The Washington herald., 1912-12-29
By Arthur Won Briesen.

President of Legal Aid Society of New
York.
THE basic difficulty in the rela-
tionship between employer and
4 employed, especially in the ser
want situation of to-day, lies In
the fact that every one is thinking Of
his rights, and no one of his duties.
Laborers' strikes are founded on labor
ers' rights; the greed OF one side with
out regard to the obligation Of the
other. No one remembers that, to OBJ
tain their own rights, people must be
willing to recognize and respect the
rights of all others.
The Legal Aid Society, of which am
President, is constantly in touch with
this situation, as a result Of the large
number of servants who daily come in
its doors for settlement of their claims
and difficulties. And every day I live
1 am made to realize more and more
that half the litigation and half the
difficulties could be eliminated IL both
sides would remember the trouble-sav-
ing maxim: do the incest things you
can for everybody you know!" But
neither side is inclined to keep in mind
any such aphorism. As a consequences,
the servant problem is now one of the
greatest questions of the age.
Help That Will Not Stay.
At the present time the relations be-
tween the employer and the servant are
in rather confused condition. This is
due in no small degree to the present
status Of the law, which permits the
employe to sue and recover wages from
the employer-for the time he has actu-
ally worked-where the contract of
employment is what is called an in
definite hiring. Many cases have re-
Gently been brought to the attention of
the Legal Aid Society where the ser
want left the employer abruptly and
without notice, so as to create the
greatest amount of annoyance. Some
times the departure was for cause, and
good cause, but in the majority Of cases
cause was lacking. Take, for instance,
the following cases:
A coachman drove his employer to
shop. While the carriage was waiting
the man left it and abandoned his EN-
pIoyer. In another instance cook left
the place where she was employed at
6P. NJ, without notice, when she knew
that guests had been invited for din
ner. Many similar cases have been
brought to the Legal Aid Society for
adjustment, and it has frequently been
difficult to find that the servant had
any good reason for departure. In the
majority of cases there was no cause
whatever. In fact, so largely was our
clientele recruited from this class of
people-servants who had treated the
employer with distinct lack of good
faith and fair dealing and had then
asked us to obtain the money due them
for the days during which they had
worked-that we adopted a special rule,
with view to reducing the practice
This rule has proved very efficient
and is still in existence. 1t holds that,
in cases where the employe leaves with
out notice. before the expiration of the
week or month, at the end Of which
time payment of wages is expected. and
without giving the employer fair OPP
portunity to fill the position by an
other, the Legal Aid Society will re-
gard such conduct as unfair on the
part Of the employee, and will refuse
to assist the latter in obtaining the col
lection of back wages. The society for
many years has had a rule that any