Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1910-04-21


and the world outside her home.
The expression employer" brings
to mind the few women of these
modern days who, by very unusual
ability, have become directors of
large business enterprises. rather /
than the great number of house
wives, who are the employers in !
an important occupation. Domes
tic service is an occupation In
which, in this country alone, over
100000 wage earners are en-
gagged; 1t is not only the consumer
of the products of large numbers
of other important industries, but
its products or achievements serve
the most vital interests of society
The employer owes it to society I
to make the occupation in which
he employs others an efficient
means of satisfy ing some human
need in way that shall be con-
ducive to the economic welfare of
society. The obligations of the
employer imposed upon him by
this position in the social order
may be put into three classes to
those he employs. in the regulation of
wages. standards of efficiency. ETC..
and in maintaining proper conditions
for the preservation of health and so
cial welfare; to other employers, in
the same occupation, in regulation of
wages. class of service and standards
of efficiency. and to the employers en-.
gagged in the production of supplies
for this occupation. in the stability
and character of the demand; to
those whose needs the occupation sup
plies in reliability and quality of sup
ply
In domestic service. in which won.
en- figure as workers and employers in
overwhelming majority. there are
unique conditions. which make il an
interesting problem to unravel the
purely economical relationships from
the tangle of closely related social and
personal ones.
In the first place. the products or
achievements are such as cannot be
defined in terms of the market. The
selection and preparation of the food
of the world and the cleaning and
sanitary care of its dwellings is the
work of the occupation, and the prod
bcts e.. uf necessity found in the
quality of the bodily life of the com
munty Then, too, those whose needs
this occupation supplies-the con
sumers"--are members of the en-
ployers immediate family, bound to
him by the closest and tenderest ties,
and the employees. more often than
not, are dWellers under the same roof
thus making of employer, consumer
and employe one household group
with a mixture of personal, social and
economic relationships that no law.
yer, Ptiladelphian or otherwise, not
to speak of any mere woman" has
ever been able to adjust satisfactorily
From the nature of the case the OBJ
legations to the consumer" have re-
ceived the bulk of attention given to
domestic service. Long centuries OF
isolation have bred in women it's char
acteristic evil of selfishness and obli
cations to her family not only appear
to her as her first duties, but, in the
majority of cases, have obscured all
otheS Though this obligation oi
maintaining the healthful and com
Portable conditions of the home is SC
completely recognized. the fact that II
is most imperfectly met is lamentably
evident This is commonly attributed
to the inetiiciency of the available
supply of employees and, at first glance
would put the whole responsibility fol
the evils in the present to the work
ers in it. The methods of the prepa
ration of food In the modern family
are for the most part governed by ira
dition. based upon the more or less
intelligent experiments of a long line
of female ancestors, or the fads anC
fancies generated in idle brains or BY
misused stomachs, rather than any
knowledge of the value for support
and upbuiding of human bodies basee
upon scientific experiment.
From the position of the employe IL
the employers household the exist
ence of obligations to them is gener
ally recognized, but any general idet
as to the definition and scope o
these obligations is extremely vague
Right here is very delicate adjust
ment of the personal and economic re
lations. The training that men hav'
gotten in the business world, wher'
the distinctions between personal ant
business relations are sharply drawn
has been almost unknown to womel
in the past and their propensity t
mix sentimentality. prejudice and pre-
sonal caprice with all their busines
transactions is notorious.
In the economic relation the en-
ployer owes to the employe a definite
reasonable wage for definite amour
of service, and, since she is also tn
educator, she owes such training a
shall bring efficiency. She is also uT
der obligations to maintain prope
conditions in the occupation for tn
Al. r. L. III