New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-04
MANY SERVANTS IDLE
Presidential Bogieman Causes
Widespread RetrenchmentS.
employees NOT WORRIED
Mapy Seeking Work, but Pray
ing They Won't Find 1t,
the Agencies Declare.

If you have tackled the servant prob
lem since you came back to town you
know already that this being Presidential
year lot Of folk who make bogiemen
out OF Presidential candidates have pre-
pared for the worst by cutting out any
where from one to ten household helpers
so as to help solve the high cost Of liv-
ing problem. This leaves plenty Of SER
wants for persons with less perspicacity.
But, as one may have discovered, II Is
no picnic to find satisfactory maid in the
kitchen or valet in the hall. The men who
run employment agencies say that EN-
ployers are getting more exacting and
servants are holding out for better wages
and more favorable working conditions.
SO the servant problem is just as much
as ever like the poor, still with us.
Agencies all over town report that they
have more applicants than they can find
places for, In the first place. the strike
Of the hotel walters last spring is being
felt by employers OF domestics. The lat
ter are harder to please than ever before.
There has been no concerted demand for
higher wages. but. as in the case Of negro
creascfn pay in the last three years. 1t
is harder to-day to place a competent
negro girl I'm the kitchen, because she pre-
fers to sleep at home Shorter hours and
better pay are what they are demanding.
Now. as usual. the highest class domes-
tics comprise Swedes. Germans and
French. One agency reported that out OF
2.163 servants placed in the last year less
than zoo were Americans. A few Arme-
Man girls have appeared in the places OF
Irish girls, who. the agencies say. got to
be too fnicky TO hold their jobs. As n
rule. though, the Armenian girl gets mar
rled anywhere from three TO six months
after she arrives in New York. They are
good housekeepers. and the young Arme-
mans who are getting on in the New
World know II.
Along the region Of Central Park West
negro help is preferred above all other.
These cooks. who were getting SIS three
years ago. are getting s24 to-day. Your
upper middle class OF New Workers who
go In for appearances have been fond OF
employing japanese help. or course, this
help is practically all male But the Jap
anese fad IS going out, or. at least the
Japanese men are abandoning the dones-
tic puruits for the more lucrative places
In the department stores and photograph
galleries, and many OF them are going
into educational institutions
Through the japanese employment
agencies II was learned that the Japs
thrived best I'm bachelor apartments
~. nj usb
they do they invariably get good recon-
mendations from their bachelor employ
ers. Not so with the mistresses in the
homes of the opulent. For some reason
II is getting harder every year for the
exacting New York woman 10 get along
I'm peace with her husbands japanese
servants
And so a great many OF them are leav-
Ing their Jobs. and IT is getting harder
every day 10 I'll their places. because
competent japanese help Will not work
for less than SO or So. An influx OF
cheaper japanese help from the Pacific
Coast has affected the situation rather
noticeably. Many OF these have crossed
the continent and have gone 10 work as
domestics for 50 and SO, but they rarely
give SatlSlaCtJon.
The real rush TO place servants hasn't
begun yet 4 search among the agencies
yesterday showed pretty dull business.
One agent said he had a lot Of help that
was looking for work and praying like
mad that they wouldn't find It. Many OF
these he admitted, were Irish girls.
The great number Of servants waiting
for work In New York is due to the fact
that many OF them have been working
In country hotels. and they have come
back to town In advance OF their employ
ers, many of whom have gone 10 Europe
for September Everywhere the tendency
now is toward specialization in house
work This means a demand for better
hours higher wages and the best sleep
ing accommodations The most sig
nifcant feature OF the servant problem
this month Is the reflection Of the de-
mand for more pay and better hours
that arose In the hotel workers strike
last spring.