New-York tribune., 1910-09-03
SHORTAGE OF: SERVANTS
Employment Bureaus Have Sad
Story for Housewives.
BAN ON IRISH GIRLS
Cook-La undresses Complain Of
Hunger and Employers of
Too Much Religion.

Servant girls should be ordered early II
promises TO be hard winter on persons
who must have them.
Other years have been frauzht with
anxieties to the housewife caused by the
scarcity Of servant girls in New York City
The situation this year. however. promises
to be more painful than ever. There may
lie enough girls 10 GO around. but most Of
them will be irish That is why there Is
going 70 be trouble. 1t is declared now 10
be a tremendous stumbling block TO all
such negotiations-that a maid should be
of Irish pedigree.
New York women are saying. almost
simultaneously, No Irish need apply" As
there are three times as many Irish girls
as Of all other nationalities open for oppor-
tunitles to perform domestic service in this
city, the NO Irish" postscript contains
food for thought TO the woman of the
house. the girl who is thus excluded and
the middle woman. who tries 10 operate an
employment agency at a profit
Servant girls are returning 10 town each
day from vacations they have spent in
Europe. Others are coming back. with and
without employers. from mountains and
seashore. After Labor Day great numbers
Of city homes will be opened again, and
their owners, in many cases, will begin the
hunt for variety of helpers TO run them
There are always plenty of buffers and
Wallets. 1t is always easy also to secure
housekeeper or a governess- But the COM
pound servant technically listed as cook
laundress Will be more scarce than ever.
and-unless the embargo on Irish applicants
is Hfted-wiII not be found in sufficient
quantities to satisfy the demand.
mot Enough to Eat"
The most universal complaint Of cook
laundresses and other maidservants in
this city when they quit one place and
apply TO an employment agency for another
is that they have not had enough to eat.
Fifth avenue has felt the high cost of
living, ii is said and one phase of the SER
want problem was declared yesterday to be
closely allied with the price Of eggs
'Housekeepers are not nearly so much
TO blame for the practice of keeping lamb
chops and eggs under lock and key the
woman of the house in most every case
that is brought TO our attention" said
well known authority yesterday. Girls
will not stay at a place where they cannot
get enough to eat. One would not expect
TO hear of a famine in Fifth avenue, but
LHe IdCL remains tndt tne women VINO pre-
side over such homes frequently portion
out the most meagre fare for the girls
who have been working hard while the
housewife slept.
1T is going 10 be peculiarly hard picking
for those who want servant girls this fall
and winter. A determination to boycott
the Irish Maid has taken strong hold on
the minds of fashionable women. The
priests are largely to blame for this condi-
ton. Too much selfshness on the part Of
the fashionable women comes into it. too.
You see. its like this: Irish servant
girls are Catholics as a rule. and also as
a rule they oversleep on Sunday morning
until it's too late for early mass. Being
religious and desirous of doing as the
priests tell them. these girls are bound TO
go TO the o clock mass having
missed the first one. and the fashionable
family saunters downstairs 20 md its
Sunday breakfast. II the breakfast is dis
covered il is late. 1t puts the household
at skies and sevens generally and all be-
cause Mary and Bridget. and perha ps
Mary Ann, are retigiously inclined and TOO
stubborn TO control.