Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-04-15
THE REAL WANT OF SOCIETY.
More Work and More Production
Golden Words OF Wisdom for
Young Men.
from the Utica Hers

More Work and More Production
Golden Words OF Wisdom for
Young Men. .--....
From the Utica Herald
The current of population tends with
increasing force, from the farm TO the
village, from the village to the larger
town, thence to the interior city and
thence again to the metropolis. Young
men crowd behind the counters, into
offices act as agents, as booA peddlers
try to become ministers and lawyers;
are anxious to do anything rather than
settle down in good honest work on the
farm or in the workshop. All these vo-
cations are honorable in themselves, and
are in = sense necessary to the commu-
nifty. But they add nothing to the ma
tional wealth. They do net help people
to feed and clothe their families. They
do not assist in developing the resources
of our soil, of our mines, of our forests.
They do net cheaper food and the cost
of living, so as to ameliorate the condi-
ton of the poor. Those engaged in
them consume articles ofnecessi y with
out producing them, and so add to the
burdens ofsociety. Whatever tendency
there is in our country, to make the
poor poorer, and the rich richer, is due
more than to any other cause, to the
diminution of production in it's ratio to
the population.
The remedy for this evil is not in the
legislation it must be found in popular
action. False mott ms of social standing
must be corrected. Society as well as
individuals must stamp the idler who
wears fine raiment which he does not
pay for, as far less worthy to be received
and esteemed than is he who wears only
what he earns, and conscientiOusly seeks
to be useful to the community as well as
himself Young men go to ruin every
day by aping habits and associations that
are the corruption of wealth; and thus
throw away creditable and happy fu-
ture for the glare of present ialeness
and disiLation. They are pitied by the
prudent; are scorned by their associates
in folly and advanced il years with
tastes and habits which they cannot
crafty, to worry out a poverty which
seeks 70 conceal itself, and adds mean
ness to its misery. -.
True independence comes at once to
the young man, who is both able and
willing to work. His earnings are be-
yond his necessities, are commonly
superior to those of clerks and attorneys
and agents. The average pay of goo d
mechanics, in this country, is greater
than that of the professional classes
This is true whether we Compare en-
ployers and employed among mechanics,
18th all lawyers and doctors and minis
ters, or if omitting the chief of these
professions and the great employment
in the other class, we reckon on the
earning of the younger men in the re-
spective avoeations. Besides the personal
pIofit, which ought not to be a chief
consideration, the individual who is
wisely engaged in productive industry,
has the assurance that he is not drone
in the hive, but is every day adding
something to thegeneral fund, something
to the resources of the country. The
consciousness attends him that he is
eating no food, is wearing no garments,
which belong to others; and that his
course does not contribute in any way to
crush the poor to a deeper poverty.
Especially is the notion foolish and
evil, that literally educated man
ought not to engage in productive work.
Education which does not render its
possessor more useful to himself and
to the community, is unworthy the
name, and is a curse. In so far as col
leges and seminarIes inculcate in any
way, indisposition to do honest and
manly work with the hands, where that
offers itself to a graduate, they are mis-
chievous. Educated men are needed on
our farms, to beautify and enrich them,
to add all that science can give, to the
labor npon which our race must always
mainly depend. They find occupation
and reward in every branch of industry,
to combine intelligence with machinery,
and to develop still further invention
for economizing manual labor.
The need of our country is more than
ever, productive labor. or lawyers, of
doctors, Of agents, of clerks, the supply
is greater than the demand. our land
in the districts most settled, is only half
cultivated. Our ores lie idle, and their |
wealth unused. Factories languish for
the need of skilled and careful work.
men and managers. Food and cloth
ing, roofs to shelter our heads, and the
little comforts of life, all become more |
and more expensive, because more |
hands grow idle, while more mouths |
are to be filled and more bodies to be
protected.
1t is not tariffs that burden us; taxes
even do not eat so deeply into the mar
row, as does the fashion of being
ashamed of digging and blowing, of /
welding the hammer and the plane. of /
and attending machinery. /
Count as public enemies those who turn
young men from productive labor. No
matter how much wealth, real or antic-
ipated, one may enjoy, the person who
has health and youth, and does not pur-
sue regular vocation, wrongs himself
and society. Occupation confirms health
and strengthens character. 1t is a shame
that with our vast resources which land
and water, forests and mines equal to
the maintenance and enrichment of the
population of the globe, prominent Off
cials report that our poor are growing
poorer. For people will be measured
in good part, by the condition of its
maspes, and of its poor, the ratio of pro-
1uction to population, must be kept
equal, it ought to be increased, or we
shall not command solid and lasting
O Our great want, then, Is an
increase of productive industry. Young
men will be wiser and richer and more
if instead of shirking real
work, they persistently resolve to pro-
luce more than they consume. ta
.E Nsttonal Debts.
The debts of Russia, France, Austria
and Italy aggregated 81, ,000, 900, 900 in
1859, requiring the payment of SS5 000,-
700 year of interest. In 1868, their
so |