Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-02-01
The Vanishing Domestic
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKlN

I completely solved. The touch" is be-
coming a more and more common in
cident upon American streets. The
manner of the American d~own-and-out
is always the same. He apologies for
his condition, explains that he is poor
but worthy, seeks to approach you as
an equal forced to ask help by a
temporary embarrassment. The man
is not a good beggar, for the same rea-
son that he does not believe his W
indulgence by becoming a servant. He
is too proud.
The spirit Of American equality has
engendered the idea that all personal
and household service is mental and
degrading. Every other nation in the
world has a servant class that Is salts
fed with it's status as such. In the
United States, no such class has grown
up among the native white population.
All the comfortable household jobs
have been monopolized by immigrants.
And o that there are no immigrants
to fill the jobs, Americans who need
them will not take them. The anon-
ally goes farther yet. American wives
and mothers are compelled to perform
these ~so-called mental tasks them
selves because American servants can
not be found to do the work for wages.
OF course, the idea that household
work is of a lower order than any
' other skilled labor is simply one OF
I the less desirable products of Ameri-
can pride. The dignity of any work
depends upon the spirit in which it
is done, and this fact is gradually
gaining recognition. IN Boston, many
college students are paying their way
by doing the work of militant buffers
and Wallets. One Harvard man is serv-
ing as valet for a wealthy old banker.
The student comes at 8 o'clock in the
morning to serve his employers
breakfast in bed, and aid him with his
toilet. He is on duty again between
6 and Z in the evening, and sometimes
after the theater. His work requires
only about three hours a day.
The women's educational and in
dustrial union Of Boston has success
fully, defled the idea that household
work is mental. 1t is organized to
supply all sorts of domestic servants
upon demand, and most of its mem
bers are ambitious young women who
take this mean Of getting money to
continue their studies. A young
singer, who is now successful in con.
cert work, paid her room rent while
she was studying by caring for the
apartment of a we'll known woman
writer. She earned her meals by act.
ing as maid for an elderly couple.
However willing the aristrocratic
young ladies of Boston may be to dig
nifty domestic service by turning their
own, hands to it, the fact remains that
the great majority of Americans, who
might probably do such work, regard
it as beneath them. Students of the
question believe that this difficulty
may be removed by designating the
various branches of household work as
trades, and having them performed by
skilled workers upon an hourly pay
basis. Nelson Arlington of New York,
lis now advocating an employment
bureau on this plan for that city. At
such a bureau, men and women in
need of work could register them.
selves as cooks, cleaners, caterers,
| dishwashers, Wallets or nurse maids.
The services Of each of these trades
would be rated at SO much per hour.
Instead of hiring an all-around maid
at $40 a month, the housekeeper would
arrange for regular daily attendance
by a number of different specialists.
Thus she could get just as much help
as she needed. The work would be
done more quickly and efficiently, for
the effect of the system would be to
train a group of specialists in each
branch of household work.
If the war frees American women
from the tyranny of the servant girl,
and helps to make household work a
dignified trade, it will have brought
| at least one blessing to America.
TREASURER.