Daily inter mountain., 1900-07-21

ordinary housemaid. Chinese servants
are no novelty on the Pacific coast, but
il something is not done toward the So
luton of THE servant problem there is
every probability THAT the far east will
see as many Chinese servants as may
now be seen in the far west.
The most striking evidence Of the
''help" famine III the large cities. how
ever, may be seen in the fact that an
association has been formed in New
York for the purpose of supplying SER
wants by the hour. Such thing was not
thought of a few rs Ngo, but the
problem of running house has now
assumed such proportions that women
are glad to take advantage of any IN
novation that Will tend to Tighten the
task.
Under these circumstances it is not
strange that the cry for relief should
have reached Washington. and that Miss
Laughlin should have been chosen to
investigate these questions.
AS there are few women who have
taken greater Interest in this question
than Miss Laughlin it will not be neces-
sary for her to spend months upon
months in acquiring the information
necessary to enable her to get the proper
grasp upon her subject.
Already she has thoroughly examined
the ground and she knows pust whom to
call upon for ;he Information sat she
lacks. At the rre~,ant time she is Of the
opinion that the fundamental trouble
with the servant question is the matter
of hours. Men work eight. nine or ten
hours day, as the case may be, but
the servant girl is compelled to work for
about fourteen hours. and she is for
tunate if she does not hear grumbling
because she does ret work longer.
HER HARD LOT.
In addition to this there is no question
of union wage in her case. She gets
a certain number of cents a day, and she
does not get the holidays to herself, with
double pay if she works. In other words.
the tendency has been to compel the
servant girl to wCvk as many hours as
| it was possible to get her to work, and
to pay her as little for her services as it
| was possible to get her to take.
The natural result of this method of
treatment is the present help" famine.
| means of livelihood have refused to con-
slider a proposal to adopt that of the
housemaid. and MTs Lanyhlin believes
| that al lthis will have to be remedied be-
fore the present day problem can be
solved.
Upon one question Miss Laughlin IS
already persuaded and that is the ques-
! tion of hours. She believes that these
| hours should be regulated that the
servant may know when her work begins
| and when it ends At the same time
she is not in favor of advocating the
| adoption of the plan inaugurated by
| Mrs. Emmons Blaine. of Chicago. While
she admits that the eight-hour day might
do in her case, it could never be applied
in the case of the ordinary housekeeper
and she will look much further tor her
logical solution to the puzzle.
The question of tl.a organization Of the
! servants into labor unions has called for
some consideration. but she has not yet
| determined that the plan would be a
| wise one. On the other hand, she has
already placed the stamp of approval
opon the theory that women ought to be
compelled to go through a regular course
of training in a proper school before go
| ing out to service.
A SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL.
Such schools already exist in several
parts of the country, a particularly sue
! cessful one being operated at Syracuse.
N. Y. It's founder Mrs. Linda Hull
I.arned, is a woman who has spent much
/ time in the study Of le servant question.
! and the success of her work would argue
| that she had certainly devised a means
| for imprOying the situation