DOMESTIC SERVICE. Work done in the house by servants hired to per form duties assigned to them. It is gen erally held to include cooks, house keepers, waiting-maids, butlers, chauf feurs, nurses, etc. The earliest servants in the United States were the negro slaves and those who paid for their transportation to the Colonies by becom ing for a certain number of years serv ants to the people who paid their passage money. These latter were known as redemptioners. In the North after the Revolution this class was re placed by the free laborers, in the South by the negro slaves. Up until the Civil War the relation of the household serv ant to his or her employer was a very democratic one. Except in the larger cities the "help" sat at the same table, and were generally treated as the social equals of the family employing them. No badges of service such as a cap or livery were worn and the personal ele ment entered into the service very largely. When, however, large numbers of unskilled laborers from foreign lands began to arrive in the United States this state of affairs was altered. From 1846 1860 Irish, German, and a little later Chinese unskilled laborers immigrated into the States, and household service was taken up by a great many of them. Obviously the same conditions of famili arity between the family and the serv ants could not continue, at least not in the Eastern States where the bulk of the immigrants stayed. In the Western section this democratic relationship still obtained, and does so to this day in the extreme frontier regions. Another fac tor to be reckoned with in the East was the opportunity offered increasingly to household servants of working in fac tories and establishments where there are fixed hours of labor and no curtailments of their personal freedom. An increasing distance between the family and the serv ants was maintained by the wealthy and badges of service again came into use, a feature largely unknown in the period before the Civil War. The work ing of factors above mentioned was stimulated by conditions brought about by the World War. An unprecedented demand for all sorts of labor was made by the Government and industrial estab lishments, and wages, until then un heard of, were offered. Large numbers of household servants accepted these offers, and those who did not stayed only on very remunerative terms. The unrest which succeeded the war did nothing to solve the problem, if indeed it did not augment it. The present con
dition of the domestic servants in the United States as compared with other classes of labor is certainly good. The wages of a girl or woman doing the work of general housekeeping averages from twelve to fifteen dollars a week, and in addition she secures room and board. The only unsatisfactory part to the serv ant is the social inferiority which such a position carries with it and the some what longer hours. To remedy this last abuse the "shift" system—allowing each servant to work but eight hours—has been suggested and in some localities been put in force by the very wealthy. Co-operative housekeeping has been at tempted by those whose means are limited, to cope with the problem of se curing help. "Community kitchens" sup ply the food, control heating plants, do away with the necessity of janitor serv ice, while modern electric equipment vastly reduces the time consumed in housework.
In England and on the Continent of Europe the conditions of labor of the household servant are not nearly so good. In most of these countries there is a class bred to service, and members of that class seldom aspire to a higher social status. This is more especially the case the farther eastward one goes in Europe, reaching its climax in nations such as Poland, Rumania, and Hungary, where the personal restrictions on the liberty of the servant remind one of the feudal serf. Prior to the Revolution in Russia much the same condition ob tained there. Even in France or Ger many the household servants are rather pleased to wear the white caps belong ing to their order, while in America it remains one of the distasteful features of domestic service. In Germany at the termination of a servant's employment in the household the employer is obliged to enter a comment in a police book, stating how satisfactory that servant has been. In England domestic servants are hired by the year and the employer is free to discharge immediately and without any notice on the discovery of theft, immorality, extreme incompe tence or disobedience. This practically leaves the servant at the mercy of the employer and this feature is one which is characteristic even in the United States. Wages in England and the Con tinent are considerably below those paid in the States. Seven and eight dollars a week secure the same amount of serv ice in England which twice that amount could scarcely command in America.