The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-16
THE sERTANr GIRL 4BRoAD.

To the looker-on in Vienna there is a
great deal of quiet enjoyment to be had
out of the different phases which the
so-ealled servant girl problem assumes
It is a very Kaleidoscope of social change
and Encouragement. Just about the
time when one might have substantial
reason for expecting that the matrons
of the land would be organizing them
selves for effective protection against the
woes which find their origin in the
kitchen, behold We learn of the organiza-
ton of servant girl unions throughout
the land!
The autocrat Of the cook stove, the
dining room and the bed chamber, it APP
pears, assumes very harmless appear
ance in some other lands besides this.
Here the right to resort to the parlor
and drawing room at certain specified
times may be insisted on, and the right
to receive Company and entertain them
after dark may be a privilege sanctioned
by tradition and usage alike among this
easy-going people; but it is not so
elsewhere. And that it is not so else
where is reflection which renders the
sorrows of the household matron all the
harder to bear.
In Germany, for instance. they do
things different" There, as the result
of years of thoughtful regulation, the
household servant has been completely
Invested of even the appearance of a
domestic autocrat The question never
comes up there as to what the servant
girl has hired out to do. In Germany
the qualified butler is an equally capa-
just love of a cook, and altogether
they appear to be the most docile and
well-trained persons in the world who.
in case there is the slightest derelietion.
can be disposed of without possibility of
trouble
The uniformed American householder
naturally wonders how such things have
been brought about. Well, it is not diff
ficult to learn. The process, whether
regarded as simple or complex. must at
least be regarded as effective. First of
ALL the great depot of servant girl sup
ply in Germany appears to be the police
department. AS soon as YOU de-
eide to get servant girl in
Germany you go to the police
department. On paying the small sum
of so pfennigs they give you a book.
That book tells you about the servant
whom you are at liberty to hire; where
he or she was born, where educated and
trained, his or her religion, whether
married or single, where he or she has
lived for the past two years and SO on
with close personal description of the
individual, so that there may be no mis-
take as to identity. Then when you
hire the servant you must fill out certain
blanks and return them to the police, or
you will get yourself into trouble. These
blanks you fill in order to tell what wages
you are paying your servant, and wheth-
er he or she gets your old clothes and
what kind of work you want the servant
to do. When the servant girl leaves
you she must forthwith HE herself to
the police, taking with her a written
testimonial setting forth why she was
discharged and how she conducted her
self while holding down the job.
We haven't anything of that kind in
this country. and it's absence must. of
course be taken to great extent as
explaining why the servant girl with us
is so complicated a social and economic