Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-01-08


tages he enjoys, is not true Ofworkmen en- masse
what actually happens when degraded class of
. laoorers come into competition with better one
is that, unless the difference between their work
Is enol nous, the former underbids the latter,
] OF IN kes the workshop and its associations so
repulslye that the latter quit the field if they
can md any place else to go; and this is ex-
actly what is happening in the United States.
I The Hood Of unpleasant foreign emirrapts who
are filling the factories and mines, with their
low standard of living, their personal habits,
( their lower type Of religious and moral feeling,
have made most Of the % haunts Of industry so
disagreeable that the American mechanic, as he
/ used to be known forty years ago, and as essay
lists and 'magazinists" still write about him, is
gradually disappearing, at least in the East He
has gone in battalions from New England, and
is getting to be rarer and rarer everywhere, ex-
cept in the character of - boss He is
seeking new seats in the small rising towns Of
the far West where he can preserve his individ-
uailiy and his seltTespect and his social posi-
ton, and bring his children up away from the
immoral influence Of the great workshops
Much the same causes are producing the same
effects on farm labor. Into this field of industry
Europe has poured an immense host Of its poor
er classes, ami the native American Is eonse-
quenty eager, and every year more eager, to
escape from il, and the readiest way of escape j.
by taking to some kind Of trade or clerk work
Horace Greeley is incessantly advising farm
boys who are on the farm to stay there, and
those who have come TO the city to 90 back but
there IS little use in his preaching as long as he
spreads abroad the story Of his own life. and
the press keeps continually singing the praises
Of - selt-made men," Every farm boy thinks
he can " make HIMSELF and fatters himself
hat he il 10 q H.
the prizes Of city life are numerous, and, this
being the case, the fact that the failures are a
hundred times more numerous does not deter
him from trying his luck If it did, it wosld
show that one Of the greatest springs Of human
activity had been broken.
Education, too, has got somewhat ahead Of
the material civilization Of the country. This
i particularly true as regards the girls. Girls
are now taught in a way, even in the common
schools, which does good deal to disqualify
them for the only positions which in the present
state Of our civilization they are likely to hold,
those Of fLrmers' or mechanics wives hence
the bad bread, the poor health, the small fami-
lies, and the tremendous consumption Of popu-
lar magazines and thrilling serial tales. and
cheap pianos, and the enormous competition
amongst female teachers. The young men are
IL a somewhat similar position, but, having .
become invalids, but they 90 elerking, trading,
brokering, preaching, practising law, or doc .
toring, anything in short, but producing by Ia .
bor Of their hands
There are probably few kinds Of labor on
which the spread Of education has told more un-
flyorably, strange to say. than farm labor. The .
life Of the farmer Is solitary in the extreme, and
the spread Of books and periodicals, instead Of .
reeonciling him TO the solitude, Is making it in
tolerable to him, and it suggests the question
whether the work Of farming viii ever be carri-
ed ON by any class much above the European
peasant in habits and aspntions
" hat is wanted Is sOmething that will make a
thoughtful and moderately well-taught man hoe
or plough for ten hour, a day as uncompain-
ingiy as . clerk casts up figures, or an agent
goes about soliciting orders; and that thing. We
fear, is not for the present likely to be forth
coming, though machinery Is doing much to
hasten IT, Muscular toll does unfit man for
Intellectual pursuits and 10 great extent for So
cill enioyments Of the higher kind, and as long
As farm work is what it now is, farmers must
make up their minds 20 be cut of from most Of .
the pleasures which now make life attractive
aud for the restoration # the equilibrium. now
20 much disturbed. between the town and the
country. or, IN other words, for the refux Of
labor from manufactures and its distribution TO
agriculture, We must look rather to stern ne
cesSity. We fear than 10 any now contrivance for .
making farm life lively or attractive
JUS As the burning Of corn for fuel in the
Wet # which We hear dismal II ries once in
seven years, Is al indication that too many Ieo-
pie there are engaged in farming and too few u
manufacturing, 50 present prices Of -four and
beef, and Of houses here IN the cities. are md
cations that too many people are engaged in
manufacturing. speculatiug, and bartering, aud
that some ot them will have to 90 back 10 the
spade. This is the way Providence regulates
the matter, and We suspect committees Of Con-
gre-s Will ind some difficulty in Substituting
better one. We have little doubt that the pre-
valeut disinclinati0n Of young men to learn
hiudicratts, or, in tict, to learn any business
thoroughly, and the general disposition TO row
ing and change viii be remetlied somewhat after
the same fashion. There IS a GUT Of lawyers
and c.ergymen, stump speakers and brokers,
clerks, shopmen, and small dealers, and there Is
a -clrcty OF all Ii ds Of natural producers Of
commodities and those who are engaged in the
work Of production are less skillful and less di-
] gent and less steady than they ought to BE-
Bat we believe We are safe in saying that there
i- u. country in tie world, and there has never
been time In the history Of this country, in
which such a career was opened TO young men
WHO NuNu-r Li Nl-iu II lllt Nnttuu OF tAt E4lletr
and learn any industrial pursuit, or any work
# production thoroughly, and stick to it faith
fully, as l. open to young men in the United
states at this moment. Any boy Of good educa-
ton who chooses to 20 into mill or workshop.
aud make himself master Of any branch OF in
iustry and determine TO live by it, and stick to
IL and make a profession Of h0rougRucss and
fisiiig. may feel as sure Of fortune and infu-
ence as it is ever permitted to mortsls to feel
The very multitude Of those who viii not sub
init 70 drul-ery, who love gentility'' and
change. prefer jobbing and speculating to pro-
Iuc.1g. make his triumph all the easier. be-
cause they make him the more remarkable by
contrast, and the prizes which all the great
fields Of industry offer to such men are not only
numerous but OF enormous value. Parents and
boys are beginning TO fud this out and we have
,ittle doubt we shall see before long tolerably
? neral reaction in favor Of steady INDUSTRY.