The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-03-28
Made only by H N. X. FA1RBANK COMPANY

applied to a charitable organization for
treatment, told that she had con
tracted the. disease from sleeping in a
damp cellar while in domestic service
for a woman whose name frequently
appears in the society columns. The
physician making the examination or
dered IN investigation by the board
of health. 1t was found that the two
maids of the house had to sleep in a
room opening Il from the coal cellar
which was So damp hat pools of
water frequently collected upon the
floor. The mistress complained con-
%tinually of the Observation-Disclosures
Of her servants and that she was
forced to depend upon foreigners
whose language was difficult to UNI
derstand. No se~lf-respecting Ameri-
can girl could endure the conditions
of the home and no foreign-born girl
would stand it any longer than she
could avoid.
1t is hard for the American mistress
to recognize the fact that there is no
servant class in America and that she
cannot expect to receive the servile
attention which the mistress in other
countries receives from helpers who's
ancestors served hers for generations.
Domestic work in the United States
ultimately must be put upon the same
basis as other industries and the en-
ployer of home work has no more
right to exact extra duties than her
husband would have to demand extra
hours without extra pay from the girl
working in his store or office.
Mo-, I-- V- t-l
in the home of the future few. If any,
regular servants will be kept. The
work of the home will be performed
Systematically by a number Of people
who will come in by the. hour to do
certain specified tasks. The duty Of
the mistress will be to direct these
workers. just as the foreman of a fac
tory oversees the WOrkmen under his
direction. Mrs. John Macpherson Of
New York, has established a new bust
ness which will help to carry out Mrs.
Wiley'S idea. She has founded a
Dishwashing and Service company,
which will perform any domestic serv-
ice upon demand at a reasonable
price. For ~thirty-five cents a trust
worthy maid will take care of the
children while the parents attend the
theater. Windows will be washed for
eight cents each. Cleaning is done
by vacuum cleaners and all other mod
ern appliances. Dishes are washed by
machinery and careful handling of fine
china is assured.
In the southern states and in some
other parts of the country negroes are
depended upon almost exclusively Tor
domestic service. But the relation or
mistress and maid of today in the
south is very different from that
feudal bond which devoted the mis-
tress to the maid quite as much as
the maid to the mistress in the days
"befo' de Wah.' The new negro is a
better servant in point of efficiency,
but the barrier Of race that once per-
mitted almost unrestrained confidence,
has been made insurmountable by
education. The white mistress does
not pretend to hold her negro maid
accountable to her own code of morals,
and is content if her populations be
concealed. 1t is this careless attitude
that is the o grievOus fault of the
modern mistress of a negro maid, and
to it is due, in a larger measure than
the mistresses are willing to admit, the
increasing difficulties incident to the
domestic service. problem in the south.
Tomorrow-The Modern Woman.
IV.-Women as Servants.