The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-22

Out of work.--Frances A. Kellar has succeeded in making very uncommon book out of a very commonplace sub- 3cct-
 The book is a record of practical in- xestiEations made in New York, Bos- ton. Philadelphia and Chicago.
 The author and eight assistants wis fled several hundred employment agen- { oies. both as employers and seeking po- Hitions as servants, teachers, stenog- xnphers, models and general workers E The book, though, from its text, 1t secms written mostly for students and educators, will also prove of great in forest to householders and employers generally. as well as to the unem- pIoyed.
 the present system of employment agencies and with the facts of these researches before them home-makers and business men as well as public of- 6cials, can do much to improve condi- tfons.
 There were on the publication of these papers 522 licensed agencies in New York. agencies for bringing to- xether the employer and the employed. for even short time without coming in touch with these agencies.
 Oftentimes the same agent supplies servants and teachers.
 Social secretaries and buffers, cooks and models!
 Tn my own experience with an &C., quaintance with many of the Southern women in New York who are trying to gain living in New York have heard many stories of these same agencies.
 One Southern woman undertook to Afurnish on a per cent. white servants fo wealthy householders in the Black Belt country. Her trade waxed strongly and she was making much oh her per cent basis when she ad- vanced the money to one coachman, that is, bought his ticket South, and Furnished his lunch basket. when. pres tDt the coachman got off at some sta- tion between New York and his desti- nation and never more was heard of. Alas, in every undertaking of poor, sentimental womankind some sort of rascality seems ready to rush in and devour all the profits of a seasons hard work!
 Frances Kellar makes entertainine pages as well as profitable reading ot the course of her investigations After a time" she writes; i've would pass for either the better class of employees, or the poorer class of employers, and Frequently we did not know which we would be until we saw the office. Il 1t was swell we crept into the em- p1oyes' quarters; and if poor we swept Into the employers room" She relates amusingly many of. her experiences When any individual assumes a diff ferent personality 1t requires constant tact and self-possession. When we came straight up against an old ac. uuaintance who was looking for a maid and were sent in to her to fill that place, something needed to be dono at once. for the manager was ever watchful On one occasion ten associates happened to be in the same office, and one was sent in as a cook tc the other who was an employer. In n spirit of mischief the "cook' insisted that she would go even though we re. piled. The wages are small. we give no privileges. and have seven children who play in the Kitchen Self posses sion was certainly in demand. wher an office manager says familiarly well. sis. out of a 1ob?' and tries tC lead us down the room by the hand it Is rather difficult to stifle pride ana dignity and resent 1t in manner 1T Keeping with a new station"
 Many abuses of such offices art brought to view. That of charging fees Tn advance and then not guaran- teeing nor giving any place. This happens in the agencies for higher class work.
 Some very reputable bureaus and entertainment agencies require fees from those who employ them never giving thereafter an engagement. Many literary agencies charge a fee on re- ceiving a manuscript and never find sale for it. But Miss Kellar's in