EVOLUTION OF DOMESTIC SERVICE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5961, 28 August 1897, Page 3

EVOLUTION OF DOMESTIC SERVICE.

The following notes are taken from an interesting article under the above title, published iv tho May number of the Revue Socialists -. — By no means the least important, though one of the most neglected of the pressing social problems of the nineteenth century is that of domestic service. On every hand we have indications that its present form must undergo a change to bring it into line with modern social development. The form of domestic service is no fixity ; as other forms have preceded the present, so it seems that the time is rapidly approaching when another form will have to follow it. The evolution of domestic service may be traced from that stage of civilisation when the prisoners of war were made the " hewers of wood and drawers of water," thence through the old patriarchal family life to the present hire system. Note in passing that under both the ancient systems the slaves or serfs were far better off, comparatively, than the hired servants of to-day, for ill or old, they were still fedand sheltered. But now the patriarchal system is a "thing of tho past. The necessities of life are no longer home-made, the staff of dependants is decreased, and the changes of residence and reverses of fortune in which our times are so prolific, make the connection between domestic service and family life — that is to say, the life which provides tho natural food of the human affections and the best parts of human nature — merely nominal. In domestic service now, all dream of individuality must bo renounced; the great aim of a model domestic must be to become, not a man or a woman, but . a thing— a well-adjusted machine, working without the least friction, always silent and always alert. What a little wonder, what a deal of excuse, if under such conditions servants become proverbial hypocrites and liars; and if they do, what shall we call those who make them so ? Owing to the isolation of its individuals, domestic labour has less than any other form of labour invoked the aid of union. Tn direct conseouence of this, no serious law has yet found its way on to any statute book to improve its position. I*3 uu of late years the difficult work nf the organisation of "the belated industry," domestic service, litis been well commenced. In England domestic female servants possess a strong special Union, now in its sixth year. For four years it has published an organ, the Domestic Servants' Gazette, which is a credit to Trades Union literature. Here then, if nowhere else, the principle of union may be fairly said to have entered the field of domestic labour. As a result of the inevitable expansion of unionism among domestic servants, we may expect to see among them a new sentiment of their rights and their dignity,

m^kaaiuMULMmmmiijmi m ujiij -rjpmWßmmißHßgm— I also an increased efficiency, all of which will lead them from dqmestic servants to become domestic employes, employes whose hours of labour are fixed, and whose duties are definitely laid down. So the progress of evolution in domestic : service has brought us from the slave .to the serf, from the serf to the servant, and now it takes us from the servant to the employe, and in schools of domestic instruction these employes will Lave to learn their trade by an apprenticeship as every -■ other trade is learned. In Belgium and Austria such schools are already combined with many publio sohools througliout the countries, with excellent results, but there should also be unions existing in close connection with them. But this organisation and instruction of domestic labour must necessarily be slow in operation, and, no matter how success- J ful, can hardly be sufficient in itself to remedy all the evils incident to tho present system of domestic service. The mistresses, as well as the servants or employes, have to be considered, and the rights and requirements of both must be : taken into account. Not only is tho ignorance and selfishness of tho servants to be -fought against, but also the equal ignorrance and selfishness of the mistresses in regard to their employes. England shows us greater organisation among the servants, tho Continent shows us greater facilities possessed by intending servants to learn their duties, but it is to America Aye must look for any appreciable progress among the mistresses. As showing the spirit which exists there, the words of Miss Jane Addams, of Chicago, written in March of last year may be quoted; she says: — "The egotism of the mistress of the modern house, who, in her narrow social ethic, demands that those who work for the comfort of her family shall work for it alone, and not only that they shall remain single, but that they shall break more or- less their natural social ties, causes those who would make the best servants to refuse to serve her. There is no more reason why a woman who cleans our windows should not lead as complete a social and domestic lifo as tlio man wlio cleans the windows of an office." That seems to present the true situation. The patriarchal life is behind us, never to return, and all the unpleasantnesses and abuses incident on domestic service are the accompaniments of a blind struggle to maintain iutact an interior organisation which is not in harmony with present-day civilisation. In consequence of this false life-hire system, which retains most of the abuses of slavery and serfdom without any of their relieving features, the number of English,- and especially American born, persons who will enter domestic service is rapidly decreasing*, and their places are being filled by ignorant Irish, Chinese and foreigners of all sorts, a state of affairs which is socially unsatisfactory in every way. The American girl who will accept service belongs merely invaisjably to the least intelligent class, comes from what might be called at least uncivilised surroundings, and would not be able to succeed in any other employment. This is all in the face of the fact that the avei*age American girl can earn nearly as much by domestic service as at a trade, while in the former her living — very dear in America — costs her nothing whatever. In fact, so depleted have the ranks of capable servants become, that the mistresses in America have in some cases organised strikes against the employment of any domestic service whatever, and in many others established schools of domestic instruction in sheer self-defence. So we see co-operation entering the field on both sides, and on both sides having the same tendency — namely, to turn the domestic servant into the domestic employe. But as a result of the combination of the mistresses against the incompetency of servants another factor appears on the scene, that is, co-operative housekeeping. We may look for this also as one of the results of combination among the servants, for as they become trained, better organised and better educated they will gradually refuse altogether to accept the life-hire system, and at the same time, the gap between trained and untrained servants, or, what should be the same thing, union and non-union servants, will become too apparent for the latter to have much chance of employment. And as domestic employees refuse to give up their social life and domestic ties for the pleasure of augmenting those of their mistresses by being at their beck and call all hours of the day and night, the solution of co- ! operative housekeeping will present itself to many housekeepers, especially among what are called the lower-middle clnss.-:;. So here avo find the evolution of domestic service leading us mi> .-: ;_j_-e:it, far-reach-ing revolution in domestic life, which, on examination, will be found to bring it into harmony with modern civilisation. The subject of co-operative housekeeping or unitary homes is at present somewhat outside the scope of this article, but as domestic non-resident employes on the one hand and unitary homes on the other seem to be the two great ends towards which the evolution of domestic service is tending, a few observations on the latter may form a fitting conclusion to these remarks. Some ten years ago there was published in England a book, " Scientific Meliorism," whose author, Miss Jane Hume Clapperton, proposed to solve many of the domestic and social problems of society, particularly those of isolated families of small means, by the establishment of "unitary homes." Her work, however, though a magnificent one, was passed over in silence or treated as "immoral" by most of the reviews because it was said to propose " the destruction of the family." In the United States, however, where, owing to the \ extremely unsatisfactory nature of domestic service already alluded to, the problem is more pressing, the same idea has taken a further development which seems to free it from any suspicion of such an objection. This development also is very appropriately proposed and preached by a lady, Mrs Coleman Stuckert, of the State of Illinois. The proposal is for some forty-four houses to be built round an oblong space, in which is to be erected a largo building, having on the ground floor, kitchen, dining-room and laundry, on the first floor the domestic employes private rooms, and on the second floor rooms adapted for social gatherings, a kindergarten room and a library, &c. This project would, of course, minimise the domestic labour and expense, while allowing the actual "homes " to remain separate, and givo occupants the privilege of having their meals served there or having them in the common dining-room. Mrs Stuckert has gone into minute details of management and cost, according to the degree of elegance and comfort desired by the occupants, and the idea will doubtless have a practical trial shortly iv more that one city in the States. It cannot be too strongly insisted upon thatdomesticlifehasnothingto fear from the education and co-operation of all its units ; indeed, in such education and co-operation alone are its problems to be solved, and the never-ceasing struggle bet-ween mistress and servant, which is one of the standing caricatures and disgraces of our times, to become a thing of the past; meanwhile, it is an encouragement to note the symptoms which render as it were tangible the evolution which is taking place in this quarter, a quarter from which not the least of the factors which will aid in the elaboration of the society of the future must be evolved.