New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-01

PRISONERS OF POVERIH.
MR.. HEwIrrs ADDED CONFUSION.
AN ORGANIZATION SUGGESTED FOR PLACING WON
EN- IN DOMESTIC SITUATIONS.

AN ORGANIZATION SUGGESTED FOR PLACING WON
EN- IN DOMESTIC SITUATIONS.
TO the Editor OF The Tribune.
SIR: Mr.. Hewitt suggests domestic service as
solution Of the problem of NewYork sewing women,
and proposes that housekeepers should make this
field of llbgr attractive by admitting their ser
wants TO their tables. But he does not offer to
lead tie crusade be breaches He makes haste to say
that his recommendation Is intended for other
people: for the countrg at large" not for
NewYork for his own Immediate social
circe. For himself and his friends he thinks
it would be absurd" But tho fact is that
the "country at large" follows as closely as
possible tho heels of the social centres There Is
hardly a town or village to-day, at least in the
Eastern States, which is not Offering cheap mlta-
tons of all the fashions of New-Yorh OF its social
and domestic customs, ts gowns its hats its after
teas, its private theatrcals. ts chrysanthemum
shows, its "Mikado," its Mrs. James Brown Potter.
The good old days when Mr.. Hewitt and his estimabe
mother sat down to dinner with the hired girl" are
gone, and gone forever. To bring them back again
would require q social revolution which Mr.. Hewitt
may well hesitate TO inaugurate.
And even If we imag CINE Mr.. Hcwtt's cooks
and housemaids and stable boys sitting down at his
table with himself and his family. there must still
be another set Of fncOnares to cook and serve the
repast. Somebody must dine last. The difficulty is
only postponed a little / fear, from tho country
housekeepers point OF view, that with the best in
tentons Mr. Hewitt has contributed TO this phase Of
the question only little more confusion.
My own suggestion is not original; it is
organization organization among the women them
selves for their protection among their friends Of
the more fortunate olassos secure protection for
them, but especially organization bureau to
help them to got out of the city, or least to
apparatus for testing again their willingness
unwiningness to 90. Such bureau should collect in
formation. find and fill situations bringing supply
and demand togethcr provide transportation when
necessary, and take of its bcnefcares for short
terms during the moving time, perhaps keep up
sort of correspondence or overs ght for time;
doing for adults what tho Childrcns Aid Society does
so admirably for street boys and girls.
Experiments Of this sort have already been made
in New York, apparently with small results, owing,
is said, chiefly TO the persistent objection Of working
women to leave the city to 60 out house
wants anywhere. J. tho hopeless Why should
not the experiment of organized effort in this drec-
ton be tried ovor again ami sustained long enough
through temporary Encouragement TO test tho
question thoroughly? Let IL he tried with the
energy. economy and ab ity which mark the
agement OF THE TRIBuNE's Fresh-Air Fund, for
instance, and let find out whether the poor sew
ing of NewYOrk VIII VIII not tako places
in the country
The question is one New-Yorx rather than
for the country at large" but the poor and their
friends may feel that all the country among
the wei to do and those whom they perhaps look
askance at and call tho rich" with sort Of re-
proach, there many women whose hearts arc
sick with thinking Of the misery of their kind. There
as sympathy enough. There Is money enough
there is always money enough TO BIO had for enter
prscs OF this sort when the public is that they
are intelgenty directed and rcspOnsiby managed.
Why cannot one OF the religious weeklios undertake
such a bureau? Why should it not be undertaken
by THE TRIBUNE itselfl
4 COUNTRY HoUsEKEEPER.