The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-23
MONDAY, AUGUST 80, 1869.
ANOTHER BRANCH OF THE LABOR
QUESTION.

securing for women a better training in the
arts for which they are specially adapted than
that they now usually receive. In taking this
ground she advanced ideas which are applica-
BILE to boys or young men, as well as girls or
young ladies', and incidentally directed atten-
ton to duty which is often fearfully ne
elected.
Every right-feeling parent recognizes that
in his own experience the sense of ability to
support himself to win his own bread by his
own labor, has really been the handspring of
his happiness. 1t may be called very ''plain
talk, but it is true that the comfort of every
day life arises very much from the security of
the morrow, and the possession of trade at
ones fingers ends is better for practical pur-
poses than any amount of sermonizing upon
faith or inculcation of patience.
1t was said of old that no human parent
would give his son stone when he begged
for bread, but what is the food now offered to
the insatiate cravings of the rising genera
ton? Fathers who have dined on husks and
found them wholesome, too often offer their
children unlimited cakes and ale
This short-sighted soft-heartedness sreally
former times has passed away; the father has
no longer the life and death of his child in
his hand in its most obvious significance of
absolute authority, but in a higher sense both
life and death are under his control, because
he must guide the youth in preparation for
both.
HOur daily bread" is the first petition
taught to us. Divine authority has bidden us
to ask for it, even before praying for moral
support in the daily warfare with evil. The
parent has received delegated authority
which brings with it a similar obligation, and
that indulgence which enfeebles the child and
renders him helpless and dependent is direct
violation of the prescribed duty.
The rights of labor are being widely dis
cussed; but deeper still, and of more vital
importance, is the right and ability to labor.
''By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn
thy bread, was pronounced as a curse, that
it might become a necessity of our being, and
its blessing.
The vicisstudes of this life are such that
the millionaire of to-day is the beggar Of to-
morrow. Riches indeed have wings, and the
only certain treasure to be laid up on earth is
that moral, mental, and physical training
which creates q creature so far independent of
circumstances that he will not starve when
unsuccored by the hard-won money of others.
An application of these general doctrines to
the prevailing social and industrial system
quickly exposes one of the most fruitful
causes of want, scarcity, and crime. Year
after year the proportionate number of idle
and helpless members of society increases. In
former times, in this country, almost every
young man and every young woman was able
when in good health to earn their living.
either by a direct encounter with the world,
or by services rendered under the parental
roof. Now the idle and unproductive classes
can be counted by millions, and the taxes i'm
posed by laziness and inefficency on those
who really strive to make headway far exceed
the burdens created by the national and mu-
nicipal debts and expenditures.
The women complain of the lack of oppor-
tunities for labor; and yet how rare it is to
find a really good dressmaker, frst-rate
nurse, an excellent cook, or a well-trained
servant In the whole labor-feld allotted
under the old social system to women fearful
gaps still exist, notwithstanding the importa-
ton of hundreds of thousands of servant
girls from Germany and Ireland, and the
chief obstacle to the extension of women s
sphere of labor must be found in their own
neglect to qualify themselves properly and
fully for the discharge of the contemplated
duties. There are brilliant exceptions to this
rule, and where women have taken pains to
become superior school-teachers, physicians,
clerks, designers, actresses, or authors, they
have rarely or never failed to secure liberal
pecuniary rewards All the reformatory mea
sures in the world will not compel the com
munity to willingly pay large wages for infe
rior or useless service. Those who perpetu
ally 'agitate" such subjects do no practica
good for themselves unless they follow agita
tion as a means of livelihood, while the quie
woman who industriously and PERSISTENT
Qualities herself for any pursuit within tn
range of her powers, is on the sure highwa,
to pecuniary independence.
In some respects the boys and young me
of this generation are in even a worse pligh
than their sisters. The professions are a
ready overcrowded, and now the demand goe
up from trades unions that no apprentice
shall he received. Puzzled fathers encoul
tering difficulties on every hand, postpon
from time to time a final decision in regard
the future pursuits of their sons, and as IL
years glide swiftly by, the STRIPPING emerge
from youth into manhood, before he has r.
ceived the slightest preparation for an el
counter with the world.
When he seeks employment he finds ,th
Al.