New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-04
PART V.
EIGHT PAGES.

,-oheu-the general public has been inclined 70
Sac. the blame on the servant Incidents without
80 have been recorded of piano playing cooks. OF
.-,s ~ ali work who insisted on the use of the
,-lor - least one night a week and Of maids who
s,-,ande5 that they be treated as members OF the
family, etc. ,,
The other side Of the questionable unreasonable
strese-eceuls 10 have been overlooked The
-. - blame belonging TO her was shufiied in
.,4.b servants sins Of unreasonab!eness. and the
whole heaped upon shoulders OF the hired girl
For long tine all effort was directed to reform the
,trI and none TO making tie mistress more reason
sble. ~, ~,
Government was established IN this city by ere
stIng Bureau Of Licenses. A commissioner win
ample powers vas pat in charge OF the bureau
which was intended mainly 10 correct the many
abuses of the employment agency system ana TO
regulate the agencies. part Of the system ot~feg-
,,7rrto, Is rbe EMPLOYERS and Employees Court pre-
sided over by Commissioner Frederick j. L neat
ing the sessions Of which are held every frloAy
.n = large room al No. % Broadway III aoouoh
"a the court the commissioner has A corps Oh IN
.pectors who personally investigate complaints
against tho employers, employ = N''1 " o. "
tween agencies
v-be, the court vas Instituted and the inspectors
recruited by civil Service examination II was pc
llovcd that most OF the complaints would De OF
srnroyers against servants or OF servants who had
becn imposed upon b. agencies. That servants
,royld have repeated complaints Of unreasonable
ness against their mistresscs was not expected.
So many examples Of this unreasonabeness on tho
pa-t Of employers have cropped out In the different
cases that have been before the court that Com
missioner Keating has been able to make out
considerable LIST Of the faiings OF employers. and
believes that they responsible for much OF the
trouble over household service.
In tie first place it is In the matter OF
wages that the mistress is unreasonable, but
rather in demanding impossible amount OF work.
More objections are entered against the wretched
sleeping quarters which NewYork mistresses pro-
vide fer their hired girls. Next in the line OF
plants IS that Of insufficient food. a charge which
e3en the most guilty mistress is wont TO deny IN
dguantIy. The number Of women who deliberately
cheat their help ont OF wages by discharEins
them without pay after few days weeks SER
,ice or hv excessive deductions for broken china
enc brc-a-brac IS found TO be surprisingly large.
Then there score Of little things OF vast
Importance 10 the employees. IN which mistresses
Feem be unreasonable and which may best be
set forth by actual incidents which have come up
Girls who are sent to serve the families Of
small shopkeepers say that their mistresses are
often most unreasonable in the amount OF work
expected. 8Iistresses Of this sort try TO get hold
q green girls who have not been long in this
country and DO not know the reasonable limits Of
work. They asked 10 be cook. chembermsid.
waitress and IN addition for the children
Few girls stand the long hours and the heavy
strain As they get mixing OF the
same wages they leave their places.
n the summer the License Bureau received many
complaints from girls who were sent 10 summer
boarding houses at Sea Gate. Bensonhurst Coney
Island. Sheepshead and the Rockaways Girls were
expected to work from 40 o'clock in the morning
Until midnight. They slept mattresses spread |
the attic floors and regular meals were |
terved them. They were supposed 10 take bits OF |
food that the boarders LETT The work is never |
done, declared one girl in explaining her reason |
Cor leaving. and Ia only be fit for the hospital |
- kept at It all summer"
Many women secure help under false pretenccs |
disappearing the number OF persons IN the fam
Ay- Sometimes several children are hidden OF |
rent away until the girl gets settled. Condi- |
tons. hours and privileges are often msrepresented
The idea with many seems 10 be to promise any |
thing TO get girl and trust to some device or |
other 10 keep her Cases Of this sort are con- |
pEua-ly coming into the Employers Court When |
NE girls discover the misrepresentation they leave
taer places The mistress holds the employment |
agent responsible and brings him into court Sew |
era agencies have drawn up elaborate contract |
ioElns IN which everything IS set down in black |
ana white, and there is no chance for contrau,c- |
ton or misunderstanding
Fhis misrepresentation often extends TO the quar-
VIs provided for servants. Many housekeepers |
seem 10 hold the theory that any place at all IS
good enough for the hired girl. Abuses of this
sort are not found in the tenement and cheap !
Hat alone but in private houses fashionable apart
lAfnts and boarding houses.
"'ieA FAMILY moves into apartment the /
rooms are allotted the different members When /
q nave been provided for and the supply OF rooms
~ exhausted, some remembers the servant F.
" mere IS Mary 10 sleep?' Is the question.
-"c N@l IS EaEsacked for place for another :
W. Sno sometimes no place is found. Cases have
.0Ae up recently where girls were asked TO sleep
- Ne bathroom bed made by putting board.
ne oatntuh. \ mattress the washtubs IN
easement vas another expedient which q mis-
'1Ougn good enough for her maid Of all work
I' houses in this city a bed for the girl is
-, " on the dining kitchen table.
WISE FRANCES 4. Keller. who, with eight assist
ms carried on a series OF Investigations in
~ fh' Boston. Philadelphia and Chicago house
"u VINO has written out OF Work" book
-. ss subject Just from the press of the Putnams
cav many Instances OF impossible quarters. She
.e I.@l employers ask for a thoroughly re-
hon OF nice girl assuring her of good
- and then the only sleeping quarters pro-
r, ere bed made up for two on the dining
L''e' a closet between two sleeping rooms,
~ ventilation unless the doors Of these rooms
sf open or rooms heated only from the hall
~ ems o. a New-Yo-k woman who was build
sts5o. re ana costly house and planned the attic
81. 80 nigh from he floor that no one could
rec out Of them N 49, ~ ~
.Tb..' win never Go" the architect protested
y, e 4hoo|s must be lower down"
rooms a.. y. matter. the woman replied These
spend ~. 'oF The maids don't expect them 10
""Thsr. 'H Tine looking out"
are ytos,f scores Of employers IN this city who
Degzrtnsr.s te most cherished ordinances OF the
under nah. Health in making their maids sleep /
Of the I5or.y Conditions declared an inspector
Ia! a do,o- Bureau ;he other day. Il know Of
little bx Aas where the maids have to sleep in
room ~ u a room partItioned off from the hath
small ps,s emulation for both comes from one
places ,b opening airshaft. In other
Kitchen go. wants sleep IN little rooms off the
endsnser,N -''-sted only through the kitchen which
that q, :, "ot only the health of the servant hut