Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-06-26
DUTCH HOUSEWIFE
NOW WORRIED BY
SERVANT PROBLEM
So Many Girls Taking Work as|
Clerks and Factory Hands
That Scarcity Of DomeStics
Has Been Created,


Rotterdam, Netherlands. June h.
For the first time in history, the
Dutch housewife is today face TO face
with a servant problem. With 10 per
cent of the male population of the
country called to the eolors, the girl
who does not wish to become a SER
want can very readily find well paid
work as clerk or factory hand, or in
an office or even on the farm. Many
are doing so, and ii Is now rare to see
in the Dutch papers the customary
form of advertisement for u place in
domestic service.
Following the Dutch custom, do
nestle servants are employed by the
year at yearly fixed wages: and in
case of dissatisfaction on either side,
a rupture of the contract can only
take place quarterly, on the first of
February, May, August or November.
Notice by either party must be given
at the very least three months in ad-
vance, on or before one of these dates,
and runs for full three months from
the next following term date. Thus,
to discharge an ill-tempered or incJm-
potent girl the day after she has come
to work, requires six months tolera-
'iNh " me- VI tht payment VI SIA
months wages.
Wages Not High.
The wages, however, are not high.
though the war and the consequent
servant famine is tending to raise
them. A cook ordinarily receives
$3.50 per year with all her food and
washing paid, and one cent as COM
mission on every dollars worth Of
sal,
the cook collects from the tradesmen
A good housemaid receives $50 per
year, all found with the added hope
of falling heir to some of her mis-
tress' clothes. A footman or house,
boy receives about $40 per year. also
all found. The housewife must, in
addition, pay workmens compensa-
ton insurance.
The tipping system Is the curse of
domestic service in The Netherlands.
In addition to the cooks commission,
each servant. at the New Year and
All Saints day receives gulden on
every hundred of yearly wage, or 81
on every $40. But these are not all,
nor indeed the most important tips
in a Dutch house Every guest invit-
ed to dinner is expected to leave
departing. All receipts from this
source. as well as from an equally in
exorable tax placed upon guests stop
ping in the house. go into a common
pot under the guardianship of the but
Ter, to be distributed at the end of
the quarter. among all the servants, in
the proportion Of their yearly wages.
At a recent meeting of the Neither
lands A scncfafion of IaucaWiNeg Miss
G.. M. van Oorschot, assistant director
of the Amsterdam Municipal Labor
exchange, made d spirited and frank
talk upon existing conditions in do
nestle service in the Netherlands
International Question.
THE servant question" said Miss
van 0orschot, is rightfully an inter-
national question which, until now,
has received altogether too little Sc
rious attention. The principal trou-
BILE is that the relationship between
the housewife and her domestic em-
ployes is regarded rather as patri-
archal one than as one of pure bust
ness, with social and economic as
poets far outweighing purely personal
considerations. Many "A girl today has
left domestic service for factory or
shop work solely because her personal
freedom has been abridged by the
terms of her employment and by the
intransigeance of her employer. The
smallest matters which may seem to
have no Fundamental significance, are
sufficient to make a girl dissatisfied.
Many girls, for example, object TO
wearing caps as a mark of service, or
to being addressed as ''servants.''
There is but one solution of the So
cial difficulties presented by this
problem. That is to provide for COM
petent instruction i'm domestic service,
and to regard those who have availed
themselves of this training as skilled
workers, pursuing a trade for the ex-
crcise of which there shall be as many
and as definite legal guarantees as for
the exercise of the bricklayers', tail
ors or plumbers trades.
1.-THE hours of labor demanded OF
domestic servants, their rare hours of
freedom and the tipping system in
vogue here in Holland all need regula-
ton