Some of those who look forward to the ameli oration of domestic service believe that it will be brought about by the establishment of train ing schools for household servants. So far. how ever, industrial training schools ha ye received little patronage from the class for whom they are intended. The servants themselves fail to perceive the importance of training, since they can obtain good wages without it, and their am bition is not stimulated by the possibility of ris ing in the social scale through such training.
In some schools designed and endowed to prepare girls for household service have be come sewing and dressmaking schools, under the dislike of the girls and their parents for house hold labor. In Belgium, schools of industrial training have been instituted by the Government, and are run tinder Government inspection and control. They have succeeded much better than the private enterprises of other countries, al though they are for general household training and not specifically for that of servants.
Profit-sharing has also been tried in the house hold, and has on the whole proved successful. The plan is to set aside a certain amount for housekeeping. and divide what can be saved out of it between the mistress and the servants ac cording to a proposition previously agreed upon. This of course gives the servants an interest in the welfare of the household, and has the same advantages and disadvantages as a similar sys tem in business.
Another solution for the domestic-service prob lem lies in the modern tendency toward speciali zation. :Many kinds of work formerly done in
the house, under the supervision of its mistress, are now provided for outside of it. Trained workers take up some special branch of house hold labor and contract for it with a number of families. It does not appear as yet. howOver, that, specialization will solve the problem alto gether.
The servants' unions which have been organized have not yet accomplished anything serious. Nevertheless. it is the opinion of almost all students upon this subject that along this line— the organization of the industry upon a practical business basis. with a regular scale of wages for varion• grades of skilled and unskilled work, with fixed hours for work and the stigma of servitude removed—lies the hope of betterment. Such a system would neeessitafe proper train ing on the part of those who wished to share in the benefits of the organization and many con cession; on the part of employers.
BustiocrtAeur. Salmon, "Domestic Service," which contains a bibliography. in Elerrnth Cnitcd Stairs Census Report (Washington. 1892-94 : Baylis. The !eights. Duties, and Relations of Do mestic Set-rants (5th ed., London, 18911): Gra ham. Master and Servant ( London, 1899) ; Ad dams. ''A Belated Industry," in American Jour nal of Sociology. vol. i. (Chicago. 1(496) : Walker, The Borns Question (New York, 18s6) ; Schloss, port on /'ro/it-Shurinrt (London,