The Tupelo journal., 1910-04-08

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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
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; it 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
to make the occupation in which
he employs others an efficient
means of satisfying some human
need in a 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 it 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
work of the occupation. and the prod
ucts are of necessity found in the
quality of the bodily life of the com
munity. Then, too, those whose needs
this occupation supplies-the con
sumers'-are members of the en-
ployer's immediate family, bound to
him by the closest and tenderest ties.
and the employees, more often than
not, are jewellers under the anne roof,
thus making of employer. consumer
and employee n household group,
with a mixture of personal, social and
yer, Philadelphia or otherwise, not
to speak of any mere woman" has
ever been able to adjust satisfactorily.
From the nature of the S 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 its char
acteristic evil of selfishness and obli-
cations to her family not only appear
to her as her first duties, but, in the
majoyity of cases, have obscured all
otheS Though this obligation of
maintaining the healthful and COM
Portable conditions of the home is so
completely recognized, the fact that it
-, xooof IN, rOrfaof1- mat &c 10 ponpfoh1u
evident. This is commonly attributed
to the inefficiency of the available
supply of employees and, at first glance,
would put the whole responsibility for
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 and
fancies generated in idle brains or by
misused stomachs, rather than any
knowledge of the value for support
and upbuilding of human bodies based
upon scientific experiment.
: FIOuu Tic pOollIOu VI tuC CLIpioyO III
the employers household the exist
ence of obligations to them is gener-
ally recognized, but any general idea
as to the definition and scope of
these obligations is extremely vague.
Right here is a very delicate adjust
ment of the personal and economic re-
lations. The training that men have
gotten in the business world, where
the distinctions between personal and
business relations are sharply drawn,
has been almost unknown to women
in the past and their propensity to
mix sentimentality. prejudice and pre-
sonal caprice with all their business
transactions is notorious.
In the economic relation the m
ployer owes to the employe a definite.
reasonable wage for a definite amount
of service, and, since she is also the
educator, she 1--WE such training as
shall bring efficiency. She is also In
der obligations to maintain proper
conditions in the occupation for the
preservation of health and social wei
fare. Such obligations certainly in
clude a place to sleep, having the
requisite amount of air space and sun
light, with comfortable and wholesome
bed and proper facilities for bathing,
etc. But this has been SO entirely
ignored that our homes have been
built with "the girls room" invari-
ably In the most uncomfortable part
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