The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-22
THE DOMESTIC PROBLEM
SCARCITY OF SERVANTS A SIGN OF
EVOLUTION IN HOUSEKEEPING.
Commercial Enterprise May Eventu-
ally Solve the Present Diff
nculties.
New York Evening Post.


nation of comic despair has been on the
lips of housewives for so many generations,
as they compared notes about the impu-
dence. the stupidity. the greed. the slyness
of their servants, that an unfeeling world
simply shrugs 1t away now, with all other
talk of the everlasting servant troubles"
Yet the present cutlery is not. after all,
merely the echo of that fretful song of the
ages. Its latest variation is really rather
startling; for where once heard of the
shortcomings of servants, we now hear of
no servants at all. 1t is not the wickedness
OF Bridget. but her very existence, that is
to-day in controversy The question Is no
longer. "Win she suit?" but ''Will she
conner And this change of tone the maid
who turks hard by is not slow to perceive.
She may wonder at her suddenly increased
value. but she does not hesitate to insist
upon It. When she finds the bottom OF one
family's purse she knows another will be
glad to pay whatever she asks.
So with Bridget "all turns out for the
best"-as she is fond of observing-but what
OF her quondam mistress? Is 1t strange that
In some Of her moods she thinks herself the
victim of foul play? The rules OF the game
must have been violated, she feels; for
other way than her mother gave, she does
not receive anything like the same service.
But her mistake is TO search In personal re-
lations for the cause OF a change which
really depends upon the larger movement or
the worlds progress. II servants are too
few for the demand. some places are bound
to be vacant, though chromos Of surprising
brilliance may be offered with the wages.
And that there are to-day fewer servants
IN proportion to the demand than a gen
Grafton ago, not even hardened intelli-
gence office will deny. More families need
servants than ever before, both from in
crease of luxury in a large class and be-
cause In another large class the daughters
who once might have stayed at home and
found more congenial and better paid work
outside. And with this increase of demand
OF girls in the middle and lower classes
having gone into shops and factories,
where. though the work may be harder,
constraint Of living in home In which
they feel themselves aliens. Perhaps tenn
porary addition to the ranks of house serv-
ants may be made by bringing up the re-
serves from Scandinavia, Ireland, Poland,
Africa. Kamchatka and the isles of the sea;
but the causes now in operation are sure to
than nassine throueb the bonseho,d on
their way to homes OF their own, or to
other work. The Chinese are the only peo-
disposition to settle steadily down to house
service. and them we have excluded.
THE TRANSITION STAGE.
No juggling can avoid the plain issue.
There are not enough servants to go
around. and some families who want them
must do without II homework cannot be
done by householders. the family must
board. or move down the sliding scale of
luxury to a degree of simplicity where it
becomes possible to do without service.
Here comes In the family hotel, the apart
ment house and the fiat. Looked at in the
beginning by the American housewife as
something quite French and immoral. these
institutions have come TO be regarded at
last as a refuge from excessive care and
overwork. Yet. in spite Of their great null
tiplication. they afford that refuge to COM
paratively few, and those only in the cities;
while the conservative mass, the country
over who ardently wish to keep their home
life in the old form. as nearly as possible,
are left lamenting.
But some of the ungodly-no doubt they
are all old bachelors who live well at their
clubs and know nothing Of the tragedy in
volved In cooks departure-looking out on
life with synical impartiality. stand up and
tell all who complain that their troubles
are only growing palms." They hint that
evolution makes pretense at being, like
quack dentistry. IAN entirely painless op-
Grafton" These philosophers remind their
friends, In accounts about as soothing as
simian ancestors must have found their
tails very much in the way before the
ndppy LnOugnI occurred TO dispense with
them. and become complacent anthropoids.
Such comfort falls very cold upon the ears
of a family forced to give up the home of
years and take to narrow quarters be-
cause the mothers health is failing from
overwork: yet the exasperating old bach
elor Is not far wrong. Yesterday we suf-
pendages; to-day, we are losing them: to-
morrow, We may wake up to find that they
were always clumsy and unnecessary, and
10 wonder why we ever mourned at the
thought Of doing without them
Through the broader education of women
the old triad of womany professions
marriage, teaching. domestic service-has
been enlarged at both ends and In the mid
die. The woman who once served at house
work has been lured from 1t by a bewild-
ering number OF factories, stores and offices:
the highly-educated girl may now practice
any other profession as well as the teach
er's; and the married woman is not cut
on by marriage from all regular work out
side her home. 1t Is plain, in short, that
Tomorrow means to make full use of wom-
ans varied abilities. and will not tolerate
to-days wastefui plan of carrying on prim-
tive industries In isolated homes, when Ii
has been clearly proved that all can be bet
ter and cheaper done on a large scale. The
specialization OF domestic work has been
under way too long now for US to stop 1T If
we would. II Is bound to go on, till houses
are built without kitchens or laundries.
ana We should no more think of wishing
Tor those outgrown convenences than of
bringing back to each home the antiuuated
nand loom, the smokehouse, or the family
rul unknown TO which we are being driven
is simply one step farther along the road
We have already Travelled with comfort
and success.
A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.
Already experiments in cooperative
housekeeping have been tried in various
places; but that is clumsy device which
has seldom worked well in other industries.
and we need not expect much of il in feed
ing the multitudes. A frankly commercial
enterprise. a concern which will offer us
foods entirely ready for the table in large
variety. just as the great markets furnish
the uncooked materials. Is the next great
need The enormous success of the myriad
canned products. biscuits of every conceiv-
able sort and nearly ready" brea kfast
1oods, plainly proves that the public is
ready and eager for whatever lightens the
task OF family cooking. when wide-awake
men, looking for new outlets for their bust
ness. energy, become convinced that such
enterprises VIII pay there is surely no rea-
son why our hot soup may not be brought
10 US as OPPORTUNITY as the frozen dainties
whicn the confectioner now sends and hav-
Ing taken the first STEP the whole meal will
soon De brought and served as satisfac-
t0rily and with less expense than when the
COOK ana waitress and hOusemaid live and
labor under our roof
That all our daily wants will he met o,1r
food prepared, our linen washed. our rooms
put In order, not by a humble member Of
the household but by bold commercial en-
terprise quite outside-this is the erea,
catastrophe Fastening down upon MS the