In response to my questions on the subject, Mrs. Saville gave me the following information:—
“The Domestic Aid Society is one of the most popular of all New Amazonian institutions, and there are establishments of this sort all over the country. They are generally the property of private individuals, but are strictly subjected to State supervision and regulation. The books are kept with the utmost exactness, and there is never any difficulty in apportioning the share of profit which is due to the Mother. The workpeople, no matter in what department they may be, are all, with the exception of the supervisors and learners, paid on the same scale. This enables our people to make their choice of a vocation in favour of the employment they fancy most, without financial or social reasons requiring to be taken into consideration, since both pay and position are equal. The hours are from seven in the morning until five at night, with intervals for meals. All work out of these hours is paid for on a special scale. Besides the specialists whom you have seen, there are many people employed by the Domestic Aid Societies. We charter for servants by the day, week, or month, who come at the time agreed upon and discharge any household duties which we may wish to entrust to them. Messengers are also supplied for a trifling commission. Our domestic work is always well done, for the assistants are trained by the State, and are interested in securing our goodwill, as a bonus is attached to the successful completion of a lengthened term of service in one household. It is not often that we wish our assistants to be changed, for the very fact of knowing that we have only to telephone to the office to effect any change we desire, does away with the irascibility so often engendered by the ancient system of engaging servants for long periods, and being compelled to find sleeping accommodation for them. We are not, however, in any case, addicted to finding unnecessary faults in our assistants, for all our complaints are registered, and if it is found that we are exceptionally bad to please, we have to pay a slightly augmented tariff by way of atoning for our unpleasant peculiarities.”
“And how do these domestic helps employ their time when not on active duty? And what is their relative position as compared with skilled workpeople? Is their work regarded as inferior?”
“By no means. Domestic assistants occupy a very honourable position in our social economy, for they, like others, have to go through a careful course of training, and fulfil very important duties. Their scale of pay is good, and it is by no means difficult for them to purchase a State-Coupon, if they are thrifty. Their spare time is employed in consonance with their own inclinations. There is a fine recreation hall attached to every Domestic Agency in the country. In these our working classes can enjoy themselves to their heart’s content, by means of social converse, music, reading, dancing, or games of skill.”
“This question of working classes versus educated classes is a very potent one with us. Class prejudice is strong, and our aristocracy would not submit to associate with artisans or domestic assistants on such equal terms as is habitual with you, unless, indeed, one of them were to succeed to a fortune, and then all her or his vulgarities and shortcoming would find plenty of consideration. How do you account for the superior element of sociality in your country?”
“Easily. We are all educated on the same footing. Some of us develop literary, artistic, or scientific instincts early in life, and speedily find our vocation. Others whose full brain powers are not yet developed, or who are diffident of their own ability to adopt one of the higher professions, choose a mechanical training, and discover afterwards that they have missed their forte. Nothing daunted, they employ their leisure in retrieving lost ground, and while possibly serving in the capacity of domestic help, may be qualifying for classical or surgical examinations, and may even at some distant date be privileged to become Leaders. We respect mental and moral greatness, even if in embryo, and never object to society that is pleasant in itself.”
“What a paradisaical state of things,” I sighed, fervently. “You can do nothing in my country without plenty of money, and, for the matter of that, how do your erstwhile inferiorities succeed in reaching positions of eminence, seeing that they must have heavy examination fees to pay, for which the adequate amount can hardly be saved out of working class wages? Or does the State provide examiners free of charge?”
“No. Our examiners, as you may easily suppose, are very responsible, and, therefore, very well-paid officials. But they are not a source of expense to the Government, because the scale of examination fees is such as to leave a substantial margin of State profit. Want of funds is never an obstacle to progress here, for candidates for examination are permitted to pay the fees from their future earnings.”
“And suppose they were inclined to forget the repayment part of the business, what then?”
At this question, my hearers looked so astounded that I felt painfully conscious of having committed a huge blunder, the nature of which was soon made evident to me by the reply I received. “You must really come from a very strange country,” said John Saville, fortunately for my composure, in the pleasantest of tones, “for such a question to be possible to you. The individual who could thus think of cheating would not be a New Amazonian. But, even if this were so, the Mother has the remedy in her own hands. She would withhold the pension to which we are all honourably entitled in old age.”