The Washington times., 1908-04-02
Servant Girl
TOoMuCh Job
For PoWdeTIU
Plan to Furnish Homes With
DomeStiCS Abandoned
After Trial.

At last, Uncle sam has recognized
there Is one thing that is too big for
him 10 tackle. He feels competent to
bluff Venezuela. lick Japan. or regu-
late the railroads and the corporations.
lie can even make the Kaiser accept
an ambassador against his will But it
has been reserved for the servant girl
problem TO floor MIN completely.
Last year. the division of Information
Of the Bureau Of Immigration was or
ganized IA the Department OF Com
nerce and Labor. Terence V. Powderly,
former head of the knights of Labor,
was put at It's head. Mr.. Powderly has
had many years Of experience with the
various labor problems before the coun-
try and probably ought 10 have known
better than TO become tangled up with
the problem OF supplying the land with
servant girls. At any rate. he yentured
into this field Of endeavor in a rash
and misguided moment and speedily be-
came sorry he had done it.
Learns Lesson.
Mr. Powderly has learned now that
what the housewives Of the United
States have never come within a thous-
and miles Of solving there is not much
use for a paternal government to try to
solve. The division OF information has
thrown up its hands completely and is
leaving the servant giTic question 10
work its way oUt without government
interference.
When the division Of Information first
set to work, inquiries were sent out to
State and local authorities asking what
help was needed. Private parties were
also encouraged to advise the division
as 10 what help they wanted. Straight
way there came pouring in through the
mails. along with a heavy demand for
male labor a food Of calls for servant
girls From Maine to California the cry
- mt Up that servant girls were needed.
and widespread publicity was given to
the fact that the Government had at
last taken steps to supply dOmestics.
EOSeate pictures were painted telling
how all woman who wanted a serv-
ant girl had to do was TO write Mr..
Powderly and one would be sent her
when the next ship load Of immigrants
arrived al New York
All this is changed now. The Govern
ment has quit trying TO supply servant
girls The division Of information
found itself swamped beneath an ava
lanche Of demands for female heIp Il
could not begin TO meet these demands.
AFTER Trying the IoD IN vain LOT months.
Mr. EOwderly and HIS aides gave il up
I'm despair and discOuragement They
found IL impossible 10 get young women
who come over from Europe willing to
work as dOmestiCs to go inland. In New
York, for instance, they found that the
demand for servant girls there was so
great as practically TO consume the
enormous supply Of young women who
come % this country willing 10 work as
servants. It was found that any fairly
competent young woman, even il I'M
able to speak English. could secure
work as a domestic in New York almost
as soon as she landed.
Women Support Families.
Il was found that the demand for
domestics in the large cities IS so great
that many women support large fam
flies by domestic service. 1t frequently
happens that the wages OF the wife who
s. in domestic service are higher than
those of her husband. These and other
facts discovered by the division OF in
formation when they began TO get to
the real truth about the servant-girI
problem convinced the officials Of the
utter uselessness Of trying 70 cope with
the situation. There are not enough
servant girls TO go around and that's
all there is to IL, and even the strong
arm Of the Government can't help these
conditions