New-York tribune., 1886-11-13
A SOCIdL PUZZLE.


women in New-York earning the scantiest of
livings by working in factories or at their
homes making clothing. Mrs. Helen Camp
BELLS articles in The SUNDAY TRIBUNE are
showing the bitter poverty and constant
privatlon attendant upon this kind of work. 1t
is unquestionaby tho most inadequate method
Of gaining subsistence, and 1T cannot be be-
lieved that any of these wOrkingwOmen would
hesitate to ABANDON it for more profitable,
easier and more comfortable employment, If
they saw an opportunity so to improve their
condition. But it is a curious fact that while
these 1000 women are toiling ard half
starving hOusekeepers everywhere are bewail-
ing the difficulty of securing domestic servants,
and the class of women devoted to such work
find themselves 80 mt ch sought after that they
are becoming at once more exacting. more
capricious, less efficient and less trustworthy
continually. 1t is notorious that it is harder
every wear to find good house servants. The
standard of performance is falling and the
standard of wages is rising all the tlme How
can these facts be reconci!edf
1t may be said that The workingwomen who
slave over the sewing machine are in a large
proportion of cases wives and mothers, and
therefore could not leave their families and 90
into service. No doubt this is true of a certain
number, but not, we believe, of the majority,
and it is questionable whether even those who
have children could not, with advantage to
themselves and their families, make the change
suggested. 1t may also be objected that few
of the workingwomen know anything of the
duties demanded of servants. That objection,
however has no validity, for it would be i'm
oof ha N
the majority of the green immigrants who 20
into service bring to their work when they
begin it. Nor indeed is the efficiency of those
who have had considerable experience anything
to be proud Of for the problem which seems
to absorb the attention of most Of them Is how
to get the most wages for the least work. In
the ranks Of the wOrkngwomen starvation
wages are maintained as much by the competl-
ton of their fellows seeking work as by the COM
petition among manufacturers. Ii this surplus
population, which now presses so heavily upon
the women workers, could be diverted into
other channels of industry, the workingwomen
could probably obtain better pay. But why is
it that the manifest advantages of domestic
service do not attract those who are compelled
to maintain themselves
The position of the servant is almost ideally
good She is well housed. we'll fed, well paid,
and her daily work is rule mere pastime
in comparison with that of sewing woman.
She has comfortable room, lives as well as
her employers, has her appointed times OF recre-
alton and outing, and can always if prudent
save more in year than her less fortunate
sisters can in lifetime. Why is it then that
while the house work is much pleasanter
lighter and better paid than that of the facto-
ries, the supply of good servants is never equal
to the and, and thousands of women wear
out their lives in misery and Indulgence while
this honorable and advantageous means of live
lihood is at their doors 7 1t can hardly be be-
lieved that prejudice against domestic service
is The explanation of this anomalous state of
things, for certainly the social position of a
self-respecting servant is not below that of an
employe in factory. There is no humiliation
in the work. 1t is perfectly respectable and
even honorable when performed with a sense
of duty, as George Herbert long ago pointed
out. The women who are now Shaving at their
machines could assuredly do it quite as we'll as
it is done in nineteen cases out of tHenty
They would find no difficulty in obtaining situ-
ations, for housekeepers all over the city are
ransacking the intelligence offices for help
Perhaps what is needed is just the initiative
During the Irish famine of Sl6 people died of
starv alton within a few miles of magazines
cralnmed full of provisions. solely because
there was machinery to bring the food and
the mouths together. Society however, ought
to be better organized now, aud there should
be no such mysterious barrier as seems to exist
between needy workers and proGta ble employ
ment.