Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-23
COOPERATIVE HOUSEKEEPING.
The BeIiamy Plan I'm Successful 40,
tion I'm Kansas.

Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star.
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. May n. 1894.
The Bethany idea of cooperative house.
keeping has had thorough trial at juno
tion City, and the results are more than
satisfactory. The organization Of the juno
+. ton City Cooperative Cooking Club was
brought about in a peculiar way One cold
December morning three prominent ladies'
OF that town found themselves without
hired girls" They happened TO meet. ana
each told her experience in failing TO keep
help. All Of them had read Bellamy's
books, and the plans OF cooperative house
keeping advanced by that author were con-
sideied in detail. II vas a new idea, and
they believed they could induce enough of
the people to join the movement TO make
IL succeed. They accordingly called their
friends together and made an assessment
Of $3.50 per head. and New Year morning
this new Bellamy Housekeeping Association
sat down TO as line breakfast as any one
could wish. Then the membership was
small, but since that time forty families
have Joined. and today IL is the most talked
about ana popular Institution Ia Central
Kansas.
Junction City is a substantial old town
OF 1000 people. IL il a pleasant home
town. where many farmers who have
grown wealthy. or at least well-to-do. have
retired so as to live easy and have the ad-
vantage Of good schools for the education
OF their children. This class make up the
membership of the Bellamy Club The
town escaped the deadoning and destructive
boom which swept over Kansas seven years
ago, ard hence the banker does not live
in palatial mansion in the middle Of a
corn field addition" nor does the lawyer
reside a mile away in his wheat field sub
urb. The town is compactly built. and the
people are brought together in their bust
ness and social relations. a condition which
n ade the formation Of the cooking club
al 10 h.
dining hall. none Of them living more than
four blocks distant. The streets are kept
very clean, ard bicycles are used by nearly
all the members. One family has three
one for the father, one for the mother ana
one for the boy OF six. The baby, a year
old, Is taken to his meals in a basket tied
on the front Of the fathers machine.
There is no complaining by members OF
the club. Should there be any the party
making the complaint would be voted out
OF the association. SO far no one has been
stricken from the rolls on this account. On
each Saturday afternoon a committee of
three ladies meet to hear suggestions for
the bill of fare for the following week. This
committee levies the assessment OF $3.50
every week. lays the cooks and dining
room girls, audits all bills and starts the
machinery going for the following week.
The committee makes no purchases, leay-
ing all this TO the housekeeper, who has
entire control OF the kitchen. as no member
Is allowed to enter that department. When
a member has any fault TO find with the
service he or she complains TO the vice
president who calls the housekeeper In
and Investigates the complaint. Applica-
tons are numerous from women who want
to work for the Bellamy Club. The work
is easier than the ordinary housework and
the additional advantage is that the girls
have no woman to boss" them. When
the meals are cooked or served they are at
liberty to so where they please. School
teachers and high school girls generally
hold these positions.
While the bill OF fare is plain, IL is bet
ter than the average family enjoys Usu-
ally for breakfast the food consists of oat-
neal and cream. broilei beefsteak and
eggs. French fried potatoes. mullins maple
strip and peaches. The dinners and sup
pers are equal to those served in the aver
age hotel Each family furnishes it's table
with linen. dishes and silver ware. Those
who do not furnish these articles are as
sessed 81 per week by the auditing COM
mittee The host pays the association ~
cents per meal for each guest.
The objection made 10 the cooperative
plan is that IL interferes with the home
and breaks into the privacy OF the family
circle. This objection only comes from
those who are outside the club, and never
from members The women especially hold
that the system forces them out into the
fresh air three times a day, and that the
social intercourse IN the dining room with
neighbors and friends gets them out OF
a beaten path and makes their lives 90
much brighter and happier. This is the
experience of every member Of the Junction
City Bellamy Club. and IL is an argument
that is winning many converts TO that plan
of living.