Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-05-15
ODD WAYS OF MAKING A LIVING.
Some of the Peculiar Means of Live
lfhood which Civilization Develops.


Some Of the Peculiar Means of Live
nhood which Civilization Develops.
There are many odd ways of earn
ing a livelihood In q great city like
New York, and it is surprising 10 see
how many persons there are who
readily adapt themselves to new occu-
pstons. Type-wriling, for instance,
was unknown q few years ago, and
now there are thousands who support
themselves by it 1t has supplied a
new and WIDE field for the employ
ment of women, and has come into
almost universal use for legal doca
msnts. 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 introductoh of electric s.ghtipg
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 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 a 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.
llPhoto-hthography and many other
quick processes of picture printing
have furnished employment to many
within few years. There is an i'm
mense business In ready-mado CLOTH
| ing for women and children that is of
comparatively recent growth.
There are, al a 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 a
living by demagnetizing watches, and
perhaps as many who adjust compasses
on iron ships. There Is an old and
somewhat intricate occupation In tue
Insurance business known as the ad-
Justment of averages, and the num-
Der of men engaged in it in great
city may almost be counted on ones
fingers.
There are many men who earn a
living by tasting various articles of
food or judging of them by their ap-
pearance. There are experts in hand
writing, in chemistry, in mechanics,
and ali 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 a reputation for
seme particular branch. Thus there
are acknowledged specialists in law,
who have monopoly 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 tbs same way the
doctors take some portion of the hu
man body as a special study, so that
the old family doctor, who undertook
to doctor all sorts of diseases, is com.
paratively obsolete in crowded com,
muDilies.
THIS division of labor leads to the
establishment 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, 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 alEknow where they can go and
buy things that are specially suited
only to their own taste.
A craze like roller-s skating gives
employ ment to many persons. Aneri-
can roller-skates are now known all
over the world. There is an Amer
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.