New-York tribune., 1901-12-23
PHASES OF DOMESTIC sERrIcE.

The investigations of the Industrial Commits
sion into the servant girl problem" have pro-
duced some good results and some of doubtful
value. We notice, for example, that the re-
luctance of young women to enter household
service IS attributed in part 10 the fact that it
would operate to cut them off from ASSOCIATE
with class OF men such as they would be
willing to marry" Yet at the same moment
there comes TO hand the tale of woe of CORE
spondeDt who within three years has had three
servants leave her employ to get married; and
each of the three married a man OF at least as
good class as her own. Corroborative in
formation inclines to the belief that this cor
respondents experience is by no means singular,
and that marriage is about as frequent among
domestic servants as among any other working
women.
Again, the Industrial Commission has discov-
cred that women object to a service in which
they themselves are hired instead of merely a
specified portion Of their labor. They object
that is, to being at all times subject to the call
and commands Of their employers Doubtless
there is some truth in that. An old saying re-
minds US that mans works from sun to sun
but woman's work is never done" But even in
that the mistress generally requires no more of
her servant than she does herself, and often not
SO much. There are thousands of women in this
city who rise in the morning before their SER
wants do Moreover, long hours do not mean
long continuity of labor The salesgirl or fac
tory hand must keep at work necessarily during
| business hours, but cases are exceptional in
which the household servant cannot, if she will
find several hours Of leisure and recreation dur
ing the day. 1t is a safe assumption that on
the average the number Of hours spent in actual
work by the household servant is considera bIv
smaller than that spent by almost any other
class Of working women.
Nor can we regard as we'll taken the point
raised that servants sleeping accommodations
are unfit. In few cases they NAV be In the
vast majority of cases servants rooms are in
comparabiy better in all respects than the rooms
occupied by the girls in their own homes before
going out TO service" or in the intervals be-
tween engagements. In large houses where
many servants are employed, sleeping and other
accommodations are usually of generous char
acter- In those households where the Servant
girl problem" gives most trouble to wit where
only one or two servants are employed the SER
wants rooms are usually directly adjacent to
those of the families themselves and are not IN
comfortable though they may be unattractive
We are not, of course, attempting TO traverse
or in any way 70 review, all the findings and
conclusions OF the commissions investigator
nor are we so rash as to assume offhand to
solve one CT the most complex and trying socio-
industrial problems of the age. But it seems
hitting to point out that some of the commonest
stock in trade explanations of the troubles of
housekeepers have really little foundation in
fact. Perhaps also it may be properly sue-
Sested that there are other causes of trouble
than those generally mentioned, some of them
involving the ethics of housekeepers, not in their
relations to their servants so much rs in their
relations to each other and to society at large.
1t would be interesting and perhaps profitable
to know how testimonials of character in do
mestic service compare, for trustworthiuess,