Rocky Ford enterprise., 1910-04-08

of the house and rooms that will be
considered impossible for any other
human being even casually spending
the night in the house. They are fire.
uqently bare of even common necessi-
ties.
The position of those employed in
this service. as dwellers under the
same roof with their employers. gives
the latter no more right to interfere
in their private personal affairs than
with those of her tailor. When the
service for which she pays is properly
rendered. economic rights end. II
may be her privilege to suggest or
wisely guide in personal affairs. but It
must be willingly granted her. Ger
tain persona! restrictions are neces-
sarily imposed upon anyone living in
another's household. but they must be
only such as any selfrespecting per
son would naturally comply with. or
they become intolerable.
The housekeeper who does her
whole duty to those who are members
OF the household-may her tribe in
crease!-rests serenely in the conf
denre of having performed the whole
duty of woman. Nevertheless. every
once In n while her home Is invaded
by the reprehensible methods OF her
neighbors. introduced by one of the
nomadic host that forms the constant
procession through our American
kitchens. with uncomfortable and
sometimes calamitous results: or a
sudden demand for an Increase Of
wages from carefully trained and
reliable maid reveals the fact that
some other housekeeper in the neigh
borhood. In dire stress Of circum-
stance. or for less honorable rea-
son has been tempted to offer higher
wages. The good woman cannot un-
derstand how she becomes the victim
of such unmerited disaster and won
ders why people can't mind their
own business and let her alone" and
she forthwith goes to the intelligence
office and fills the place OF the COM
petent. intelligent maid with wholly
inexperienced and unframed cmigrant.
at the same rate of wages she paid
for competency and the next order
inferior quality of goods. because
such are good enough for an incom-
petent cook to spoil"
The whole course of human devel-
opment has had a tendency to make
woman the conservative. self-centered
being that she is. and through that
Characteristic the home. her special
province. became and remained a sup
posedly self.sufiicing social unit. Here
hn
and sanctities of human life. rightly
protected from public interference. As
the manufacturer is entitled to keep
secret the processes wherewith he
combines his raw materials into the
finished product, but the plant and
machinery may be matters of public
interest. so in the home the life itself
is a personal AFFAIR. but the machin-
cry whereby 1t is carried on Is a So
cial AFFAIR.
In the days OF simpler housekeep-
ing the domestic wage earners were
few in number and the ministrations
Of each individual were confined to
one or at most perhaps a half dozen
families. and it mattered comparative
ly little II the training consisted large
ly Of unwholesome processes Of cook
ing and unsanitary methods Of clean
ing. since the mischief was not dis
seminated through whole commu-
nifty. neither disease germs nor other
results of crude experimenting were
carried from family to family by the
constantly moving stream Of domestic
employees we have to-day.
The woman who raises the rate Of
wages In her own household compels
every other employer in her neighbor.
hood to do likewise. either absolutely
or by accepting inferior service. and
this result follows whether her motive
in SO doing was to raise a wage un.
Justly acquired through some other
woman's careful training. or whether
It was done in pure thoughtlessness
The woman who takes into her EN-.
ploy. in place of a competent and well.
trained cook or housemaid. an mex.
perienced one. at the same rate Of
wages, because the girl. through nat
ural stupidity or ignorance Of the
ways Of her adopted country. "is not
up to the tricks OF girls In general %
or because the housekeeper wants to