Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-06-29
AVOIDING LABOR.

AVOIDING LABOR
There is no work of ordinary decency
that the earnest cannot dignity and COM
mand respect for by faithful performance.
The world is quick to recognize the man
who does not fear to work for a living. 1t
may not reward him largely, but it will
honor him for his diligence. The trouble
with the rising generation is that it is
disposed to live by its wits, and avoid
labor as much as is possible. A prominent
business man, who in quarter of cen
tury has had many men in his employment
in commercial pursuits, remarked in our
hearing the other day chat he had not had
single failure among his employees that
was not attributable to the fact primarily
that in his boyhood the man had not been
taught the value of labor We find regi-
ments Of youths daily seeking for " some
thing to do,7 who have no definite labor
IN view. The young man ought to feel
tendency toward some given vocation. and
where this is sincere and adapted to nat
ural ability it ought to be encouraged.
Bat too often the disposition Of the youth
seeking employment is the result Of false
training regarding labor, and is manifest
in desire to avoid hard work. The
natural bent of the mind is a safer guide
in seeking employment in seven eases out
Of ten than advice, provided always that
early training has not given the Young
man false ideas of life and manhood.
Work, to be well performed and enjoyed,
should be congeniaI, and all the better if
it is loved. The man who loves his work
seldom fails TO make it reward him richly,
as well in contentment as in worldly pos
sessions. There is no greater social folly
than that which breaches the doctrine
of the responsibility" of professional en-
ployment as contrasted with mechanical
The dissemination of this vicious idea is
absolutely corrupting the youth of the
day. The professions are overcrowded
the number OF signs that hang out of pro-
fessionals is simply astounding. 1t is said
by one of the best informed iurists of the
coast, that in the metropolis there are
hundreds of lawyers who barely manage
to subsist, and that there is actual employ
ment for only about half the number that
compete for the business of litlgants. It
is not quite so bad in the medical profess
sion but in the lines of specialists there is
4 good deal of overcoming. Sixty per
cent. Of the 100000 of France follow
agricultural voeations, 26 mechanical, 10
per cent. commerce and but 4 per cent. the
professions. The figures make different
showing in America. According to the
census reports of 1880 the persons pursuing
gainful vocations aggregated S46S per
cent. Of the whole population. OF the
1882, 099, 7670,493 were engaged in
agriculture, 4,o74235 in the professions
and personal services, 1,Sl0,256 in trade
and transportation, and 1891 in me-
chanieal, mining and manufacturing voca-
tions. The percentage of increase in pop
ulation over the age of 10 over the census
returns of 1870 by those of 1880 was 3023
But applying the same ratio to those en-
pioyed IN agriculture in 1880, as compared
to 1879, and We find an actual decrease in
the decade of 42,43l, while the gain in
professions by the same ratio is absolutely
537, S52 in excess of what the ratio re-
quires. True, there are excuses also in
the mechanical and trade vocations.
but they fall much below the
figures IN the professional. So that
we have as results these facts
There has been an excess of gain, above
what the ratio of increase of population
requires, in all vocations except that of
agriculture, and the greatest excess has
been iii the professional employments.
The figures we have given relate only to
those 10 years Of age and upwards, and
shat fact it is but fair to keep in mind, as
1t somewhat lessons the excess of the pro-
fessional and personal service employments,
comparatively with those demanding man
nal labor exclusively. Asa general result.
including all ages, the gain in population
between 1870 and 1880 was 80 per cent.
while the gain in employed classes was 80
per cent. Something of this result is.
however, fairly to be attributed to the
closer enumeration made in $780, One
difficulty in arriving at any satisfactory
conclusion as to the real excess of those in
professional employments arises out of the
alleged inability of the Census Marshals to
discover professional and personal services.
Ii would appear that the census officials
ought to have found no difficulty in CLASH
fying lawyers by themselves. instead of
mingIing them, as they did, with that in
discriminate class noted as engaged in per-
eo,al services. Thus we ascertain that
there are actually laborers engaged in
agriculture who have been classed with
the professional and personal service show
inps. Nevertheless we know, aside from
The census exhibits, that the percentage of