The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-05-29
ODD SORTS OF OCCUPATION.
Some of the Means of Livelihood
Which Civilization Develops.

/ " men SlNliIZatlOtt DtNCISI'7s
N. Y. Sun.
There are many odd ways of earning a
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 a
few years ago, and now there are thous-
ands who support themselves by it. 1t
has supplied a new and wide field for
the employment Of women, and has
come to almost universal use for legal
documents. The invention of the tele-
phone has given employment to thous-
| ands in the construction of the appara-
tus and the attendance at telephone Of
fees, and the number thus employed al
ready rivals the number engaged in tele
graphing.
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
lighting and heating. 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 We're 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-ithography and many other
quick processes of picture printing have
furnished employment to many within
a few years. There is an immense bust
ness in ready-made clothing for women
and children that is of comparatively re-
cent growth.
There are,at a rough calculation, about
fifty men in the United States who make
their living by hardening steel for va
riou5 mechanical purposes. There are
three or four who earn their living by
demagnetizing watches, and perhaps
about as many who adjust compasses on
iron ships. There is an old and some
what intricate occupation in the jnsur-
ance business known as the adjustment
of averages, and the number of men en-
gagged in it in a great city may almost be
counted on ones fingers.
There are many men who earn liv-
ing by tasting various articles of food or
judging of them by their appearance.
There are experts in handwring. in
chemistry, in mechanics, and all sorts of
things, who turn up in the courts and
make litigation costly.
Civilization tends to a division of la
Dor, so that in every profession there are
men who get q reputation for some par
ticular branch Thus there are acknOwl-
edged specialists in law, who have al
mast a 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 the same way the doctors take each
some portion of the human body as
special study, SO that the old family
doctor who tried to doctor all sorts of
diseases, is comparatively obsolete in
crowded communities.
This division of labor leads to the es-
tablishment 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 pecu-
liar food for the various nationalities
that center in the great city. The China
men, the Italians, the Germans, and the
| Scotchmen all know where they can go
and buy things that are especially suited
/ only to their own taste.
| A craze like roller-skating gives en-
/ ployment to many persons. American
roller-skates are now known all over the
! world. There is an American roller-skat-
| ing rink even in India. The progress of
mechanical inventions, while it throws
many persons out of employment, also
/ furnishes new occupations to many, and
does away with the apprehension that
the machine may supplant the man.
Z A