Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-10-22
Il FATAL MrSTARE.

No close reader of the daily newspapers
can have failed to notice the unusually large
number of advertisements just at present put
forth by young men in search Of places.
Most OF these applicants are fresh from 'he
villages and lesser towns OF New Eng
land. with no experience OF CITY i1e, WIN III
tie money, and ignorant Of any trade OF pro-
fession which may assure them an income.
They leave schools and farms and seek the
city with q vague idea that where so much Is
to be done there will be no difficulty in secur-
ing something to do. How mistaken that
idea, and how bitter the disappointment con-
sequent upon The experiment, hundreds of
men who read these sentences can testify.
There is still another class-youpg men VINO
have been reared in comparative Incidence
and uselessness, who turn to the professions !
or the uncertain field of "luck' for something
upon which to subsist from day to day, or
upon which to establish business for future
comfort or independence. Not one in ten of
this class of young men can be found engaged |
IN the mechanical arts or manufactures, !
where intelligence and application are needed
more than anywher. else in the pursuits of
life. This disposition to ignore labor or to ex-
ercise the BRAIN functions is not hereditary,
for in the majority of cases their fathers had
to work, and those incompetent young men
are indebted to hard muscle and unceas sing toll
for the little they have to boast of, upon
which they propose to build fortune and
reputation without capital or labor.
They are simply mistaken. Their educa
,on-instead OF being at the plough, the
bench, the case or the anvil, where they had
an opportunity to realize the value of q dol
lar earned, and were able TO appreciate the
benefits of advancement in educational or me-
chaucal pur suits-was gwen them in the su-
peIficial manner of the tim =, which begets
neither skill nor success, and tny are conse-
quentiy unprepared Tor any pursuit except
the protessions-whicha are always too full of
average men-and the mercantile line, in
which thousands are every year failing. 1t
DOES not occur, perhaps, TO these young men,
that ninety per cent of all the people who
ever engaged in the business of buying and
selling have either ended in bankruptcy or
achieved very limited success; or that but
sixty per cent, of those who enter the profess
sions fail to earn subsistence for themselves,
and that but ne-third of the remaining forty
per cent. really succeed; while skilled me-
chanic or artisan was never known to fail so
badly one day that he could not re- establish
himself the next. Yet they will devote weeks,
months and years to an idle, uncertain life in
the hope of some day making "ten- strike"
which will lead them to fortune in the end.
Ii is great mistake-a grievous error. To
uc accomplished III tiIlHk, UO HidlttT ilOW
humble, is better than to fail in any of the
professions, because one who is master of his
business never fails to find rcmunerative en-
ployment or to command respect.
The prospect for wealth and position to-
day is brighter to any young man of ability
and ambition, who will learn well and thor
oughly a good trade, than for any one who at
tempts TO crowd into the professions. The
country is sadly in want of mechanics who
combine skill with intelligence. Not work
shop or mandatory can be found too day
where they are not needed. Not manufac-
turing or mechanical establishment exists in
the country which is no. deficient, some way
or other, in skilled assistance. 1t is the skill
full, intelligent mechanic who is most in de-
mand, and hence none of them are to be
found who are not profi,ably employed.
| Wealth is rapidly accumulated by such men,
who devote themselves to the various me-
chanieal pursuits, or to the production Of ar
ticles which are regarded in the sense of
necessities by community. The pressing de-
mand of the day is not for men OF mere orna-
ment, but Tor those who, by the labor of hand
and brain combined, are able to make capital
productive. Our advice to the class alluded
; to in our opening paragraph is not" $50 West,
, young men, go West" but TO earnestly and
at once apply themselves to the acquisition of
such knowledge as will enable them to sup
ply the ever Increasing demand for skilled
labor, thereby not only laying the foundation
for future personal prosperity, but at the
same time rendering high and permanent
benefit to the community. -Boston Globe.