Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-02-14
: asometh,ns To Do.p

lte "a Something To Do.
[F'rom the N. Y. Tribune Feb 5th.l
Anna Dickinson will discourse on this
topic at Cooper Institute tonight, and
we trust thousands will be present to
hear her; since she IL certain TO speak TO
the point But she speaks for Woman,
and we choose broader field. why is
itthat so many are constantly seeking,
striving, begging, for something to do?
WHY, ina world where almost every ply
steal necessary or comfort Is supplied by
labor. and where want is so general, do
SO many shiver and hunger who would
gladly give work for food, clothing, shell
ter? Atevery season, but especially In
Winter, and more especially this Winter,
our streets are thronged with the needy,
the suffering, the despe rate; and their
unvarying petition
I, "The still, sad music OF Humanity
is, "Give us Something to Dol" Must
this always be? What is the remedy?-
And, If there be no absolute cure now
available, what present mitigations are
possible?
We do not believe that Government or
Politics can do very much in the prem
ises. A good Protective Tariff, trebling
the number of ouramills, factories, and
furnaces, and thus bringing cash markets
to the doors of our farmers in every part
of the country, would greatly reduce the
number of those vainly seeking employ
fnent The Pacific Railroad, when even
half completed, will make work for hun
dreds Of thousands in mining, building,
farming, &C., ON the Plains, In the Rocky
Mountains and the Great Basin beyond,
in addition to all that can be profitably
employed as yet; and q partial reparation
Of the waste and ravages OF War will
double the present aggregate of both
planting and manufacturing at the South.
Yet still there will be thousands pacing
the streets of this and of almost every
city, anxiously seeking forSomething to
Do.
We need here but glance at our f,lnda-
mental conviction that the evils to be
vanquished are rather Social than Politi-
cal, and that they require for their cure
an Organization of Industry whereof the
wal element Is Cooperation mot Com
munism) in Industry, Trade, Education,
and Household Economy. We do not
believe every one will ever be constantly
provided with work so long as Every
man for himself" shall continue to be
the rule. But this side of the great, COM
prehensive reform, several minor, subsi-
diary reforms are urgently required
Among these are
l.. Industrial Educdtion.-No boy
should be allowed to grow up to man.
hood, no girl to womanhoOd, without
having become skilled in some depart
ment of manual labor. Ne matter how
rich or how poor, no matter how learned
or how Ignorant, every one should know
how to earn subsistence by bona .fde
hard work. Your lawyer, doctor, clergy
mnn, heiress, music-teacher, actress
school-ma am, may live to see the day
when he or she win not be wanted in his
or her chosen vocation, yet be In urgent
need of board and clothes. Thousands
of such cases have occurred this Winter
occur every Winter. Most of those
who pload for Something to Do" know
not how to do anything that others want.
II am WiHtng to do any thing" they
say; but they really know how TO dOlno-
thing. 1t Is acrime to rear child to such
helplessness, though he were to inherit
ing is--after daily bread-the most urgent
need of every human being.
III. To shun and shirk manual labor
is the almost universal desire. The sew
ing-girl who starves and shivers on her
downward road to ruin revolts at the
suggestion of homework the young
man who Is SO eager for Il clerkship will
not pl0T nor chop cOrd-wOod. He won
ders why he can find nothing to do
Wnen ne only seeks OF WISHES 10 10 WHut
nobody wants. If he only could, and
would, do what is needed, he would find
work enough.
III. We cannot oil live In cities, yet
nearly oil seem determined todo so. Mill
lions of acres of choice land solicit culti-
vation; the Government gives them away;
every able-bodied man may be farmer
and live on his own land, If he will; yet
hundreds of thousands reject this, and
rush into the cities, which are already
crowded to excess; and here they stick
and hang, looking for work where work
cannot be- exhausting the scanty means
of relatives and friends by borrowing
and begging. All these complain-and
most unreasonably-that they can find
nothing TO do.
Understand, once for all, that there Is
dL,gdys a surplus of labor in this City
that Europe and America vie with each
other intflling our streets with needy
scramblers for employment--that,i II you
come here and get work, you must crowd
out some one else at least as needy and
not quite 40 helpful as yourself-and that
II you strike Off into the broad, free
West, and make yourself farm from
Uncle Sans generous domain, you will
crowd nobody, starve nobody, and that
neither you nor your children need ever.
more beg for Something to DO.
q