New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-13
EMPLOYMENT OFFICE WOES.
Mistresses as Well as Maids Unreasonable
and AVaricIous.

When the new law regulating the licensing OF
enplovrnent bureaus was passed. the average en-
ployer Of domestic labor observed. mentally or au-
cibIy, as she laid down the paper containing the
welcome Intelligence:
Now We shall have an end 10 these aboulinable
Offices"
But there are some other abominable things OF
which the law takes cogniZance, and one OF the
three women now employed by the city for the in
spection of employment bureaus says that some Of
them are going to be put an end 10 also.
The sins not all the side Of the Office
keeper said Miss Jane Seymour Klak 70 q Trib-
une reporter yesterday. Some Of them are bad
enough IN all conscience bur there are honest Of
ice keepers TOO. and they have hard 10 hoe.
Between the ignorance and cupidity Of en-
poyes the rapaci1y and viIlauous practice OF
bad agencies the avarice and dishonesty Of en-
ployers, they often find themselves between the
devil and the deep The woes OF the en-
ployer are well known. the financial extortion and
immoral abuses TO which the employe may be
subjected are on record; but little has been said
about what the Offices have TO contend with
EMPLOYERS DISHONEST
First there is the dishonesty Of employers. and
want you TO make that point Just as strong as
possible 7 viii give you Just a few instances
out Of scores that I might mention.
Al employer engaged a cook and second girl. and
week later sent word 70 the office: Those girls
Gid not come. Please refu-d ne my money The
seventeen blocks 70 refund the money, and found
both the girls employed there.
a boarding house keeper wanted four girls
The agent said he could furnish three and the
man went IN search Of a fourth. promising 10 re-
turn FOR The three. He never came back and in
vesuga1ion developed the fact that he had visited
every employment agency in the neghborhood.
The hrst Office keeper had taken the trouble 70
60 after the three girls and they had waited three
hours il vain
esAed al an Office kept by and his wife and
asked for TWO girls. As she was n great straits
she SAID she would give dollar the Office
! they could procure The servants for her lInme-
oate-y- TIE wife q thu proprietor elderly
woman. spent IRE whole % the next day running
after girls, only 10 met with the news when she
returned, completely tired out, that Mrs. B. has
changed her mind Do you wonder that she sat
oo"1 wonan-liAe and had good cry? II was the
only compensation she had. I might multiply in
Stances bu- what is the use? These are questions
ne law cannot always couch, but provision has
been made that the agency, in d case similar 10
ms snail Be reimbursed for its trouble. and il
should be
TRYING TO DODGE THE FEE.
sone employers have a way Of waiting in Offices
ana listening TIE applicants for employment give
iae.r addresses fhea Jney call on them. write
&c them AID obtain help without paying the zee,
lie following is 4 common practice among the
RESPECTABLE middle class when engaging imni-
GraHt girls: T1ey arrange with the office keepe:
aa 10 the amount OF wages which shall be paid.
iaer they -ake the girl and have the house
c4ea1eo floors scrubbed, blankets washed all the
Pay $ or Sc. instead Of the Sl2 that they
promised to give. Excuse. the girl was green: she
Neecei teaching Another thing often done with
inexperienced girls IS 70 hire them as mattresses CT
G17ses and then set them 10 scrubbing floors.
Washing. doing everything that comes TO hand.
That IS rot fair.
Tie agency is often forced. from the lack OF
supply, 10 send employees who are inefficient Il
cannot create them. II is impossible for an agent
70 o. as particular as he might ike 10 be about
Who DC sends. but 4 is quite possible 10 be care
~ IS 70 whom and where employees are sent
TREATMENT OF GIRLS
a model Office received an application from an
employer for cook and waitress. References were
asked and given, and the girls sent. One Of them
returned il few days with the announcement
mat the mistress % the house had told her that
she might make a great deal more money than
she had been in the habit or gaining by domestic
service, and offered opportunities Cor doing so.
That employer bIacklisted.
Another employer. living a block from River
side Drive cannot keep help. The food is both in
sufficient and il-snelLng and several girls having
agreed Ia this statement. the Office from which
'Aey were sent declines 70 furnish further help.
a physician living In fiat expected the maid 70
sleep in the Office, carrying her bedding TO and
RON the kitchen every evening. Another physi-
can. living in a fat OF four rooms. with a family
o. ten eleven. and no bathroom. did not specify
where the maid sleep. Presumably II was
designed that she should occupy the FIRE escape The
waves offered were SO a month. A family living In
q bat expected the maid 10 sleep on A wire mat
tess In the dining room This was not SO bad
bat when nothing but sheet was provided q
departed. She slept on the thing ror q Week, ane
"nen she eft her body was tattooec al over witt
me marks OF the wire"
Bat II the employers are unreasonable anc
ere Z thorn in the side OF the Office keeper II
j. .st ;sslai &c charge then, any Zee. Wat Is the
result A girl obtains a place with no other et-
-orf than sitfir IN an Office and refusing all places
ala. Trla fnzr