"We speak of giving them the safety and shelter of the home,"--here
Diantha grew solemn;--"So far from sharing our homes, she gives up her
own, and has none of ours, but the poorest of our food and a cramped
lodging; she has neither the freedom nor the privileges of a home; and
as to shelter and safety--the domestic worker, owing to her peculiarly
defenceless position, furnishes a terrible percentage of the
unfortunate."
A shocked silence met this statement.
"In England shop-workers complain of the old custom of 'sleeping
in'--their employers furnishing them with lodging as part payment; this
also is a survival of the old apprentice method. With us, only the
domestic servant is held to this antiquated position."
Regardless of the chill displeasure about her she cheerfully pursued:
"Let us now consider the economic side of the question. 'Domestic
economy' is a favorite phrase. As a matter of fact our method of
domestic service is inordinately wasteful. Even where the wife does all
the housework, without pay, we still waste labor to an enormous extent,
requiring one whole woman to wait upon each man. If the man hires one
or more servants, the wastes increase. If one hundred men undertake
some common business, they do not divide in two halves, each man having
another man to serve him--fifty productive laborers, and fifty cooks.
Two or three cooks could provide for the whole group; to use fifty is to
waste 47 per cent.
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