The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-03-29
Wages in London.

We have already gwen publicity TO the
fact that gentleman who few days since
advertised in our columns for clerk aud
book-keeper at salary OF .c3 per week. and
who requested that replies 10 his adycr-
tisement should be addressed to the postal
department Of this journal, received in re-
sponse 1850 applications for the situation
in question.
To Judge from the cagerncss OF the legion
Of candidates who rushed at this clerkshir,
.G3 a week must have seemed very Eden,
pecuniariy speaking, to hundreds OF gen.
teely bTougEt-up but pOyerty-stricken
Young men. Let Us look little at what
I3 a week mean. They mean the wages OF
a working engineer, Of a cabinctmakcr, Of
a c0mpositor, OF saddlor, Of farrier, and
of many more branches Of manual or me-
chanical industry. Many artisans in these
trades may be able 10 earn more than GO
n week; carveTs, mOdelcrs, iyory-tuIn-
ers, watcbmakerS, opticians, coachma-
kers, decorators, can realize much
more money in the course OF a year than
the average clerk, and they are able TO
maintain, and in tens OF thousands OF cases
do maintain, their wives and families in
comfort and respectability. A boOkbinder
can earn q good deal more than book
keeper, and female "piano-forte Silker"
is, in the majority OF Instances, much bet
ter of than the unhappy damse who offers
to give piano-forte lessons at the rate oi
shilling an hour. Parents OF the mid
die classes, however, are imbued with
the absurd notion that there is some
thing derogatory to their social stand
ing in having q son who is q Jour-
newman carpenter, or an engine-driyer,
or stonemasOn. The lad who wears ont
his shoe-leather in tiudging from counting
house to counting-house in quest OF 4 We
cant desk may he gifted with innate me-
chanical genius, and only wants technical
training. lie has all the capacity for learn
ing, but he has never been taught handi-
craft. 1t would be thousand times better
for him il he were forging horse-shoes
and plough-coulters; il he were sew
ing pgskin or veneering wood; il he
were painting coacb-panels or TRIM
ming hammercloths, or chasing teapots,
or dialling watches, or grinding lenses,
than that lie should be dangling about Lon
don with nothing TO do, or, when he is so
fortunate as TO obtain junior clerksbip,
that he should yegetate on q miserably
exiguous salary which barely furnishes
Utll Win tuC Va liOthi tlliu-
cheney OF nourishing food, TO say nothing
Of "keeping up the appearance Of gen.
tleman." A iourneyman carpenter or a
journeyman blacksmith may be, in the
truest aoceptation OF the term, quite rs
much OF gentleman as the unfortunate
stripping whose right hand has no cum
ming beyond that OF casting up col
umns Of figures, and who, az senior
clerks know to their sorrow, is often ill.,
expert even at making the aggregates OF
l.. 8. ID. 1t is time that all this nonsense
about "gentlemaniy ayocations" were
cast to the winds. The fact il patent and
notorious that the supply OF clcrks--or,
rather, Of those who think themselves
competent to ill clerkly posts-is immense
ly in excess OF the demand; and that the
demand must grow every year even small
er as more justice continues to be done To
women, and rs employers avail themselves
to n greater extent OF the docility and in
telligence Of female clerks.-London 1e!e-
graph.