willing to give the new plan a fair trial: she should follow the example
of the business man when he is in need of new employees, and advertise
for help, stating hours of work, and requesting that all applications
be made by letter. This disposes rapidly of the illiterate, and in the
majority of cases, a woman who writes a good, legible, and accurate
hand, is more apt to be efficient in her work than one who sends in a
dirty, careless, ill-expressed and badly spelled application. Through
advertising one comes into touch with many women it would be impossible
to reach otherwise. It is also the most advantageous way of bringing the
employer and employee together, inasmuch as it dispenses entirely with
the services of a third person, who, naturally can not be expected to
offer gratuitous service.

The plan of limiting housework to eight hours a day is not an idle
theory; it has been in successful operation for several years. Yet it
is not easy to change the habit of years. There are many housewives who
would loudly declare it impossible to conform to such business rules in
the household; and many of the older generation of cooks and housemaids
would agree. But when such a plan has been generally adopted, the
domestic labor problem will be solved, and it does not appear that in
the present state of social organization, it can be solved in any other
way.


HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO SIX DAYS A WEEK

Under the present system of housekeeping, there is not one day out of
the three hundred and sixty-five that a domestic employee has the right
to claim as a day of rest, not even a legal holiday.