Evening star., 1901-11-09
RECOMMENDATION OF SERVANTS.
English Objections to the German
Plan Which Seems So Good.
From the London telegraph

English Objections to the German
Plan Which Seems So Good.
From the London Telegraph.
| In the Lambeth county court last week
| public attention was called to the German
method of references in the case of do
| mestic servants. This consists of a little
| book supplied to servants, gratuitously by
any local police office in the fatherland. in
| which the employer at the end of the period
| of engagement writes the girls "charac-
| ter which is subsequently stamped Of
hcially. Judge Emden apparently made the
acquaintance of the system for the first
time, and he describes it ''affordng rro-
| lection both to the employer and the en-
ploye," and he expressed his belief that .'if
such plan were adopted in this country it
would prevent many abuses" The question
warranted an inquiry, and the result of
this has been to show, on the authority of
people who have lived in both countries and
have made special study of the servant
problem, that the book plan,'' as practiced
in Germany, would have no chance of sue
cess In England. A commercial man. who
has lived many years in Prussia, and is
now the proprietor of several restaurants
| in London, informed our representative
answered admirably in Germany but would
not work in England 'In Germany he
pointed out, girls are to some extent
trained for service, and it comes quite nat
IL al " liiclh " 80 " Tie pOllCe OllCe,
which discharges various administrative
functions unknown in England, and to ask
for the service book. penalty is entaiIed
upon servants who do not obtain the book.
and no master or mistress in Germany
would think of engaging girl without ore
1t is true that servants are more plentiful
in Germany than in England, and they
have a totally different idea of their i'm
portance to that entertained by their Eng
lish sisters. Red tape, as you would call
it; discipline and routine seem quite nat
ural to us in the fatherland, but things are
so different in England, where the mention
of a police service book would certainly
result in the revolt of the entire domestic
tribe. German servants coming to Eng
land bring their official character regis
ter giving complete record of the hold
er's career, but there is a very general
agreement on the point that a few months
In London is sufficient to convert them to
the English domestic's view of the case,
and the book soon disappears.
The keeper of a registry Office who was
consulted very recently did not hesitate to
laugh at the idea of transplanting che Ger
man system to England. 1.-The demand"
she said, ''is so great that people are will
ing to take them with the merest pret anse
at a reference. and many people don't even
take the trouble to consult with the pre-
vious employer. A character certified by
the police would be out of the question: and
| is opposed, moreover. to every English idea
on the subject of servants, whose position
in England is quite different to that in
|
full Further inquiry showed that very
large number of German girls are sent into
ENGLAND every year, and the number is
gradually increasing Owing to their ignor-
ance of English, they take situations in the
first instance in the kitchens of restaurants
and hotels of which their fellow-country-
men may be managers or proprietors
They remain, as one of our informants
stated, until they have learned little
English, whereupon they pack up their
baggage and secure an engagement in an
English house. 1t takes them about cne
week to learn that no police book is wanted
In England, and they are wonderfully quick
In absorbing the English servants ideas on
the point of references generally As
rule, they do not care to return to domestic
service in Germany. and. being Clean in
dustrious girls, they are able to obtain ox-
cellent situations in London, which they
generally prefer to provincial towns" 1t
will be seen, therefore. that Judge Emden's s
contribution to the solution of the servant
problem is not destined. apparently to
create revolution in the present system
! OF our domestic service, and the keynote
OF the difficulty appears to be that the de-
mand for all classes of generals. cooks
housemaids and nurses is far greater than
fha