Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-10-25
THE STUDY OF PROFESSIONS AND
LEARNING OF TRADES.

There has been for many years percepti-
bic increase in the number of young men
who are seeking to make living by enter
ing the professions, and a visible diminution
of those who are choosing, by honest toll,
to acquire acompetency by learning a trade.
We do not see where this current viii lead
to, if it continues at the same rate it has
been flowing for the past twenty years, but
suppose that the natural equilibrium viii be
restored some time by the utteI failure Of
the professions as a means Of living, and
compulsory return to the work Of the mus
/ Gle instead of the brain. 1t seems, however,
about time that the reaction should set in.
a glance at our Philadelphia bar viii show
how poor an indueement is held out by the
profession of law; yet how many who could
earn a sufficient competency by their mus
cles are living from hand to mouth, because
Of false pride or preference which induces
them to attempt task which they are in
capable offulfningl OF the numerous law
yers at the bar Of our city, how many of
them are making an income in proportion to
what they could had they adopted trade?
! While tho aeserues-s, arc numbered by hun
drcds, the successful lawyers ,.r - -l4llvsI
counted on your fingers. Yet with this
evidence of the almost certain result of such
an attempt, the crowd sull continues to
flock up for admission, and seek to fill po-
sition which, if there we're no competitors,
they would stiI be united by nature to
adequately maintain. As it is, with power
ful rivals, and men who are by nature fit
ted for legal prominence, they sink into in
significance, and barely manage to live by
doing other work than that pertaining to
their profession. Tbs same remarks apply
in a lesser degree to both medicine and d.
vinity. In them are men who were never
designed by nature fo' anything but a trade
and who, having wifully mistaken their
calling, are paying dearly for their supposed
respeetability by striighteued means and
wretched remorso. L is not as if this was
an exceptional thing, but it is an everyday
! occurrence. Honest .abor is being held
derogatory, and one Of the professions seems
the only thing highly respectable. The
consequences are, of course disastrous. We
have deteriorated bar, shallow ministry,
and incapable physicians, while the trades
languish for want Of those who are capable
Of filling them with skill and energy. The
idea seems to have possessed the mind of
youthful America that it is beneath the dig
nifty of our people to vo!k with their hands,
that it is a discredit to be a machinist or a
bricklayer, or a carpenter, or a dozen other
trades all equally honorable and remunera-
tive. Uuder the influence of this idea, the
apprenticeship system is being gradually
abandoned, and our statute which relates to
apprentices is reekonel among the obsolete
laws of the days of ourcolonial government
That we doprecate thi unfounded notion it
is hardly necessary forls to say. We mourn
over this false standad of respectability,
standard as ridiculous As il is ruinous to the
prospects Of many Of our young men. The
professions are ovcrf,oded. So full are
they, that if not a recruit was added for ten
years, the want of them would never be felt.
While they are crowded to repletion, the
4 trades are opening a chance for a eompe-
tency, which needs but energy to secure
The broad field of skilled labor calls 70
young men to enter and possesstbemselyes
of its wealth. 1t holds forth prospect Of
almost immediate support and Of certain IN
dependence in the future. There is but one
need, and that is the viii to undertake the
necessary preparation The superior intell-
/ igence of our young men forms an effectual
protection against any fears Of foreign
competition. That the want is felt is proved
by the action of many of our manufacturers,
and especially those of machinery, who are
importing, at heavy expense, skilled hands
from Belgium, because their want cannot be
supplied by native material. This fact is a
demonstration of want, and it behooves
our young men and boys to see to it that
they secure the lucrative places now offered
to foreigners
Parents are doing gFevious wrong to
their children in not impressing on them
the honor and dignity of labor. 1t is with
them that the responsibility must rest, and
when we see them putting their sons into
stores at ridiculously low wages, or eagerly
seeking to gain them places as Office boys
with lawyers, and congratulating themselves