New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-11-27
TRAINING SERVANTS
Solution of Domestic Problem Is an
Hotels. lSaus q WOman.

Hotels, Says a UOmdn.
The solution of the servant problem rests with
! the hotels said woman who has devoted sew
/ eral years TO the study OF Industrial conditions
! both in this country and Europe Just as hos
pitals train for the sick. the hotels could
/ train domestic workers Nine years ago. when I
| first began to puzzle over the servant problem.
was told by students Of industrial conditions
| hat there were three nsurmountable reasons why
| American girls refused enter domestic service
| The first the long hours and lack Of system
] in the work: the second, women's increasing dis
taste for housework the third. the social stigma
| attached the work. In my Investigations /
| have questioned two hundred and six girls and re-
| corded their answers They were all WORKING
girls with little education and few Of them earn
| ing more than 81 p
Looking over nv recorded answers I find that
these girls without single exception. give the
social stigma as their for preterrlhs tn7
/ factory the shop the Office. anything rather than
| domestic service Only fourteen refer to the long
hours these speak Of It as Of minor lnlpo'-
lance One hundred and eighty three assert lna'
no seIf-respecting working man would marry z ~
nestle servant II they were to enter ne Isil
they are convinced they would remain unmarrleo
all their days
I Forty Of the girls questioned were employed IN
the advertising department Of = large Ne" 1oIA
/ department store. From in the morning 20 -
| night luncheon hour excepted. they sat under tne
sharp eyes Of the head Of the department ana C-S
three monitors addressing catalogues ana o"Ou-
/ Their ranged from slAiHSlt ~ 1850
seven years and their wages from 8 81 70 .
week The first one questioned was a bright giri
of seventeen. Her mother the widow OF Z pms 81
clan had lost all in the San Francisco earthquake
and had brought her four children 70 New YORK IN
the hope of their being better able 70 support
themselves Gertrude Tas the eldest. and when
she told me Of their struggles suggested o0I9'i0
service for herself and the sister year younger
! The idea displeased her
Tt isn't that object to the work she explained
I like it better than I this but II oeins
thrown with the servants If could get pace pS
I myself and be thrown only with ne l1Iy u 10
house wouldn't object SO n1ch " cou' -
pie would look down me. bur cou1o sa'7
money and when We 90 back West they neeoh
know what I'd been doing
THE SOCIAL. STIGMA
Maggie vas fully ten years Gertrude senior
and she had been working for this same department
store for more than years Her salary was -
week and being without parents, she lived in
working girls hotel there she paid 81 for Two
meals day and q cot in a room with six other
girls She did her own washing, knit her own
stockings a she had been taught by her grand
mother and ate TWO bananas every DAY for her
luncheon. not because she fond Of the fruit
but because was filing and cheap said that I
knew girls who had been working only year or
TWO IN domestic service who received 81 Z month
and their board and lodging
Yes, but nobody has anything 70 do with
them Maggie assured Girls who work out
never get invited anywhere The hotel where i've
won't let them inside the door [ knew girl she
used 10 work right here This store; she was
dropped of after last Christmas. and instead Of
waiting getting IN factory until she could
come back. she went out to service Mons OF US
speak 10 her now
In 4 working girls hotel mad. the as1uain-
-an-e IF I've girls occupying the same room They
rad never seen or heard Of another before they
met in that room and we're together solely BE
cause Of the cheapness OF the board One Of them
had been our OF work for more than three weeks,
2
place IS 2 domestic the entire Eve became highly
indignant They looked upon IT as an insult 70
rdem all that II should even be limited that one
nj them would deign to work OUT The giri was
week behind in board. and 70 prevent heF
from being turned our OF the hotel the other four
made VI the amount from their own slender earn
tngs
While s7<ndnz ! few weeks IN social settle
r7ent Of one of our largest cities it became ny
dutv 70 make I'D party Of grown girls 10 spend
two weeks the country. L vas late in the sea
son and a. all those the settlement list had
already had their summer outing I had 10 hunt
sfrls I'D and take those I could get After search
ing among the box factories, the small clothing
shops and the zoveuakers, I succeeded in getting
all except one OF the required number. The cook
Of the settlement house hearing Of the vacancy.
told me- Of a girl who had been living out but
was now AZ home because OF attack of illness
With innocence of perfect ignorance, induced
this girl 10 join the party. Three days later L
met her on the street.
II couldn't stay. 7 Just couldn't ma am she
told ne, and her eyes filed with tears. As soon
a. the other girls found 10 worked out they
wouldn't have nothing do with They
wouldn't le+ their company speak 10 ne. and
Sunday they wanted to eat at another table
HOTEL TRAINING.
..-rbo Road worker in hotels and many Of nov
ssste+srrs we're trained nurses. They were looked
IN n a superior beings by the working girls who
anne there Yet less than half century ago tn
,7osrral nurse ranked below the domestic servant
OIL ,srsons who could get no other work ever
,,,ogL+ of nursing the sick But see what training
:. ,,oe,3+aIs has done for the nurse Why cannot
49, bo+els 10 as much for the domestic servant.
.s,ecia11v the apartment hotels divided they
into little homes, 81 under the same management
When spoke on the subject to Miss Mariana
z4-reaIer the woman who superintendent Of the
1,-biae, L5ospitsI Of New York did such excellent
-,-l, N training nurse maids she became enthu-
sias+{, 1t IS the practical suggestion I have
e,.er heard advanced she declared I believe II is
~ solution Of the problem. There will oe
man, objections. of course, just there wers
sgalns+ hospitals becoming training schools One
Of the first against hotels becoming training schools
eor domestic servants viii be that hotels are for
Money making while hospitals supposed
be.
81. NJ experience' continued Wheeler
teaches me that there will Re o1Iv additional
er7pIOve needed in hotel Of the size. tha-
one 10 take the position occupied By the supertn-
tandan+ of the training school Her salary will be
made m in the difference OF the wages paid the
girls during their training OF they viii not
he paid full wages while they are being trained
only enough for their uniforms and few incl
dentaIs. The superintendent must not only be
high grade woman and a trained housekeeper with
-