Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1906-10-08
VAIN SEARCH FOR MAIDS.
DOmestfcs Abroad Won't EmiGrate
Says Mrs. EEan.

DOmestics Abroad Won't EmiGrate,
Says Mrs. EEan.
Mrs. Hester o. Egan. who has been
in England, Scotland and Ireland for
the last three months as representative
domestic servants wishing employment
in the various dominion provinces, has
just arrived in New York. She report
ed that her mission had been far from
successful.
Before l had been long in Great
Britain" Mrs. Egan said, Il realized
that Canada and the United States are
not the only countries that have the
servant problem to deal with. In the
United Kingdom servant girls were Il
drug on the market until three years
ago; since that time they have become
not only noticeably scarce, but exceed
ingly independent. In Glasgow, for in
stance, the women dOmestics have come
to realize that they are living in a free
country and have rights as we'll as
the men, and they are now asserting
them to the limit. They have actually
organized a servant girls union, an
nOunced regular scale of wages and
declared an eight-hour day, with extra
pay for overtime, as we'll as the power
of deciding the number of afternoons
Off every week which each girl may
have.
THE domestic girls in London are no
., hnx hnv
maids union, which is fourishng. In
several other places the housemaids are
organizing for their own benefit. In
LC.dOn one of the rules is that mem
bers shall be suitably and neatly
dressed for their duties, and the head
of this union. whom l found to be Il
woman of unusual intelligence and en-
terprise. Informed me that when her
organization is little stronger it in
tends to demand the same thing of the
employers in the matter of dress, and,
incidentally, civility.
another town | visited is Paisley,
in Scotland, where l learned that Mrs.
Murray, wife Of Prof. Murray, of
and economic knowledge, Is endeavOring
to encourage the emigration Of Paisley
domestics to Canada. She belongs to
Paisley, and SO does her husband. l
don't know just how successful Mrs.
...urray has been, but l succeeded in
getting only one domestic girl from that
city to emigrate to Canada. The same
dearth and independence of servant
girls found In nearly all the places l
visited Even in Ireland, where pow
erty Is supposed to reign supreme, got
little encouragement, although l must
say l succeeded better III my mission
there than elsewhere, as l got fifteen
girls In all, | captured thirty-siX,
where l fully expected to get at least
200.
"The fact is added Mrs. Egan, "the
first-class servant girl in Great Britain,
now that she has begun to assert her
rights and sees better future for her
self, cannot he made to understand that
she can improve her condition by emf
grating. And honestly think she is
right, too. Most girls employed in the
better class of households, where two
or more domestics are kept, have any
thing but q hard time of it, and their
wages are good. Indeed, there are
many refined but INDECENT women who
would gladly accept their positions. On
the other hand. the less experienced do
nestle, aside from her growing scarcity
and independence, is becoming strongly
preiudiced against emigrating to either
Canada or the United States. This
has been brought about to some extent,
l found, by false stories circulated by
girls who, having emigrated to this side
from the United Kingdom and become
discontinued with their new conditions
after a few months, have returned
home and told their friends that dOmes-
tic life OH this side of the water Is far
from what it is supposed to be-