Evening star., 1899-02-04


nursery work thrown in. Moreover. this
| vast, heterogeneous industry is more often
| than not expected to be carried on by the
| hired girl to the exclusion of even manager
| ial assistance-that is, the girl must not
| only do the work, but plan it-run the
| house; in short, while the lady is in at
| tendance upon society, following her
| higher aims - educational, phfanthropic.
| what-not, that diverts her from the bogie
! of housekeeping and the servant Ques-
! ton
Division of Labor.
When woman does as have done-real-
| ICES the inequalities of the domestic labor
| relation by personal experience in domestic
| toll Illuminated by experience in labor un
| der the intelligent conditions of the broad
| industrial field, mere business instinct will
| prompt her to reform her domestic econo-
| my and order it on business principles. 1t
will at once appear to her not only ridiculous,
| but barbarous, that she should seek to en-
| brace all the industries that serve domestic
needs in one plant, without reference to
| equipment or the burden of labor entailed.
| Division of labor and specialization of abil-
lty-the TWO greatest factors of industrial
! progress-will occur to her as possible of
| application to woman's work in the home,
and by the light of this idea will imme
dlately be seen, first of all, the stupidity of
combining laundry work with baking.
| cooking, etc, and the inhuman absurdty
| of expecting one pair of hands, one wo-
mans energy, one woman's ability, one wo-
mans working day to compass these mani
1estly unrelated labors. Other branches of
houseWork, doubtless baking next in order
among them, will resolve themselves into
lines of work that can be done, and prop
erly and economically should be done, out
side the house by institutions specially
equipped for the purpose. This plan will
operate constantly to reduce the burden of
work apportioned to so-called domestics
and Will tend gradually to eliminate the
hu raIa I,k>
on a clear business footing, thus raising
1t from the equivocal-sometimes charita-
Die, more often tyrannous-StatuS it a. pres
ent occupies.
Regulation of Homework.
Two pronounced currents of influence
obverses of the one coin the education of
Women-are operating to bring about this
change. One is that embodied in my own
eSperlence-when a business woman dis
tracted by the perplexties of the servant
problem, makes a mathematical test of the
conditions governing domestic labor. thn
other comes with daily increasing force
from the attempt domestic labor is making
70 DO some figuring on its own account
rms II reports be true, is speedily to
take organized form in this country
Whlther are now on the way two delegates
from the old country to establish a servant
girls union in the United States Similar
unions are III operation in Denmark Swe-
Den. France, Germany, Austria Belgium
and hgiand One of the first ends sought
by the union is to regulate the perform
aHce OF houseWork, and of the first
thlhSs demanded is abolition of all night
work, except in case of sickness in the
1amlly' This one point conceded, and hu-
manlty no less than labor sentiment de-
lhallds 1t, Will compel diminution of the
Volume OF housework along the lines / have
suggested. The girl who washes and irons
ana cooks is obliged to iron at night I'm
ofder that the rush of the weeks work
shall not. swamp her. Thus a merely bu
Hldle reduction of tho lah
hours Will naturally promote more and
more general recourse to Independent Iaun-
aries until the woman who has her wash
ing and ironing done in her kitchen will
appear as primitive in her economy as the
farmer who makes his own shoes
Nnlle turn one upward-g ancing ap-
peailng eye to the United States industrial
commission and the law, in working out
the salvation of my hired girl and me NV
other eye is cast down and weeping to he
hold the greatest obstacle in the way of
Matrimony.
What's the use of being married?r l
asked a woman
Lots of use" she answered; you don't
have to work for your living when you're
married"
Before marrying she had been q govern
ment clerk at a fair salary Now she
keeps her husbands house does the mar
ketlhg, cooks and does housework accord
takes care of her children, does much of
her sewing and performs all the technica
labor of wife and mother-at no salary
and like, alas. a great, great many of her
sex she calls this not working for
living!
The benefit she really has in mind if
benefit it be, is that she will not forfeit her
living II she does not work. 1t is rare that
woman is divorced for neglect or wretch
ed performance of household labor so that
by the ever-hOped-for. sacred immunity of
the molly married state, the domestic la
porer lacks the greatest incentive to excel
Iehce IN lnduStry-competitiOn She is in no
danger of losing her job or her market on
account of the inferiority of her production
and 50 she remains content the economic
cipher and industrial anomaly. Thus also
she becomes responsible for the irresponsi
pilty OF her hired girl, the sphere of whose
excellence is limited and confused bv the
low ann am false equations of her en-
ployer. IN suggesting legislation for the
remedy or domestic iabor'S ills | do moi
lose sight of the fact that this question
IKE all questions involving human reia3
tons. 49, more than anything else ethica in
character and Individual in scope How
ever, the other fact remains-eyerv stroke
OF houseWork done by a woman costs some
thlhg-an expense which enters somehow
INTO every sort of production; the servant
problem Is not the petty, personal snarl-a
little, Woman's row-which labor reform
now regards 1t, and the industrial commits
SION to be not only just but wise rnue,
consider the kitchen with the farm ava
factory, and serve the laborer's Interests
serving the labor of his wife
AT all events that is the firm conviction of
one laboring woman called
PAULINE PRY.
Cardinal Gibbons Needs His Sa