+--------------------------------------+ | | | All workers UUUUUUXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOO | | Waitresses UUUUXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOO | | Cooks UUUUUXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOO | | Helpers UUUUUUUUUUUXXXXXXXOOOOOO | | | +--------------------------------------+ _KEY_ U under 21 yrs. X 21 and under 30 yrs. O 30 yrs. and over DIAGRAM 1.—Ages of Women Employed in Restaurants by Occupation.] The moral danger of the work is largely confined to waitresses. Because of their position, they are peculiarly exposed to the attentions of men customers. For this very reason, the Baltimore Vice Commission recommends that only older and more experienced women be employed in this capacity, while in Norway the law sets a minimum age limit for waitresses in public places. If the restaurant worker is to resist the strain of the work and the temptations to which she is exposed, hours and conditions must be so adjusted as to prevent all overtaxing of her strength and elasticity. [Illustration: +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | American |XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 33% | | Austro-Hungarian |XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 39% | | English & Canadian |XXX 3% | | German |XXXXXXXX 8% | | Irish |XXXXXXX 7% | | Polish |XX 2% | | Russian |XXXX 4% | | Other |XXXX 4% | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ DIAGRAM 2.—Nationality of Women Restaurant Workers.] NATIONALITY. The majority of restaurant workers are foreigners. Less than one-third are American-born, and of these a great many have foreign-born parents and live among members of their own race, so that they can hardly be classed as Americans. The largest single group is made up of Austro-Hungarians. (See Diagram 2). The demand for cheap, unskilled labor in this occupation calls for the kind of service which these girls and others of the European peasant class can give. The outdoor life in the fields of their native land fits them for the hard labor required in a restaurant kitchen. They do not remain fit long, however. After a year or two of this work, much of their sturdiness is lost, color and brightness are gone from their faces, and they have become pale and listless. A curiously dull, passive look is characteristic of many of them.