Omaha daily bee., 1884-09-23
A HlRED-GIRL FAMINE.
Scarcity in Denver Of Female Help
Generally Felt,
The Importation OF Girls From the
Eastern States Rapidly
Increasing.

Denver News, September 10.
There is at present q great scarcity o
female domestic help in Denver. In the
words of a lady running one of the lead.
ing intelligence offices Of the city, moth.
ing like 1t has ever..been seen in Denver,
| have now orders for twenty-soven girl
more than | can fusnish, and | will b.
compelled to bring out ovor one hundred
girls from the east"
"Where do you get them in the
eastl'
"These l will bring from Detroit
There is an abundance of female helI
everywhere east"
''Where have the girls gomez
"All over the west and south. l have
cent out 179 girls during the past month
to the mountains, to New Mexico; and
even to Texas"
1t must be expected that dull times
would cause an increase in the supply OF
domestic help, but no such effect is APP
parent. The trouble seems to be that
the supply of help has been reduced by
false reports published in q Denver paper
to the effect that girls were working for
starvation wages. The report was purely
sensational. The supply of female help
for domestic service has never boon rs
near equaling the demand in Denver as
in the east as is shown by the prices paid
here and there. In Denver q girl will
receive 800 per month for the work
which she would have to do for So q week
in the east. Domestic help in the east
rarely receives as high as 81 per week,
while more frequently so a week is con.
sidered fair wages.
The reports, however, have had the eff.
feet of cutting down the supply of hired
girls until it most require q bonus to Sc.
cure the services of one of them. Wages
have not advanced perceptioly, however,
but there has been no such decline as in
other occupations. The mischevious
story grew evidently out of confounding
sewing girls with domestic help. The
sewinggirls are plenty enough everywhere
and are almost always in excess of the
demand. They are in many respects, as
a rule inferior to the domestic help es-
p~ecially in the matter of strength and
are unable to enter the more lucrative
field of domestic labor.
The Importation of girls from the east
is going to be quite a common thing
among the intelligent offices. Girls fresh
from the east are preferred almost uni
formly to barnacle girls, who only too
often make up for a lack of willingness
to work by a cheerful familiarity with the
use of firearms, which makes them more
feared if not more respected than more
orderly servants.
Besides the difference in the pay, hired
girls in Denver are accorded more privi-
leges than in the east. A well trained
girl, n who came out in 30 or shortly
after, will allow her mistress a half holi-
day occasionally, and will probably stay
at home during the half day unless she
has a press of business. In hiring out
she usually declines to specify the num-
Der of holidays she will require for her.
self, but is anxious about the habits of
her mistress.
1t is a very common thing to see the
note in want advertisements "recently
from the Fast" 1t does not always hap
pen that the statement is truthful, but it
is an evidence of the unpopularity of the
too too barnacle girl. Most of these drift
off to the freer life of the mountains, but
usually return to Denver for the v inter.