Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-08-29
Learu q Trade.

Why is Il that the proportion of
young men in this country who turn
out badly is so much larger than it
used to be s? Every moralist, and. in
fact, every close observer, knows that
the proportion of shiftless. good-for-
nothing young men has largely in
creased within the last few years, par
ticularly in this and other large cities,
but those who discuss the subject
seem to be at loss for the true ex-
planation In our judgment the ques-
ton is one of very easy solution. -
We attribute it to the spirit of false
pride which induces parents to put
their boys in stores and Offices rather
than to apprentice them to good
trades. In this at the present time,
merchants, bankers, insurance men
and others of this class are overrun
with applications from parents who
want situations for their boys; but
manufacturers find it almost impossi-
BILE to get apprentices.
1t was not so in former times. Fifty
years ago, much later. in fact-pa-
rents generally regarded a trade as
something essential in the preparation
of their boys for the battle of life -
Even men whose circumstances did
not require them to do manual work
made it a point to have their boys
learn trades, in order to give them
practical ideas about business, to
make them industrious, and also to
furnish them something TO fall back
upon in case of adversity.
How is it now? Mechanics, and
laboring men even, have too generally
imbibed the idea that they ought tc
place their boys peg above the
drudgery of manual labor. They
seem to think they are not doing JUS
tice to them unless they place them
in positions where they can wear
"nobbyn clothes and keep their hands
white. There never was greater
mistake. Look at the leading men in
our country, from the President dowr
and you will see that as rule it il
men who learned trades in their you'll
who have become the foremost il
every branch Of progress and enter
prise.
The boy who is placed in store o.
Office usually gets his head full 0
vanity aud self-conceit before he has
been long in his position. He ac
quires an inofdinate love of dress
and soon become so pulled up in hi
own estimation. that practical com
mon sense can find no lodgment in hi
brain. His aim is to dress as wei
and live as high as those with whom
he comes 10 contact, and he is quit
likely to go from habits of extrava
gance to habits Of dissipation.
We do not wish to be understood a
saying that this is the road which al
bows travel who do not learn trades
We simply say that such is the ten
dency and it requires boy Of goo,
mind, fortified by good early training
to resist the temptation. The bo,
who is put to trade, on the othe
hand, gives vanity but little chanc
to get hold of him He acquire
practical ideas about business, hi
habits are moulded by frugality an
economy, he lays the foundation of
good, useful and Industrious citizen
The plea that manual labor is not ere
spectacle y is one of the absurdee
things in this age of absurdities.
No person with a thimbIefull 9
brains will say anything of the kind
and those silly creatures who do sa
$50 are generally the degenerate scion
OF hard working mechanics. Ever.
boy, whether rich or poor, high Q
low, ought to learn trade, not tha
he should always work at it, but tha
be may have it as. reserve capita
together, with its influence in mould
4 priner his character