DOMESTIC SERVICE
[Illustration]
DOMESTIC SERVICE
BY
LUCY MAYNARD SALMON
_SECOND EDITION_
WITH AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER ON DOMESTIC
SERVICE IN EUROPE
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1901
_All rights reserved_
COPYRIGHT, 1897,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped February, 1897. Revised edition
printed March, 1901.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith
Norwood, Mass. U.S.A.
“The reform that applies itself to the household must not be partial. It
must correct the whole system of our social living. It must come with
plain living and high thinking; it must break up caste, and put domestic
service on another foundation. It must come in connection with a true
acceptance by each man of his vocation,—not chosen by his parents or
friends, but by his genius, with earnestness and love.”
EMERSON.
PREFACE
The basis of the following discussion of the subject of domestic service
is the information obtained through a series of blanks sent out during
the years 1889 and 1890. Three schedules were prepared—one for employers,
one for employees, and one asking for miscellaneous information in
regard to the Woman’s Exchange, the teaching of household employments,
and kindred subjects.[1] These schedules were submitted for criticism
to several gentlemen prominent in statistical investigation, and after
revision five thousand sets were distributed. These were sent out in
packages containing from five to twenty-five sets through the members
of the Classes of 1888 and 1889, Vassar College, and single sets were
mailed, with a statement of the object of the work, to the members of
different associations presumably interested in such investigations.
These were the American Statistical Association, the American Economic
Association, the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ, the Vassar Alumnæ, and
the women graduates of the University of Michigan. They were also sent
to various women’s clubs, and many were distributed at the request of
persons interested in the work.
Of the five thousand sets of blanks thus sent out, 1025 were returned
filled out by employers, twenty being received after the tabulation
was completed. These gave the facts asked for with reference to 2545
employees. The returns received from employers thus bore about the same
proportion to the blanks distributed as do the returns received in
ordinary statistical investigation carried on without the aid of special
agents or legal authority. The reasons why a larger number were not
returned are the same as are found in all such inquiries, with a few
peculiar to the nature of the case. The occupation investigated is one
that does not bring either employer or employee into immediate contact
with others in the same occupation, and it is therefore believed that the
relations between employer and employee are purely personal, and thus not
a proper subject for statistical inquiry. Another reason assigned was the
fear that the agitation of the subject would cause employees to become
dissatisfied, while a third reason was the large number of questions
included in the blanks, and the fact that no immediate and possibly no
remote benefit would accrue to those filling them out. Another reason
frequently assigned was that all of the questions could not be answered,
and that, therefore, replies to others could not be of service. Several
of the questions, however, were framed with the understanding that in
many cases they could not be definitely answered; as the question, “How
many servants have you employed since you have been housekeeping?” The
fact that often no reply could be given, was as significant of the
condition of the service as a detailed statement could have been.
No success had been anticipated in securing replies from employees; but
as any study of domestic service would be incomplete without looking
at it from this point of view, the attempt was made. As a result, 719
blanks were returned filled out. In some instances employees, hearing of
the inquiry, wrote for schedules and returned them answered. In a few
cases correspondence was carried on with women who had formerly been
in domestic service. The influences that operated to prevent employers
from answering the inquiries made had even greater force in the case of
employees. In addition, there was present a hesitation to commit anything
to writing, or to sign a name to a document the import of which was not
clearly understood by them.
The limited amount of information that could be given explains the small
number of returns received to the third schedule,—about two hundred.
The returns received were sent to the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics
of Labor, where, by the courtesy of the chief of the bureau, they
were collated during the spring and summer of 1890, under the special
direction of the chief clerk, in accordance with a previously arranged
scheme of tables. The general plan of arrangement adopted was to class
the schedules with reference to employers, first alphabetically by
states and towns, and second alphabetically by population. The schedules
were then classed with reference to employees, first by men and women,
and second by place of birth. The various statistical devices used in
the Massachusetts Bureau were employed in tabulating the material, and
greatly facilitated the work.
Fifty large tables were thus prepared, and by various combinations
numerous smaller ones were made. The classification thus adopted made it
possible to give all the results either in a general form or with special
reference to men and women employees, the native born and the foreign
born, and to all of the branches of the service. It was also possible to
study the conditions of the service geographically, and with reference to
the population and to other industrial situations.
The most detailed tables made out concerned the wage question, including
a presentation of classified wages, average wages with the percentage
of employees receiving the same wages as the average, and also more or
less than the average, a comparison of wages paid at different times
and of wages received in domestic service and in other employments.
For the purposes of comparison, the writer also classified the
salaries paid to about six thousand teachers in the public schools in
sixteen representative cities, as indicated by the reports of city
superintendents for the year during which information concerning domestic
service had been given on the schedules. Through the courtesy of a large
employment bureau in Boston, the wages received by nearly three thousand
employees were ascertained and used for comparison. The most valuable
results of the investigation possibly were those growing out of the
consensus of opinion obtained from employers and employees regarding the
nature of the service considered as an occupation. The greater proportion
of these tables can be found in Chapter V.
The question must naturally arise as to how far the returns received
through such investigation can be considered representative. It
has seemed to the writer that they could be considered fairly so.
Investigations of this character must always be considered typical
rather than comprehensive. It is difficult to fix the exact number to
be considered typical as between a partial investigation and a census
which is exhaustive. In some cases it is possible to obtain a majority
in numbers, in others it is not. If the number of returns, however,
passes the point where it would be considered trivial, the number between
this and the majority may perhaps be regarded as representative. By the
application of a similar principle, the expression at the polls of the
wishes of the twentieth part of the inhabitants of a state is recognized
as the will of the majority. But, while the returns can be considered
only fairly representative as regards numbers, they seem entirely so as
regards conditions. It is believed that every possible condition under
which domestic service exists, as regards both employer and employee, is
represented by the returns received, and that, therefore, the conclusions
drawn from these results cannot be wholly unreasonable. Moreover, the
circulars were sent out practically at random, and, therefore, do not
represent any particular class in society, except the class sufficiently
interested in the subject to answer the questions asked. If the returns
thus secured can be regarded in any sense as representative, the results
based on them may be considered as indicating certain general conditions
and tendencies, although the conclusions reached may be modified by later
and fuller researches.
The question must also arise as to what it is hoped will be accomplished
through this investigation. It is not expected that all, or even any
one of the perplexing questions connected with domestic service will be
even partially answered by it; it is not expected that any individual
housekeeper will have less trouble to-morrow than to-day in adjusting the
difficulties arising in her household; it will not enable any employer
whose incompetent cook leaves to-day without warning to secure an
efficient one without delay. It is hoped, however, that the tabulation
and presentation of the facts will afford a broader basis for general
discussion that has been possible without them, that a knowledge of the
conditions of domestic service beyond their own localities and households
will enable some housekeepers in time to decide more easily the economic
questions arising within every home, that it will do a little something
to stimulate discussion of the subject on other bases than the purely
personal one. The hope has also come that writers on economic theory
and economic conditions will recognize the place of domestic service
among other industries, and will give to the public the results of their
scientific investigations of the subject, that the great bureaus of
labor—always ready to anticipate any demand of the public—will recognize
a demand for facts in this field of work.
The writer has followed the presentation of facts by a theoretical
discussion of doubtful and possible remedies. But if fuller and more
searching official investigation, establishing a substantial basis for
discussion, should point to conclusions entirely at variance with those
here given, no one would more heartily rejoice than herself. It may
reasonably be said that in view of the character of the investigation
no conclusions at all should have been advanced by the investigator.
Three things, however, seemed to justify the intrusion of personal
views; a recognition of the prevalent anxiety to find a way out of
existing difficulties, a belief that improvement can come only as each
one is willing to make some contribution to the general discussion, and
a conviction that no one should criticise existing conditions unless
prepared to suggest others that may be substituted for them.
The following discussion would have been impossible without the hearty
co-operation of the thousand and more employers and the seven hundred
employees who filled out the schedules distributed. The great majority
of these were personally unknown to the writer, and she can express only
in this public way her deep appreciation of their kindness, as she also
wishes to do to the many friends, known and unknown, who assisted in
distributing the schedules. She also desires to express her obligation
to the Hon. Carroll D. Wright, for help received in preparing the
schedules and for the receipt of advance sheets from the Census of
1890; to the Hon. Horace G. Wadlin and Mr. Charles F. Pidgin, for the
courtesies extended at the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor,
and also to Professor Davis R. Dewey, of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology; to Dean Marion Talbot of the University of Chicago,
and to Professor Mary Roberts Smith, of the Leland Stanford Junior
University; to Mrs. John Wilkinson of Chicago, Mrs. John H. Converse
of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Helen Hiscock Backus of Brooklyn, for their
constant encouragement and assistance in the work. Most of all the writer
is under obligation to Miss A. Underhill for her assistance in reading
both the manuscript and the proof of the work, and for the preparation of
the Index.
Articles bearing on the subject have at different times appeared in
the _Papers of the American Statistical Association_, _The New England
Magazine_, _The Cosmopolitan_, and _The Forum_. These have been freely
used in the work, and the writer acknowledges the courtesy of the
publishers and editors of these periodicals in allowing this use of her
papers.
JANUARY 18, 1897.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
It has seemed advisable in sending out a second edition of this work
to add a supplementary chapter on the condition of domestic service
in Europe. This is based largely on the inquiries made in season and
out of season at different times during the past ten years of heads of
households and of housekeepers in England, France, Germany, and Italy.
It has naturally been impossible to sum up in a single chapter the mass
of information thus gleaned, but a few features common to all of these
countries have been indicated, as well as some peculiar to each. The
literature bearing directly on the subject is very meagre, but a few
titles have been indicated.
For information bearing on this part of the work, I am under special
obligation to M. Levasseur of Paris, to Miss Collet of the Labor
Department of the Board of Trade, London, to Miss E. M. Hall of Rome,
to Professor Victor Böhmert, recently of the Royal Statistical Bureau,
Dresden, and to Mrs. J. H. W. Stuckenberg of Cambridge, recently of
Berlin.
JANUARY, 1901.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Frequency of discussion of domestic service 1
Personal character of the discussion 2
Omission of the subject from economic discussion 2
General reasons for this omission 2
Specific reasons for this omission 4
Fundamental reason for this omission 5
Can this omission be justified? 6
CHAPTER II
HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF DOMESTIC EMPLOYMENTS
Condition of industries in the eighteenth century 7
Inventions of the latter part of the century 7
Immediate result of these inventions 8
Co-operating influences 8
Effect of inventions on household employments 9
Release of work from the household 9
Diversion of labor from the household to other places 10
Results of this diversion to other places 11
Diversion of labor from the household into other channels 11
Household labor becomes idle labor 12
Outlets for idle labor 12
General result of change of work in the household 13
Division of labor in the household only partial 13
Interdependence of all industries 15
CHAPTER III
DOMESTIC SERVICE DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD
Domestic service has a history 16
Three periods of this history 16
The colonial period 16
Classes of servants during this period 17
Early reasons for colonizing America 17
Advantage to England of disposing of her undesirable population 17
Protests against this method of settlement 18
The freewillers 19
Proportion of redemptioners 20
Place of birth of redemptioners 20
Social condition of redemptioners 21
Methods of securing redemptioners 22
Form of indenture 22
Servants without indenture 22
Virginia law in regard to servants without indenture 23
Early condition of redemptioners 25
Subsequent improvement in condition 27
Wages of redemptioners 28
Legal regulation of wages 30
Character of service rendered by redemptioners 31
Service in Virginia 32
Service in Maine 33
Service in Massachusetts 34
Colonial legislation in regard to masters and servants 37
Laws for the protection of servants 38
Physical protection 39
Laws for the protection of masters 40
Laws in regard to runaways 40
Harboring runaways 41
Inducements to return runaways 43
Corporal punishment 44
Trading or bartering with servants 45
Miscellaneous laws protecting masters 46
Obligation of masters to community 47
Redemptioners after expiration of service 48
Indian servants 49
Negro slavery 51
General summary of character of service during the colonial period 52
CHAPTER IV
DOMESTIC SERVICE SINCE THE COLONIAL PERIOD
Second period in history of domestic service 54
Substitution for redemptioners of American “help” 54
Democratic condition of service 55
Observations of European travellers 55
Characteristics of the period 61
Third period in the history of domestic service 62
The Irish famine of 1846 62
The German revolution of 1848 63
Opening of treaty relations with China in 1844 64
Abolition of slavery in 1863 65
Effect of these movements on domestic service 65
Development of material resources 66
Effect of this on domestic service 67
Immobility of labor of women 68
Change in service indicated by history of the word “servant” 69
Early meaning of the word “servant” 69
Use of word “help” 70
Reintroduction of word “servant” 71
Impossibility of restoring previous conditions of service 72
CHAPTER V
ECONOMIC PHASES OF DOMESTIC SERVICE
Domestic service amenable to economic law 74
Many domestic employees of foreign birth 74
Geographical distribution of foreign born employees 75
Concentration of foreign born women in remunerative occupations
on domestic service 77
The foreign born seek the large cities 77
Foreign countries having the largest representation in large cities 78
Foreign countries having the largest representation in domestic
service 78
Conclusion in regard to foreign born domestic employees 80
General distribution of domestic employees 80
Domestic employees few in agricultural states 80
The number large in states with large urban population 80
The number not affected by aggregate wealth 82
The number somewhat affected by per capita wealth 82
Domestic employees found in largest numbers in large cities 83
Proportion of domestic employees varies with geographical location
and prevailing industry 84
Neither aggregate nor per capita wealth determines number of
domestic employees in cities 86
Prevailing industry of city determines number of domestic servants 87
Competition for domestics between wealth and manufacturing industries 88
Wages in domestic service 88
Conformity of wages to general economic conditions 89
Skilled labor commands higher wages than unskilled labor 89
The skilled laborer a better workman than the unskilled 90
The foreign born receive higher wages than the native born 91
Men receive higher wages in domestic service than women 92
Tendency towards increase in wages 93
Comparison of wages in domestic service with wages of women in
other occupations 93
High wages in domestic service do not counterbalance advantages
in other occupations 103
Domestic service offers few opportunities for promotion 103
Time unemployed in domestic service 104
High wages maintained without strikes 105
Conclusions in regard to wages in domestic service 106
Conclusions in regard to general economic conditions 106
CHAPTER VI
DIFFICULTIES IN DOMESTIC SERVICE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE EMPLOYER
Conditions of the average family 107
Difficulties in domestic service 108
Prevalence of foreign born employees 108
Restlessness among employees 109
Employment in skilled labor of unskilled laborers 112
Difficulty in changing employees 114
Recommendations of employers 114
The employment bureau 115
Indifference of employers to economic law 117
Illustrations of this indifference 117
Difference between the employers of domestic labor and other
employers 121
Difficulties considered are not personal 122
Difficulties not decreasing 125
Difficulties not confined to America 127
The question in England 127
Condition of service in Germany 128
Service in France 129
Summary of difficulties 129
CHAPTER VII
ADVANTAGES IN DOMESTIC SERVICE
Personnel in domestic service 130
Reasons why women enter domestic service 131
High wages 131
Occupation healthful 132
It gives externals of home life 133
Special home privileges 133
Free time during the week 134
Annual vacations 135
Knowledge of household affairs 137
Congenial employment 137
Legal protection 138
Summary of advantages 138
CHAPTER VIII
THE INDUSTRIAL DISADVANTAGES OF DOMESTIC SERVICE
Reasons why women do not choose domestic service 140
No opportunity for promotion 141
Work in itself not difficult 142
“Housework is never done” 142
Lack of organization 143
Irregularity of working hours 143
Work required evenings and Sundays 146
Competition with the foreign born and negroes 146
Lack of independence 147
Summary of industrial disadvantages 149
CHAPTER IX
THE SOCIAL DISADVANTAGES OF DOMESTIC SERVICE
Lack of home life 151
Lack of social opportunities 152
Lack of intellectual opportunities 153
Badges of social inferiority 154
Use of word “servant” 155
The Christian name in address 156
The cap and apron 157
Acknowledgment of social inferiority 158
Giving of fees 158
Objections to feeing system 159
Excuses made for it 161
Other phases of social inferiority 162
Social inferiority overbalances industrial advantages of the
occupation 163
Comparison of advantages and disadvantages of the occupation 165
CHAPTER X
DOUBTFUL REMEDIES
Difference of opinion in regard to remedies possible 167
General principles to be applied 168
The golden rule 169
Capability and intelligence of employer 170
Receiving the employee into the family life of the employer 170
Importation of negroes from the South 172
Importation of Chinese 176
Granting of licenses 177
German service books 178
Convention of housekeepers 179
Abolishing the public school system 179
“Servant Reform Association” 179
Training schools for servants 180
Advantages of such schools 180
Practical difficulties in the way 182
Not in harmony with present conditions 184
Co-operative housekeeping 186
Advantages of the plan 187
Objections to it 188
Practical difficulties in carrying it out 190
Co-operative boarding 191
Objections to the plan 192
Mr. Bellamy’s plan 192
Reasons for considering these proposed measures impracticable 193
CHAPTER XI
POSSIBLE REMEDIES—GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Remedies must take into account past and present conditions 194
Industrial tendencies 194
Concentration of capital and labor 194
Specialization of labor 195
Associations for mutual benefit 195
Specialization of education 195
Profit sharing 196
Industrial independence of women 196
Helping persons to help themselves 196
Publicity in business affairs 197
The question at issue 198
Impossibility of finding a panacea 199
General measures 199
Truer theoretical conception of place of household employments 199
A more just estimate of their practical importance 200
Removal of prejudice against housework 201
Correction of misconceptions in regard to remuneration for women’s
work 201
Summary of general principles 203
CHAPTER XII
POSSIBLE REMEDIES—IMPROVEMENT IN SOCIAL CONDITION
Social disadvantages 204
Possibility of removing them 204
Provision for social enjoyment 205
Abolishing the word “servant” 207
Disuse of the Christian name in address 209
Regulation of use of the cap and apron 209
Abandoning of servility of manner 210
Principles involved in freeing domestic service from social
objections 211
CHAPTER XIII
POSSIBLE REMEDIES—SPECIALIZATION OF HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYMENTS
Putting household employments on a business basis 212
Articles formerly made only in the household 212
Articles in a transitional state 213
Articles now usually made in the house 213
Removal of work from the household 215
This change in line with industrial development 215
Indications of its ultimate prevalence 216
The Woman’s Exchange 217
The opening up to women of a new occupation 218
Ultimate preparation of most articles of food outside of the
individual home 219
Advantages of this plan 219
Objections raised to it 221
These objections not valid 221
Laundry work done out of the house 222
Advantages of the plan 223
Possibility of having work done by the hour, day, or piece 223
Improved method of purchasing household supplies 225
Operation of unconscious business co-operation 226
General advantages of specialization of household employments 228
Objections raised to the plan 230
These objections not valid 231
Illustrations of success of the plan 233
CHAPTER XIV
POSSIBLE REMEDIES—PROFIT SHARING
Industrial disadvantages of domestic service 235
Industrial difficulties in other occupations still unsettled 236
Possible relief through profit sharing 236
Definition of profit sharing 236
History of profit sharing 237
Advantages of profit sharing in other occupations 237
Lessons to be learned from profit sharing 240
Domestic service wealth consuming rather than wealth producing 240
The wage system not satisfactory in the occupation 241
Application of the principle of profit sharing to the household 242
Advantages of the plan in the household 244
Its advantages in hotels, restaurants, and railroad service 244
Substitution of profit sharing for fees 244
Objections to profit sharing in the household 245
These objections do not hold 246
Experiments in profit sharing in the household 248
CHAPTER XV
POSSIBLE REMEDIES—EDUCATION IN HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS
Lack of information one obstacle in the household 251
Difference between information and education 251
What is included in information 251
Difficulty of obtaining information in regard to the household 252
Advance in other occupations through publicity of all information
gained 252
What is included in education 252
Information and education necessary in the household 254
Progress hindered through lack of these 254
Cause of inactivity in household affairs 254
Assumption that knowledge of the household comes by instinct 254
Assumption that household affairs concern only women 256
Belief that all women have genius for household affairs 257
Theory that household affairs are best learned at home 258
Tendencies in the opposite direction 259
Establishment of school of investigation 259
Necessity for investigation before progress can be made 260
CHAPTER XVI
CONCLUSION
Summary of points considered 263
Failure to recognize industrial character of domestic service 264
Conservatism of women 264
Summary of difficulties 265
Explanation of difficulties 265
Responsibility of all employers 266
Results to be expected from investigation 266
Removal of social stigma 266
Simplification of manner of life 267
Household employments on a business basis 268
Profit sharing 268
Investigation of household affairs 269
Readjustment of work of both men and women 270
Difficulty of dealing with women as an economic factor 270
Advantages of their working for remuneration 272
Division of labor in the household 272
Reform possible only through use of existing means 273
General conclusion 274
CHAPTER XVII
DOMESTIC SERVICE IN EUROPE
Opinion held in America 275
Ideal service not found in Europe 275
Influences that affect the question 276
External conditions that affect the question 277
Architecture a factor in the problem 277
Difficulties of the European employer 278
Advantages of service in Europe 280
Baking and laundry done out of the house 280
Legal contracts in Germany 281
The German service book 284
Employment of men 286
Wages in domestic service in Europe 288
Supplementary fees and profits 290
Allowances 292
Insurance 292
Difficulty of determining exact wages 293
Character of the service 294
Other factors affecting the question 295
Social condition of the employee 296
In England 297
In France 299
In Italy 299
Benefactions for servants in Germany 299
Conclusion 301
APPENDIX I. Copy of schedules distributed 305
APPENDIX II. List of places from which replies to schedules
were received 314
APPENDIX III. Circular sent out by the social science section
of the Civic Club of Philadelphia 315
BIBLIOGRAPHY 317
INDEX 323
DOMESTIC SERVICE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Domestic service has been called “the great American question.” If based
on the frequency of its discussion in popular literature, foundation for
this judgment exists. Few subjects have attracted greater attention,
but its consideration has been confined to four general classes of
periodicals, each treating it from a different point of view. The popular
magazine article is theoretical in character, and often proposes remedies
for existing evils without sufficient consideration of the causes of the
difficulty. Household journals and the home departments of the secular
and the religious press usually treat only of the personal relations
existing between mistress and maid. The columns of the daily press
given to “occasional correspondents” contain narrations of personal
experiences. The humorous columns of the daily and the illustrated weekly
papers caricature, on the one side, the ignorance and helplessness of the
housekeeper, and, on the other side, the insolence and presumption of the
servant. In addition to this, in many localities it has passed into a
common proverb that, among housekeepers, with whatever topic conversation
begins, it sooner or later gravitates towards the one fixed point of
domestic service, while among domestic employees it is none the less
certain that other phases of the same general subject are agitated.
This popular discussion, which has assumed so many forms, has been almost
exclusively personal in character. A somewhat different aspect of the
case is presented when the problem is stated to be “as momentous as
that of capital and labor, and as complicated as that of individualism
and socialism.” This statement suggests that economic principles are
involved, but the question of domestic service has been almost entirely
omitted, not without reason, from theoretical, statistical, and
historical discussions of economic problems. It has been omitted from
theoretical discussions mainly because: (1) the occupation does not
involve the investment of a large amount of capital on the part of the
individual employer or employee; it therefore seems to be excluded from
theoretical discussions of the relations of capital, wages, and labor;
(2) no combinations have yet been formed among employers or employees;
it is therefore exempt from such speculations as are involved in the
consideration of trusts, monopolies, and trade unions; (3) the products
of domestic service are more transient than are the results of other
forms of labor; this fact must determine somewhat its relative position
in economic discussion. Its exclusion, as a rule, from the statistical
presentations of the labor question is also not surprising. 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 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.[2] Again, it is not surprising that the
historical side of the subject has been overlooked, since household
employments have been passive recipients, not active participants, in
the industrial development of the past century. Yet it must be said that
this negative consideration of the subject by theoretical, practical,
and historical economists, and the positive treatment accorded it by
popular writers, seems an unfair and unscientific disposition to make of
an occupation in which by the Census of 1890 one and a half millions of
persons are actively engaged,[3] to whom employers pay annually at the
lowest rough estimate in cash wages more than $218,000,000,[4] for whose
support they pay at the lowest estimate an equal amount,[5] and through
whose hands passes so large a part of the finished products of other
forms of labor.[6]
It is not difficult, however, to find reasons, in addition to the
specific ones suggested, for this somewhat cavalier treatment of domestic
service. The nature of the service rendered, as well as the relation
between employer and employee, is largely personal; it is believed
therefore that all questions involved in the subject can be considered
and settled from the personal point of view. It follows from this fact
that it is extremely difficult to ascertain the actual condition of the
service outside of a single family, or, at best, a locality very narrow
in extent, and therefore that it is almost impossible to treat the
subject in a comprehensive manner. It follows as a result of the two
previous reasons that domestic service has never been considered a part
of the great labor question, and that it has not been supposed to be
affected by the political, social, and industrial development of the past
century as other occupations have been.
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. 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. The
great majority of housekeepers, if the correspondent of a leading journal
is to be trusted, “do not require outside assistance in the management
of their affairs, and consequently resent any interference in the
administration of their duties.”
The question must arise, however, in view of the interdependence of
all other forms of industry, whether it is possible to maintain this
perfect separation with regard to any one employment, whether household
employments are justified in resenting any intrusion into their domain,
whether the individual employer is right in considering household
service exclusively a personal affair. 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. Still further, the conclusions reached must determine
somewhat the nature of the forces to be set in motion to lessen these
difficulties.