The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-02-24

fected any of our plans" she told a
reporter for the State Journal this
morning, land probably will not do so
until we have had several meetings,
but some of us are very much interest
ed in the scheme and have ideas which
we will talk over together tomorrow.
THE principal trouble usually is to
find a competent houSekeeper, but Mrs
Will Small of Maple Hill. who has had
q great deal of hotel experience and is
certainly qualified for the position of
steward of a club such as
we propose to organize, is willing to
accept the responsibilities, and if we
can find sufficient number of families
who are willing to try the experiment,
and who can agree as to the details,
our plan will soon be in operation. The
plan is to rent one of the large vacant
houses in Potwin and furnish it, tn ;
upper rooms for the housekeeper and
maids and the lower floor for dining
rooms. 1t will not be possible to give
each family a separate dining room,
but each may have a separate table,
The steward will do the marketing, keep
the accounts, hire the servants and,
in fact, assume all the responsibilities
of feeding and serving the families who
join the club and the members will
pay the bills, sharing the expense
equally. Families with children will
most certainly be accepted, but there
will probably be no differ ence in the
dren.
I'VE have estimated the expense per
capita at ten cents a meal. Some think
this is too low, but I believe that it
can be done, judging by the average
expenditure in the families whose
housekeepers I have consulted
The theory of cooperative house
keeping works out beautifully for
economy of expenditure and trouble,
and Potwin people are preparing to
see how it will be in practice. Their
experiment will be watched with in
terest by many others who have tried
both housekeeping and boarding with
out much satisfaction. and who nave
come to the conclusion that the prob
lem of feeding the human family is as
vexatious as it is important.
When it comes to a choice between
the expense of keeping house and the
discomfort of boarding with the d1sad-
vantage of each method extending
more or less to the other, few people
know what to decide. The expense or
living in Topeka is really enormous,
the housekeepers say, considering the
size of the town. One woman who has
lived in each place says she can keep
house as cheaply in Kansas City or
Chicago as here. zone hundred ana
fifty dollars a month is a moderate es-
innate for the expense of keeping
house in Topeka for two people says
one matron of twenty years expert
ence. "Of course you can board cheap
err but loathe boarding. At the same
time it is terrible for q man to dig in
an office all month and at the end pay
out most of his salary for household
expenses. And think of the other
things, clothes, travelling expenses
amusements, which I have not esti-
mated How can you save anything?
1t is no wonder the young men are
afraid to marry. They well may be.
1 am sure every one would hail with
joy a cooperative housekeeping
scheme that could be made to work
successfully and which would combine
the advantages of boarding and house
keeping at a diminished expense and
eliminate some Of the disagreeable fea-
lures of both"
The Potwin scheme if it materializes
will not be the first cooperative
housekeeping experiment tried in To-
peka. A number of years ago several
North side families tried the same
thing. They found the trouble with
cooperative housekeeping like other
housekeeping to be the "help" prob
lem, and although their plan worked
successfully for awhile and they were
all well pleased with it, it had finally
to be abandoned owing to the impossi-
bility to secure a competent house
keeper and efficient servants