Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-12
COOPERATIVE HOUSEKEEPING.
Is There More Economical Way Than
the Old Method?

How far cooperation may be intro
dnced into housekeeping as well as in
farming, is one of the important questions
of the present day, and one that will no
doubt occupy much attention in the imme-
date future. As q great many If not the
majority of housekeepers now feelingly
understand, the difficulty of getting good
domestic help" is daily becoming more
and more serious. Now, in these depressed
times of low prices, domestcs are even
more exacting in their demands for wages
and privileges than formerly. In this Vi
cinity wages of house-help are higher to-
day than we have ever known them before,
even in New York city, and this, too, de-
spite the fact that clothing and all articles
they have to purchase are nprecedentedly
cheap. They are furnished with homes,
food, fuel lights everything except cloth
ing and the net income of the family
help" during the present winter averages
a good deal more than of outdoor laborerS
and mechanics. There is no doubt that
some relief may be found in this direction
by a partial system of cooperation among
families. Let us suggest an item that may
point towards future relief, especially i'll
villages and more thickly-settled farming
regions, and partly SO in those more
sparsely occupied.
While stopping in Rome, Italy, a few
months, We found in operation and testeda
method of supplying ready cooked food to
resident and transient families occupying
rented furnished houses that we have found
in such perfection nowhere else, either in
Europe or our own country. though II Is
practiced somewhat in Paris. In that city,
however, owing to the social habits OF the
people, their compactnesS OF residence, the
cleanly streets in all weathers the same
a,,l Nv. ri, NIL #
many families in the same eating houses or
restaurants, where they partake of all their
principal meals. The large number of
English visiting residents in Rome during
several months every year, and their we'll
known penchant for family privacy, has no
doubt led to the popularity of the traitor
system. Pronounced trat-twor.)
The traitor is not unlike the cooking
arrangements of a hotel. The proprietor
or manager has a building fitted up with all
apparatus for the best and most economical
preparation and cooking of foods of all
kinds. He buys at wholesale prices what
ever the markets Of the season may supply,
keeping in mind the wants of his customer
families, whose preferences and tastes he
soon comes to know. The smaller eStab
liShments may supply only a dozen fami
lies or less while larger ones may look
after fifty to hundred, and more. Owing
to the greater economy and variety of foods
possible in the larger operations, the bust
ness is mainly carried on in extensive es-
adjustments. Competition for custom
ers, constant efforts to hold old
ones and attract new ones, stimU
late the managers to not only sup
ply the best and largest variety at
the lowest prices but to have everything
in and about the building and cooking
rooms III the neatest order. In those we
visited, the preparation of the food, the
cooking, the dish-washing, etc, were con-
Quoted with cleanliness scarcely possible
in the home kitchens of most families. No
food was wasted by over or under-cooking,
and, as prepared, it was more agreeable and
healthful than that prepared in nine-tenths
of the home kitchens of this country,
though as a people we excel the world in
this respect. We are also safe in saying
that the food, when ready for serving, costs
less than il docs on the average farm table,
counting nothing for the time of the house
keeper who does her own work The saw
ing in purchasing and in fuel, etc. would
alone pay the difference Prairie Farmer.