The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-25
THE sERvANT PROBLEM.

of this story-Dut we seem to hasc lost the moral.
 THE SERVANT PROBLEM.
 In The Advertiser of Friday there was q timely communication on the subject of house .s9sYants. which was worthy of more ats htion than Is us- uaily accorded to anonymous articles in a newspaper. It is a question which comes directly home to the white peo- pie of Montgomery. and 1t is an emil nently practical question, by the way
 Is it strange that there are so many compiaints of inefficient and untrust- worthy house servants when almost no effort is made to ensure efnc'eney! When an intelligent business man wants to employ a salesman, collector or bookkeeper. he does not take any man who presents himself ana Will work for the price. This would rot De business sense at all. The applicant for a, responsible position must be able to furnish references both as to quail dcations and character. as well as ea- pacity to do the work required or him' and if these are not satisfactory he must hunt another job. The business man has A system, and prudence in the selection of his employees is part cf his system. Ia it not singular, to say the least or if that when we are to employ house seryant-a cook. for example-we should not adopt any of the precautions which the most easy-going business man insists on2 Yet, if the reader will reflect a moment. heFwiil see that not l only our property but our physical comfort, our health and our lives, are largely in the keeping of the cook we employ without knowing anything or her character or her habits. She may be nice, honest and capable. or she may be vile in her conduct, uncleanly in her habits and dishonest in her methods We take her without knowing anything o, her except what she chooses to tell and that is pretty certain to be to her credit Sometimes when the head ol the house goes about employing cooK' he (or she) will inquire if she Is coH- uetent, and will be sure to receive d" affirmative reply. Then the next queso tion is, where were you last employed and she is pretty apt to name respoh" sible and respectable family-and that is usually the end of it. Seven times ont of ten, we make no effort to ascer- tain whether her replies were true or false, but if her price suits she IS en-
 gagged.
 Do we ever stop to think seriously
 what this means? There are coloreo cooks in Montgomery who are thor oughiy competent and trustworthy, put
 there are many who are everything else. When the cook is installed in the kitchen, she is as general thing put in control of the commissary depart
 ment, and, what Is of infinitely greater
 moment, she is put in charge of the health of the family. The dishes pre-
 pared by her may be all that the most fastidious appetite could desire, or they may be such as will prove a serious
 menace to the health and the lives of I all who eat of them.
 Nor is the financial side Of the ques- tion one to be lightly set aside. If | man has any curiosity in his makeup let him make a tour of the streets or Montgomery. morning. noon or even ing and especially those streets away from the business centre of the city.
 At every corner, and at every resting nlaae he will find congregations or idle I Nor gray headed grand sire. sitting around lehjoying themselves. with no more l thought of the future than so many 1 animals.
 How do they live? None of them show evidence of want or starvation. hut almost without exception they are sleek and bear an appearance Of nav ing plenty to eat. Where do they get 1it9 The ravens do not bring them food. nor do Quails and mama rain down from heaven for their benefit In
 some cases the wives, mothers and sisters of these vagrants make money Inv washing and other work. and thus feed their worthless relatives. ana 1 doubtless some of them are fed by less creditable efforts on the part of the female members of their families. But in many other cases the mother wife or sister is a cook. and the wages she takes home forms but a small portion of her contribution to the support of the family. If she is watched, it will be found that a basket is part of her daily furnishing. and he would be
 easily gulled ind sed who would imag- inc that the basket goes home empty. Even If she does not take part of table
 ware, she is pretty apt to make free with the provisions and this is one
 reason why fiocks of idle. dissolute men 1 and boys show no signs of privation.
 What is the remedy? Obviously. the
 only remedy is to use in the selection
 of cooks and other house servants the
 same precautions that business man