The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-07
B0STON'S ELEVATOR GIRLS.
Subject of a Sermon That II of Inter-
est to All Bread-Winners.
Rrooklyn Ea gle

Brooklyn Eagle.
Now they have elevator girls in Boston.
in the womens buildings, far, but that
is merely the beginning. Really, isn't the
social system getting good ways out of
joint, so far as women are concerned!
There is the same scarcity of women to do
homework in Boston as in every other
large city Here in New York japanese
and Chinese men servants are regular
institution, and their advertisements are
one of the striking features of the 'situa
tons wanted columns. In Chicago men of
American and European antecedents have
been pressed into domestic service. to fill
places that women have relinquished TO
seek work in offices and stores There is
less question that the men do the house
work well than that women do that we'll
where they replace men. The physical
work of running an elevator is not hard,
and. if she wore trousers close skirts
that could not catch in the sliding doors,
there is no more reason why a woman
should not handle elevator lever than
why she should not sell tickets on the ele-
waited stations here in Brooklyn
The real question is why women are not
content to remain in domestic service. Ger
y
reasons fine down TO the one of social
caste. The Declaration of Independence
gets into the blood, even of immigrants,
pretty early, and they and their children
resent any calling which puts badge of
servant or mental upon them. Whether
Homework does this or not, they think it
does, and they undergo all sorts of hard
ship and small pay to escape 1t. If it were
merely a question of inconvenience to the
householders who are unable to secure
servants, the matter would be annoying,
but not serious. There is another side of
the question, however, that is even more
far reaching than the servant problem.
Every elevator woman and every woman
ticket seller displaces a man. These men
as a rule support homes and have fami-
lies which are units in the social order
upon which the stability of the state rests.
When the woman takes his place for less
money the man, If he has family. hunts
for other work which will hold the family
together. If he finds il, all right. II not.
he joins the great army of tramps and the
family comes under the care of some of
the charitable societies. The unmarried
man beside himself who witnesses his
struggles or the disintegration Of his home,
has the strongest of all arguments against
himself assuming family obligations.
does not hesitate because that course in
creases immortality and adds to the army
of women in the dens which District At
torney Jerome told about in his campaign.
The center of this involved tangle is
household service. and the key Of the situa-
ton will be in hand when some one finds
a system which will tempt the women who
need to earn wages to return to this work.
which is crying out to be done and for
which almost any wages can be secured as
a reward for unusual competence. What
this system is the Eagle does not pretend
to know. Philosophers, economists and
heads of families are working on the prob
lem all over the country without being able
to shed much light Meanwhile family no.
tells are going up by dozens in every city
and are filled by people who have given up
the servant problem in despair. There are
many social questions calling for discus
sion and investigation. None of them is so
far-reaching as this of providing a perma-
nent supply of servants in a country whose
political system repudiates and denounces
all social caste lines.