Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1880-10-21
Idlers, to the Fseltls !,

In Idlers, to the Fieldsf
The professions are full. ssThere is
always room ct the tops hut in them
there is no vacant place which the
man Of ordinary gifts may hope to ill.
Lawyers without briefs, clereymen
without congregations, physicians
without living patients -certainly We
have enough and to spare of'these in
every city and villages
'sLiving BY one's wits" which has
been to mA6y aIpleasauE and profta-s
BILE business in time past, is not now
an inviting one. Money is too scarce,
people are too suspicious, too calcu-
latiHg. We want no more merchapts.
Every village has two where there
should be one, and our cities swarm
with bankrupt traders and starving
clerks. - IS SIS -. ys.<.s.. = -, 9
II used to be said that t.he.who has
. trade is SAFE" He was, once, it is
true; but everybody knows he is not
now. A large percentages ofthe men
now out OF employment are skilled
artisans, who, through long yesss of
experience have become good car
penters and masons and millrights
and shop hands. They are idle now,
not because they ere not good work
men or because there is not work to
be done, but because machinery is
doing the work they used to do.
Statisticians tell US there are in use
in this country alone 100, 900 planning
machines, which, when in operation,
do the work of 10, ,OO0, 900 carpenters,
showing laboriously the old-fashioned
implement Of making shavings; in
other words that one of these ma
chimes will turn out just as much fin-
ished work per diem as 400 men skill
ed In that particular form of indus
try. The same authorities inform Us
that the number of sewing machines
in the country is about 4, ZOO, 900,
capable of performing the work of
100, 900, 900 sexing girls, operating
with needle and thread by hand;
that single boot and shoe factory
in Massachusetts averages the pro-
duction of 5000 pairs Of pedal COW
erings daily throughout the year |;
that when running full the 1900, 900
cotton spindles of Fall River manu-
facture more yarn in one day than
1000, 600 persons could do in the
same time, the latter operating with
the old-time spinning wheel.
To issue 100, 600 copies of o news
paper daily, using the appliances of
fifty years ago, would require the
making up of 180 ''forms," and the
services of 1000 compositors and
1, 900 pressmen, mixers, etc. All this
makes clothing and houses and read
ing and other necessaries of life
cheap, but it reduced the demand for
skilled mechanical labor to a mere
fraction of what it would have been
had s'the human machine been left
to do the worlds work alone.
And now the population Of the
earth, or of our country at least,
must shape its labors to meet the
changed condition of things. The
young man who stands upon the
threshold of active life querying wha,
shall he do. finds, as we have said,
the professions full, the stores and
exchanges swarming with bankrupts,
and the way to the factories and
shops crowded with idlers who only
want an opportunity to work.
But the fields are not full. If oul
counters are filled with goods, fol
which there is no demand and oul
cities are full of houses for which
there is no tenants there is no glut o
food in any Of our markets, and TO
all which labor can coax from tn
earth, for everything which the in
, telhgent worker can gather from tn
soil there is a call. There is on
: calling which is not full. New Hamp
} shire, which passes for an agricultu
: raj State, produces but three-fourth
r of the food she consumes, and leave
D thousands of acres of her soil to gro'
. up to bushes or to return less tina
1 hal: the crops they should. An
: while doing this, merchants stay be
t hind their counters until the Sheri
b locks the door, mechanics stand abou
e the street corners and complain bs
b cause they can get no work, an
i young men grow into chronic loafei
e because they can't''find an opening.
!, And what is true of our State is tru
of others. Isn't it about time thel
9 was new departure, turning frol
o the factory to the field, from con
II planning and suffering idleness
n cheerful, earnest. food producin
e work on the farm?