The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-06
A TRUST IN SERVANT GIRLS
FORMED IN BROOKLYN TO Sc
CURE HIGHER WAGES.
More Housekeepers Doing Their Own
Work Now Than Ever Known
Perplexities of Employers.

Servant girls hold the fort in Brook
lyn- They are not merely queens OF
the kitchen, but absolute monarchs of
the house. They no longer ask what is
to be expected of them when seeking
e. ployment, but dictate terms. They
have formed a trust, and, like other mo-
nopolies, they can be had only upon
complete submission TO the terms OF the
combination.
Two women arrived in New York from
Germany last winter with the avowed
purpose of organizing a domestics
union, and first attacked the borough az
the other end of the big bridge. They
gathered a hundred or more of gem
eral homework girls and succeeded in
forming combine, pledging thel1 to
demand SIG a month as minimum, and
laying down rules for their guidance. 1t
was agreed that general homework
should consist of cooking and light
laundry work, all shirts, collars or cuffs
to be sent to public laundries- They
were to do no outside work, such as
sweeping sidewalks or stoops, washing
windows, cleaning brass trimmings OF
carrying coal from the celler except for
the range.
Another rule agreed upon was thai
the servant was to have use of the
front basement as a sitting room and
for the reception of guests, with one
full day out each week and two weeks
vacation in summer with full pay.
How well they succeeded in enforcing
these extraordinary demands is shown
in the vast number of homes in the
City of Churches that are servantless
at present or the work being merely at
tempted by young and inexperienced
girls who do the drudgery, while the
miStresSeS do all the cooking.
SOME FUNNY EXPERIENCES.
If the trust included in it's member
ship only first-class servants, house
keepers would not complain so much at
the advance of 81 a month over the
former standard of wages, but they
cooks and laundresses cannot cook q
decent meal or wash and iron decently
a tablecloth or napkin.
A lady who has been without a steady
girl for six months said her experience
was not unusual, but a fair sample OF
the greatest. annoyance in housekeep-
ing. "a girl answered my advertise
ment," she said, land by her state
ments of qualifications she was a treas
IRE. 1 employed her, and after in
structing her as to our style of living
and where the kitchen utensils were To-
Gated, I gave her full reign. She lasted
one week and at its expiration she de-
cfded the place did not suit her. She
was incompetent in every way. She
could not broil a steak or toast a piece
of bread, and her washing was eau
ton.
Il tried another first-class girl, as she
called herself. She wanted SIS, but con-
sented to start in at SIG. She was worse
than the former one. On her second day
I told her to get the dinner, which con-
sisted of corned beef and vegetables
In few hours the maid knocked at
my door, declared she was i'll and must
go home at once. Heart disease was her
ailment The fact was she was not in
any sense a cook, and when left to heh
self to prepare dinners she lost heart
and gave up the place. These are a
few samples of the girls who are at
tached to the trust
REFERENCES ARE SCARCE.
And these are only a few sample
cases of the annoyances to housekeep-
ers incident to servant girl employment
The Brooklyn papers which are patron
lied in this particular line of employ
ment contain more demands under
Help Wanted" than Situations
Wanted" The supreme demand of
city reference required" is another
stumbling block in the way of securing
domestics. They stay such a brief time
since they Joined the trust that recon-
mendations are not easily obtained, and
one must take chances as to honesty or
go without
There are more women in Brooklyn
homes doing their own homework today
than ever before, and they do not look
for relief until the hot weather sets
in, when in the rush for cooling resorts
an army Of desirable servants may be
released and be glad to take good places
on pay commensurate with their actual
value as workers.
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