Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1900-01-20
GERMAN SLAVE GIRLS
SHOCKING STATE OF AFFAIRS
IN FATHERLAND.
Past Century Laws Hold Unfortunate
Young Women to Involuntary ssrv1-
tude--MOst of Them Kidnapped from
SMALL Country Villages.

The German empress and Countess
Waldersee. formerly princess OF Noer
born Mary Lee, OF New York, have
made 1t up" After an estrangement
of several years standing, these au-
gust ladies have met again In work
OF Christian love. the success of which
without the cooperation OF either
might we'll be doubted. The happy al
lance between her majesty and the
field marshal's wife, niece and aunt
purposes to put an end to most dis
graceful form OF white slayery-the
waitress evil-to which nearly 10000
worthy young women OF the father
land are subject. The position OF the
waitress OF Germany in no wise cor
responds to that of the English bar
maid, though both serve liquor to male
guests. While her British cousin is
regarded as a business woman and ac-
cordingly paid. the German waitress
10 q coolie. sold by contractors to her
master for stipulated length OF time.
Yet even the degrading term ''coolie"
only inadequately describes Gretchen's
position, for 1t suggests, besides tenn
porary bondage, certain rights as to
wage and liberty at the expiration OF
the contract The German waitress
receives no wages, and the abject f.
nancial dependency in which she is
kept by bosses and agents prevents
her. even when she is nominally free,
from going her own way and becom-
ing, IL she chooses, useful member OF
society. AS. despite the sorry condi-
tons under which they live. the ma
jority of mattresses are respectable,
Woodworking girls. the empress gra-
ciously received the petitions for relief
addressed to her by several thousand
young women engaged in the business.
and forthwith ordered the civil and
clerical members of her household to
investigate the waitress question from
a judicial, legislative and purely HUI
name standpoint. These authorities
have now made their report, and her
majesty summoned Countess Walder-
see. her American aunt" as her ex-
cellency is called at court, to Berlin to
help devise ways and means for stamp
Ing out the evil. The report OF her
nAjeSty's commissioners. who in their
fnvestleatons had the active support
OF numerous government and munich
pal officers throughout the empire. dis
closes thoroughly disgraceful state
Of affairs with respect to Empress
Auguste victoria's new proteges. The
German waitress" says the paper, lis
q slave In all but name. In the con-
tracts which bind her to her master
and agent respectively she figures as
a sort of outlaw. having no right to
administer to her own affairs; she is
subject TO all sorts OF fines and bound
to spend her earnings in the way her
master directs The master manages
to keep her In his debt all the time
and uses her dependency for his own
profit. until sickness or loss OF good
looks makes IL desirable for him to re-
lease her from further bondage. Pen
niless and infirm. the waitress is then
I thrown on the pavement to become a
I burden to the community. The report
! goes on to say that the waitress evil
! fiourishes in the metropolis and In the
| big cities no more brazenly than in
the smaller towns. In Posen, for in
stance, which has only 10000 inhab-
/ itants, including the garrison. there
are forty Treat-kneipen, employing
| from three to twelve so-called pretty
waiter girls. Disloyal husbands, dis
honest clerks. boys and pupils OF the
higher schools even spend their nights
and. more often than not, other peo-
pies money in these evil resorts that
only tend to enrich the INSCRIPTIONS
liquor sellers and to degrade their en-
ployes. Seventy per cent of all petty
embezzlement cases and the downfall
of numerous young men can be traced
to these Kneipen, the names OF which
are constantly before the police and
higher courts. Yet the state and mu-