The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-08
FUTURE HOUSEKEEPING.
COOPERATION THAT Is PRACTl-
CABLE AND REASONABLE.

CABLE AND REASONABLE.
Roswell Fishers Kxpsriment In Mentreal
Endures S1eeeafnlly-He Has Large
Only One Kitchen
Mr.. Roswell Fisher. Of Montreal. whose
article on cooperative housekeeping iRThe
Nineteenth Century attracted general at
tention, gave an address on that theme 1t
the Workingman's school ON Fifty fourth
street.
Mr.. Fisher told his audience that some
two or three years ago, after nearly twenty
years study Of the question Of cooperative
housekeeping, he found himself IN posi-
ton to carry out the conclusions at which
he had arrived on scale not 50 large as he
desired, but Sufficiently Large to admit the
essential feature of professional manage
ment. He accordingly built. on toe prin-
cipal residential street of Montreal, an
apartment house containing twenty apart
ments, each with eight or ten rooms, and
forming complete dwelling bat for the
omission Of appliances for cooking.
In the basement, IN addition to the fur
naces for heating the house, water for
baths, ETC., and other convcniences Of q
good apartment house, Mr.. Fisher fur
nished q complete club kitchen, = small
private suite for the manager, and club
laundry. with dining room The kitchen
is in direct connection with every pantry
by electric bells and speaking tubes, and
there are two dumb walters at convenient
points, each serving into ten pantEies, two
on each floor.
In addition to the usual kitchen plant
there Is buffers tray for each tenant,
and sufficient covered tins and white ware
in which to send the meals to the indi-
vidual service rooms.
HOW MEALS ARE SERVED
In the leases. which are for 1t least year,
there is a clause requiring each tenant 70
pay quarterly uniform tax or kitchen
subscription, which assists in covering Ger
tain fixed charges Of the kitchen, such as
the cost of management, the interest on
and the depreciation of the plant, fuel and
gas, leaving only the wages Of the kitchen
help, the cost of the food, and calculated
profit Of about 6 to 10 per cent. for contin
gencies.
The service OF meals ia managed as fol.
lows: Every day q simple bill of fare for
breakfast, lunch and dinner, conforming
to the usual home requirements OF the
class of tenants in the house. with one or
two extras, is made out blythe manager
for the succeeding day, and is delivered 10
each tenant at breakfast. Those dishes or
meals which are not required are scratched
out and the bill returned to the manage
ment with wants, complaints. suggestions
or remarks added.
The manager then Is enabled to arrange
fnr the marketing, and Also TO make out
breakfast, lunch and dinner tables for the
cook, showing what each tenant requires,
at what hours and for how many persons.
Meals cancelled before the hourfor cooking
are allowed for, and all extra orders sent
down are carried out, so far as possible.
All the bills of fare are filed, and at the
close Of the week the totals are presented
and the accounts are settled.
1t was stated that the tariff prices for
breakfast, lunch and dinner do not include
butter, cream and sugar. which are
charged for absolutely as ordered. Nor dc
they include tea, coffee, fruit and other
desserts, which the kitchen does not sup
ply at all. All extra dishes or meals not
shown on the bill of fare, but called for, are
charged at cost price and roper cent ex.
ira. Twenty-four hours notice is required
for large lunch or dinner parties
ADVANTAGES OF CLUB.
1t will be seen that by this plan Mr..
Fisher has been enabled to carry out his
purpose; that each tenant Of his home
club possesses a private and individual
dwelling in which he is able 10 live in such
a manner and on such a scale as his habits
otxI Cor -
all the elasticity of ordinary home life, free
from the publicity Of the club, hotel or
boarding house, and is at the same time
spared the ceaseless worry and annoyances
of the private kitchen while enjoying a
much better cooking than is possible to
the employers of the ordinary cook.
The cost of this system, including the
kitchen tax, is, in the case of families OF
two or three, appreCiably less than ordin-
airy living on the same scale, while for
families of four TO six it is about the same.
At the opening of the house Mr.. Fisher
promised his tenants he would hand back
any profits of the kitchen, il there were
any, and thus make the kitchen a profit
sharing enterprise. This he did for the
double purpose of showing the economy of
the system and Of inducing the tenants to
aid this economy by facilitating in all ways
the endeavors of the management to cut
down waste.
So many Of the tenants, though Of the
better class. showed themselves indifferent
10 the difficulties of the management and
to the waste. both on their own part and
on that of their servants, that Mr.. Fisher
gave notice that In the future this profit,
about per cent, will not he shared with
them, but will be held 20 meet the extra
trouble and expense Of management.
After ten months trial Of this system,
with all its initial difficulties, none Of the
tenants are leaving, and as both the home
and the kitchen are satisfactory invest
ments, Mr.. Fisher considers that be has in
troduced a successful though only incoIn-
plete method of meeting the domestic diff
ficulties of economic kitchen service.-Sew
York Sun