This group of nine propositions concerning wages it is believed will suggest three conclusions: the conformity of wages in domestic service to certain general economic laws, the fact that the wage factor alone does not determine the number of persons in the occupation, and the existence of a few conditions which affect, perhaps unconsciously, the willingness of the women to engage in this work.
The three groups of propositions stated it is believed will suggest the conclusions that the general economic condition of the country has an appreciable influence on the condition of domestic service, both as regards the character and number of persons engaged and the compensation given for service required. It must follow therefore that many questions must arise connected with the employment, which the individual employer cannot settle from an exclusively personal point of view.
CHAPTER VI
DIFFICULTIES IN DOMESTIC SERVICE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE EMPLOYER
The understanding of domestic service has been seen to involve the consideration of many historical changes both industrial and political, and an examination of the general economic laws to which it is amenable. It involves also a study of the economic conditions that surround the average family, and the problems that confront it when undertaking to deal with the question of domestic service.
The average family reached through the schedules was found to consist of about five persons,[217] exclusive of servants. Its members have kept house eighteen years,[218] they have boarded two years and a half,[219] and at some time during their housekeeping experience they have been without servants. They employ at the present time two servants and a half, or rather, they command the full time of two persons and half the time of the third, to whom they pay weekly for service rendered, on the basis indicated in the schedule of average wages, $10,[220] exclusive of board and lodging, or $500 annually, the expense of service exclusive also of waste, breakage, and general wear and tear of household furniture and appliances. In about one third of all the families with servants men are employed in some capacity about the house; in one family in every seven the number of servants is the same as the number of persons in the family or exceeds it, while in the average family one servant renders service to every two persons.
When the average family undertakes the task of dealing with domestic servants the difficulties that confront it are many and serious.
It has first the task of assimilating into its domestic life those who are of a different nationality and who consequently hold different industrial, social, religious and political beliefs. More than one half of all domestic employees are of foreign birth or belong to another race,[221] who come not only from the prominent European countries but also from the remote corners of the globe,[222] where all conditions are totally unlike those of America. Moreover this number does not include the very large percentage of those who are themselves native born, but who are the children of foreign born parents and have inherited to a certain extent un-American characteristics; 4.02 per cent of the domestic employees in this country do not speak the English language.[223] Those who come to this country, often with preconceived and erroneous ideas as to the independence prevailing here, expecting high wages in return for inexperienced and unskilled labor,[224] must be trained in all the ways not only of American life, but of the family of the individual employer. It has been found difficult to assimilate into our political system the large foreign element coming here, though this system is simple and lends itself readily to such assimilation, as our history has thus far proved. It is far more difficult to assimilate this mass into the infinitely more complex and delicate organism—the modern household. It is not strange that congestion and inflammation so often result from the attempt. The question is one also that becomes more difficult as the proportion of foreign employees increases.
A second difficulty is that of the spirit of restlessness which everywhere prevails among working classes, though not confined to them, and the consequent brief tenure of service. The average length of service of a domestic servant is found to be less than a year and a half and this in many cases and in some localities is a high average. In the East, in the vicinity of the great lakes, on the Pacific coast, and in some sections of the South, proximity to popular summer or winter resorts lessens the average duration of service. In the South, the cotton-picking season draws many women from household work, as they are able at that time to earn enough money to enable them to live for some months in idleness. In other localities, the hop-picking season, the berry-picking season, and the grape-picking season all offer temporary inducements for girls to leave domestic service. In still other places the canning factory, the pickle factory, and the fruit-drying establishment successfully offer temporary competition. To the question asked of employees, “Have you ever had any other occupation besides domestic service?” twenty-eight per cent answered “Yes.” This at first might seem to indicate a decided preference for domestic service, but a closer examination shows that more often it means that housework is taken up when the berry-picking and the fruit-canning season is over, when the mill or the factory has closed in a dull time or when the hurry of plantation work is ended at the South. A similar indication of this restlessness is found in the replies given by employers to the question, “How many servants have you employed since you have been housekeeping?” Twenty-five per cent did not answer the question definitely and of these one half state as their reason the fact that the number was too great to remember. “Their name is legion,” answer fifteen housekeepers, a series of exclamation points tells the story for others, “infinity-minus,” writes one, and still another bids the compiler “read her answer in the stars.”
This condition of affairs is not to be wondered at. That spirit of restlessness, nervous discontent, and craving for excitement which foreigners find characteristic of all who breathe American air is not confined to business men and society women—it permeates the kitchen, the nursery, the laundry, and every part of the household. Among employers the mode of life tends more and more towards a winter in California, a summer in Europe, an autumn in the mountains, and a spring in Florida. On both sides of the Hudson there are magnificent country houses deserted because their owners prefer the excitement of city life, the attractions of Bar Harbor, or the society at Newport. The towns on the Hudson are nearly stationary as regards population, though possessing every natural advantage, while the large cities are powerful magnets drawing from every direction. Domestic service cannot remain unaffected by these characteristics of the age. A new situation is often like a voyage to Europe so desired by others—it gives change, excitement, new experiences, and it is often the only way in which these can be secured. A summer engagement at the sea-shore, among the mountains, or at the springs is often as eagerly sought as is the height of the season at Saratoga or among the Berkshires by persons whose opportunities for change are far less restricted. The occupations temporarily open at the time of the hop-picking season, or the fruit-canning season, offer the attraction of large numbers of fellow-workers in the company of whom “a good time” is expected.