Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-09
NJ MArrERs-

| AlAlC III ECDl idIJs lliVl0 . nO OOuDl
that Mrs. Bacon will give womer
many valuable suggestions and thai
what she writes will contain a great
deal of humor.
1T costs so much to live in the
country said Mrs. Bacon the Other
day. MRS. Bacon, Smith College
'9S, lives in New York, and is a IA
nous short story writer Every
thing is more expensive here. Really
it is the biggest problem | have, tc
know how to manage an establish
ment successfully. There are plenty
of books that teach one how to live
like the Vanderbilts or the people OF
Rivington street, but there is moth
ing that tells people Hike myself, who
have a house and stable and keeI
four or five servants, how to live eco
nomically and we'll"
what would you suggest as a
remedy" vas asked.
'Co-operation. | do not mean by
that the cooperation of any of the
wild reformers, but a little womanly
cooperation. The women ought to
help each other. There is Charlotte
Perkins Stetson Gilman. She has
some good ideas, but she is not prac-
tical. Her philosophical principles
are all right, but she carries them so
far they're of no use. They don't
work out"
Gould you give an example OF
this womanly cooperation you speak
off"
why, yes. In the country the
same kind of people are living near
one another. Usually peoples who
have similar incomes and similar
tastes settle together. Now, there is
no reason why these women should
not unite and order their grocery
supplies, for instance, from the same
man. In the country it is impossible
to get things. You have to send to
the city. l see the farmers COWS
wandering around in great droves,
but there is a regular milk famine,
and you can't get fresh eggs or good
butter without paying ~eXorbitant city
prices. l fairly have to go down on
my knees to get a bunch of beets. 1t
makes it frightfully expensive to send
to the city, but If twenty women got
together and ordered their supplies
from the same mar they could have
the things shipped out once or twice
a weekk, and by getting them in bulk
the very best things could be had at
a very reasonable rate"
why isn't there cooperation?
What are some of the difficulties?"
For one thing, women are indi-
vidualists, and then they haven't a
sense of business responsibility. If
twenty women agreed to order fish
on a certain day and one woman had
a present of fish on that day, in eight
cases out of ten she would say, I
don't care for any fish today and
would not realize that she must stick
to her agreement. Thirdly, women
hate to get anything ahead They
won't promise to be liable. A lot of
us could get carloads of coal from
Pennsylvania, but you can't get the
women to promise they will take it.
They will say they can't tell what
might happen in the meantime.
Then another difficulty is that
women don't help each other. They
will do no end of work for their own,
but they won't give a moment of
time to others. Then, again, when a
women has anything good she keeps
it to herself. If a mar finds a par
ticularly good tailor he tells his
friends about it, but a woman keeps
such knowledge to herself. If she
gets on exceptionally well with her
servants, she puts on a superior air,
and says, 4 never have any trouble
but she won't tell you how she man.
ages it,"
How would it do to call in the aid
of the men?" was asked.
women certainly have failed in
the one business that has-been left to
them, while men have systematized
and worked out their trades. We may
have to call in masculine assistance,
but really the domestic problem is
the biggest and hardest one l know.
] could earn by living in three or
four ways and should not find it
nearly so difficult as running a house.
You have to know so many things.
| am supposed to be able to tell my
cook how to cook, my gardener how
to take are of the place, and so on.
AT present my cough has a cough,
and ] ought to know what is good for
her, but of course ] don't.
Perhaps the most trying thing of
all is that the women who are most
able to cope with the situation and
find a solution just won't do it. They
are afraid to; they take up profess
go into business, and use their
brains for everything but the domes-
tic problem. Somehow the problem
has got to be solved, for man will
have his own home, He would hath
err have a greasy, dirty home than do
without one"
Two or three slmpie statements OF