Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 125, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1916 — MAIDS SCARCE IN LONDON [ARTICLE]

MAIDS SCARCE IN LONDON

Desert Households for Munition Factories and People Go to Live In Hotels. London. —Hotels and boarding houses in London are full of people seeking to evade the servant trouble, and yet the proprietors of these establishments do not know where to find servants. This difficulty has been brought about by the demands for woman war labor. The trim maid of other days is a waitress in a teashop. The cook roasts and boils for a hotel whose chef is fighting; the nursemaid has put Vfi "a uniform and starts the omnibus or punches a ticket on the subway. The skilled servants, who know their work and prefer to keep in it, flit in and out of situations to the great benefit of agencies and to the despair of all who employ them. A month in a private hotel brings its circle of tips, and they are off to a new employer. Those who are really capable demand their “pound a week and all found.” Those who are useless are employed for a few weeks and allowed to wander to other fields. In their despair employers of domestic servants are turning to old men ineligible for army service. In these days all manner of innovations are creeping into staid English ways. Large breakfasts and late dinners are disappearing.