finally made "splinter free."

07.30.21