The Republican journal., 1889-10-31
Cooperative housekeeping.

In the September number of the Forum
| Helen +. Starrett discusses 1.-The Iousekcep-
ing of the Future" and evidently writes from
a full ledge of the subject The matter
| of domestic service is first considered. both
| from the standpoint of the mistress and the
servant, and the conclusion reached that ''our
| present system Of domestic service is funda-
mentally wrong, wholly opposed to the spirit
and law of development of our civilization"
and that ''its foundation is system of >erf-
| dom which Of necessity crumbleS iii the air of
liberty and opportunity" But VIII; of the fu-
| ture? As to that the writer in the Forum has.
we are happy TO say, words of hope. She tells
| us that the Improvement and perfection of
| housekeeping in the American home ''are com
| ing about through the progress of the organi-
| zation Of domestic industry, and through radi-
cal changes in the methods and appliances of
household work. In the cities and villages the
kitchen and cookngstove and hired girl are all
to be banished from the house." Then we are
told how:
The city of the future will not build houses
in squares, giving to every house an Individual
kitchen and prSon-like backyard 1t will rath-
the part now d>tigured with the kitchen will
be given over for IA household sitting-rCom or
nursery, opening into great green space.
where children Shall play in safety, and
through which the free air of heaven shall
blow into the houses surrounding it. In every
square will be found scientifically v constructed
building containing a laundry and great kitch-
en-, supplied with every modern appliance for
skilled and scientific cookery, and also for
sending into every dining room any desired
Of IL,
of house and the house table will be preserved, =,
and the kitchen smells and waste and ''hired
girl will all be banished Oh, how freely
would thousands of house-mothers breathe un-
der such an arrangement of things, and in how
many thousands of families of moderate means
would such an arrangement do away with the
necessity of any servant whatever: How
would expenses be leSsened, care abolished,
and peace, quiet and security reign, here be-
fore was anxiety and disorder. and constant
upheayal of the foundations of family life.
The writer points out how with modern con-
veniences many articles of food could still be
prepared at home, and that the gas stove will
supply the needed hot water for domestic uses,
also the means of preparing food for small chill
drcn or for the sick.
That these ideas are not chimeriruI, an article
on "Co-operatiye Experiments" in the October
number of The Nationalist clearly shows. The
writer r. Mrs. Mary A. Livcrmore II SAYS:
''Therc are only about 10000 servants in the
city of New York to its more than 21O,0O0 fam
lilies, that in our wealthie>t city, the wives
and mothers in nine families out of ten must
do all their own work as entirely a> ii they liv
ed on the prairies, eXemplifying the Old saw Of
being Jacks at all trades and good ut none.
For these ills and worries there is but one rem
cdy. The isolated housekeeping must be
merged into cooperative housekeeping" This
is the conclusion arrived at by the writer in
the Forum; but Mrs. LNermore goes farther
and tells hat has been done in this direction.
She mentions first Very successful expert
ment in cooperative housekeeping on 4 large
scale that has been in existence in France for
twenty five years. But let US look at the eN-
amplcs nearer home. Mrs. Livermore says:
meet cooperative kitchens and dining-rluhs
in various places in the country, resulting in
success or failure according as they are man
aged. At Ann Arbor, Michigan, where there
is a large student population, no dormitory
system connected with the university, aud Il
lack of hotel and boarding accommodations,
students have been driven To combine and CO.
operate. In the students clubs with which !
have become acquainted, their food, excellent
in quality, quantity and variety, and we'll cook
ed generally, costs each one from one dollar
forty cents to one dollar seventy-tve cents per
week.
In one of my later visits to the town, | found
that Il large number of families had gone into Il
cooperative dining-club not 50 much to save
money as to rid themselves of the serNant-gigI
problem. They We're mostly Old housekeepers.
and demanded a more elaborate bill of fare than
the students. \ steward elected from their
4. ~