Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-31
A WORD FOR THE BOYS
Importance of Good Business Train.
ing Before Sending Them
FORTH INTO THE COLD WORLD
To Hoe Their Own Row in Competition
With the Great Army of Hustlers.
SOUND VIEWS OF AN OLD CITIZEN

cOmpeblblOn IN every department. Oh Dusi-
ness. and scores of well-equipped men
ready to snap up every vacant position that
is worth anything, it is a crime for parents
to turn their boys loose upon the world
] without trade or profession. The gain
ing of an honorable livelihood is difficult
enough with the best preparation, but to
send boy out from the paternal roof with
nothing but his hands to depend upon is to
consign him to a life of toll, if not Of crime.
There are exceptions, but they are few.
Greatness of intellect and moral rectitude
sufficient to overcome natural obstacles
want of education and unskilled hands
are SO rare as to be scarcely recognized when
they appear. Men like Henry Clay, Abra-
ham Lincoln and Henry Wilson, all poor
boys who worked their way from the lowest
to the highest position in life, can be
counted on ones fingers without going over
! them twice.
| One of the oldest and most capable busi-
ness men in the city expressed his views
yesterday in regard TO training boys for the
duties of life substantially as follows: IF
had boy would no more think of send
ing him from home to earn his living with
out the necessary training to enable him to
make his way against the strong opposition
that he would be sure to encounter at every
step, than would think of flying. would
consider it crime against society to do SO.
What chance has boy to hold his own in
the fierce struggle for existence without
skill of some kind? None at ali, The most
he can hope for is lowly station and .
career Of drudgery at manual labor of the
roughest kind. He may start out with high
hopes and noble purposes, but when he
comes in contact with actual business affairs
he viii soon find that they are too compli-
Gated and precise for his crude ideas and
methods The result cannot be doubtful. He
will drift from post to pillar and, finally
bring up at the bottom OF the ladder, where
he <<ill remain. He has been tried and
found wanting This is not Sis fault; he
may have done the best he could. but it all
comes from his parents neglecting to give
him that training of brain and hand which
is absolutely necessary to success in ibis
age of keen wits and sharp competition.
80
Business methods have changed wonder
fully since was a boy. Then it was con-
Quoted, for the most part, in crude, hap
hazard sort of manner. Nearly every
thing was on small scale, requiring no
particular training or experience. Some
people have the notion that it is the same
now, but they are sadly mistaken. Men
who were successful in business life 40 or 30
years ago could hardly fill clerkship now.
Business has been reduced to science, andits
manifold complications are as hard to un-
derstand as any other branch OF knowledge.
A good business man in these days is COM
petentt to fill any position, public or private.
More than one President has called men
from the store or factory to assist in carrying
on the Government. A business man is at
this moment at the head of the Postofice
Department., When lad ne entered a
store, and under good tutelage he soon mas
tered every detail Of the business. Thispre-
did with wonderful success. do not care
how or where boy is trained, so that cor
rect business principles are instilled into
him. He may learn these at home, in
store, factory or workshop; do pot insist
that he shall be highly educated in the
learning of the schools, but do inaist that
he shall be thoroughly grounded in some
occupation, trade or profession. A
business half learned is not learned at
all. This is the cause of SO many
jack-of-all-trades which infest every COM
munity. They know little of many things
and not much of any. They have to give
way when they come in competition with
better trained hands and brains. 1t is i'm
possible for them to rise to the top. They
must remain at the bottom. They are called
upon only in cases of emergency.
n **
''The future glory and prosperity Of this
great country rests with the boys. They
will, in due time, be called upon to take the
places of the men who are now at the head
of affairs-who are filling the offices Of the
State and nation and conducting the various
business enterprises for which we are so
greatly distinguished. How important it
is, then, that these boys be brought up SO as
to be competent to discharge these great
duties. There is no excuse for negioet in
this matter. The country is full of public
schools where good education can be OBJ
tanned without money and without price.
Every city, town and village has its factor
les, shops and stores where actual business
can be learned by the proper application.
Therefore, 1 say there is no excuse for pa
rents allowing their boys to go forth into
the world and tie themselves down to a life
of drudgery, which they must do if they
have neither trained minds nor skilled
hands. The dangerous classes of society are
composed of men who, when boys, left home
without knowing how to do something.
Having no skill at anything, they seldom
find employment, and then only at the
roughest and leastremunerative work. The
result is that they first become dissipated
and then criminal. This picture is not over
drawn. 1t is borne out by statistics, and
matter of almost universal experience and
observation. have known many naturally
bright boys, who. from this cause, have
grown up to be drones in society. They
failed in competition with men better
equipped than themselves, became dis
couraged, and settled down in poverty and
obscurity.
''These are facts which parents should
take home and seriously ponder. If they
have boys they should see to it that they are
brought up to some honorable occupation,
and not be permitted to spend their time in
idleness, in which there is neither dignity
nor profit. 1t will serve as an anchor to