The subject of housing reform as a means of easing the housewife's
task was considered first, as it is useless to talk of helping her in
her work until she is given some of the conveniences with which to
work. It is evident, however, that that is not all that is necessary
for the foreign-born housewife. She is not accustomed to the use of a
house of the size contemplated by the proposed plans--the Italians,
Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, and doubtless others have
known only the one and two-room house--and there is always the
possibility that, given more rooms, they may be used to take in more
lodgers. Such was the case, for example, in the relatively adequate
houses provided by the United States Steel Corporation at Gary.
It is not necessary, however, to use the method of that corporation,
and turn out of the houses persons who need instruction in the use of
the house. Persuasion and instruction in the uses of the special
features of the house could have been tried. It might have been
possible for the rent collector or a sanitary inspector with a social
point of view to establish friendly relations on their regular visits
to the families. With confidence gained and tact displayed, much in
the way of education could be accomplished. To construct houses so
that each room can serve one and only one purpose would in part meet
the difficulties. Above all, patience and a realization of the
difficulties that the foreign-born housewife meets, are essential.
A point on which some architects lay special stress in the structure
of low-cost houses is the devotion of the entire first floor to
cooking and living uses--not sleeping. That is, the living room,
dining room, and kitchen are either combined or so open into each
other that no temptation is offered to close off part for sleeping
purposes. The bedrooms are then on the second floor, each room having
only one door, and the bathroom and the storage space are slightly
elevated above the second and offer no temptation to be used for
purposes other than those for which they are designed. If, then,
families inexperienced in the use of modern accommodations come into
the community, they may perhaps be helped to an understanding of
modern devices by the experience of living in houses arranged in this
way.
Both the rent collector, if it be a case of tenancy, and the building
official, if it be a case of ownership, should not only understand the
principles of sanitation and hygiene, but should understand the people
they serve. To render the best service to immigrant groups, such
officials must speak the language of the group and understand
something of its peculiarities. They should, in fact, be public
assistant housekeepers, through whose assistance the gradual and
voluntary initiation of our foreign-born neighbors into community life
can take place. New standards of efficiency and new amenities can be
developed. Our community life might, then, be freed from the old
physical dangers connected with human adjustment to physical
surroundings, and take on new dignities suitable to a democratic and
adequate life for the whole people.
There remain the difficulties described at the beginning of the
chapter, which come from the fact that the processes of the work of
caring for the house are different in this country from those in the
country from which the foreign-born housewives came. These
difficulties are not so easy to solve as those of housing. They are
undoubtedly surmounted as time goes on, but it is a gradual process.
Many forces are at work. Necessity is probably the primary one. The
foreign-born woman early learns to use American cooking utensils and
fuel because they are all she can get. She has to feed her family with
the only food the store at the corner furnishes. American furniture
and furnishings soon attract her attention, and she is curious as to
their purposes and uses.
In part, the foreign-born housewives have learned from one another;
that is, from the members of the group who have been here longer; and
in part they have learned by going into the more comfortable American
homes as domestic servants. Those who have done the latter are,
usually, the girls who come alone or the elder daughters of the
family. In some communities, such as a Bohemian community near Dallas,
Texas, it is said to be well understood that the girl will learn
domestic science by a kind of apprenticeship in the home of her
employer. When she has learned what she thinks sufficient, she leaves
to practice in her own home and to show her family how things should
be done. The limitations and difficulties of domestic service for the
inexperienced immigrant have been well set forth in the reports of
various protective societies.[20] But the foreign-born women with
whom we have conferred in this study have repeatedly emphasized the
advantages that come from being shown how to do housework under the
conditions in this country. Yet women of the "new" immigrant groups
enter domestic service much less than those from the "old" ones.
In the end, no doubt, many foreign-born housewives have learned to
care for their homes and raise their families as systematically as
their American neighbors, who have had fewer difficulties to contend
with. It is, however, a wasteful system which leaves the instruction
of the immigrant housewife to the chance instruction she can gain from
fellow countrywomen who have themselves learned only imperfectly. If
the community only realized what the difficulties were for the
housewife from a different civilization, it would undoubtedly stretch
out a friendly and helping hand to assist her over the first rough
path. Whatever form this help takes, it must be offered in the spirit
of friendly co-operation, and not of didactic superiority, if the
desired result is to be gained.