The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-02
JGPS NOT PERFECT SERVANTS
ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT FOR
NEW YORK WOMEN,

Like TO he Bossed by WOmen, Arc Toe
Small and Are Tricky. Women Say.
There are about 400 Japanese In GreAtsF
New York. The secretary Of the Japanese
Consul is responsible for the figures.
By far the larger number. 30 far az can
be learned, are employed In stores. In the
opinion OF a Japanese merchant perhaps
10 per cent, are At the head Of mercantile
concerns in the capacity Of either managers
OF proprietors. OF professional men there
are a few; Of mechanics. roughly speaking.
not any.
There Is not q Japanese carpenter OF
house painter. a Japanese woman declared.
in this city. She added with pride that the
Japanese Of education does not choose to
do manual labor Of that sort and that the
majority Of the Japanese In this city are
educated.
At a liberal estimate, the manager Of n
OF the Japanese missions thought, 10 per
cent are engaged In domestic service.
This 10 the occupation In which the Japa-
nese here are most interesting to New
York ONE
1t was only about half a dozen years ago
that New York housekeeperB generally
began to consider the employment Of Japa-
nese servants az a solution Of the servant
question. The first ex~perimenters az q rule
said that the outcome was beyond their
expectations and that In most respects the
Japanese servant was q model Of oon-
centrated excellence.
1t may have been q case Of new broom,
but whatever the reason, such rosy pictures
Of the Japanese servant were drawn over
the tea cups that before long Japanese
ervants had q decided vogue. Three yesrs
later the demand was greater than the
supply. There we're persons who went so
far as TO declare that with the arrival Of
more Japanese willing to enter domestic
service the servant problem for New York
would be settled.
The same persons speak differently now.
The popularity Of the Japanese servant has
not gone on increasing, has not wen held
its own except in bachelor establishments,
where now. az always, the Japanese "
is seen at his best.
It's all very well for Gen. Kuroki to talk
about the u~ngallantry Of the American man
to the other sex. Let him interview any
New Yorker who has had much 20 do with
Japanese servants and he will learn that
while they are nearly always d~eferential.
painstaking and obliging to a male en-
ployer they show az q rule quite a different
attitude toward a mistress. The Ameri-
can man servant doesn't mind at all taking
orders from a woman; the Japanese minds
IL a good deal. This is one reason why his
popularity has not zone IN increasing.
The other day d New Yorker. now at
her country house Dea the city. came to
town in search OF q cook.
Il suppose you went another JAPANESE
remarked a friend with whom she was
lpnching.
Don't say Japanese to mel was the
answer. Il never want to lay eyes on one
again
Then she told OF the delinquencies OF her
Japanese chef, to whom she paid $50 a
month.
But said her friend as the visitor
paused for breath. the Japanese servant
hasn't a corner on trickery by any means.
1 nave known a few Of other n~ationalities
who made a specially Of trying to fool their
employers
$50 nave T. the other agreed. But
perhaps for the reason that the Jap is gen.
orally more intelligent thar servants Of
other n~ationalities he is head and shoulders
above all others in the art Of deception.
What is more, he refuses. as a rule, to
take the simplest order from a housemaid
and it is generally war to the knife be-
tween the two. II one could have a full
staff OF Japanese servants the situation
would be simplifed, but as there are few
japanese women who will do, Homework
that scheme is not practicable.
AS TO my own particular cook, he did
not try to hide after the first few weeks
tina in his opinion l had no right TO ques-
ton any Of his personal habits or actions.
his going out or his coming in. his treat
ment OF my other servants or the care he
took OF his department go long as he cooked
the food sent in and served it at the
appointed time. When he found that I
did question many Of his actions he under
took to trick me, and succeeded at first.
Now ! am done forever with Japanese
servants"
or course the cooks side of the story
would have differed from this and IL is
possible that there were ~eXtenuating cir
cumstances. But that is unimportant.
The story illustrates a fact vouched for by
the heads Of several Of the leading intelli-
gence offices and also by dozens Of New
Workers who have tried Japanese
that take the latter as a class and New
York householdere Of FASHION as a class, and
the two do not get on amicably, for the
reason principally that the Jap resents
being bossed by a woman.
On many Of the United States war YES
sells from three to six Japs are often en-
ployed as ervante by the officers. On
private yachts and in bachelor quarters
too the Jap is usually serene enough. IL
was a bachelor. though, who remarked that
when 1t came 10 a question OF tricks a trick
monkey wasn't in it with a Jap. Faith
fulness aboard ship and faithfulness on
shore in 9 city like New York are two diff
ferent propositions.
According 10 a woman who was one OF
the first TO employ a Japanese butler she
would have had no reason to change lack
TO an English butler could she have added
a few inches 10 the Jap's height.
in many ways" said this lady. II con-
slider the Japanese ideal buffers. For
they are quick, they move easily
and noisclessly. they are quick TO learn
three admirable points in a butler,
But il lie not easy 70 get n with an Inn
posing presence. / myself am very short,
therefore when in q At Of despair almost I
engaged a Japanese butler I was thinking
only OF his splendid reference and not at
all Of his inches. II never occurred 70 me
he was not five feet tall I'LL my husband
his seat at the table that night an