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Show SERVANT PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED. t Miss Gail Laughlin Selected By the Goverment to Perform This Important Im-portant Service. Of all the problems that the twentieth twen-tieth century is to be called upon to solve there is none that will present 1 more absolute difficulties than the sef- vant problem. While it has only been within recent years that this question has presented itself, it has now assumed as-sumed such proportions that the United States government has determined that it is important enough to deserve most serious consideration. . The industrial commission has taken the matter in hand, and has appointed Miss Gail Lauehlin of New York to investigate the problem and report upon possible means for its solution. Miss Laughlin is a graduate of Wellesley. class of 1S94. and in 1S;18 she pM tei THE LATEST AND NEATEST DESIGN DE-SIGN FOR DRESSING UP AN OLD SILK WAIST. took her degree at the Cornell law school. A few months later she was admitted to the New York bar, and she has alreadv attained an enviable position posi-tion in the legal circles of the metropolis. metrop-olis. While at Cornell she took the negative side in a debate on immigration, immigra-tion, and she won the prize of the year in snite of the fact that all her sympathies sympa-thies were with those who argued for j ine aiiirmauve. Alter mis victory sne was appointed to a place in the Cornell debating team for the debate with the University of Pennsylvania, and thus was the first woman to participate in an intercollegiate debate. She is a member of several clubs and associations, associa-tions, including the committee on in- - dustrial Droblems and as a member of that committee she delivered an address ad-dress last February on the subject of women as wage-earners. The selection of such, a woman as Miss Laughlin to investigate the servant ser-vant question, therefore, seems a wise one. and the members of the United States industrial commission are satisfied satis-fied that if she cannot suggest some solution so-lution for the trouble the task is certainly cer-tainly beyond the power of mere men, an opinion with which the merest novice in the study of the social question ques-tion will not be inclined to disagree. "HELP" FAMINE. While the fact that the "help" question ques-tion has become one of the most important im-portant problems of the day may not have appealed to men and women who have not considered the subject, the fact that there is a famine in all large I cities, both in Europe and this country, is shown in more ways than one. The adoption of the system of masculine housemaids is a paradox of home life that has become a recognized factor of existence in some of the big western cities, and even in the east, Japanese servants have to' an appreciable extent taken the place of the ordinary housemaid. house-maid. Chinese servants are no novelty on the Pacific coa'fit, but if something is not done toward the solution tf the servant problem there is every probability prob-ability that the far east will see as many Chinese servants as may now ds seen in-the far west. The most striking evidence of the "help" famine in the large cities, however, how-ever, may. be seen in the fact tnat an association has been formed in New York for the purpose of supplying servants ser-vants by the hour. Such a thing was not thought of a few years ago, but the problem of running a house has now assumed such proportions that women wo-men are glad to take advantage of any innovation that will tend to lighten the task. Under these circumstances it is not strange that the cry for relief should have reached "Washington, and that Miss Lauerhlin should have been chosen to investigate these questions. As there are few women who have taken a greater interest in this .question .ques-tion than Miss Laughlin, it will not be necessary for her to spend months upon months in acquiring the information necessary to enable her to get the proper prop-er grasp upon her subject. Already she has thoroughly exam- Iined the .ground and she knows Just whom to call upon for the information that she lacks. At the present time she is of the opinion that the fundamental trouble with the servant question is the matter of hours. Men work eight, nine or ten hours a day, as the case may be, but the servant girl is compelled to work for about fourteen hours, and she is fortunate if she does not hear grumbling grum-bling because she doe not work longer. HER HARD LOT. In addition to this there is no question ques-tion of union wage in. "her case. She gets a certain number of cents a day, and she does not get the holidays to herself, with double pay if she works. In other words, the tendency has been to compel the servant girl to work as manv hours as it was possible to get her to work, and to pay. her as little for her services as it was possible to get her to take. She natural result of this method of i m hi i. mm mil!, i.. 'i mi i ii in .nmwpw' n .... i .n ...n m treatment is the present "help" famine. fam-ine. Girls who could possibly find other means of livelihood have refused to consider a proposal to adopt that of the housemaid, and Miss Laughlin believes that all this will have to be remedied A VERY EFFECTIVE YOKE IN STRIPED COTTON GOODS. before the present day problem can be solved. Upon one question Miss Laughlin is already persuaded, and that is the question ques-tion of hours. She believes that these hours should be so regulated that the servant may know when her work begins be-gins and whan it ends. At the same time she is not in favor of advocating the adoption of the plan inaugurated by Mrs. Emmons Blaine of Chicago. While she admits that the eis'ht-hour day might do in her case, it could never be applied in the case of the ordinary housekeeper, and she will look much further for her logical solution to the ;mzzle. The question of the organization of the servants into labor unions has called for some consideration, but she has not yet determined that the plan would be a wise one. On the other hand, she has already placed the stamp of approval ap-proval upon the theory that women ought to be compelled to go through a regular course of training in a proper school before going out to service. A SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL. Such schools already exist in several parts of the country, a particularly successful suc-cessful one being operated at Syracuse, N. Y. Its founder, Mrs. Linda Hull Larned, is a woman who has spent much time in the study of the servant question, and the success of her work would argue that she had certainly devised de-vised a means for improving the situation. situa-tion. In this school the pupils pass through an elaborate course of study, embracing, every branch of work that can be included in-cluded in the line of "domestic science," with the result that when they have ob- i I j mm wmm- v Ii ' P3' j MISS LAUGHLIN HAS BEEN APPOINTED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF MISTRESS AND MAID. tained their diploma they are fully fitted to undertake the proper care of a I house. Miss Laughlin has made an in-1 vestigation of the results of the work of this school, and it is not at all improbable im-probable that she may include some such idea in her suggestions to the in-ductrial in-ductrial commission. However that may be, one thing at least is certain. When her work is completed, com-pleted, the world, and especially the women of the world, will know more about the servant question than they do today, for an effort will be made to emphasize tho f?-ct that the time of slavery has passed, and that the "help" question will . continue to be a vital question until some means has been found to educate the mistress of the household in the matter of the proper treatment of her "help." |