The sun., 1919-08-07
Employment Expert Asserts
Shortage Of Domestic Help
Seems Permanent.
INDUSTRIES LURE GIRLS
High Wages and Freedom Sum
days and Evenings Attract
immigration Scanty, Too.

to oil the clogged wheels Of the Amer
lean home and set them spinning as
thy did In our grandmothers' time. This
Is the remedy:
Let Mrs. would-Be Mistress do her
own work
Let her turn nurse-ma,id and get 40
quainted with her own baby. Let her
forget tes-rooms. window shopping and
peaoock-alleys, and put on neat little
Bingham dress and earn the delight of
seeing her family enjoy the food she
herself has prepared. Maybe they
wouldn't enjoy IT just at first, but any
woman with sense can learn to cook.
And in the opinion of employment
agency people who have been watching
the trend of things Mrs. would-Be Mis-
| tress has got to learn to cook-or
starve.
Yes, this drastic suggestion comes
| from employment agency heads. 1t is
one their weE-to-do patrons won't like ;
but they should worry What are
patrons to employment agencies now?
They come in swarms, they haunt the
doors. holding out swollen purses In
| frenzied app<ai. and the employment
agency peope. outwardly polite, look
| upon them With blase and weary eyes,
| wishing that about three-fourths of
them were husky girls from Ireland
looking for place. Patrons! What
are patrons when the market In what
they are after is SO shortG
Sees No Other Solution.
Miss Isobel Shea, 80 East Forty-second
| street. who has been running an employ
| ment agency for twenty years, who has
watched the changes from the days
when Immigrant girls poured into this
country in shoals asking nothing better
than to work in somebody's kitchen and
send their savings back to the folks at
home, down to the difficult present when
there Is almost no immigration and when
the working girls already here are 30 in
demand In factories. telephone ex-
changes, offices and shops that they
turn up their noses at domestic service
-Miss lsobel Shea is one who emphat-
icaiiy says that American women have
got to learn to do their own work
| Il don't see any other solution" she
said yesterday. "It is getting mora and
more hard to get girls to go out to do
nestle service. The lack of immisra-
ton Is one great reason that the supply
| is cut down, and then so many who
| were cooks and Mattresses and nurse-
maids few years ago are now in the
industries. They left the kitchen To po
into war work and now they won't go
back. They don't have to. And don't
blame them" said Miss Shea with the
pleasant accent which, with her name,
proclaims her Irish ancestry. Work
ing in shops and factories they have
their evenings and Sundays. they have
their freedom. and that is what they
like. We all do. don't we?
May be in the long run a girl IL
better oc financially to work In a house
mold. for she has her board and lodging
and can save most of her wages, which
In these days are good. But the way
she looks at 1t she gets more out OF life
II she works eight hours in a factory or
store and then goes out with her eve
ming to herself, and that is what we
i've for, isn't it&-to get what We can
out OF life. So all l can see for II Is
for American women. those who have
been fdling, to roll up their sleeves and
go to work"
Rich Ruin Wage Standards.
When THE SUN woman asked con.
corning the wages of good domestic
help now Miss Shea laughed.
Any thing they care to ask" she
said. There is no rule. rhyme or rea-
son In the domestic service situation
now. 1t is all a question of individual.
lily. woman comes here to seek a
COOK, and she will pay any thing to get
one. She has the money, and will nav
any thing. 1t is this that is disorean.
izing the help situation 30 that 1 can.
not see what its future will be.
| Il see no reason to hope for a large,
supply or domestic help-the adyertis
ing columns Of the newspapers ar,
enough to tell us that shops and fac
tories and offices haven't half the womer
they need, and as / said before their,
is the voice the girls will listen to, and
small wonder. Some writer's have told
US that it would solve the problem tc
put domestic labor on the same basis a.
shop and factory work-have the hell
live outside and come in to serve eight
hours day, then be free for the res
OF the twenty-four hours. / don't thinl
Mat is practical"
Many employment agencies were inter
viewed by THE SUN woman, uptown ant
downtown, east and west-the stylish
ones on or near Fifth avenue, tn,
others in crowded districts where womer
with small purses go with little hope
searching for help they know will b,
} inefficient. And everywhere the answer
was the same-a great and increasing
shortage of domestic help.
| Help is very hard to get" said Mis-,
Margaret Smith, rs West Forty seconC
y street Plenty OF clients, but small
material with which to satisfy them
The lack of immigration is, OF course
the leading reason. and next to that tn,
fact that SO many girls are going into
other work. They want their indepen
dence-or think they do"
Miss r. f. Harper, manager of tn,
National Industrial and Benevolent As
ISOLATION, 1913 West 131st street, which
advertises to supply negro help. testified
that she was struggling with the sans
, difficulties as those which beset othel
employment agencies.
Aren't negro girls coming In from tn,
South?" she was asked.
mot many now" she answered "AnC
We don't deal with the raw help, bu
with girls who have been hero and know
the ways. And SO many OF our girl
we used to depend on before the war ar,
now working at other things, ! dom
wonder Some of our girls are earning
! $40 and s25 a week in factories. AnC
they are free when they leave the fac
tory. They have leeway to live theil
own lives for awhile.
1--WE often thought that II some O
the ladies would only give their maid
q little leeway there wouldn't be $,
much OF a servant problem. As thing
are going now. / am afraid many ladiei
will have to allow more leeway or learI