The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-14
THE SERVANT PROBLEM.
Foreign Domestics Are Returning to
Their own Countries.

The American housekeeper has not see
the worst phase OF the servant problem
yet. and II the tide, as it Is now running
in the domestic stream. does not turn soon
it won't be long before the first ladies il
our land are obliged to do their own gen
eral housework and light cooking"
1t was housekeeper who had suffere
the Christening effect Of the servant strug
gle through Yeas of experience at tn,
head Of her own home. who delivered her
self Of this dark prophecy.
There is stringency in the intelligence
offices I've never known before she wen
on, and II any woman is lucky enough
10 have a fairly decent housemaid a posi-
BILE cook. or waitress that is even mod
erately satisfactory, let her think twice be-
fore dismissing her, and then don't do It
| As a matter of fact, it is wisest now tc
show your servant every consideration
even to voluntary raise in her wages. In
| telligence office benches are bare or adoru-
ed with a few aspirants for places whose
exactions are so exorbitant or whose ac-
| eomplishments are so few that none but
the sinfully wealthy or the craven hearted
could tolerate or employ them.
when made my complaint to the wo-
man in the employment bureau she con-
fessed that there was simply no better ma
terial to be found and that IL the status Of
hired help didn't soon improve she and
her fellow professionals would be obliged
to get out of the business. No more good
servants are coming over. was her sadden-
ing assurance, and by every steamer she
tells me hundreds not only OF the best Irish
but the Swedes and Germans were going
back to their respective fathtrlands.
Now this seems positively APPALLING, does
il not But the closer you Investigate this
question, the clearer comes the reason for
this migration that threatens to utterly
overwhelm the American housekeeper. 1t
is going to overwhelm us because the price
Of servants is going up like a rocket, but
If you will talk to the Irish. Swedes, and
Germans you will be sure to find that they
are complaining strenuously OF ili-health.
A panic has gone through the ranks OF the
Irish newcomers, owing to the rigors OF
our climate. One year in America will
transform a buxom beauty from Ireland
into a shaiowy feeble whitefaced Great
ure living on drugs. The terrors Of accli-
matizations have now struck home to the
aspirants for travel on the other side.
1T requires at least three years for an
Irish girl to harden to the condition of
this country, and In an intelligence office
the greenhorns and the old stagers may be
classified at once by the different hue OF
cheek, texture of hair. and droop OF the
shoulders Our summers and winters alb
solutsly destroy all the beauty of the Euro
pean peasant class, and not only the beauty
h., ha t-fgp of ha IA +
it is health quite as much as anything
else that is the cause of this growing
exodus.
Then there is another serious consid
eration that at first may seem perfectly
absurd to the American housekeeper. for if
there is one we'll grounded belief among
us il is that in our we'll warmed. conve-
nient, labor-saving homes the average
Irish, English. Swedish. and German ser
want enjoys a regular sildei snap so far
as work Is concerned We hear with hu-
manitarian horror Of those English houses
where hot and cold water. furnaces, and
gas are unknown; of the German homes
where a single maid milks the COW and
hoes the potato patch in addition to light
diversion with the broom. cooking stove,
wash tub and scrubbing brush, and We
thank goodness that we are the most be-
nign housekeapers in the world
LAS a matter OF fact We work our SER
wants in a way that no German frau or
British matron would presume to do for
a day. and we give the most eXacting,
wearying labor to our do
mes,ics Of any people in the world. In
England, for example. there may be no
steam heat or electric lights. or hot and
cold water on tap in every room, but there
are just two servants employed TO every
one in households corresponding 10 the |
sort have in mind in this country. Then. |
too. the rules and rights of the servants |
are respected and obeyed with a docility |
that would make an American woman's |
hair stand on end
When an English maid engages to do
'hamber work she has that fact nominated |
n the bond. and though the skies fall and |
he social structure on which her mistress |
stands reels. she won't take the baby out |
or an airing or hand dishes at the table /
)r stop in one moment after the clock has /
struck the hour when her stated recess |
rom work begins.
Not in England, and certainly never in
Sweden or Germany. could a household be |
conducted on the American plan with SUCH
| corps OF servants as the average gentle
Olks' home here requires Our well-to-do
antilles keep three servants. a cook, laun-
iress. and maid. and the mistress of the |
house expects those three women TO lift
he entire domestic weight from her shout
lers. Unlike the English servants they
must each do various kinds OF work. and
mike the German servants they must do
much delicate complicated and detail la
,or.
The laundress must be skilled bed
maker the waitress willing to go to the
wash tub and the cook quiet. capable
and both waitress and laundress
Killing and able to cook on an emergency.
as her prototype nowhere else in the
forld. Only in the house OF rich English
nd very rich Germans do you find cooks
'ho can prepare as many as varied and
s delicate dishes as the ordinary Ameri-
an table is provided with three times a
ay. | can assure you that though the |
merican servants receive high wages and
very convenience is put at their hand |
lore intelligent nerve-straining contin- =
ed labor is required of them than any do !.
lestics | know. and the wages mean very
tile when the hours are long and the
Innate all against them.
'As to men servants in this country my
dormant at the intelligence office tells me !,
vat in few years. save In the house OF
lie very rich, they will not be seen Men +
,rvants must be managed By men. and in
ngland the buffers. grooms. Wallets. and
)achmen are under the direct control OF
lie masculine heads OF private houses. In
lis country the busy business man pre- L
RS to leave the servant question entirely 7
his wife who, naturally unable 10 man o
ye a male house servant, has gradually | l
lifted white-capped maids into these din '
* room situations, and few men come Il
yer any longer 10 40 out to domestic n
rvice. q
Unlike the foreign women. they do not a
)pear to suffer from the climate. but in n
cad the able ones feel the throb Of Ameri- {
IN enterprise and drop the napkin for c
me more manly symbol OF livelihood. the 4
rker, for instance. as did one clever Eng h