St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-04-06
ST. tJuhmsburp Galrdunian.
Wages In London.

We have already given publicity
(savs the London Telegraph to the
fact that "A gentleman who, few days
since. advertised in our columns for
a clerk and bookkeeper, at salary OF
G3 per week. and who requested that
replies to his advertisement should be
addressed to the Postal Department
of this journal. received in response
1850 applications for the situation In
question. To Judge from the eager
ness of the legion of candidates who
rushed at this clerkship, E3 week
must have seemed a very Eden, pecu-
niarilv speaking, to hundreds of gen
teelly brought up but poverty strick-
en- Young men. Let us look a little
what f3 "A week mean.
They mean the wages of working
engineer. of a cabinetmaker, of COM
positor. of "A saddler, of farrier, and
of many more branches of manual or
mechanical industry. Many artisans
i'm these trades may he able to earn
more than three pounds "A week cary
ers. modellers, ivoryturners, watch
makers. opticians, coachmakers, deco
rators can realize much more money
in the course of the year than the ave
rage clerk and they are able to main
tain. and i'm tens of thousands of cases
do maintain, their wives and families
in comfort and responsibility. book
binder can earn a good deal more than
a book keeper, and female 'plano-
forte silker" Is, in the majority OF IN
stances. much better of than the I'M
happy damsel who offers to give piano
forte lessons at the rate of Il shilling an
hour.
Parents of the middle classes, how
ever. are imbued with the absurd no
tion that there is something derogatory
to their social standing i'll having son
who is Il iourneyman carpenter, or an
engine driver, or IA stonemason. The
lad who wears ont his shoe-leather IN
trudrinr from counting house to count
inp-house in quest of vacant desk
NAV he gifted with innate mechanical
genius, and only wants technical tram
inr. He has all the capacity for learn
ing, but he has never been taught "A
handicraft. 1t would he ii thousand
times better for him if he were forging
horseshoes and plough-cOulters if he
were sewing pigskin or veneerlng
wood if he were painting coach-panels
or trimming hammerclothes, or chasing
teapots, or dialling watches, or grind
ing lenses, than that he should he
dangling about London with nothing
to do. or, when he is so fortunate as to
obtain junior clerkship, that he
should vegetate on miserably eXlgu-
ous salary which barely furnishes him
with the means of procuring sutficlen-
cy of nourishing food, to say nothing
of excepting up the appearance OF Il
gentleman" A journeyman carpenter
or iourneyman blacksmith may be
in the truest acceptation of the term
quite as much of gentleman as the
unfortunate STRIPPING whose right hand
has no cunning beyond that of casting
up columns of figures, and who, az
senior clerks know to their sorrow, i,
often ineXpert even at making the
aggregates of L. :. ID. 1t Is time that
all this nonsense about "gentlemanlN
advocates were cast to the winds
The fact is patent and notorious thai
the supply of clerks-Or, rather, o
those who think themselves competent
to fill clerky posts-is immensely IL
excess of the demand and that the
demand must grow every year ever
smaller. rs more justice continues t.
Ice done to women, and as employers
avail themselves to greater extent q
the docility and intelligence of femal,
clerks