Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-06-25
odd Ways of Making a Living.

Qua ways Oh MAKING LSiuSs
There are many odd ways of earning
livelihood in great city like New
York, and it is surprising to see how
many persons there are who readily
adapt themselves to new occupations.
Type writing, for instance, was unknown
few years ago, and now there are
thousands who support themselves by
it. 1t has supplied new wide field for
the employment of women, and has
come into almost universal use for legal
documents. The invention of the tele-
phone has given employment to thou
sands in the construction of the appar-
atus and the attendance at telephone
offices, and the number thus employed
already rivals the number engaged in
telegraphing.
The introduction of electric lighting
has given employment to many per-
sons, as has also comparatively recent
use of refined coal oil all over the world
for both lighting and heating. tits on
ly few years since the invention of the
district messenger service and the en-
ployment of street boot-blacks gave en-
ployment to an army of boys.
The successful manufacture of play
ing cards, which were largely made
abroad until within o few years, has re-
Gently given employment to many
American workmen. The canned goods
industry has grown up since the war,
and offers an entirely new occupation.
Photo-lithography and many other
quick processes of picture paintingshave
furnished employment to many within a
few years. There is an immense busi-
ness in ready-made clothing for women
and children that is of comparatively
recent gowth.
There are, at q rough calculation,
about fifty men i'll the United States
who make their living by hardening
steel for various mechanical purposes.
There are three or four who earn a liv-
ing by demagnetizing watches, and per-
haps about as many who adjust compass
sesOn iron ships. There is an odd and
somewhat intricate occupation in the
insurance business known as the adjust
ment 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 a liv-
ing by tasting various articles of food,
or Judging of them by their appearance.
There are experts in handwriting, in
chemistry, in mechanics, and all sorts
of things, who turn up in the courts
and make litigation costly.
Civilization tends to division of la
Dor, so that in every profession there
are men who get a reputation for some
particular branch. Thus there are ac-
knowledged specialists in law, who have
almost monopoly of q 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 fam
lily doctor, who undertook to doctor all
sorts of diseases, is comparatively obso-
lete in crowded communities.
This division of labor leads to the es-
tablishment in great cities of many
queer stores, or depots of supply for ali
sorts of odd things of which the general
public knows little or nothing. There
are, for instance, depots for the supply
Of peculiar food in the various national
tiles the centre in the great city. The
Cinnamon, the Italians, the Germans,
and the Scotchmen all know where
they can 60 and buy things that are
specially suited only to their own taste.
A craze like roller skating gives em-
ployment to many persons. American
rollers are now known all over the
world. There is an American roller
skating rink even in India. The pro-
gress of mechanical inventions, while it
throws many persons out of employ
inent, also furnishes new occupations
to many, and does away with the ap-
prehension that the machine may sup
plant the man.
The Voice of the Pennla