St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-31
Making a Living.

fTOul INC NEW IOTk oUu.
There are many odd ways of earning a
livelihood in great city like New York,
and it is surprising to see how many per
sons there are who readily adapt them
selves to new occupations. Type
writing, for instance, was unknown a
few years ago, and now there are
thousands who support themselves by it. II
has supplied new and wide field for the
employment of women, and has come into
almost universal use for legal documents.
The invention of the telephone has given
EMPLOYMENT to thousands in the construc-
ton of the apparatus and the attendance at
telephone offices, and the number thus en-
ployed already rivals the number engaged
in telegraphing.
The introduction of electric lighting has
given employment to many persons, as has
also the comparatively recent use of refined
coal oil all over the world for both lighting
and heating. 1t is only few years since
the invention of the district messenger SER
vice, and the employment of street boot
blacks gave employment to an army of
boys.
The successful manufacture of playing
cards, which were largely made abroad I'M
til within few years, has recently given
employment to many American workmen.
The canned-goods industry has grown up
since the war, and offers an entirely new Oc-
cupatiOn.
PhotO-lithography and many other quick
processes Of picture printing have furnished
employment to many within few years.
There is an immense business in ready
made clothing for women and children that
is of comparatively recent growth.
There are, at rough calcu-
lation, about fifty men in the United
States who make their living by harden
ing steel for various mechanical pur-
poses There are three or four who earn a
living by demagnetizing watches. and per-
haps about as many who adjust compasses
on iron ships There is an old and some
what intricate occupation in the Insurance
business known as the adjustment OF
averages, and the number OF men engaged
in it in great city may almost be counted
on ones fingers.
There are many men who earn living
by tasting various articles of food OF judg-
ing of them by their appearance. There
are experts in handwriting, in chemistry,
i'm mechanics and all sorts of things, who
turn I'D in the courts and make litigation
costly.
Civilization tends to division of labor,
so that in every profession there are men
who get reputation for some particular
branch. Thus there are acknowledged
specialists in law, who have almost mo-
nopoly of a certain class of cases. Some
LAWYERS know all about patents, and
others all about admiralty; others all
about landlords and tenants; others all
about criminal law, and so on. In the same
way the doctors take each some portion of
the human body as a special study, so that
the old family doctor, who undertook to
doctor all sorts. of diseases, is comparatively
obsolete in crowded communities.
This division of labor leads to the esGab-
lishment in great cities of many queer
stores, or depots of supply for all sorts OF
odd things, of which the general public
knows little or nothing. There are, tor
instance, depots for the supply OF
peculiar food for the various
nationalities that center i'll the great city.
The Cinnamon, the Italians, the Germans
and the Scotchmen all know where they
can go and buy things that are specially
suited only to their own taste.
A craze like roller-skating gives employ
ment to many persons. American roller
skates are now known all over the world.
There is an American roller-skating rink
even in India. The progress of mechan-
ical improvements, while it throws many
out of employment, also furnishes new oc-
equations to many, and does away with the
apprehension that the machine may sup
plant the man.