The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-04

Even the women had grown reconciled to
the inevitable and had almost forgotten
a different order.
Among all the uncertainties Of the
situation, one thing is becoming plain as
day. The wages Of the housemaid are
steadily rising. In Cincinnati, at least,
girls who have been receiving So and $3.50
are now demanding 81, $4.50 IS, and even
more. 1t is beyond all peradventure that
a larger and larger share of the income of
the family must be set apart to pay for
domestic labor This will be unwelcone
to all mistresses, and 1t will force many to
become their own maids. In innumerable
homes $3.50 is the limit, beyond which
the earnings of the bread-winner cannot
be stretched. Those lines Of limitation!
How fixed and how tragical they are!
AS for the homes where they are not so
unyielding, 1t is to be said that there is no
other one commodity where the returns
for the outlay are SO quick and so satisfy
ing as for first-class domestic help. For
example, compare the genuine, solid, vital
comfort a woman could get out Of two $25
hats to that which the same amount would
buy If expended to increase the wages Of
a thoroly competent servant from SO to 81
per! If some of my readers resentfully
exclaim: 1--WE never had $25 hat in our
lives" I reply, thankfully, Perhaps you
are none the worse off. -
"Effcency' the Question. ':..;
AS a matter of fact. the great question
of the household Is not wages" but .ef-
fciency." The wages Of the great labor
ing classes rise and fall with a sort Of
cosmical might Trying to repress them
is like trying to head off a tidal wave
with a sponge. All sooldtng and worrying
and threatening are wasted effort And
in all good hearts there must be Joy It
this steady increase in the amount of
money received for useful labor.
The question OF efficient Eervica Ia
one Of the greatest in the world. Any
rational person who has any money to
spend at all would prefer to pay 1t to
d g. good cook rather than a poor one; to
q chambermaid who could make a bed
SO that one could not lie awake If he
1 tried to. rather than to one who always
fixed 1t so that the toes stuck out from
under the bedding. The thing that ag-
gravates the sensible minded housekeep-
ers whose establishm ents are run on a
liberal scale. Is having to pay fve-dollar
bills for one-dollar Bridgets. What they
want to know is whether there is any way
of training housemaids to really earn their
{ wages.
A Cincinnati Experiment..
{ An experiment has recently been made
in q. Cincinnati church that may prove
Of more than local interest. It's pastor
started "a Hous emaids club The ideas
that prompted him to do this were sucI
as these: In the first place, the high
minded and respectable housemaids hav,
but little diversion. If they do not gat
& about with low companions, go to yulga
theaters, resorts and beer gardens, the.
q live a lonely and retired life. This i
unnatural and unfortunate for women a
any age, and especially for those who ar
young. In the second place, they hav
almost no opportunity, or at any rate in
centive, for self-improvement. Few o
them possess enough education to guild
them along the path Of culture, even
they were disposed to follow it. The re
suit Of these conditions Is that domesti
servants are looked down upon as If en-
gagged II, mental labor. Those who pur
sue this really noble avocation form 10y
estimate Of themselves. Their position j
life seems degraded, and they. lose self
respect In such mental attitude, Is
strange that they do not strive to i'm
prove? At any rate, few Of them do. The
! remain exactly what they We're. save 70
little increased deftness In performin
routine tasks.
.HousemaIds' Club Organized.
The author of this movement though
he saw that what was needed in house
holds was what is needed everywhere
greater thought power among worker!
These girls must be trained to reason
Their mental powers must be developed
And in order to accomplish this, ther
must be, in the first place, incentive, an
in the second place opportunity. III
4 therefore, invited large number to as
semble in the parlors Of his church an
organized "a Housemaids' Club" both f
plea sure and for culture. When they. f1e
he addressed them in the following words
Dignity Of Housework.
"You young women occupy, next !
& wives and mothers, the most inf1uenti,
position in the social system. To a. dc
gree impossible of exaggeration, almos
you have the destinies of the househol
y in your hands. You can turn a HON
into a heaven or a. hell You can drit
mothers to distraction, fathers to drin
and little children to crime. A posttie
so, influential as this must be one of gray
importance and great responsibility. Yo
look down on yourselves and you perm
j others to look down on you. And yet,
Is in your power to make yourselves {
l1onored and respected as trained nurse
If you permit yourselves to be ignoral
slatterns; II you do not feel the sacred