Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-04-27
TEE DOMESTIC SERVICE QUESTION.

lOh6U III ISspeSt " LiaDJ oShSA
TONS The complaint about Chinese cheap
labor, in fact, does not apply to this branch
Of employment, for the Chinese nave al
ways demanded the highest current wages
for all manner of housework. 1t is curious
that while we are complaining, and justly,
Of the way in which John has supplanted
white labor in other lines by undertaking
it, he requires and obtains throughout the
coast wage as house servant which is
fully double what white women receive in
the Eastern States. The effect of Chinese
immigration has not been to depress wages
in this department, therefore. Families
| now pay as much for Chinese as for white
| house servants, and for both the standard
| is lust about twice as high as that of the
Eastern States. Twenty dollars a month
has come to be an average wage for Chi
naman in domestic service, and there are
many who demand and obtain even $50 to
S35, while the best class OF Chinese cooks
command $40 and even more. The conclu-
sion to be drawn from these facts necessa-
riIy is that neither the Chinese nor the
white servant element has yet come up to
the demand. Another proof of this is to
be seen in the pronounced independence Of
the Chinese servants. They have for a
long time been to the full as careless about
keeping situations as any white girl could
be. They stand out for their privileges,
their leisure hours and holidays, and they
throw up their employment with the sud
denness which indicates a conviction that
they can always get as many places as
they want.
In fact housekeepers have long since
been forced to the conclusion that the
Chinaman has ceased to have any advant.
ages over the white girl as a servant, while
! his native drawbacks have been coming to
the surface more plainly every year. That
he is ready to raise his price just as soon as
he thinks the market is improving was
made evident when the first Chinese bill
was passed. On that occasion John thought
he was going to be guaranteed against any
| further bear movements through excessive
importation of his countrymen and so he
proposed to raise his wages all through the
State, and there is no doubt that he would
have done It had the President not vetoed
the measure. 1t is, however, very import
L -, l.
vice question should be known, because
there is good reason fer believing that
heretofore white women and girls have
been deferred from coming to California in
any considerable numbers through the mis-
taken belief that "Chinese cheap labor
had reduced wages here below those of the
East. 1t is not to be believed that we
should be left without a sufficient supply
of white servants long if they understood
that in coming here they were coming to
country of exceptionally high wages, not
withstanding the Chinaman.
Any movement to displace the Chinaman
at present would certainly produce wide
spread trouble and discomfort, since thou
sands of families would find themselves
unable to procure servants of any kind,
and since the present inadequate supply of
white servants would at once find them
selves in such demand that they would be
sure to insist upon higher wages. The re-
suit would be to leave the majority of the
people without help of any kind, and this
situation could not but have an injurious
effect upon the prosperity of the State,
since it would deter settlement. Nor could
it be expected that the disagreeable situa-
ton thus produced would be of very brief
duration. For if all these years the phe.
nomenally high rates OF wages in domestic
service have failed to bring US anything
like as many white girls as we require, it
cannot be expected that this class would
come over in large numbers even il they
were told that the way was clear for them.
1t may be questioned whether a Chinaman
has ever prevented white girl from get
ting housework in this State. Certainly
the white girls have never evinced the least
fear of Chinese rivalry. Most people
would very much rather have white girls
to do their work, but they are not to be
had, aud never have been, in sufficient
numbers.
Indeed outside OF the towns it has been
necessary to employ Chinese because white
girls will not, as rule go to country stu.
ations. To fill this class of places it would
be necessary to import different kind OF
girls from those already here, apparently,
and that might not be an easy matter. 1t
should seem reasonable to suppose, how
ever, that if any systematic effort was
made to disseminate information concern.
ing the advantages of domestic service in
California, new and strong stream of i'm
migration from the East would be set up.
In the Atlantic States girls get on an
average $40 month. Here they get on an
average $40 a month. There the CON-
petition is sharp, and they are obliged to
put up with even unsatisfactory places.
Here they can please themselves. Surely
a proper representation Of this condition OF
things should suffice to bring US all the
white help we need. Assuredly if the
question were of male workingmen, the
mere statement that wages in California
were double the New York figures would
bring US thousands Of eager immigrants. If
therefore any serious movement to displace
the Chinese is to be made, its organizers
ought to begin by paving the way for an
influx of white servants, as soon as pos
sible No doubt thousands of housekeep-
ers would cheerfully dismiss their Chinese
help if they could be sure of obtaining
white girls, but anticipate the prospect Of
having to do all the work themselves, or
abandon housekeeping, with natural dis.
may.
A MEASURE OF PROSPERITY.