The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-20
Our Employment Agencies
Find Work for Many Persons
Places 800
One Year. Household Servants IN

more vacancy, which would give them an
even thousand. and they were DESTROYS or
closing the year with even figures. They
had place in a hotel open and young
colored man wanted IL, but he did not have
the necessary 8 with which TO pay his Zee.
and. therefore. could not take it, The man
in charge of the agency told him IL he could
raise p cents that he would give him the
place. The negro looked faithfully all day
for the quarter, but he could not get IT, The
next morning he showed up with the quar-
ter, but the agreement was broken ana tx
would take the 81 on this day 10 get the
place. The colored man was undaunted and
kept hunting up his friends until he
raised the necessary price and then secured
the position, where he has been ever since
The employment agencies always give
home labor the preference, but II they can
not secure enough laborers then they have
to send away for them. 1t was through the
efforts of an employment agency that the
first wages of $l.15 a day was paid for
ordinary labor Ii was local contractor
who wanted the men and II was at time
when labor was scarce, so 10 get them the
agency told him he would have to give more
money, which he offered, and on the Mon
day morning following the agency had all
the men he wanted, namely. 200. on the
work.
SMALL PART OF THE BUSINESS.
People generally are under the impress
sion that employment agencies are for the
purpose of finding places for servant girls
and office boys, but the truth is this is
the smallest part of the business: that is.
with the exception of the agencies devoted
entirely to finding servant girls places. An
other class of labor that they furnish is
foreign labor TO the large construction
companies. One of these offices has things
so arranged that within two days they
can import over 1900 foreign laborers into
this city. They will furnish any class OF
foreign laborers with the exception OF the
Greeks, who are barred. In fact IL seems
iS ont AL
around, for it is coming to pass that no
one will hire him
The Greeks lost out with the employment
agencies because they go in colonies, with
each one of whom is a leader who can talk
little English and make the others be-
lieve that he is a power i'm himself. These
leaders seldom work In their dealings
with the employment agencies they were
always looking for a graft. leader would
come into an office and offer TO furnish so
many Greek laborers IL he were given a
small per cent. for doing IL. To this the
agency would agree if they were greatly in
need of men. He would send his colony
to work and then watch the board i'm the
employment office. When he saw a place
where day laborers were getting more
wages than the ones he had sent, he would
go and tell them that he knew where they
could get more money The consequence
was that the laborers would quit work and
then the leader would come around and
offer the same gang of men again to the
agency for a small per cent This prac-
tice among the Greeks kept up for some
time before the employment agencies FOUND
it out, but when they did learn that they
were being worked" they shut out the
Greeks altogether. The Greeks also make
very disagreeable workmen from the fact
that they are always quarreling among
themselves.
MORE PLACES THAN GIRLS.
The employment agencies that are de-
voted to finding servant girls positions
the interesting places to visit In them in
the mornings you can see girls OF all de-
scriptions and they are all looking for
work. One agency during last year secured
positions for nearly 1900 girls in private
families. 1t is said however, that a few
years ago this number was almost doubled,
but now the demand is greater than the
supply and that IL is impossible TO get all
the girls that are wanted. People who have
charge of employment agencies say that Ii
| is the factories that are taking the girls
who used TO work in the Kitchens, and that
| they are wholly TO blame at the present
time for the scarcity of servant sirls.
Said one woman who manages an employ
| II can't understand why the girls of to-
| day have such prejudice against working In
private families. IL used TO be some ten
| years ago that could get from twenty to
thirty girls a day TO take places OF this
kind. bu: now / have a hard matter TO find
that many I'm a week
THE places for them TO go and work
| are numerous and better wages are paid
| now than ever before. The lowest salary
| | have my books Is $3.50 a week. and
| from this they range high as IS a week.
This includes board. washing and room.
4 which in all would amount To about so .
| week / also have a number OF places that
| pay s. for second girls who do not have .
/ bit of cooking to do. IL Is getting to b
| that il is only the richer people who can
| afford servant girls and those OF moderate
| circumstances cannot get them at all
think one thing that has made the servant
| girl demand such high wages is the fact
| that now. in the majority of families. she
| has more night work to do for people now
| give more entertainments at their homes:
| then too. girl many times has TO stay
| home in the evening and take care of the
| house while the people go out to some sort
| of function.
| MANY women think IL they can get q
| foreign girl that they will get cheap help,
| but i'm this l will say that they are greatly
| mistaken for the girls are not like the
| men. They learn very fast and soon
| as they think they have progressed far
| enough TO demand better wages they do so.
| | have always found that women very
| DESTROYS of making money no matter In
| what station of life they are.
| AS to what is going To be done about
the servant girls. / at a loss TO say.
| Some venture the opinion that we are going
| TO import women from Japan and China
to take the places in private families. and
| no doubt something of this kind will ID
| done, for all of the girls in this country are
| going in factories aud stores 90 work and
| there are not enough OF them TO supply
| private families.