The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1908-09-05
WAkED FROM HIS DREAM.
Watson Will Make No Further Ef-
forts to Solve Servant Question.


the domestic servant problem in this
section. which is steadily growing
more acute by substituting foreign
white servants for the negroes.
I'm done with the job. SAID Mr.
! Watson with a sigh. Inere 5 Ho
! use. | will make no more attempts,
at least for the present. to Drlng
! white servants to any part OF tne
State. Conditions will not warrant
further attempts along this line.
There are some instances in which
the experiments have proved sue
cessful. in which both sides continue
satisfied: but these are few and far
between. The chief trouble is the
matter Of pay. People in this state
are unwilling to pay the Increased
! price for white help. They'll start
out with a thorough understanding
of what they are to pay and begin
right away Dragging on the rellet
! they are getting and everything
will work lovely till pay day. when
there is a grand split up and the
jig is all up
1t is not merely an idle dream that
Mr.. Watson has been having. for he
has been working with the energy
characteristic of him for several
years. trying to bring relief to the
long suffering public, but has met
with disappointment so far as the
general plan he inaugurated was
concerned, and he has become
gutter only after the most de-
termined efforts in different dl-
rections and after the most exhaus-
tive study of the situation.
His first attempts failed because
of social conditions, the help he To-
Gated leaving after time for the
north and the west. even where 1t
was we'll treated and amply paid.
These were intelligent people OF
some education. whose lives were
made miserable by the nagging of
negro servants in the same house
hold. and who found nobody outside
to associate with. And the COM
missioner also soon saw that 1t
would not do to have young girls
working as servants far away from
their friends and relatives.
The commissioner next devised a
plan Of bringing the foreigners in in
some high-class people in this way.
He found places for the parents on
farms near cities. the sons and daugh-
ters working in the cities. Mr.. wat
son thought he had got on the right
track at last of the solution OF the
vexatious problem not only locally,
but throughout the South. People
who got this help told him and told
their friends how satisfactorily 1t
was working. and the domestlcs
wrote home to friends and relatives
to follow their lead. Mr.. Watson
went to work with that boundless
enthusiasm and buoyant optimism
that has already marked his endeav-
ors. The situation really warranted
him in entertaining confident hope
of having found the key to the slt"'
alton. But he has been having some
rude awakenings lately. So steadily
have these jars been coming in that
even the commissioner with all his
good fighting qualities acknowl-
edged defeat for the time being.
The coming of the Witteklnd
people had a most salutary effect on
the negroes. not only in Charleston
and Columbia where the quaint Vlsl-
tors were seen the most, but in near
ly every town in the State. The
negro women servants and negro
men thought they had genuine COM
petition that would drive them out
of their Jobs. Lazy, ailing. shlftless
and impertinent cooks. Washer-
women, nurses and walters took new
leases on life. and became competent,
willing. obliging. respectful helpers
with such a suddenness as to even
startle themselves. But this beautl-
fu1 situation is a thing OF the past
now. At present when a housewife
or her daughter goes out to hunt up
a servant she is met with the reply
on all sides:
You know, ! doesn't hire ont no
more" with an air that indicates
amazement that that white woman
has not learned before this that
this colored lady" has reached that
stage in social life.
Mr.. B. L. Jones, of Newberry, has
been elected superintendent OF the
Laurens graded schools. and has ac-
cepted Mr.. Jones quit teaching
few years ago and went into the in
surance business at NeWberry. He
was a candidate for superintendent
of education in that county, but with
drew in order to accept the position
at Laurens. Mr.. Jones is brother
of Mr.. 7. d. Jones, principal Of the
Ehrhardt school in this county.
According to the Atlanta Constl-
tuition. Georgia farmer posted this
sign on his front gate:
"Candidates will pass on, no time
to talk to EN-.
One morning his little boy shouted
from the garden walk:
"There's one o the canderdates
here. an he says he'll come in any
how"
The old man looked toward the
gate and said:
Let him in. There's no harm IN
Hos ho0n rnnnjn