Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-07
Mechanical Servants
BY Frederic J. Haskin
Washington, ID. c., Feb. What arc
nc going TO do for servants?


VIC going 70 do for scrvants7
eopli who c0mplained about the
| servant problem few years ago now
| realize that their troubles in that limo
| had only just begun. Tho cost of unit
| Of human power is going higher every
| day. And IL secrns a. though human
power applied to manual tasks rises in
price much faster han humen power
applied TO intellectual work. Ten years
ago in this country college professor
might be able to hire n cook. Now n
competent cook might well hire a college
professor il shc had any use for him.
It's the same way IN many other IN
| stances that might be cited The thing
can be stated briefly by saying that
wages are going UP 80 much more rapidly
than salaries that the salaried class can
no longer afford To hire the wage earning
class. You have TO bc a capitalist in orcfrr
10 be able 10 hire anyone these days,
and even some capitalists regard their
pay rolls with growing aversion.
This is no doubt due in part to an alb
normal stat, OF affairs, but there docs
seem TO be n tendency To cplalire All
human rewards IL is doubtless n wrong
which will he righted in due course that q
brick layer in this country can make
more than the average professor Of
mathematics. The professor has spent
more money getting his training, his
work requires higher grade Of ability,
and his responsibilities are greater Also
and this is perhaps the most important
part---his actual wants are larger than
those Of the average brIcklayer He may
need no more 10 eat than the brick layer,
but he may wrll need more in the way Of
books and pcra tickets.
10 EouALrxy REWARDS.
At any rate the Utopian socialists, and
other so-caIled drearners and idealists,
have always contended that the rewards
should be eqialized, 50 that VIC would
all get about the Same amount, the
difference depending on our differing
needs and capacities for enjoyment rather
than on our differing luck and ability.
Whether you like II or not, something
of the sort seems to be happening. OF
course, the rich, like the poor, are always
with us. And IL docs seem rs If some
movie stars, prize fighters, and barefoot
danccrsare getting a little more than their
fair share Of the Doodle. But there is no
denying that for the great mass Of us
who toll six days week and draw pay
envelope ON Saturday night, the content
OF that envelope is coming always to be
more uniform IN amount for all Of us
As the wife Of a young professional man
observes, her children used tn give candy
and apples 10 the Janitor children, but
now the janitor's children are giving
candy and apples 10 them.
Those who jeered at the pipe-dreaners
always said. IL rewards become approx /
mately equal. who is going to do the dirty
work? Who IS gong to shovel coal and
wash Dishes"
And that question does seem 70 have
arisen An answer 70 10 is suggested by
DR. o. r. Hood, who is chief engineer
Of the Bureau of Mines. He says that
machinery viii do the dirty work.
Engineering, ne admits has already
done a lot for the home; but he says that I
IL has not one a 1.-THE Of what it can do. /
II has just begun 20 invade the home. /
There is hardly nonotonous. disagree I
able, mechanical job that could not be
done BY machinery if scientists would /
put thei ir minds on the problem Of devLs- /
ing machine 10 do it.
DIR. Hood is not responsible for that last /
sweeping statement but it can be pretty /
fairly inferred from what he does say.
He points ont how much mechanical /
power has already done for the home It
began with the introduction Of electricity
for lighting Think how much time they
ltsed to spend IN filing and trimming
lamps, and before that IN making candles
ana rush lights.
Then came the vacuum sweeper, which
has reduced the labor of cleaning house
by just how many per cent any agent Tor
a vacuum cleaner company will tell YOU.
The washing machine was next. DR. Hood
admits that he does the washing in his
family He does il all by machinery In a
- and ahfpa-z~ H.alraer hrs
profession he does not consider it any
loss of dignity either. He further alleges
that. II the truth were known, it would
be found that thousands OF dignihed
fathers and husbands are doing the family
laundry in the same way.
LABOR SAVING DEVICES.
There Is Just now great and growing
demand for cleaners, washing machines,
ironing machines and other such house T
hold mechanical appliances. It grows 1
out of the fact that people can no longer .
afford TO hire servants. And this demand I
cannot fail to result in great develop +
ment Of such appliances, and in their 4
application TO many household tasks 4
now done by hand For it IS the lack !
Of demand rather than the lack OF me
chanical ingenuity which has held back +
t he development of household engineering.
Inventors had made perfectly good wash
ing machines. many years ago. Long
before washing machines came into 4
general use, there were more patents In /
the patent Office on washing machines
than on anything else except corn culti-
vators. The trouble was that people
wanted a washing machine for about ten
dollars. Ask them TO pay any more, and
thew would explSin that 1t was cheaper
TO hire laundress.
That argument no longer holds good.
1t is now generally cheaper to buy a
washing machine at a hundred dollars
or more than it is to hire anybody.
One of the very next applications Of
mechanical mower to the household.