The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-07-08
Every Employers Experiance.

| IoAJ ApAoy u EAp6IlvuC6.
The attention of the public is being
once motecalled to the question of
apprentices and some of our contem-
poraries arr waxing quite eloquent
upon the subject. Only a week or
two ago. toe, one of our judges, from
his place in the criminal court, de-
plored the fact that the ''natiye born
American youth" were almost if not
entirely excluded from learning
trade, 1t is asserted by some that
the labor market. as far as our facto-
ries and woK shops are concerned, is
controlled By foreigners, and that
| native American cannot find a chance
to earn an lonest Lying by manual
labor
Were this true, it would indeed be
serious condition of things; but it
is always IS well, before we accept all
we hear or any subject, to look at it
well from all sides. While we do
not believe that these assertions are
absolutely true. still there are many
reasons why such state of the labor
market should exist, and prominent
among them is the disinclination of
American and also of majority of
the foreign boys to learn a trade.
Average boys, who have passed
through our public schools, do not
take kindly to the idea of manual la
Dor. They infinitely prefer to clerk
in store, at a few dollars a week,
where they can wear good clothes,
and make a respectable appearance
on the street. Or they will peddle
anything. become book agents, tele-
graph operators, even braking or fir
ing on the railroads, or, in fact, do
ing anything rather than to be car
penters, machinists, or any other
trade where their hands and clothes
are soiled. Thousands of our youths
attend commercial colleges, and ex-
pect, after few months attendance
at one Of these institutions. that the
bushes men will be bidding against
each other for their services. 1t is
needless to say that they are almost
invariably doomed to disappoint-
ment. Ifany of our readers should
doubt this assertion, let them but ad-
vertse once for some one to keep
books, clerk in a store of office, ma
nipulate a telegraphic apparatus, or
any such "genteel" employment, and
they will be surprised at the great
multitude of applicants they will
have for the position. On the other
Rand, an advertisement for reliable
boy to learn a good trade with some
reputable manufacture IS sure TO
bring but few and Indifferent appli-
cations.
But there are some, of course, who
essay to learn trade, and they pro-
seed somewhat after this fashion:
A boy is taken by some manufacture
er or mechanic to learn the trade.
commencing with a remuneration of
say two or three dollars a week.
After few months, when the boy
thinks he knows little about it, he
kicks" for more money and if his
employer does not Immediately COM
ply with his demand. he hunts
place where he can get so cents
week extra, and then quits. This
operation is repeated, until he has
perhaps off and on for from two to
four years, when he considers him.
self full fledged journeyman, and
demands pay accordingly. AS his
whole thought has been how much
money he could get. not how prof.
cient he could become at his trade,
he has never mastered it, and he
never becomes really proficient. AL
most any employer will tell you that
for every really good workman that
ne has eyer had in his employ, there
have been twenty at least who
amounted to very little as mechanics
or artisans.
Had we some good, sensible sys.