Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-05-21
ODD WAYS OF MAKING A LIVING.
Some of the Peculiar Means of Live
uhood which CIVILIZATION Develops.

Some of the Peculiar Means of Live
There are many odd ways of earn
ing a livelihood IN great city like
New York, anol it is surprising to see
how many persons there are who
readily adapt themselves to new occu-
pations. Type-writing, for instance.
was unknown few years ago, and
now there are thousands who support
themselves by it. It has supplied a
new and wide field for the employ
ment of women, and has come into
almost universal use for legal docu-
ments. The invention of the teIe-
phone has given employment TO
thousands IN the construction of
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 tie comparatively
recent use of refined coal oil all over
the world for both lighting and heat
ing. 1t is only a few years since the
invention of the district messenger
service and the employment of street
bootblacks gave employment to an
army Of boys.
The successful manufacture of
playing cards, which were largely
made abroad until 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 occupation.
Photo-lithOgraphy and many other
quick processes OF picture printing
have furnished employment to many
within few years. There is an in
mense business III ready~mado cloth
ing for women and children that IS OF
comparatively recent growth.
There are, at 2 rough calculation,
about fifty men in the United States
who make their living by hardening
steele for various mechanical purposes
There are three Or four who earn
living by demagn6tizing watches, and
perhaps as many who adjust compasses
on IRON ships. There IS an old and
somewhat intricate occupation 10 the
insurance business known as the adj
iustment of averages, and the mum
Der of men engaged In it IN q great
city may almost be counted on ones
fingers.
There are many men who earn q
living by tasting various articles OF
food or judging Of them by their ap-
pearanCe. There are experts In hand
writing, in chemistry, ia mechanics,
and all SORTS of things, who turn up
IN the courts and make litigation
costly.
Civilization tends to division OF
labor, so that IN every profession there
are men who get g reputation for
some particular branch. Thus there
are acknowledged specialists in law,
who have a 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 aIl about criminal
law, and so on. In the same way the
doctors take some portion of the hU-
man body as special study, 50 that
the old family doctor, who undertook
TO doctor all sorts of diseases, is corn.
parauvely obsolete IN crowded com
munities.
This division Of labor leads 10 the
establishment IN great cities Of many
queer stores, or 0Gp0tS OF supply Tor
all sorts Of odd things, Of which
the general public knows little
or nothing. There are, for instance,
depots for the supply Of peculiar food
for the various nationalitieS that center
in the great city The Cinnamon, the
Italian, the Germans, and the Scotch
men all know where they can go and
buy things that are specially suited
only to their own taste.
a craze like roller-skating gives
employment to many persons. Ameri
can roller-skates are now known all
over the world. There is an Ameri-
can roller-skating rink over IN India.
The progress of mechanical inven-
tons, while it throws many persons
out Of employment, also furnishes
pew occupations to many, and does
away with the apprehension that the
machine may supplant the man.