Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1871-04-29
Places Wanted.

A man has inst left our editorial rooms
who had on dilapidatcd clothing, dirty
shirt, and who said that three nights age
slept in police station house because he
had no where else to sleep; the last two
nights he had walked the streets all night.
He wanted something to do. He was
educated, had held good position in Eng.
land, had lost the little money he brought
with him by falling into the hands of bus
mess sharpers aud now had neither money
nor work. He was willing to do anything
that scas not menial. In the columns Of
our daily papers are advertisements by men
and women who will accept any place that
is not menial. The world owes them q
living, they evidently think.
During the past two or three weeks we
have received responses to our article in
the RURAL New: YORKER of Feb 25th.
entitled "Men Wanted" from nearly every
State in the Union. These letters indicate
that there are as many men who want
places as places needing men. But the
latter are not filled nor have the men EN-
ployment. Why?:: Why is it that in this
teeming, rushing world, where there is so
much to do and SO much that is left undone
because there is nobody to do it, the streets
are thronged with men with their hands
thrust deep into their pockets, looking
anxiously and hungry for something to do? !?
Why do men remain idle and women suffer
hunger? Why are the lines Of thousands
Of faces worn deep with abstinence and
anxiety when the whole industrial world is
asking for help?
A woman, the other day, asked if she
could not get place in garden or green
house where she could earn something.
We sent her to florist who asked her if
she had any knowledge of the business :?
No she had not, but she loved flowers and
she had an idea it would be a pleasant way
Of earning money. 1t seemed evident that
she thought the perfume Of her presence
and her love of flowers ought to secure her
place and compensation. Another lady
writes us that she desires to devote herself
to literary pursuits; she knows her articles
are not worth much, as now written, but
she cannot give time to their improvement
unless she is literally compensated for
them. In other words she wants some
liberal publisher to support her while pur-
suing her literary studies. A man writes
that>he would like to learn to be an editor
he is forty five years old-and would
work on moderate salary-say $500
per year-until he became accomplished,
when he would want more-or 60 else.
where, we suppose.
The root Of all this evil-for it is an
evils that these people who are out of
work cannot fill the places waiting to be
filled. They do not fit. They have not
been shaped. Most of them are educated
ignoramuses. They have spent the best
years of their lives learning nothing but
,cords. They have learned How to do
nothing. They want something genteel to
do. They fancy certain vocatious afford
more pay and involve less labor than others,
and they are struggling and pushing,
twisting and squirming, first to get into
such places and then to swell themselves
so as to fill them when once in. But it
cannot be done. The man or woman who
has good trade aud is willing to work
can get work somewhere at some price
The demand for labor is exactly Proportion
ate to the daily wants of the people. 1t is
constantly increasing and never ending.
But the trouble is, men and women seek
to supply their wants without paying for it.
The climate of the value of labor by la
borers of all classes in this country is gross
ly exaggerated. The egotism and vanity
Of men and women who know and can do
little and want big price for that little
is only equaled by the impudence of their
demands. We often think it would be
blessing to the country if some of these
conceited drones were allowed to starve.
Some Of them do, rather than do, " meniap
work.
The words which should be written in
every home and impressed upon every
mind are that the education that is to avail
in this life is not to be learned from books,
piano stools, drawing schools and French
tutors alone. This idea has cursed the
people of this country long enough. Men
aud women are to-day wandering about
with nothing to do, who have spent time
enough drumming on piano, and mental
aud muscular force enough, too. to have
acquired knowledge of and skill in trade
that would have placed them beyound the
possibility ofwant. The field for intelli-
gent and skillful labor in this country is
large and poorly supplied; that for accom-
plished imbeciles is small and terribly
over-stocked. Let these people who COM
plain that they can find nothing to do learn
to do something yell which will help to
supply the needs of society, and they will
surely find employmeut.-Rural New
l6The Richmond and Louisville Med
zeal Jou rnal states that the oldest practis-
ing physici an in the America is DR.. The