Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-11-18
Servants Wages.

1t must be admitted that all dealings
with female house servants are entrust-
ed to women. They, then are RESPONSE
BILE for the prices paid for the work they
have to offer; and it is equally clear
that they are paying for it ut the ratio
with which nothing else in the labor
market is comparable. Are female serv-
ants scarcep Certainly not. Look at
the crowded benches in our so-called
intelligence Heaven save the mark!
Offices glance at the long line of steer
age passengers, as they defile at Castle
Garden from the crowded decks of our
emigrant ships. Hundreds of women
and girls are Fastening to our shores
from every part of Europe, asking for
places in our kitchens. Is it that most
Of these are ignorant, and valueless to
the housekeeper who must have skilled
labor? No Ignorant most of them
certainly are, and many seem incapa-
BILE of learning. yet the Irish girl who.
if employed in Dublin, would consider
herself well paid for her labor by fl0,
or at most fl2, per annum, no sooner
presses her foot upon American soil
than she demands 5000.
tuolC ClStSS VI NOllitH III llt
world, if we except the indolent Asiatic,
do American women need servants.
We have not the rubust frame nor the
sturdy strength of the British matron or
the German HauSfrdu. Our climate is
exhausting, our lives are varied and ex-
citing, our frames are slight, and our
nerves weak. We can do much with our
heads, much planning and thinking,
much arranging and directing. Tosup-
plement this we need the strong arms,
the tireless backs, of the peasant women
of the old world. If we were wise and
sensible enough to pay them moderate
ly but fairly, to make them dress suita-
bly, and live plainly, in every case where
we now can have but one pair of hands
to assist in the household work, while
we make shift to do the rest, we might
have two Yes, there is no question
that if the maid-of-all-work. who now
receives sixteen dollars per month, and
is fed like one of the family" were to
receive the same wages that an English
housekeeper would pay. to eat what
English servants are given to eat instead
of our broils and roasts and dainty lux
uries in the way of desserts, the faded
female head of our smaller American
households would find that she could
keep two girls without adding a dol
lar to her yearly expenses.
And why cannot this be done? Is it
not positive wrong that it should not
be doneP The poor of Europe are
crowding our shores, demanding work,
and there is none for them; begging for
food and shelter, and suffering misery
and lapsing into SIN for want of decent
homes and honest labor. Are not our
women blind to their duty in giving one
what is abundant for two, in keeping
up an unnatural and unreasonable scale
of prices for the benefit Of few? We
have not waited for our employees TO
impress the boycott upon us; we have
boycotted ourselves Without reason,
without outside pressure, in defiance of
common sense, and TO their detriment
and ours, we insist upon & state of af-
fairs that is a sarcasm upon our judg-
ment, and convincing proof that,
whatever we may attain to in the fut-
ure, men are very right yet in saying
that we lack business knowledge and
capacity, and show ourselves singularly
unintelligent in regard to the conduct
| of affairs. November Atlantic.