The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1878-05-09
The Professions all Crowded

More and more do we see in this
country the effect of crowding the
professions, SO called. 1t is q great
deal worse in England than it is here.
for there everything is crowded, even
to the ranks of poverty. Here it has
rather been the rage to rush into trade,
particularly since the flush times
brought on by the war. The panic
and consequent stagnation of almost
four years nearly cured that, and the
movement is now toward the land
again. The pendulum is swinging
back. Happily our great resource and
panacea for all social ills in this
country, especially for want, is agri-
culture, The land heals all hurts and
restores society to health and vigor
again. OF course the learned profess
sions must recuperate by making con-
tinued drafts on the country, but that
is different thing from abandoning
the country in order to crowd INTO
them.
Among the middle class in England
restitution is reported to be rapidly
increasing, and, We are told, especial
ly that part of the middle class which
styles itself professional. The number
is all the while Increasing, so that in
1871 it amounted to nearly one and
three-quarter millions, including, of
course, the dependent women and
children. In other words, there are
three hundred thousand households
in the united kingdom which depend
on professional avocations, All the
avenues to success in that direction
are choked. There is no chance for
young men TO rise, unless they have
special abilities, large means or special
connections. The statement in re-
cent magazine is that "there are thou
sands upon thousands of young men
in England fairly educated, sometimes
educated at great expense, not below
the average In intelligence, and neither
vicious nor idle, who see no way in
the world by which they can earn
fair living" tits, fortunately, not so
bad as that yet in this country.
Not one-third of them all can earn
decent livelihoods for themselves.
After some years they manage TO get
ca,,,a lind NJ n ,,ocit:op email ou,oo,-
clerkship, appointments as assist
ants, places in banks and mercantile.
houses, all of W hich yields starvation
incomes. but not enough to support a
household. OF course they grow
listless, dissatisfied, and finally dis
couraged. They take any kind of
place that comes under the head of
professional" and for every such
place there are always thousands of
applicants. The meanness of no en-
ployer daunts them. For a remedy
nothing can be suggested. The equal
division of property, as in France,
has been urged, but that will not be
tried yet. Perhaps Cuisines" viii in
time supercede the professions, but
modern education will still continue
10 drive young men to the professions
instead. Emigration viii prove the
only real relief. 1t will be in England,
in this respect, just as it has been
in Ireland in another. We may take |
a lesson here from what is to be wit
messed in England. Instead of crowd
ing the professions. let our young men
geek TO become skilled artizans and |
farmers, and they will be far surer of
a living than men who think it so
much more respectable to become a
lawyer or a doctor, but must needs
encounter with it the risk of a half
existence while they live.