Domestic service

“ No improvement is possible in domestic service until every part of the household comes abreast of the progress made outside of the household; until the profession of housekeeping advances, like the so-called learned professions, through the accumulated wisdom of its individual members; until it ceases to be merely a passive recipient of the progress made elsewhere, and becomes on its own part an active, creative force. ”

“ The difficulties attending domestic service are so many and so pressing that a large number of measures intended to meet them have been proposed, all of them as varied as the personalities of those dealing with the problem. This difference of opinion in regard to the best methods of meeting the question is largely due to the fact that, not domestic service as an occupation, but domestic servants as individuals have been considered. ”

“ In one important respect the condition of domestic service in Europe is immeasurably behind that in America. Even more than here domestic service and domestic servants are the targets at which are aimed the satire and the ridicule of literature and the press, and this is not [302] counterbalanced by earnest study of the subject as is the case with us. The question is everywhere discussed in America, not because the difficulties here are greater than they are elsewhere, but because it is coming to be recognized as a part of the great labor problem of the day. ”

“ Another explanation why domestic service as an occupation for men commands a higher respect in Europe lies in the relatively higher qualifications that men must have. Not only must a man in domestic service have the same qualifications as would be demanded of him in the same occupation here, but he must be able to speak from one to half a dozen languages in addition to his own. ”

“ It has been seen how great a change the inventions of the past century have made in the character of household employments. A change in the nature of household service no less important has taken place by virtue of the political revolutions of the century, acting in connection with certain economic and social forces. The subject of domestic service looms up so prominently in the foreground to-day that there is danger of forgetting that it has a past as well as a present. ”

“ Domestic service, as seen by the employee, cannot be dismissed without suggesting the fact that as many tragedies in life are found here as elsewhere. One employee had planned to be a teacher, but sudden deafness prevented, and domestic service was all she could do. ”

“ The question how to improve the present condition of domestic service is, however, not a hopeless one, but the answer to it must be based on an examination of the historical and economic principles underlying the subject. ”

“ It is true that in thousands of households no difficulty in regard to domestic service exists, but this fact does not relieve those in charge of such households from further responsibility in the matter. ”

“ These various explanations of the failure to consider domestic service in connection with other forms of labor are in reality but different phases of a fundamental reason—the isolation that has always attended household service and household employments. ”

“ In comparing the advantages and disadvantages of domestic service as an occupation it will be obvious that the advantages are numerous, substantial, and easily recognized; the disadvantages are many, but they are far more subtile, intangible, and far reaching. The advantages are those which the economic woman always sees and which take her from unhealthy tenement houses into country air and sunshine; from overcrowded occupations into one where the demand for workers is and always must be unlimited; from starvation wages to peace and plenty ”

“ But domestic service has through these causes been affected in certain specific ways. The employee who [68] disliked housework, but to whom no other occupation had been open, could go into a factory or a mill, since no time was consumed in learning the simple processes of mechanical work. Every invention formed the basis for a new occupation. Domestic service had a hundred competitors in a field where before the era of inventions it had stood alone. ”

“ How are the evils of domestic service to be remedied? I quote, however, an extract from a recent article in The Victoria Magazine, in order to show how far the complaints made in England of the shortcomings of servants run parallel with those of our own housekeepers. It is to be noted that the writer confessedly holds a brief for the servants. If the facts are fairly stated, the relation between a servant in an English family and her employer differs widely from the like relation with us;
'The prizes in domestic service are few, the blanks many. Ladies think only of the prizes. ”

“ Third, reform in domestic service must be accomplished along the same general economic lines as are reforms in other great departments of labor—not at right angles to general industrial progress. Fourth, reform in domestic service must be the result of evolution from present conditions and tendencies—not a special creation. Fifth, no reform can be instituted which will remove to-morrow all difficulties that exist to-day. ”

“ An answer to the question may be of help in deciding whether the difficulties that are found in the present system of domestic service arise in every case necessarily from the personal relations which exist between employer and employee, or are largely due to economic conditions over which the individual employer has no control. ”

“ It is impossible to understand the condition of domestic service as it exists to-day without a cursory glance at the changes in household employments resulting from the inventions of the latter part of the eighteenth century. ”

“ In every country, it is true, there are districts where something of the old patriarchal relationship between master and servant still exists, where service in a household descends from parent to child, where democratic ideas have not penetrated, where, be it said, the railway, the telegraph, and the automobile are as yet unknown. In such districts the question of household service is a simple one. But each year, as these classes become more and more affected by new social and industrial conditions, the perplexities in domestic service increase. ”

“ It seems possible in view of the facts stated in this second group of propositions to draw these conclusions. In states containing a relatively high urban population it is possible for wealth to command the services of a large proportion of persons for work in domestic service. ”

“ Vacation granted with or without Loss of Wages
[137]
A fourth advantage that domestic service has as an occupation is the knowledge it gives of household affairs and the training in them—knowledge of which every woman, whatever her station in life and whether married or unmarried, has at times most pressing need. [248]
A fifth consideration is that it offers congenial employment to many whose tastes lie specially in this direction. [249] It is undoubtedly true that many persons in other occupations would honestly prefer housework if some of its present disadvantages could be eliminated. ”

“ This group of five propositions in regard to the number and distribution of the foreign born engaged in domestic service seems to indicate that in this country, with the exception of the sections employing colored servants, domestic service is as a rule performed by persons of foreign birth belonging to a few well-defined classes as regards nationality, who prefer city to country life. The facts given are an understatement of the influence exerted on domestic service by persons of foreign extraction, since they do not take into consideration the factor of foreign parentage. ”

“ Another consideration in favor of selecting domestic service as a reasonable subject for investigation lay in the accessibility of the material. Every household, whether with or without domestic employees, could add its contribution to the inquiry. ”

“ Now if you ever have a family yourself, and have persons to help you, would you not think it right and proper that they should do your work as you wished it done?—and would you not feel that it was proper that your children should treat you with respect, and that your domestics should set them a proper example in this particular? No doubt you would, and therefore do unto your employers as you would that others should do unto you, if your circumstances are changed and you become employer instead of domestic. ”

“ Some changes that have come within scarcely more than a hundred years have been peculiar to a single country, most of them have been shared by all, while not a few have affected America as well as Europe. The changes have often been wrought silently, but they have been none the less effective because they have come unnoticed and unrecognized alike by the employer and by the employed in domestic service. ”

“ If, then, I can show that domestics have great power to do good given them, and that they really use this power in doing good, I shall prove that the station of a domestic is an honourable and respectable one. And if I can show that domestics have more power, and actually do more good, than many who think themselves above them, I shall prove, too, that they have the more honourable and respectable station. I will therefore point out the power of doing good which is given to domestics. ”

“ Nearly every class of employers has its own special organization; the associated press, associated charities, local, state, and national educational associations, and associations of learned societies, show the influence of organization in other departments; nearly every class of employees also has its trade union or mutual benefit association; everywhere, except in the household, mutual interests are drawing together for protection, for consultation, for economy of forces and resources, for a score of reasons, those engaged in the same activities. ”

“ The various bureaus of labor, both national and state, consider only those subjects for the investigation of which there is a recognized demand. They are the leaders of [3] public opinion in the accumulation of facts, but they are its followers as regards the choice of questions to be studied. Public opinion has not yet demanded a scientific treatise on domestic service, and until it does the bureaus of labor cannot be expected to supply the material for such discussion. ”

“ It is a matter, then, that equally interests all classes in society to inquire, How shall the station and employment of a domestic be raised in public estimation, so as to be regarded honourable and respectable, as much so as it deserves to be?
Now this can be accomplished only by [82] having both sides try to bring it about. On the side of employers, pains must be taken to render the situation of domestics agreeable and comfortable, and to secure for them time and means to gain a good education and a comfortable support. And many intelligent persons are now feeling the importance of this. ”

“ The plan most widely advocated and believed to contain the greatest possibilities for improvement in domestic service, is that of establishing training-schools for servants, such schools to have a regular course of study and to grant a diploma on the satisfactory completion of the work. ”

“ Great as would be the gain for domestic service if this principle could be adopted in private families, the advantage would be if possible even greater could it be introduced into hotels, boarding houses, and restaurants, and also the dining-car, parlor-car, and sleeping-car service. ”

“ Their employers are appointed by God, as the rulers and overseers of the family, and those they hire are under [101] obligation to obey, in all matters relating to family work, just as a citizen is under obligations to obey rulers, when they administer the laws of the state. The master and mistress of a family are rulers of their house, just as magistrates are rulers of the people.
A gentleman of the highest standing for wealth, intelligence, and honour, obeys his rulers in all points where they have a right to direct, whether the laws are good or bad, whether the rulers are wise or foolish. ”

“ The industrial barriers within the occupation must be removed before domestic service will attract large numbers of capable, efficient persons; this can be at least partially accomplished by taking the employee out of the house and allowing him or her to become a self-reliant, independent, business person.
Another direction in which progress lies is in the effort to put the employment on a business basis. This must be accomplished if any improvement is to come. ”

“ From the fact that other occupations are largely the result of association and combination they court investigation and the fullest and freest discussion of their underlying principles and their influence on each other. Household service, since it is based on the principle of isolation, is regarded as an affair of the individual with which the public at large has no concern. Other forms of industry are anxious to call to their assistance all the legislative, administrative, and judicial powers of the nation, all the forces that religion, philanthropy, society itself can exert in their behalf. ”

“ From civil service to domestic service is a great leap; but there is this likeness between the two, that both, in this country at least, are in a deplorable condition of inefficiency. And as to domestic service, the complaints of householders in England are hardly less loud and grievous than those which go up daily in America. ”

“ No one knows better than I the capabilities of a system of domestic service at its best. I have seen children who were spiritual sons and daughters of their masters, girls who were friends of their mistresses, and old servants honored and revered. ”

“ Gradually the whole subject of the relations of labor and the industrial callings will assume a new form in America, and though we shall never be able to command the kind of service secured in aristocratic countries, yet we shall have that which will be as faithful and efficient. If domestic service can be made as pleasant, profitable, and respectable as any of the industrial callings, it will soon become as permanent. ”