The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-23
Help Graduates?

/ Help Graduates?
Mr.. RUBINOw, lecturing at the Teach
ers College on the servant girl problem,
offered some solutions for which a good
deal may be and has been said in n
sense and another, such AZ o definite
and shorter hours, greater freedom, in
Guiding sleeping out better wages.
He was more original when he expressed
the opinion that -the popular mind had
greatly exaggerated the social stigma
az a cOntributory cause to the dearth Of
hired girls" He said the prevalent idea
on this point was altogether wrong.
An English authority on such matters,
Miss FLORENCE B. Low, writing in
the Nineteenth Century, does not agree
with Mr.. RUBINow. After declaring
herself strongly in favor Of domestic
work as Offering IN excellent and re-
munerativo field for properly trained
girls and women" a much better and
healthier field for prospective wives and
mothers, she thinks, than clerldng or
teaching. she mentions as one Of the
most necessary reforms, II girls are to
be attracted TO it, raising the status OF
domestic workers, who now stand very
low in public estimation" It can hardly
be said that they stand lower in England
than they do here. Domestic servants
on the other side form asort of hereditary
caste, and JEAMEs DE LA PLCCHE and his
kind have no mean opinion Of themselves,
nor are they particularly looked down
on by the community. 1t is only when
they reach this democratic land that they
awake to full consciousness Of the con-
temptibility Of their calling. Yet v e
in England according to Miss Low. the
social stigma is one of the chief reasons
shy the calling is not so popular as it
might be.
This difficulty, which Mr.. RUBINOw
poohpoohs, Miss Low makes an earnest
attempt TO overcome by a somewhat
original proposal. On her way to the
question How is the status of the do
mestic worker to be raised?' she asks
another: What has raised the status
Of the teacher and the sick nurse?" She
replies:
trimming, huTFiNs III ttIlltI uhNh uutneN NNl0
regarded as belonging to the Sairey Camp school.
while the typical teachers were humble. down
trodden beings, worse paid than servants. IL Is
only since teachers and nurses have been trained
through q recognized course to qualify for their
professions that their social position has been
raised. Would NOS the sam thing happen with
the domestic worksrr"
Miss Low would remOve the social
stigma from domestic help by making
it a regular profession with diplomas at
it's gateway. She suggests the estab-
lishment OF domestic training colleges
with a two years course IN every branch
of domestic work and management
and recognized diplomas at the end of
il. She even suggests "a four years
course. to include also infant manage
ment. hygiene and elementary science. .
The County Councils, she urges, might
offer scholarships. She would have
these training colleges affiliated with
the popular universities, so that the stu
dents at them might rank with the other
students, mingling with them on equal
terms in work and play, and then At last
on the hockey field and lawn tennis
court "the social barriers between
domestic workers and other workers
! would be broken down" Presumably
! wages would be more or less exactly
graded according To the diplomas.
Miss Low thinks her scheme is by no
means Utopian." We may feel doubtful
about that while our household help
has TO be largely supplied by newly
landed girls from Old World wilds, though
to be sure if Miss Lows scheme were
realized over there some Of them might
arrive at the Battery with diplomas in
their pockets. But at this point Mr..
RUBINOw offers some support TO Miss
Low. He quotes figures showing that
more American women propOrtiOnately
to those Of foreign birth are now doing
domestic work than there were thirty
years ago. In that case. with our pro-
fusion Of universities, there would seem
TO be a possibility at least Of help Gradu-
ates" coming into existence here sooner
than in England. Purdue University by
opening a course in scientific bakery
this fall has taken a step toward this
ideal. Grave economic obstacles are
only too evident, but 1t is an interesting
suggestion.
The Italian Theatre.