Evening star., 1899-02-04

sion under the protection of print. / have
no wish to rival Gen. Eagan in showing
what be done to a United States COM
mission.
The Industrial commission, as doubtless
you know, recently organized under
an act of Congress for the purpose of in
vestigating questions pertaining to imml
grafton, to labor, to agriculture to manu-
featuring and to business to report to Con-
gress and to suggest such legislation as 1t
may deem best upon these subjects" 1t
has also sort of grand-paternal duty to
the states-to furnish such information
ard suggest such laws as may be made a
basis for uniform legislation by the various
states of the Union, in order to harmoniZe
conflicting interests and to be equitable to
the lab0rer, the employer, the producer and
the consumer.
The Industrial COmmis ssiOn.
The commission is composed of nineteen
members, five senators, five representa-
tives and nine men appointed by the Presi-
dent TO represent different industries and
employments The salary of each of the
nine members appointed by the President is
$4,000 per year and travelling expenses.
The term of the commission is two years,
and $4,000 a year is appropriated for the
expense of conducting Investigations. Thus
the people are TO spend more than s2o0, 900
Tor ideas concerning how the conditions of
industry may be improved.
When L learned of this [ was at once in
terested to know whether any part of the
sum was to be expended for the improve
ment of home industries. Did the industrial
commission intend doing anything to bet
ter the condition of me and my hired girl?
L finaiy visited the commission to find out
1 talked with the first vice chairman and
originator of the whole idea of the commits
sion, ex-Representative Phillips of Pennsyl-
wanna, and learned that in the minds of
the Industrial commission, as in the mind of
political economy. the domestic woman is
cipher and her labor equally a factor of
no Importance.
When asked Mr.. Phillips what the COM
mission means to do for women he at once
replied, referring to women employed In fac
torles-1es, when the greater matters of
immigration, transportation, mining agri-
culture, etc, had been disposed Of women
in factories would receive proper attention.
Although Mr.. Phillips for many years past
mas devoted his mind, money and influence
TO the cause of labor, it apparently had not
entered his head that women working in
kitchens have any relation to the broad
question of industry.
According to the last census nv rougt
estimate, the hired girls of the United
states receive annually s16O. 900 900 in cash.
ana me value of an equal amount in the cost
to their employers of keeping them These
hgures are sufficient to show that domestic
service costs enough to entitle it to respect-
ful consideration. These figures moreover,
are no measure of all 1t costs. Exclusion
OF this clement of production Is 10 account
for some false propositions and erroneous
equations of political economy and the gen
erdl labor problem, and much if not all
the confusion involving the servant prob
lem arises from the habit of regarding the
housewives labor as having no value esti-
mated in the usual medium Of exchange
The Servant Problem.
The servant problem in its purity comes
about thus in the United States:
Does the burden of housework so nearly
XIII the farmers or mechanics wife that she
is unable to provide the products essential
10 the mans labor-cooklng and the crea-
tnre conVenlences the family man relies
upon his home to produce This being
proved either by the housewife falling i'll or
dead under the burden, or a charitable i'm
pulse in the man prompting the acceptance
of the affirmative. help is called in. and
the servant problem arises. This help"
as the word clearly signifies is engaged not
to perform definite piece of work having
an established market value; She assumes
vaguely to fill a gap. One woman has done
the the work she is to do and moro for mere
keeping, and the worth of the "help."
therefore, is measured only by the deficien-
cy of the housewife. and must be paid bv
some part of the subsistence of the latter
being diverted to the former. When the
worn-out housewife is compelled to hire
help 1t is a perfectly well recognized prin-
clple OF eternal Justice and domestic econ
omy that the hired girls wages should
somehow be taken out of the housewife
She must go without the sewing machine
she needed, get along with her old dress
and her old shoes that her help may be
paid without disturbing the family finance
Remedial Legislation.
Charity attempts a great deal for the
down-trodden hired girl, and occasionally
does something for the distracted house
Keeper; but both have a reasonable hope
OF everlasting salvation only in some move
ment that shall accord housework a place
in he Ioh
its disorders by means of scientific investi-
CATION and remedial legislation.
Ihere are, 1t appears to me. certain clear
ly defined domestic disorders which might
at once be alleviated by proper legislation
To this end | would suggest that:
Cooks be licensed
All persons be held responsible TO the
law for recommendations given to domes-
tics.
All private employment bureaus be abol-
ished and government institutions estab-
lished in their stead.
All iaundries and bakeries be made SUBJ
ject to sanitary inspection and required to
have permit from proper authorities.
Plumbers and Cooks
why are plumbers required to be regis
tered?' l asked plumber the other day
Because" said the man, "a plumber
comes into your house and introduces there
an enemy to human lfe-sewerage-and to
avoid sickness and death In consequence of
his ignorance or frresponsibility it is neces-
sary that he bear with him some guarantee
of his fitness for the work he undertakes"
Now, whether sewerage or bad cooking is
the greater menace to human life, l leave
some Ladies' Domestic Science Club to de-
bate, but l am quite positive that though
registering plumbers does not altogether
insure us against bad plumbing, to regis
ter cooks would tend somewhat to raise us
from the darkest Africa of American house
when am in need of cook, advertise or
go to an employment agency-do both prob
ably. A procession of applicants begins to
file into my house. Oh, yes, they can
cook-all of them; have their word for it.
Possibly some are modest enough to pro-
fess only plain cooking, but being a plain
lady of plain mode of life, that does not
dhcourage me- And references2 Certainly
loads of them. The scabbiest, scartest.
shiftlessest creature that ever applied to
me to cook always had a reference from
somebody. Then there's the matter of
permanency-yes, indeed; they each and
overy one are yearning for a steady place