Huntsville gazette., 1882-07-29
An EngIishman on Work in America

There is in the business atmosphere
OF the United States an electric inten-
slty not found in the most frenzied CEN
tres of Europe. The flood of highly
educated youngsters now being thrust
into it must add to the desperate con-
f1ict, and young immigrating Britishers
must be prepared for difficulties that
their elders have not known; there is a
combat waiting them far sterner than
any waged in tumultuous, competitive
Europe.
Against the operations of the confed-
Grated lions of trade, the ablest man,
single-handed, is as powerless as before
a tidal wave. Honesty counts for moth
ing; provision is worse than blindness,
for combinations of spectators defy
all calculations. The "corner" is now
the mode of making great wealth. And
wealth is the object of an infinite ma
jority of Americans; the spending of
it lavishly the beau ideal of enjoy
ment.
This makes excitement a necessity of
existence. From childhood to age, in
cessant mental activity must be had;
and it is curious to observe that speed
of mind is accompanied by great bodily
quietude. The lolling, lounging, arm
chair-loving Yankee has long furnished
amusement to British athletes and Pc
destrians. But this corporal laziness is
the necessary result of restless mental
exertion. Brains have so much to do
that limbs are compelled to be qui-
escent. 'sTo get on'' in the United
States, mind, not muscle, is the prereq-
uisite. Intending emigrants should pom
der this.
Fog artisans there are just now excel
lent prospects. A great impulse of
activity prevails; everything is ''boom-
ing'' in the most encouraging manner.
But British tradesmen must be ready to
exchange old methods for new ones, to
forget much and to learn much. | have
heard bitter repinings from men who
were too rigid to yield to American
ideas. Such should remain at home.
AnglO-Americans have to work harder
than any other people in the world.
When was in Cincinnati, bricklayers
were earning pound a day, and the
same rate prevails in many other cities.
But the work was far more exhausting
than in England. Here bricklayer is
reckoned a good hand if he sets 900
bricks per day; 1000 is high-water
mark. In the United States 1900 is the
average, and some I'm irt fellows have
set 1900 per day. Now, at the outset,
most Englishmen find this rapid style
simply destructive. And there is no
doubt that it taxes the energy of the
strong and clever. Yet such is the GUS
tom of the trade. For the weak and
incompetent it means exclusion from
first-class employment and banishment
to places remote from thriving cities,
where speed is slower, competition fee
bier, and wages low Although the
standard is so much higher than in Eng
land, our immigrants, after a period of
probation and Hardening" are found
equal to all corners. An instance of this
will be apropos.
A German master builder was erect
ing block of houses, and his en-
ployees were exclusively Germans.
-Four young English bricklayers applied
for work. They were newly arrived,
and met with several refusals. AT
length, two were taken on trial. BY the
end of the week; the four were engaged;
by the end of fortnight, all the Ger
mans were dismissed, and the English
men carried the building to completion.
Their power of work, quickness and
steadiness gave them marked advan-
tage over the Germans. But their deter
mination snot to be licked' was the
real cause of their triumph. That Brit
! ish characteristic tells prodigiously in
favor of the Anglo-American, and makes
him facile princeps amid natives and
strangers. These young bricklayers told
me they never worked so hard in their
lives before, and we were glad that a
crucial test had revealed to them
sswhat they could do" After this
breaking-in they were equal to the high
est standard of American labor. One of
them soon became an employer, and
was making sure tracks for fortune
when last saw him.
What I have said of the building
trades applies to all Others. Indeed,
the higher dexterity. taste and skill a
business requires, the more does the
American workman respond to the de-
mand. The Elasticity of type to which
I have referred is nowhere seen SO
plainly as in the domain of the useful
arts. Germans and Frenchmen have
given finish to American manufac-
lures that is wanting in our own. Be-
sides, there is native neatness, the re-
suit Of high ideal of excellence. This
matter deserves the serious attention of
British manufacturers, who are losing
many markets simply from the clumsi
ness of their goods. There is rising in
the United States a race of artists, de-
signers and artifcers who promise to
surpass those of all other nations. The
fervor of the climate develops the asthe-
tic side of man; the clash of millions of
eager, inventive minds is producing a
standard of excellence that is both novel
and exalted; the possibilities Of wealth
are vastly beyond those of any European
State, and the love of the elegant and
the beautiful pervades all classes. The
inevitable sequence of these conditions
must be widespread, all-dominating art.
1t is seen in the gorgeous public build
ings, in the exquisite villas, in the light
yet strong furniture, in the beautiful ap-
pointment of drawing-rooms and table
equipages; while every American lady,