Evening star., 1918-02-28

white wage-earning women included in
the survey leads the bureau to the con-
ciuSion that SO per week was the bare
minimum upon which the average wom-
an could obtain adequate board and
lodging in Washington in the early
part of 1917, and that a somewhat larg-
er amount was necessary to insure any
considerable degree of comfort"
Conditions as of 1917.
according to the report. that the in
1917.
In the months since then" says the
report. "as a result of the great in
huX of people into the District of CO.
'lumbia, combined with the general rise
in prices, there has been very general
and very marked advances in the cost
of rooms and meals.
To just what extent this has affected
the housing conditions of the women
included in this study is not known.
But. in general way. it is known
did not increase as rapidly as rents
and prices, and. as a result, for prac-
tically all wage-earning women in
washington the problem of food and
ago.
OF the 500 white wage-earning women
covered by the study. 414 were living
lies. all but fifty-one of these living
with parents. The remaining 1856 lived
away from home. either in private
families. in commercial boarding
/ houses. In working girls homes or
were housekeeping on their own ac-
count.
In certain employnents the number
OF women living away from home was
proportionately much greater than in
others Thus. of the twelve mattresses
scneduled; only two were living at
nome. whereas twenty-nine of the
iihlrty-eight telephone girls were SO
nVlng- Among store employees almost
one-half were living away from home.
What Report Shows.
+ The report states:
As regards the Ala women living at
nome little can be said as to the char
acter or cost of their food and lodging
OFTEN such women were assisted by
their families and paid only a nominal
board. On the other hand such women
were oIten supporting their families
lp WEoie or in part and turned in all
their surplus money to the general fam
1Iy fund In practically all cases of
women living at nome. therefore. the
amount paid to the family was not de-
termned by commercial reasons and
was not measure of the sccommoda-
ZION received in return
In the case of women Hving away
from home. board and lodging are
d
basis. but not always even then The
strict commercial relationship is most
clearly marked in the case of the usual
boarding house. where the payments
by the boarders must cover all 5ex-
penses of maintenance The financial
basis is also clearly marked in the case
OF woman who is doing housekeep-
ing on her own account. renting a room
or rooms and preparing her own meals.
In case of board in a private family
the personal factor sometimes enters.
The family may charge less than the
market price because of friendship or
relationship or simply for the sake of
companionship. In the case of work
ing girls homes. the rates charged are
usually below what they would be If
the homes were conducted on COM
mercial basis. and very often the rates
are fixed not upon cost, but upon the
earnings OF the girls.
Choice of Four Ways.
The woman living away from home
has the choice Of four alternative ways
of living. These, as noted, are: With
private families, in commercial board
ing houses. housekeeping in one or
more rooms and living in homes es-
tablished for working girls. Certain
combinations Of these methods are pos
sible. but in practice were not found to
be frequent.
Each of these ways of living has its
merits and demerits. The cheapest ac-
girls homes in which the rates are in
proportion to the earnings of the girls.
But, aside from the objections that
many women have to such homes, the
total accommodation of all such estab-
lishments in Washington is too small
to have much influence upon the situa-
ton
'Housekeeping-i. e.. renting a room
or rooms and getting ones own meals
therein-was preferred by many wom-
en- because such a method of living
may be made most to approximate a
true home. Married women appeared
particularly favorable to this form of
living. OF the forty-three married
women not living at home, twenty
seven, or nearly two-thirds were
housekeeping. This is probably ex-
planned by the fact that married wom-
en- in most instances have had taste
of maintaining home of their own
and where possible prefer to keep on
with it. A good many of them, too,
have some equipment left from former
housekeeping experiences. as well as
some practical experience, to guide
them on the way. Housekeeping, too,
is undertaken by many women for rea-
sons Of economy. By cooking on gas
stove, or even a gas jet in ones room
and buying cheaply, the cost of food
may be reduced to minimum The
evil here is. of course. that not only is
the food usually badly chosen, but this
form of living is conducive to an econ
omy that may easily border on starya-
ton
Wedding Decorations of Elective
Cba~ar 0or;,. aoo