The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-11-10
SERVANT GIRL PROBLEM.


4 writer in the Omaha News takes
up the servant girl problem, and urges
the employment men rs housekeep-
Iers cooks and chambermaids. The
principal reason given is that men can
do the work more satisfactorily than
| can the girls. Men, this writer says,
can get along better with the women
! than men. because they will not stand
| the nagging that women give their
girls. Girls would rather work in a
factory under men at less wages than
they would in & home under women,
because they have q certain amount of
freedom that is not given them In the
kitchen. For the men their time is
given at from 6 q. m. to p. m.
While there may be some merit in
the News article, it is hardly probable
that il will be generally adopted.
There is one thing which servant girls
should do, and that IS organize for
shorter hours. They have reason TO
feel dissatisfied because of the long
hours they are compelled to be on
duty. Employers, when they learn
the the trouble is more OF their own
account than with the girls, will
not be faced with this question SO fire.
quently. The question Of wages is not
so important as that of hours.
One lady recently said that the time
Of her girls belonged to her, and she
paid for it and was entitled to the
time the "a hours Of the day. This
lady might, perhaps, be called a tyrant
from that remark, but she Is not. She
shows her help the greatest considera-
ton, and plans the household work SO
that everything can be done within
ten hours. In explanation she said
that when girl demanded her even
ings and spent from two to four hours
on the streets, returning home on the
last car, she was not in fit condition
the next day to do the work as she
expected it to be done. She wanted
her girls to have their evenings for
| their personal enjoyment, but She de-
| manded early hours for retiring. She
says that the dissatisfied condition Of
girls comes largely because OF the late
hours they keep making them anything
but agreeable the next day.
| In the factory with the many others
! at the same bench or table, there is
enough excitement to keep 4 girl
: awake, even though she has tripped
the light fantastic the night before un-
til breakfast time. Her work is the
i! factory is merely mechanical. while
i in the home she is obliged to think,
and after a night out her brain is not
in the best Of working order. Men en-
ployed in the trades do not have the
trouble holding their jobs as do men
lin offices or banks. In the one line
they can be out with the boys all night
and be ready for business. the: next
day with little effort. Let a bank clerk
i do the same thing for a few nights and
! his place would soon be filled by (,
more steady man. -.
The kitchen requires more intelli-
gence than the factory, and the facui-
, ties niue be better preserved. A gir
who is kept at work from 5 or o'clock
la. m. to 10 or II o'clock p nj. is not
as good & girl rs the one who has re-
gular hours and is able to get the sup
per dishes washed and out Of the way
by p. lii.
Tie employer cannot demand the 2
hours of the day OF the help, but they
can require that the hours they are of
duty shall not he spent in such a way
as to injure them during the hours they
are at work. . = =. = b. II &.
+ It is 4 nice problem to work on, ant
cannot be solved without an organi
cation to promote it.-EX.