Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-04
Getting Rid of Graft
In New York Homes

In New York Homes
TT OUSEHOLD graft and waste are
n costing the millionaire and the
| q = fortunate near rich in New York mil
| lions of dollars each year. In single houses
| where the bills run over $4,000 month
| the pickngs of servants and tradespeople
| run into many thousands year. Com
| missions is the cry. and my lady's maid
expects her percentage for favoring the
| hairdresser; his majesty the butler de-
mands his understanding with florist
| and wine merchant; the chef favors the
| supplies of those who favor him; the
grooms know something about harness
dealers. and the chauffeur is friendly, in
| quiet way. with repair shop and auto &C
cessories firms. and the more that is used
| up the larger the bills, and the larger the
| bills the greater the commissions, SO that
| care and economy in the use of Mr.. Money
| bags eatables and breakables mean actual
reduction in the incomes of his faithful EN-
| ployes, and as result Mr.. Moneybag &C
| tualy pays his servants a premium for
wastefulness.
AS an instance Of how this system works
| may be cited the case of chauffeur wh2
| needed $40 at once He had just had
profitable and elaborate repair job, so that
another accident would not do. So he
calmly went to a supply house and ordered
enough tires and took four so bills and
went on his way rejoicing. 1t also works
the other way. Suppose the florist does not
| "see' the grasping butler. His flowers are
sure to wither before dinner Is over, or
wines fail to please if the vintner be re-
miss, and it is even a question whether
Master Moneybags special milk at % cents
per quart may not sour unless there be an
| overflow of golden cream for some one.
These leaks in home expenditures have
long been known to exist, but were gener-
ally regarded as petty and unavoidable. One
day, however an expert accountant who
had been employed by a manufacturer 10
detect waste in a branch which did about
$40, coo of business a year suggested that
there was probably more undetected waste
in the owners home than in his whole bust
ness. The manufacturer told the account
ant to go ahead on the household end. AT
the end Of u fortnight the expert showed
that he was losing, in his city home alone,
through bad business systems such as no
hotel would use, between 5000 and sl1, OGO
per year. Since then 1t has developed that
llle SAME cOnuIlIOI pItNdllS III many eldU-
crate homes. and when the domestic estab-
lshment has branches in Newport, country
estates, hunting preserves and possibly 4
foreign chateau and a yacht or two, 1t al
once takes the proportion Of a great
business, and unless modern business sys-
TENS are used offers in its purchases, use
and disposal Of material vast opportunity
for serious loss.
AS result of these conditions there has
come from the rich demand for a new
class of experts-household actuaries-and
as these experts have to be associated gen.
orally with the rich mans wife, and also
have to have n natural aptitude for domes-
tice details, women are preferred, though
there are many cases where men who are
masters OF business systems are paid large
salaries to run the financial side of a
$250.0OO year household on the same prin-
ciples that they have supervised some great
manufacturing or purchasing plant. To do
this work successfully, however, it Is not
enough that the applicant possess some
ability as a boOkkeeper and shrewdness as
a household executive. The domestic actu-
airy must be able to devise systems which
will detect loss in any of the many opera
lions Of the home, just as in the buying.
receiving, manufacturing. selling, packing
factory or department store. Payrolls, or
ders, bills. payments-all must come under
the list of business system and it will be
a poor domestic actuary who does not save
double or triple the large salary pad
*
In order to fit themselves for these posi-
lions as executive secretaries in wealthy
homes or for the similar positions of scien-
tifc almoners or charity secretaries for
those who wish to give largely, but always
wisely. many women, often college grad
yates, are making a special study of higher
accounting and business methods. Many
others find that for women Of brains and
ability the same knowledge brings them
large returns in the business world as ex-
pert accountants or business organizers
Other women find that this knowledge is
very useful in keeping track of their own
estates and in guiding them in making in
vestments, and combine with the study Of
accountancy courses in business law and
investments.
A large number of women have been stu
dents in these courses, taking special lines
to fit them for particular work as home
directors, in business or as teachers, for
there is coming to be demand for courses
in household bookkeeping for young girls
as part of the domestic science training
Some Of them, however, have taken the full
courses and have won the degree Of bach
elor of commercial science, and In standing
have been no mean antagonists for the men
of business. Some Of these women have
gone actuarial experts in great COM
panies, but not few are showing. either
in their own homes and own affairs or in
the conduct of some home of vast expendi-
ture, how training in business means a
saving In the salary of the wage-earner or
in the fat check books of Mr.. and Mrs
Moneybag, who are coming to regard the
household actuary as the wisest of invest
ments.
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