The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-11
THE casts SERVANT PROBLEM.

InE EASl SCkNANI FRODLG'''
The servant problem is becoming 50
serious in the states that cooperative
living in the country and apartment
house living in the city are making in
roads upon the typical american home,
Formerly the servant-class grew with
each shipload of immigrants from Ire
land. Germany and Scandinavian coun-
tries. and it was possible. for small
outlay. to get willing and obediant help
since then several things have operated
to reduce the supply. Immense manu-
featuring growth. the building Of in
Vulnerable mills. have taken gnls from
the kitchen TO the loom, it being their
idea that the latter employment $ the
more honorable of the two. New work
lor women, the telephone service. type
writing. trained nursing, etc. have
called for the brightest of the female
working population and paid its re-
cruits far better than domestic
service possibly could. Cheap land in
the West. opened by a network of
railways. have taken working families
where they may work best for them
selves. Two other factors are reducing
the visible supply of Americanized ser
vants-the public school with it's in
centives TO young people to rise above
d mental station and a change in the
character of immigrants. from the
original Celtic and Teutonic strains TO
Latin and Slav, these latter classes
being inadmissible to American house
holds
between getting on with no servants or
looking about for a new source OF sup |
ply. Europe is not a satisfactory goal |
to those who choose the latter alter |
native, the British and German depend !
encies having diverted the best class |
Of servants with the promise of cheap |
homes. Nobody wants the negro out
dde of the South, and he is not admir-
d there. What remains are the best
servants in the world the Chinese and
he next best servants, the japanese
The former are a servile race; the lat
er have a lower-claEs population-nCt
peaking in the criminal or disorderly
ense-whO, though made more or less
cocky" by national successes, are like
or a long time to come. OF the two
Asiatic groups the Japanese are the
My ones who enjoy free entrance to
he United States.
1t would seem to be worth the While
# Japanese emigration companies to
rovide skilled cooks. walters and the
ike to meet this wide demand. Train
ng in American cookery could be i'm
,arted in Japan itself and the skilled
ervants sent to sub-agencies in all the
arge cities of the United States where
Iolds as wanted. Every year, after the
people had begun to appreciate the labor
# a servant who does not set himself
Up at once as his masters equal, would
Increase the demand. There IS political
ide to this question also. which may
veil attract the notice of japanese
'ublic men. The concentration on the
cast of so many Japanese is reviving
he old exclusion spirit in which there
re limitless opportunities of harm.
That way war might lie. But a, wise
distribution of these people would dis
rose of half million coolies or more
menacing any American in
crest or attracting any particular no.
ice. It ought to be worth trying, for
t would not only afford Japan an out
ct for surplus population, but would
heck a serious drawback to American
amily life.