Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-12-30
AMERICAN HONE MENACED
Obstacle Increasing Terieutly bife
Cities OF the East
PROPORTION OF FAMILIES TO DwELLslGN
servant Problem Casts Its shadow
over the Land-Pinch of the
Assessor, the Plumber, Ice
Man and Coal Man.

lat!on to conditions in Omaha, where in
dlvidual family homes are multiplying as
fast as men and materials to fashion them
can be had. The question applies to large
cities with peculiar emphasis and the facts
submitted in support Of the affirmative
throw a strong light on the evolution Of
family life. In part the writer says:
Today there Is one boarding house
keeper, one restaurateur, or one hotel
keeper in every 5000 population in the
United States. The number Of persons EN-
ployed in these various institutions i'm
pinging upon the home life Of the United
States have increased three and one-half
times while the population has been
doubling, and at the present time there Is
only one domestic servant to every ten
homes in the country.
How universal is the disposition of the
American people TO escape the response
blities of the home in It's old sense of one
roof for one family has been suggested in
the work of the census bureau in New
York and Chicago.
Five Families to n Dwelling.
In the MapSattan borough OF I'll eater
New YorJ, the census of 1900 showed an
average of 40 families living in its sO.6O3
dwellings, with only $3.50 Of these dwell
lngs having one family each, while 1885
had eleven families and more eachl
Chicago, with an average OF only 10 fami-
lies to a dwelling, has its 1873 sos dwellings,,
OF which 1o4. $50 house one family only, and
S4s dwellings that have eleven or more
families in them.
In each of these cities enormous increase
is shown in the disposition of families to
congregate in fiat and apartment buildings,
and there has been no question that this
movement has for its purpose the sirnpli-
fication Of the responsibilities of home.
Philadelphia, with IL families TO each
dwelling. is the one big city OF simple
homes, yet showing a diminishing number
of these in proportion to population each
decade
In considering the deserving of the Amer
lean home the fact stands out that the
typical family is the one responsible for
the condition.
Extremes Make No Changes In Homes.
There are few examples of the wealthy
family, owning its establishment desert
ing In favor of the apartment building
The families that hovel in the slum dis
tricts OF the great cities are not changing
In the homes of the wealthy there Is no
stress of burdens In maintaining the family
mansion: in the howell the family finds its
cheapest abode. Thus the respectable
middle class of society, upon which all
society counts for It's equilibrium. is the
discontinued class which is deserving home
for the boarding table.
Yet from the census of 1850 the Amer
lean family has shown a steady decrease
In the number of persons to the household
group. In the order OF the census reports
this average of the American family is;
5.55 5.2S 500 son 4.9S Al
In spite OF these igures-or perhaps be-
cause OF them-the first question OF the
servant girl seeking employment as do
nestle Is. How many are there in the
family2"
influence of the Servant Problem.
Is the servant problem" of the country
driving the American family to the hotel,
the restaurant and the boarding houseH
Time long has been in which II has been
an accepted fact that the boarding house,
restaurant and hotel have been driving
| hnrdes of bachelors into homes OF their
own. The cherries existence OF the bach
| elor IN the best of these hostelries long
| has called for a more or less strong general
| sympathy. The average bachelor, exchang-
| ing the life Of the boarder for the life OF
| the married man, in smoking jacket and
| slippers Mt his own Preside, long has been
the encouraged and encouraging social fac
| tor In civilized existence. There have been
| few suggestions of sentimental change
| from this accepted attitude anywhere in
the literature of the country. Yet all sud
| denly the statistician comes forward with
columns of figures and percentage tables
to show, according to statistics, that the
cherries bachelor has been jumping from
I IL
eheoTless fire. With his wife and his chill
drcn he has been deserving the home and
| going back to the life of the boarder!
| statistician Blnmes IL on DOmesticS
The statistician has made the point and
charged it that the servant girl problem is
| the one first possible cause of this hegira
from the home. l. NJ. Rubinow of the De-
partment Of Agriculture at Washington be-
J lieves the premise. Such proof as may be
| in comparisons has been suggested I'm the
| fact that In Russia, where a servant girl
may be hired for 80 a month, to be on
| household duty twenty-four hours a day
for every day In the week. the boarding
/ house Is scarcely known. In sharp distinc-
| ton from this condition in Russia too, is
| the fact that I'm the United States the ten
| dency for years has been for an increasing
scale of wages for domestic service and the
most exacting restrictions on the part of
! the sorvitor as 10 hours and the nature of
the work required.
Only one Home I'm Ten Has DOmestIcs.
! Under al these exaetions of wage in
| crease, shortening of hours and exemption
| from certain heavy household duties the
difficulties of the servant girl problem are
pain enough as bearing upon the family
purse. But train of other difficulties is
suggested in the fact that only one home
! In tell in the United States employs a do
| nestle at all
Surely more than one home in ten in tho
United States can afford to waive the cost
itom In favor of employing servant. But
the fact that no more than one home IN ten
has domestic points inevitably TO the fact
that other difficulties I'm the servant girl
problem are Weighing heavily upon the
economy Of the homo as an institution
And, coupled with this, the striking in
crease OF hotels. restaurants and boarding
houses in proportion to the Increase of pop
ulation points 10 the unacceptable fact thai
the American family Is deserving the home
in favor Of the boarding place
Chicago's own estimated figures bearing
upon the condition OF the servant girl prob.
lem and one Of its causes may be shown
In the occupations OF Chicago's woman
kind. Approximately there are 10000 r.,
males In the city who are above the schoo
age Limitation. which would allow OF thell
| into opu In oil -