Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1909-06-25
JAPS NOT PERFECT SERVANTS.
Another Disappointment for Women Of the
Eastern Cities

There arc about 400 japanese in
Greater New York, reports the Sec
rctary Of the Japanese consul.
BY far the larger number. so far as
can be learned are employed in stor es.
In the opinion OF Japanese merchant
perhaps ~ per cent. are at the head
of mercantile concerns in the capac-
ity Of either managers or proprietors.
OF professional men there are Il few;
ut mechanics, roughly speaking. not
any.
There is not Japanese carpenter
or house painter, Japanese woman
declared. Her countrymen of educa
ton, She declared, do not choose
to do manual labor of that kind,
and the majority of Japanese in
the big city are educated.
At liberal estimate, the manager
of one of the Japanese missions
thought 10 per cent. are engaged in
domestic service. This is the occu-
patton in which the Japanese here
are most interesting to New York
women.
In was only half dozen years ago
that New York housekeepers gener-
ally began to consider the employ
ment of Japanese servants question.
The first eXp"rlmenters rs rule said
that the outcome was beyond their
expectations and that in most re-
SpcctS the Japanese servant was
model of concentrated excellence.
1t may haye been a case of new
broom, but whatever the reason.
such rosy pictures of the Japanese
servant were drawn over the tea cups
that before long Japanese servants
had a decided vogue. Three years
later the demand was greater than
the supply. There were persons who
went SO far as to declare that with
the arrival of more Japanese willing
to enter domestic service the servant
problem for New York would be set
tied.
The same persons speak differently
now. The popularity Of the Japanese
servant has not gone on increasing,
has not even held its own except in
bachelor establishments, where now,
as always, the Japanese servant is
seen at his best.
It's all very well for Gen. Kuroki
to talk about the ungallantry of the
American man to the other Sex. Let
him interview any New Yorker who
has had much to do with Japanese
servants and he will learn that while
they are nearly always deferential,
painstaking and obliging to a male
employer they show as a rule quite
different attitude toward a mistress.
The American man servant doesn't
mind at all taking orders from a wo-
man; the Japanese minds it a good
deal. This is one reason why his pop
ularity has not gone on increasing.
The other day New Yorker,
now at her country house near the
city, came to town in search of
cook.
| suppose you want another Jap
anese?" remarked a friend with
whom she was lunching.
Don't say Japanese to mel" was
the answer. Il never want to lay
eyes on one again"
Then she told of the delinquencies
of her Japanese chief, to whom she
paid $50 month.
But" said her friend, as the Wis
itor paused for breath, the Japanese
servant hasn't corner on trickery
by any means. | have known few
of other natioralies who made spec
ialty of trying to fool their employ
ers." "
SO have l." the other agreed.
But perhaps for the reason that
the Jap is generally more intelligent
than servants of other natiOnalities,
he is head and shoulders above all
Others in the art of deception.
What is more he refuses, as a
rule, to take the simplest order from
a housemaid and it is generally war
to the knife between the two. If
one could have full staff of japanese
servants the situation would be SIM
plitied, but as there are few Japanese
women who will do housework, that
scheme is not practicable AS to
my own particular cook, he did not
try to hide after the first few weeks
that in his opinion l had no right to
question any of his personal habits
or actions by the heads OF several of
the leading intelligence offices and
also by dozens of New Workers who
have tried Japanese servants; that
take the latter as class and New
York householders of fashion as a
class, and the two do not get on
amicably, for the reason principally
that the Jap resents being bossed by
woman.
On many of the United States war
vessels from three to six Japs are
often employed as servants by the