The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1874-11-17
Hands vs.. Brains,

Nothing IS perhaps becoming more
evident than the fact that rude labor, re-:
quiring only a certain amount Of prac:
tice and dexterity, is now generally bet
ter paid than what involves more or less
education, brain work, and skill. In
many places the clerk is not earning
half Of the income Of the carpenter =
In short, all kinds of manual labor, both
skilled and unskilled, are at a premium !;
while all chat is sedentary and involves
chiefly, if not exclusively, the work of
the brain, has become a drug on the
market. Day laborersA grumble when
receiving only 80 for eight hours work.
while clerks can be had by the hundreds
for SS or $40 a week, with hours of al
most any length. All the professions
are crowded. The candidates for. sedefT-
tary work increase at far more rapid
rate than the demand for them; and
hence is coming round the strange
anomaly that education, instead of fit.
ting the young for earning higher wa
ges and getting on better in the world,
is actually becoming q bar to their prog
ress, and condemning them to a life.
long course Of pinchery and unremu.
ne:ative struggle. The fact is undoubt.
ed, whatever may be its cause, and
however society may seek to apply a
remedy. 10 F'f'" ,l-z-5-'
The main cause of this unpleasant
state of things is the foolish notion
that physical toll carries with it, in one
way or another, certain amount of in.
feriority, if not positive disgrace: SO
that in order to be "genteel," it is
thought necessary to earn ones bread
with uasoiled fingers. Mrs. Grundy
has settled it that "labor" is not hon
orable. and therefore, in obedience to
her ruling, any and every device is at
tempted to get young men into ore
spectacle" though pinched, ways oi
living. The result is manifest. Clerks
of all sorts and sizes, swarm like flies
in Egypt, and jostle and underbid each
other for every small, ill-paid vacancy
that turns up; while mechanics can't
get journeymen, and day laborers turn
up their noses at what would be a god
send to many starving, educated gen.
tleman. So, long as the, present state
of feeling in reference to labor prevails
matters will not only continue as they
are, but become always worse. Some
mothers and sisters and wives are borr
aristocrats, and have far more to dc
with this crying evil than they might bt
ready to acknowledge To think o.
any of their relatives coming home al
night begrimed with "honest sweat
and dust would be intolerable. Th.
boy that hints at such thing for him
self is apt to be forthwith denounced a.
a person Of slow tastes" who is ben
on disgracing the family. While, OF
the other hand, the prosperous mechan
ic or his wife dreams at once Of getting
his son into something higher and bet
ter than that at which he himself ha
toiled. t'"' '2'' = Q .- '''''' i''' l'' T
Now, it is an interesting question
whether this evil will work itself GU
like some others, by ultimately goin!
to an extreme and causing a revulsion
May it not come, by and by. that labo
shall be all the rage and education look
ed on as "a brand Of inferiority, as i
was in days when knightly hands wer
guiltless of the use Of the pen2 Tha
would certainly be a sad issue to al
our civilization and all our schemes o
popular instruction. Fortunately, ther
is no need for lsuch return to com
} Portable and prosperous ignorance sid
by side with nervous, ill-paid educa
ton and accomplishments What i
wanted is simply more rational an
more correct estimate Of the position
and dignity of labor; a conviction tina
manual and mechanical toll does no
necessarily imply either coarseness Q
manners or barrenness of intellect
We must come to understand that gen
ltlemen may, without rcproach, hav
horny hands, and that the dignity of
family is not compromised by any Q
its members being skilled carpente
Tor good blacksmith. .' ~ '.'F q
Ex-senator Gordon, of Georgia, wa
lone of the most prominent OF the South