Chapter XXV: Introduction (2)

The wages of Negro domestic workers today are considerably higher than they were in past decades, as is shown by a comparison of figures in past periods for the Continental United States and for selected cities with figures in 1920-1923. For the twenty-five years prior to the World War there had been only a slight wage increase in domestic and personal service. During the World War there was a considerable increase in wages for both male and female domestic workers, the increase for the latter being larger than that for the former. Since the World War wages for such workers have fallen to some extent but not anywhere near the pre-war level.

The following tables, with one exception, show the wage changes at different ten-year periods over a range of 30 years. In Table IX the figures from the Boston Employment Bureau illustrate the fact that the average weekly wages for female domestic workers of Boston were decidedly higher than elsewhere in the country. This table also makes clear the fact that wages for men were considerably higher than those for women.

_Average Daily and Weekly Wages in Selected Domestic Service
Occupations, 1889-1890_[26]

TABLE IX
Occupation Weekly Wages for Weekly Wages for
the United States Boston, Mass.
_Women_
Cooks $3.72 $4.45
Cooks and laundresses 3.39
Chambermaids 3.39 3.86
Waitresses 3.19 3.7
Second girls 3.16 3.7
Chambermaids and waitresses 3.10
Parlor maids 3
General servants 2.91 3

_Men_
Coachmen $7.84
Coachmen and gardeners 6.54
Butlers 6.11
Cooks 6.08

_Women_
Daily Wages
Laundresses .82
Seamstresses 1.01

_Men_
Gardeners 1.33
Chore-men .87

Table X below gives average wages for selected domestic service occupations in the United States for a decade later than the figures of Table IX. The slight variation in the figures of Table X from those of Table IX may be due to probable error incident to the collection of the data or to some other factor. The indications of these two tables, however, with ten years intervening between the compilation of the data, are that wages probably had changed very little, if any.

_Average Weekly Wages for Selected Domestic Service Occupations in the
United States, 1900_[27]

TABLE X
Occupation Average Weekly Wage
_Women_
General houseworkers $3.28
Cooks 3.95
Waitresses 3.43
Other specialists 3.54

_Men_
For all domestic service occupations 6.03

_Women_
For all domestic service occupations 3.51

In comparison with the two preceding tables, Table XI below gives wages for domestic service in Philadelphia for about the same period. The weekly wages range higher than for the country as a whole. The lower wages in the southern border and middle sections of the United States have reduced the average for the country below that for this eastern city in which also special conditions may have operated to bring such wages above the general level.

_Average Weekly Wages of Negro Domestic Workers of Philadelphia,
1896-1897_[27]

TABLE XI
Occupation Average Weekly Wage
_Women_
General worker $3.24
Janitress 4.06
Chambermaid-laundress 3.58
Cook-laundress 4.00
Laundress 4.04
Lady's maid 3.63
Chambermaid and waitress 3.17
Waitress 3.31

_Women_
Chambermaid 3.17
Child's nurse 3.35
Errand girl 2.00
Cook 4.02

_Men_
General worker 5.38
Valet 8.00
Cook 6.17
Waiter 6.14
Coachman 8.58
Butler 8.24
Bellboy 2.61

Table XII which follows is drawn from _The Negro at Work in New York City_, and shows the modal wage groups for specific occupations in domestic and personal service, New York City, 1906-1909. Although data for New York City are not typical of the entire country, these are the only available figures for this period, and they may indicate the trend of wages in domestic personal service in that section. In comparison with the preceding Table of Wages in Philadelphia, the increase in wages in New York City may be due to differences of conditions in the two cities rather than to any general increase or decrease in wages.

_Modal Wage Groups for Selected Occupations, 1906-1909_[28]

TABLE XII
Occupation Range of Modal Wage
_Female_
Switchboard operator $4.00-4.99
Chambermaid 4.00-4.99
Chambermaid-cook 5.00-5.99
Chambermaid-laundress 5.00-5.99
Chambermaid-waitress 4.00-4.99
Kitchenmaid 4.00-4.99
Cook 5.00-5.99
Cook and general worker 5.00-5.99
Cook-waitress 4.00-4.99
Cook-laundress 5.00-5.99
Errand girl Less than 4.00
General houseworker 4.00-4.99
Laundress 4.00-4.99
Lady's maid 4.00-4.99
Parlor maid 4.00-4.99
Nurse Less than 3.00
Pantry girl 4.00-4.99
Waitress 4.00-4.99
Dishwasher 4.00-4.99

_Male_
Bellman Less than 4.00
Butler-cook 5.00-5.99
Waiter 5.00-5.99
Butler 5.00-5.99
Coachman 5.00-5.99
Cook 5.00-5.99
Elevator operator 5.00-5.99
Furnaceman 5.00-5.99
Gardener 4.00-4.99
Hallman and doorman 4.00-4.99
Houseman 5.00-5.99
Janitor 5.00-5.99

The last decade embraces the World War when wages in domestic and personal service were at their maximum. The following tables for selected cities present graphically the increase in wages for male and female domestic workers and the slight increase in wages of females over that of males. These tables also show how wages vary in different sections of the country. Although these figures are for 1920, and the first quarter of 1921, the decline in wages generally did not begin until the fourth quarter of 1920, and it was not so pronounced in domestic and personal service as in many other occupational groups, and was scarcely appreciable in domestic service until the middle of 1921.

Tables XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, and XVII indicate that although wages in domestic and personal service among Negroes have fallen somewhat, they are still far above those of pre-war times. They also show that since the War there has been considerable decline in rates paid men for day work in New York City and Washington, D. C., but very little decrease in the rates for women day workers in either of the two cities.

Any analysis of these tables must take into consideration that female day workers in the cities included in the tables receive their carfare and at least one meal; cooks, general houseworkers, waiters and waitresses, housemen, mothers' helpers, some kitchen help, part-time workers and nurses receive their meals and, in many instances, their quarters.

In this table wages for clerical workers, factory workers, laborers, truckers, butchers, etc., are given in comparison with the wages of domestic and personal service workers. For example: a stenographer receives $18 a week, while a cook receives from $18 to $25 a week and board; a factory girl receives from 25 cents to 30 cents an hour, while a day worker in domestic service receives $22 a week, and a cook receives $25 a week and board.

_Weekly Wages of 118 Negro Men in Domestic Service by Specified
Occupations, New York City, 1920-1921_[29]

TABLE XIII
Occupations Number Employed Weekly Wages
Cleaners 3 $ .50 per hour
5 3.00 per day
Cooks 2 15.00-17.99
3 18.00-19.99
3 25.00 or more
Dishwashers 2 10.00-12.99
4 13.00-14.99 and meals
1 15.00-17.99
11 18.00-21.99
1 26.00
Doormen 1 38.50 and meals
3 (monthly) 40.00-79.00
Elevator operators (apt. house) 1 under 10.00
1 10.00-12.99
11 15.00-17.99
1 18.00-21.99
Elevator and switchboard operators 6 14.00
6 17.00
1 18.00
Firemen (apt. house) 1 3.00 per day
1 20.00-24.99
1 20.00 and board
1 30.00
Janitors (apt. house) 1 (monthly) 20.00 and apartment
1 (monthly) 30.00 and keep
1 (monthly) 40.00 and keep
1 (monthly) 60.00 and keep
Assistant janitors (apt. house) 1 10.00-12.99
1 15.00 and room
Porters-apartment houses 1 16.00
6 18.00-20.99
Waiters 3 under 10.00
18 (exclusive
of tips) 15.00-17.99
6 18.00-20.99
7 10.00-11.99

_Range of Weekly Wages of 754 Negro Women in Domestic and Personal
Service, Specified by Occupations, New York City, 1920-1921_[30]

TABLE XIV
Occupations Number Employed Wages
General houseworkers 5 under $ 9.00
706 10.00-18.00
Chambermaids 1 under 9.00
Chambermaids-waitresses 7 12.00-18.00
Cooks 6 15.00-21.00
Kitchen helpers 8 12.00-17.00
2 under 9.00
Mothers' helpers and Nurses 9 10.00-15.00
Nurses (practical) 3 15.00-21.00
Waitresses 5 12.00-14.00

_Range of Daily and Weekly Wages of 1,565 Male and Female Negro
Domestic and Personal Service Workers, Washington, D. C., 1920_

=================================================================
Table XV | | |
| Number | Daily | Weekly
Occupations |Employed| Wages | Wages
---------------------------------+--------+---------+------------
Male | | |
Butlers | 7 | | 12.00-15.00
Chauffeurs | 3 | | 14.00-15.00
Chauffer-butler | 13 | | 14.00-15.00
Elevator Operator | 6 | | 9.00-10.00
Janitors and housemen | 34 | | 10.00-12.00
Cooks | 21 | | 18.00-20.00
Furnace and yardman | 10 | | 7.00-8.00
Waiters | 11 | | 9.00-10.00
Dishwashers | 12 | | 9.00-12.00
Day Workers | 6 | 4.00 |
| | |
Female | | |
General houseworkers | 49 | | 10.00-12.00
Cooks | 83 | | 10.00-20.00
Maids | 86 | | 9.00-10.00
Waitresses | 112 | | 9.00-10.00
Personal maids | 5 | | 10.00-12.00
Kitchen maids | 40 | | 8.00-9.00
Mothers helpers | 75 | | 5.00-7.00
Pantry maid | 62 | | 10.00-12.00
Permanent laundresses | 3 | | 12.00-14.00
Cook-laundresses | 81 | | 10.00-12.00
Chambermaid-waitresses | 240 | | 9.00-10.00
Janitress | 7 | | 9.00-10.00
Elevator operator | 82 | | 8.00-9.00
Parlor maids | 21 | | 9.00-10.00
Day workers | 362 |2.50-3.00|
Nurse maid | 91 | | 8.00-9.00
Part-time workers | 51 | | 6.00-7.00
----------------------------------------------------------------

_Weekly Wages of 200 Male and 200 Female Negro Domestic Workers
of Chicago by Occupations_, 1923

TABLE XVI
Occupations Number Enrolled Weekly Wages
_Male_
Factory 15 22.00
Waiter 8 15.00 and board
Bus Boys 6 10.00 and board
Elevator 1 14.00
Cook 10 25.00 and board
Cleaning 11 (per hour) .50
Wringer 2 20.00
Fireman 2 24.00
Shoe shiners 3 (per day) 2.00 and tips
Butchers 6 (per hour) .47 and up
Houseman 4 (per month) 70.00 room and
board
Dishwasher 43 17.00 and board
Porter 10 20.00-25.00
Trucker 25 22.00
Laborers 54 (per hour) .45-.60

_Average Daily and Weekly Wage of Negro Domestic Workers by Occupation
for Selected Cities_, 1923

==================================================================
TABLE XVII | Average Wage By Occupation
|------------------------------------------------
| |General | | |
| Day | House | Cooks | Maids | Waitresses
|Workers |Workers | | |
-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------------
New York | $3.80 | $13.85 | $16.50 | $13.00 | $7 and tips
Philadelphia | 2.75 | 12.50 | 13.50 | 9.50 | $7 and tips
Baltimore | 2.75 | 9.50 | 11.00 | 8.50 | $7 and tips
Washington, D. C.| 2.00 | 9.25 | 10.75 | 8.50 | $8 and tips
Detroit | 3.35 | 9.50 | 11.00 | 9.00 | $7 and tips
Indianapolis | 2.25 | 10.00 | 13.50 | 9.00 | $7 and tips
Boston | 3.00 | 12.00 | 12.50 | 10.50 | 10.50
Los Angeles | 3.80 | | 15.00 | 11.50 | 8.00
Montgomery | 1.75 | 7.00 | | 6.50 |
Nashville | 1.75 | 7.00 | | 6.50 |
------------------------------------------------------------------

===============================================
TABLE XVII |Average Wage By Occupation
(cont.) |-----------------------------
|Part-time | Mothers' | Child
| Workers | Helpers | Nurses
-----------------+----------+----------+-------
New York | $8.00 | $11.00 | $11.00
Philadelphia | 7.50 | 8.25 | 8.25
Baltimore | 6.00 | 5.50 | 6.00
Washington, D. C.| 7.50 | 8.00 | 8.00
Detroit | 9.50 | 9.50 | 10.00
Indianapolis | | 8.00 | 13.50
Boston | | |
Los Angeles | | |
Montgomery | | |
Nashville | | |
----------------------------------------------

==================================================================
Male | Day |Chauffeurs | Cooks |Janitors |Dishwashers
|laborers | | | |
------------+---------+-----------+--------+---------+------------
New York | $3.00 | $25.00 | $20.00 | $9.50 | $12.00
Boston | 4.00 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 20.00 | 12.00
Philadelphia| 3.80 | 25.00 | 20.00 | 15.00 | 9.50
Baltimore | 3.50 | 18.00 | 21.00 | 15.00 | 9.50
------------------------------------------------------------------

===================================================
Male | Bell | Waiters |Porters | Elevator
(cont.) | men | | | operators
------------+-------+---------+--------+-----------
New York | $9.50 | $10.00 | $15.00 | 15.00
Boston | 13.50 | 12.00 | 15.00 | 15.00
Philadelphia| 6.50 | 7.00 | 15.00 | 15.00
Baltimore | 7.87 | 9.30 | 15.00 | 9.30-15.00
---------------------------------------------------

The table above shows that wages in the specified occupations in different sections of the country, for the most part, do not vary very much. Wages for males are given for only four cities because the wages for males in the other cities mentioned, with two exceptions, are about the same as in these four cities. In addition to money wages received for day work, women get their carfare and often one or two meals, while men receive only the money wages. Elevator operators in Baltimore hotels are paid from $40 to $50 a month instead of $15 a week as in apartment houses because more tips are given in hotels.

Although in consideration of the present rate of wages the total annual wage paid for domestic and personal service in the homes of the United States must be large, there seems to be no available data on this point. However, an estimate has been made of the total quarterly wages for 1920 and 1921 and the first quarter of 1922 paid domestic and personal service employees in the hotels and similar institutions of Continental United States. The range of quarterly wages in such institutions for 1920 was 666 to 700 millions of dollars; for 1921, 660 to 678 millions of dollars; and for 1922, 643 millions of dollars. The maximum cyclical decline in the wages of such workers for that period of time was 8.15 per cent.

Even though seven other groups of occupations had a smaller percentage cyclical decline in wages following the war than public domestic and personal service and twelve other groups of occupations had a larger cyclical decline, the average earnings an hour for each domestic and personal service worker are less than that for any other occupation or industry except agriculture. The average earnings in cents an hour for each employee in domestic and personal service were for the first quarter of 1920, 34 cents; for the first quarter of 1921, 34 cents; and for the first quarter of 1922, 33 cents.[31]

_Hours of Negro Domestic Workers_

Although during the past thirty years there has been considerable advance made in the matter of hours for domestic and personal service workers, the change in this particular has not kept pace throughout the United States with the increase in wages in domestic and personal service occupations. Thirty years ago 38 per cent of 1,434 female domestic employees from all sections of the United States were actually working ten hours a day, 6 per cent of them were working eleven hours a day, 31 per cent were working twelve hours or more a day, and 25 per cent of them were working less than ten hours a day.[32]

In recent years the hours and wages of female domestic and personal service workers in several states of the union have been standardized by the enactment of state minimum wage laws. Utah, which has an eight hour day and a 48 hour week for female workers generally, lists any regular employer of female labor under those occupations covered by law. This would include domestic service for women. The minimum wage rate in this State for experienced women is $1.25 per day. Wisconsin, which has a ten hour day and a 55 hour week for females and minors, includes under its minimum wage law every person in receipt of, or entitled to, any compensation for labor performed for any employer. Domestic workers must be included in this number. Colorado includes under its minimum wage law any occupation which embraces "any and every vocation, trade, pursuit and industry." Since domestic service is a pursuit or vocation, it must come under the minimum wage law of Colorado. The state of Washington has an eight hour day and a 56 hour week and a wage of $18 a week and $3 a day for females engaged in public housekeeping, but not for private domestic workers. North Dakota publicly excludes domestic service and agriculture from its occupations or industries covered by the minimum wage law. Although the other seven State minimum wage laws do not openly exclude domestic service, it is not included as yet among occupations and industries. Two attempts were recently made in California to secure through legislation a ten hour day for domestic workers. The first bill was defeated. The second bill passed both houses but received a pocket veto.[33] In States where there is no minimum wage legislation the working hours for day workers and part-time workers are standardized on an eight hour basis.

The extensive use of day workers came into popularity largely through necessity during the World War. At that time such a large proportion of the permanent domestic employees found openings in other lines of work that housewives supplemented their own labor by hiring day workers. The large demand for such workers gave them the leverage of establishing for themselves an eight hour day and a wage commensurate with that in many lines of industry. Day workers have retained since the World War both the eight hour day and the advanced wages.

The part-time workers, too, have definite hours. Many of them do cooking and general housework but for only specified hours. Some of them work four or five hours or less in the mornings, especially when the work is largely cleaning. Not a few of them begin in the afternoon and do general housework and prepare dinner and serve it. But the hours are fixed hours. Some part-time workers have a regular place of employment for mornings and another such place for afternoons. Their hours are definite and their wages are thus very good. Frequently the part-time worker has every Sunday off.

The hours for the other domestic service workers generally do not seem to be so well standardized as yet. Three Washington, D. C., employers wished their general houseworkers to come on duty at seven o'clock in the morning, with the promise that the workers could leave when they finished. Although 75.3 per cent of one thousand domestic workers, exclusive of day workers and part-time workers, in the private families and boarding houses of Washington, D. C., were on duty ten hours or over, this would show that the three employers mentioned above were not typical. Three other employers in the same mentioned city maintained an eight hour day for their help by having an extra worker prepare the dinners and serve them.

Apparently no attempt has been made to compare the hours of the private domestic and personal service workers with those of the workers in other industries. An estimate made of the full-time hours a week during 1920 and 1921 for the average employee in all enterprises of whatever size in the Continental United States discloses the fact that the average full-time hours a week for public domestic and personal service workers were from 56.6 to 57.1, while the average for workers in all industries including domestic and personal service was 50.3 to 51.3 hours a week. In New York City, according to employment agents, the practice of an eight to nine hour day for domestic workers generally obtains.

_Specific Occupations of Negro Domestic Workers_

The chief employment of the day workers in more than three-fourths of the States is laundry work and cleaning. It is significant that in twenty-one States for which the 1920 advanced occupational census sheets have been obtained, where the Negro population is negligible, there is no principal occupation given as that of launderer and laundress "not in laundries." In all of the States for which there are reports given in the cities of those States where the Negro population is large there is such a principal occupation. However, this occupation in spite of the increased popularity of day work during the World War is decreasing in numbers as the following table will indicate. Whether this decrease is due to the "wet wash" laundry system and to the increased facilities in hand laundries we have no data to prove.

Table XVIII given below represents the States so far as the 1920 census reports go, which have the principal occupation of launderer and laundress "not in laundries." In all of the States except Vermont, the Negro population is quite appreciable. Just why Vermont is not among the 21 States which have a negligible Negro population and no such principal occupation accessible data did not disclose. The reason why the 21 States have no such principal occupation is probably due to the fact that laundry work is so laborious that white domestic workers are averse to it, and those able to have the work done send it to a steam laundry.

_The Number of Launderers and Laundresses in 14 States in 1910-1920_

==================================================
TABLE XVIII | |
| Male | Female
State |-------+-------+--------+-------
| 1910 | 1920 | 1910 | 1920
-----------------+-------+-------+--------+-------
Louisiana | 406 | 389 | 23,051 | 17,034
Georgia | 832 | 667 | 44,710 | 36,775
No. Carolina | 387 | 296 | 23,192 | 15,185
Florida | 394 | 342 | 14,844 | 16,552
Dist. of Columbia| 121 | 93 | 7,920 | 6,095
Maryland | 448 | 253 | 16,189 | 12,418
Delaware | 20 | 26 | 1,665 | 1,110
Indiana | 300 | 245 | 10,130 | 7,238
Vermont | 34 | 21 | 1,256 | 684
Kansas | 210 | 163 | 4,814 | 3,760
New Jersey | 452 | 322 | 11,171 | 7,626
New Mexico | 71 | 51 | 1,678 | 1,299
Oklahoma | 154 | 124 | 5,349 | 4,350
West Virginia | 140 | 84 | 3,923 | 2,505
--------------------------------------------------

A general houseworker has come to be thought of by the public as a maid of all work, and sometimes she is; but in many homes she is relieved of doing the laundry work. In some cities general housework does not always include cooking. For example, in New York City and Brooklyn it may not include cooking unless specified by the terms cooking and general housework. In New York and some other cities men have been tried as general workers.

According to employment agencies, butlers are not used in such large numbers as they were before the World War. During the war it was difficult to secure them because men were needed for war work. Since then wages have been such that employers have largely used chambermaid-waitresses or chauffeur-butlers instead of regular butlers. Among the 779 Negro men in domestic and personal service (New York City, 1921, Table XI), there is not one butler. This does not mean that there are no Negro butlers in New York City, but it indicates their scarcity and shows that employers living in apartment houses can do without them. Negro cooks, however, are yet an important factor in the domestic and personal service groups.

There are still Negro personal maids who make provision for the special comfort and well being of their employers as well as do their little mending, and the like. And there are Negro pantry maids whose first duty it is to make salads. Chambermaid-waitresses and parlor maids to do such as to answer the door bell are also still used. The tendency, however, is in the direction of having but the one general maid, together with a laundress to come in by the day. Mothers' helpers or young girls to assist in all the work of the house and with the children are also being employed quite extensively, and at less wages than would be paid to an older general houseworker.

These different occupations for the most part call for different types of workers. A butler or a chambermaid-waitress who is tall and comely may have access to a larger number and to better places than one who is short. Especially is this true of cooks for apartment or for a general houseworker where there are stairs to climb. These are much more frequently chosen from among the medium-sized women than from the stout women. The reason for the latter choice is apparent. In the case of the butler or chambermaid-waitress, the basis of choice is apparently appearance and custom.

V. LIVING CONDITIONS, HEALTH, SOCIAL LIFE, ORGANIZATIONS OF NEGRO DOMESTIC WORKERS, AND THEIR RELATION TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

Living conditions here refer only to those on employers' premises. The general living conditions of Negro domestic workers in different parts of the country, or even in different localities of the same section, vary so widely that the subject cannot be treated here. For example, in the South laundresses for the most part take bundle wash to their small homes, and do large "washes" there. Such a situation makes it difficult for southern Negro laundresses to live comfortably and healthfully. Laundresses in the North are relieved of this problem by going to the homes of employers, but, on the other hand, are affected by the excessive rents and the overcrowding in their own homes.

Living conditions on employers' premises for domestic workers vary to some extent in different homes of the same city but to a larger extent in the different sections of the country and in different cities of the same section. In Montgomery, Alabama, for example, out of two hundred Negro female domestic workers interviewed, 54 or about 27 per cent were living in a two-room detached frame house on the rear of the employers' premises. The remaining 73 per cent did not "sleep in" or live on their employers' premises. In Philadelphia, living conditions on employers' premises are reported as being good. They consist, in the main, of a third floor room. Very few basement rooms are offered as living quarters for domestic workers in that city. In Indianapolis, about 50 per cent of those working by the week among the 471 domestic workers go home nights. Living conditions for those "sleeping in" are fair as a rule. Some have basement rooms but a majority of them have rooms either on the third floor or in the attic or over a garage. A small percentage of the homes have a bath room for the maid.

Employment agencies in Boston, New York City, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles give favorable reports on the living conditions of domestic workers who "sleep in." While the reports from Baltimore are not as conclusively favorable as for the above-named cities, one fact stands out prominently, namely: that in the main, only apartment houses in that city offer basement rooms as living quarters for domestic workers. Employment agencies in all of the cities mentioned state that there are far more calls for workers to "sleep in" than there are workers who are willing to do so.

Out of 500 domestic workers in Washington, D. C., selected at random from 3,000 permanent employees for the year 1921-22, about 64.1 per cent were requested to "sleep in." Out of an equal number of employers requesting workers to "sleep in," selected in the same manner, about 83 per cent provided basement rooms as sleeping quarters for such workers; about 10 per cent either provided first floor or third floor rooms--some of them with baths; about 7 per cent either offered attics or they failed to furnish a statement as to the location of the rooms. Occasionally an employer would like to have the worker "sleep in" but because of having only a basement room to offer, she would forego her wish in the interest of the health of the employee. Two of the workers sent out from this office were partially incapacitated by the poor living and working conditions. One of the problems, however, involved in housing domestic employees is the frequency of the turnover which necessarily brings in different kinds of workers, varying in degrees of personal cleanliness and health.

Closely connected with the living conditions, too, are the working conditions of domestic employees. In fact, one of the strains of such service often is the lack of break between the place of work and of living, which makes for resulting monotony and much loneliness. Much of a domestic worker's life is spent in the kitchen, in the laundry or on the premises of his employer. The only available accurate data on this point have come from Indianapolis, Ind. This was secured in response to a questionnaire sent to the employers who were patrons of the employment office at Flanner House. The following table gives a summary of the replies as to the appliances employers had in their homes for use of Negro domestic workers.

_Replies from 523 Employers Showing the Appliances in the Homes for
Doing Laundry Work, in Indianapolis, Ind., April, 1922_

TABLE XVIII Per Cent
Number having electric machines 249 47.6
Number having water power machines 2 .4
Number having hand power machines 5 .9
Number not having machines of any kind 267 51.1
-----
100.0
Number having electric irons 479 91.6
Number having gas irons 5 .9
Number having mangles--ironing machine 31 5.9
Number having stationary tubs 202 38.6
Number having driers 3 .6

According to this record about 48.9 per cent of the 523 employers had washing machines of some kind and about 51.1 per cent had none at all; about 38.6 per cent had installed stationary tubs and 0.6 per cent had driers. To one who is conversant with the old way of doing laundry work with heavy portable wooden tubs, and with the lighter weight zinc tubs, into which water was lifted for washing and from which it was lifted after washing, and then placed upon either a dry goods box or a wash bench of uncertain height, this table shows marvelous improvement in working conditions of Negro laundresses in Indianapolis and indicates unusual possibilities there and elsewhere. However, unless there were, in each of the homes having washing machines, a stationary tub, or a rubber tube for draining the water out of the washing machine, there still would be that lifting of water, and possibly undue exertion because of the uncertain height of the portable tub. The principle of having the tub set at the right height involves relief from straining the back, an important item in relation to good health. There were about 98.4 per cent of the 523 employers who had either electric or gas irons or mangles. Such appliances facilitate ironing as well as enable a laundress to do better work. Washing machines and mangles make it possible to do the bed linen at home instead of sending it to a steam laundry. Driers are particularly serviceable in winter when drying out of doors is difficult as well as being hard on the laundress because of the cold weather.

The employment agency that sent out the questionnaire congratulated the employers on the marked improvement made in appliances for laundering, and added that like improvements will in time be made in the type and conditions of work rooms in which laundresses must labor.

_The Health of Negro Domestic Workers_

Although the health of domestic workers is an extremely important matter because of the nature of their work and the homes into which they go, and because their support depends so largely upon their physical ability to work, no records apparently are kept by the various employment agencies relative to the health of the workers. In 1899 out of 152 male and 395 female domestic workers in Philadelphia, 80 per cent of the men had not been ill during the year, and 74 per cent of the women had not been ill during the year. This per cent of good health excluded colds. The most prevalent disabilities among them were: consumption, lagrippe, quinsy, sore throat, rheumatism, neuralgia, chills and fever, and dyspepsia.[34] That there is much opportunity for danger from infection incident to the ill-health of domestic workers cannot be denied.[35]

Very careful note was taken for one week in March, 1922, of the health of women domestic workers reporting at the United States Employment Agency, Washington, D. C. It was not a typical week because of the fact that it followed an epidemic of lagrippe. However, out of 1,043 domestic workers, only 325 or about 31 per cent had not been ill during that winter and had no complaint whatever. Lagrippe, surgical operations, indigestion, heart trouble, weak back, and neuralgia were the illnesses of which they most commonly complained.

There were among the number above, five evident cases of mental disturbance, one of which was taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital for observation and treatment. Another from the number had been discharged from the same hospital after treatment for mental trouble. This fact was not known by the Agency until an officer from the hospital visited the woman at her place of work to see how she was getting along. Three cases that were suspected of having tuberculosis were referred as waitresses at different times to a public hospital, at some risk of course to the reputation of the office, largely to see what the reaction of the nurse in charge would be. In each case the nurse reported that she could not use such a person about the food. Yet such persons were taken into some of the most desirable homes in Washington as household employees.

_Social Life of Negro Domestic Workers_

The social life of the older domestic Negro workers centers largely in their church and secret order society connections. From 1916 to 1920 seven out of every eleven Negroes in the United States were enrolled in churches. Many of them are willing to accept a place at a much lower wage than another if it gives them their Sundays off so that they may attend their churches.

It is important then to see the scope of such organizations in Negro city life. Kansas City, Missouri, with a Negro population in 1910 of 23,566, had 19 Negro churches and 16 Negro missions in 1913, with a total membership of 7,156. In this city there were 135 different lodges, or households (women's chapters), with a total membership of 8,055, 4,226 men and 3,829 women. The average initiation fee in the men's orders was $11.50 and in the women's $4.51 with additional monthly dues of 50 cents and 25 cents respectively. Endowment insurance policies of these lodges for which there is an annual fee from $2 to $4 are for the most part optional. These 8,055 members pay into their lodges annually $55,411.40. Their property in Kansas City is valued at $46,100. Each of the 135 orders has sick benefits ranging from $2.50 to $4.50 a week and all of them, with one exception, pay burial expenses in case of death.[37] In Harlem, New York, with a Negro population of about 90,000 in 1920 there are 25 Negro churches and about 16 missions. There are in this densely populated section six moving picture theatres which cater largely to Negro patronage.[38] Gainesville, Georgia, with a Negro population in 1910 of 1,629 had a Negro church membership of 1,023. Five of the Negro lodges in that city admit women, some of whom are members of several lodges.[39] In the lodges composed as they are very largely of the masses of the Negro people with a few of the more intelligent leaders as officers, there are many possibilities for improving the efficiency of the domestic workers.

Just what is the social life of the younger Negro domestic workers, many of whom are away from their own families, is a question. Of the 471 Negro domestic workers registered at the Indianapolis office, about 44.5 per cent were rooming and only about 2.3 per cent were living with parents or relatives. As possible attractions for such workers there are the moving picture and low vaudeville theatres, usually located in Negro neighborhoods, the pool and billiard rooms, cabarets and questionable dance halls.

Dr. Rubinow says that of 2,300 domestic white workers, a large majority of whom were under 30 years of age, interviewed by the Michigan Bureau of Labor, only 51 belonged to fraternal societies of any kind. Of 230 questioned by the Domestic Relation Reform League, 20 belonged to clubs and 15 to classes of some kind, and 118 entertained no men callers. A domestic worker, he says, not only loses caste among other groups of workers, but she loses at the hands of her employers even her family name. She lives a life of loneliness, "in a family but not of it."[40]

_Organization of Domestic Workers_

In order to show concretely what domestic workers themselves have attempted to do to improve their conditions, some discussion of their organizations as an expression of that attempt is in place here. It is not certain how many of these organizations are still active nor how many have Negro members. Some of them have such members, no doubt. However, three of them are composed entirely of Negroes.

In Los Angeles, California, the "Progressive Household Club" with a membership of 75 domestic workers is still active. This club was organized primarily for the purpose of furnishing a cheerful and welcome home for a domestic worker taking a rest or not employed for a time. It has a self-supporting home which will accommodate twenty-five girls. Their recreational and educational features are not startling, as the secretary writes, but they enable the girls to pass some cheerful hours out of their "humdrum" lives. This club was among the 15 other domestic workers' clubs organized in 1919 and 1920. In 1919 a Domestic Workers' Alliance with a membership of over 200, affiliated with the Hotel Waitresses under the American Federation of Labor, was granted a charter. During that year, the secretary of Hotel and Restaurant Employees of the International Alliance and International League of America reported that this organization had established a domestic workers' union in each of the following cities: Mobile, Alabama; Fort Worth, Texas; and Lawton, Oklahoma. A union of domestic workers was also organized in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1919. The following March a charter was granted to a domestic workers' union in Richmond, Virginia.[41] In 1920 there were 10 unions of domestic workers affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. These unions were located in the following cities: Los Angeles and San Diego, California; Brunswick, Georgia; Chicago and Glencoe, Illinois; New Orleans, Louisiana; Beaver Valley, Pennsylvania; Denison, Harrisburg, and Houston, Texas. The New Orleans Union, a Negro organization, was composed of about 200 members. All of these organizations have now ceased to be affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. There is, however, one union of domestic workers in Arecibo, Porto Rico, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.

_Relation of Negro Domestic Service to Employment Agencies_

In view of the volume and extent of turn-over in domestic service, employment agencies, especially in the North, East, and West, have a close relationship to both employers and workers. A person in need of domestic help secures it either by advertising in the help wanted section of the newspapers, by applying to one or more employment agencies, by means of inquiries among friends and acquaintances who may have been a former employer of some available laborer, by accepting some one who may by chance apply in person or by hiring a former worker.

In some of the southern cities where there is no local employment agency, domestic workers are secured in all other of the above-mentioned ways. For example, this condition prevails in Montgomery, Alabama. Although the United States Employment Service, the Department of Labor, and the Municipal Employment offices of Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, are co-operating, there is no State license applying to local employment agencies except those soliciting laborers to go outside of the State, according to a recent statement from the Alabama Tax Commission. A like condition exists in the State of Louisiana. Georgia, however, issues licenses to employment agencies for domestic positions. In this State as in some others, there is no law regulating the fee which an agency may charge either employer or employee for service rendered. Neither Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, nor Maryland, and several other States have such a fee regulated by law. However, in Pennsylvania, every employment agent must file with the commissioner for his approval a schedule of fees, proposed to be charged for any service rendered to employer or employee, and these may be changed only with the approval of the commissioner. Every employment agent in this State is required to give a receipt to any applicant for any money which the applicant pays him; and if an applicant fails through no fault of his to secure a position to which he is referred, the entire amount paid by such a person to the agent is to be refunded. Such a law obtains in some other States.

In Baltimore there are 50 employment agencies, mainly of a domestic nature. The usual fee charged an employer, though not regulated by law, is $2. An agency ordinarily agrees to supply an employer with help for at least 30 days without additional cost.

New York State issued in 1918, 674 licenses to employment agencies engaged in various kinds of employment business. In 1919, 719 employment agency licenses were issued; in 1920, 728 and in 1921, 788. The law stipulates that the fees charged domestic work applicants by employment agencies shall not in any case exceed ten per cent of the first month's wages. If a domestic worker does not accept a position to which he is referred or fails to obtain employment, the full amount which he paid the agency is to be refunded after three days allowed for obtaining facts. If an employee fails to remain one week in a position, the agency is required to furnish the employer with a new employee, or return 3.6 of the fee paid in by the employer, provided the employer notifies the agency within thirty days of the failure of the worker to accept the position or of the employee's discharge for cause. If the employee is discharged within one week without his fault, another position is furnished him or 3.5 of the fee returned.

Employment agencies in New York State must also give receipts for money paid them. Day workers receiving a rate of $3.60 to $4.00 per day each pay an initial fee of 50 cents to the agency furnishing them with work. Employers of domestic labor pay the agency for one month's service a flat rate of from $6 to $10 for general houseworkers and from $3 to $5 for part-time workers. For a temporary laborer, employers pay a fee of $1 and for a day worker they pay a fee of 50 cents. For commercial and industrial placements an employee pays to the agency 5 per cent of her first month's wage, but no charge is made for the employer furnishing the work.

The laws of Massachusetts regulating employment agencies of a domestic nature are almost similar to those of New York State, the difference in the main being in the size of the fees. In Massachusetts an intelligence office keeper is entitled to receive from an applicant, employer or employee, a fee of 25 per cent of the first week's wages; and in case of day work a fee of 10 per cent of a day's pay. The Michigan domestic employment agency fees for employee and employer are about the same as that for New York State.

In the District of Columbia, a domestic employment agency is entitled to receive in advance from an employer $2 for each employee for at least 30 days service, and from an applicant for work $1. One-half of this fee is to be returned on demand if such applicant does not have a fair opportunity of employment within 15 days from date of payment. When an applicant actually receives employment at a wage of $25 a month or more he pays the agency an additional $1. However, it is a common practice among Washington employment agencies to have applicants pay $2 in advance of securing a place for work. In the light of the total amount of money paid in wages of domestic and personal service, especially with such a heavy turnover, the fees paid to employment agencies by both employers and employees evidently amount to quite a considerable sum.

Thirty years ago Miss Salmon in her study of domestic service pointed out, not only the exorbitant fees charged by employment agencies, but the vice and crime nurtured by them.[42] In 1915 investigations of Miss Kellor in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and other cities brought out some more striking facts. In Philadelphia 84 per cent of the employment agencies were in private residences and 3 per cent of them were in business buildings. In New York 85 per cent of these agencies were conducted in very close contact with the families of the agents. In Chicago 81 per cent of them were in buildings occupied by families. In Boston 73 per cent of the agencies were in business buildings and only 27 per cent were in residences. The poor business methods of many private intelligence offices, surrounded by gambling dens, fortune tellers, palmists and midwives, and their frauds are insignificant as compared with their conscious, deliberate immorality. Miss Kellor says that many Negro intelligence offices are hopelessly immoral but that some city authorities often argue that since they do not affect the whites there is no reason for disturbing them.[43]

The Third Biennial Report of the Department of Labor and Industry of Maine for the year 1915-1916 contains a warning against employment agencies collecting fees in excess of the law. This report recommends that the important economic task of employment be taken out of the hands of the agents and placed under management of the State. A similar note was voiced by one of the committees of President Harding's conference on unemployment.

The large experience with both municipal and State offices and with the United States Employment Service has given unmistakable evidence that the recruiting and placement of labor is a public necessity and a general benefit to the whole community. It can therefore well become a matter conducted under public supervision and at public expense. Domestic service, especially in large cities and particularly because of the absence of organization and group connection of the workers, is especially in need of such public direction.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

From 1870 to 1900 there was an increase in the total number of persons engaged in domestic and personal service in the United States. Since that time there has been a steady decrease in the number so engaged. Although Negroes have followed the general trend of increase and decline, in proportion to their population, they furnish a larger percentage of domestic workers than any other group in the United States, the female workers outnumbering the male.

The fact is also evident that Negroes are gradually entering trade and transportation and manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. With the existing conditions following the World War, and the present restriction on immigration, the opportunities in these fields of labor are enlarging and domestic and personal service workers are, therefore, correspondingly decreasing.

The ranks of the domestic service workers are being recruited to some appreciable extent from the younger Negro women, between the ages of 16 and 24 years. The very young women and the old women are not the most sought after by employers because of their inexperience on the one hand, and on the other, their inability to do domestic work. The problems of married women in domestic service are increasing because of their family responsibilities and cares which make demands upon their earnings and energy.

The domestic labor turnover has increased the past thirty years. During and since the World War, it has been so greatly accentuated that the modal period of service is from 3 to 6 months. The length of the period of service will perhaps become still shorter because of the increasing opportunities in trade and transportation and in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits.

Provision for the training of domestic workers generally has been meager, and in the case of Negro domestic workers it has been less than that for them as a group. Since the World War greater attempts have been made to extend training to domestic workers both in England and the United States, the government in each of these countries taking a small part in this extension of education. Training especially for Negro domestic workers has been undertaken. Employment agencies under government supervision, with the co-operation of domestic service employers, offer possibilities for such training and for the standardization of private household work. However, Negroes with any appreciable degree of intelligence are not entering domestic service as a permanent employment. This field in the United States is being left largely to the untrained and inefficient.

During the twenty years preceding the World War, very little advance was made in the wages of domestic workers, but during the war their wages increased about 150 per cent. Since the war, according to Dr. King, while the decline in public domestic service wages has not been as great as that in many other fields of employment, the average earnings an hour in money wages of public domestic service workers are still below those in a majority of the industries. Although there has been an increase in wages of domestic service workers, their working hours are longer than those of any other group of laborers.

In some cities living conditions on employers' premises for domestic workers are good, in others there is need of great improvement along this line. However, with the increasing disinclination on the part of the domestic workers to "sleep in" and the slowly growing public interest in standardizing house work, this problem will in time be solved. There has been much improvement in the working conditions of domestic employees, but there is still need of much more.

The indications are that little attention is paid to the health and the social life of domestic workers. This neglect, especially of the health of domestic workers, is no doubt fraught with dangerous consequences, not only for themselves but for the homes and welfare of the nation.

That the social life of the older Negro domestic workers is supplied at least to some extent in their churches is proved by the fact that about seven out of every eleven Negroes in the United States are enrolled as members of churches. Their interest in secret orders is also shown by the number of members and the money spent in such organizations. As social attractions for the younger domestic employees, there are such places as dance halls, moving pictures, pool and billiard rooms, and the like. The social stigma attached to domestic service bars young domestic workers from many of the entertainments of real value and benefit.

Domestic workers in ten or more cities of the United States have attempted to better their conditions by means of organized effort. The organization in California is rendering real service to its members through its home. With the present large percentage of domestic workers who are rooming in the various cities, and the conditions obtaining in many rooming houses connected with employment agencies, there is urgent need of establishing clubs or homes for domestic workers.

Many private employment agencies in their relation to the homes of the United States act as brokers. The fees charged both the employer and the employee are generally exorbitant. The service rendered by them is on the whole poor. The harm inflicted upon society by many of them is irreparable. Public control of employment agencies has great possibilities for social betterment.

ELIZABETH ROSS HAYNES

FOOTNOTES:

[A] This thesis was submitted in 1923 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University.

[1] Bruce, _Economic History of Virginia in the 17th Century_, Vol. I, p. 573.

[2] _Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia._

[3] The following works were found helpful in preparing this dissertation: W. A. Crossland, _Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in St. Louis_ (_Studies in Social Economics_, Washington Univ., Vol. I, No. 1, St. Louis, 1914); Isabel Eaton, _Special Report on Domestic Service_ in THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO by W. E. B. DuBois (Philadelphia, 1899); George E. Haynes, _The Negro at Work in New York City_ (New York, 1912); Frances A. Kellor, _Out of Work_; _Knickerbocker Press_ (New York, 1904); W. I. King, _Employment, Hours and Earnings in the United States, 1920-1922_; Asa E. Martin, _Our Negro Population_ (Kansas City, 1913); _Monthly Labor Review_ (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1919-1920); Ruth Reed, _The Negro Women of Gainsville, Georgia_ (1921--A Master's Essay--Phelps Stokes Fund Scholarship); _Report of U. S. Industrial Commission, Domestic Service_, Vol. XIV; I. M. Rubinow, _Depth and Breadth of the Servant Problem_ (McClures Magazine, Vol. 34, 1909-1910); Lucy M. Salmon, _Domestic Service_ (New York, 1901).

[4] _Report of the U. S. Industrial Commission_, Vol. XIV. DOMESTIC SERVICE, p. 745.

[5] Salmon, Lucy M., _Domestic Service_, p. 109.

[6] Eaton, Isabel, _Special Report on Domestic Service_ in THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO, by W. E. B. DuBois, Philadelphia, 1889, p. 480.

[7] Haynes, George E., _The Negro at Work in New York City_, New York, 1918, p. 85.

[8] Crossland, W. A., _Industrial Conditions among Negroes in St. Louis_, St. Louis, 1914, p. 30.

[9] Reed, Ruth, _The Negro Women of Gainesville, Georgia, 1921_, p. 25.

[10] _Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics, Springfield Report_, 1915-1918.

[11] U. S. Department of Labor, _Monthly Labor Review_, Aug., 1919, p. 206.

[12] Reed, Ruth, _op. cit._, p. 44.

[13] Crossland, William A., _op. cit._, p. 93.

[14] THREE SAMPLE LETTERS OF THE 5TH GRADE DOMESTIC WORKERS OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

Miss X (The agent)

Dear Friend i am sorry to any that i am confind to bed this week
but hope to see you again some day i taken sick last friday but i
full fill that other place all right but could not go out saturday.

_Daisy_

Daer Mrs. X (The agent) daer Madam can you get my husban are job
in are lunch room cafe boarding or apt. house he is are well
exspierence sheref cook we both would like are job together if
could get me are dash (dish) wash place please maggie.