Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-19
MEN AND THEIR CALLrNGs,

MEN AND THEIR CALLINGS.
An Interesting Paper Read Before the
Anthropologicai Society.
Three papers Of considerable interest were
read before the anthropological society at its
one numbered and sixty-third regular meeting
last evening in the assembly hall Of the Comos
club. The first was by Mr.. Henry L Reynolds
Of the bureau Of ethnology, whose topic was
the ''Siouan migrations, archaologically con-
sidered" He gave some very interesting facts
concerning the mound building of some OF the
tribes Of the Dakota region and showed by
means of map their successive movements up
the Missouri river.
MEN AND THEIR oALLINos
DR.. L. r. Klemm then read his paper in an
swer to the question, "Has every one q natural
calling2" 1t is not rare, he said. to hear people
say of man that he has .'missed his calling, :"
BY which is meant that he has natural faculties
that endow him for greater success in some
other line OF work. There is a presumption in
this that a man has special fitness for some
one calling, which is the term most generally
used to denote ones mode of gaining q liveli-
hood. When one has a calling there is credit
given for qualifications for the occupation, and
the question is, whether or not there is
some natural combination Of qualities that pre-
destines man to his calling. The German
says that there is such law. Many fail to
discover what that calling is or how to pursue
1t successfully. 1t is said that Bismarck once
remarked that journalists were an example of
men who had missed their calling. The Ameri-
can, on the other hand, contends that the idea
OF predestination is not applicable to the mat
ter OF occupations and points to the records Of
many self-made men as proofs of this position.
The German idea is balanced against the Amer
lean idea.
CHANGES IN GERMANY.
The speaker went into the causes that have
produced this state of affairs in the father
land, going back over . period Of eight hun
dred years to show the development Of the
guild system, the growth Of the powers Of those
bodies in keeping down competitive trade and
the limiting the number of workers and trades
men, the choking Of the cities and towns by
munties had no chance to grow and thus to
give rise to increased demands, the triumphal
march of Napoleon, whom he characterized as
1.-THE restless little man." through Germany,
leaving his path marked by demol-
ished walls and absorbed principalities,
out of the civilization into its natural shape and
size. But with the training of eight hundred
years the idea still remained implanted in the
minds of the population that the accident of
birth decided not only the matter Of rank and
nationality but also that Of q mans calling for
life. Here all is opposed to that There is a
current in the American civilization Of purely
American thought that has caused the idea of
predestinatIon to die out Over there it was
the custom of the father to build up his trade
or business to be continued by his son, without
any thought that the latter might want to do
something else, and the limit Of the guild upon
the free establishment Of trades rendered it alb
solutely necessary for the son to do what his
father had done or starve.
AMERICA HAS NO WALLS.
America started at the point at which Ger
many is now just beginning. Two hundred
years ago this country was begun, with no town
walls, no guilds, no principalisies, no lurking
hostile neighbors, and an idea tending to per-
fectly free competition, which has resulted in
a land Of the most perfect liberty. All trades
and industries are open and free and there is
nothing to hinder the boy from following his
bent in selecting his life work. 1t used to be
the way for every farmer boy to learn Q little
Of everything that was done around the farm,
so that in time he became a sort of "Jack-at-
all-trades." This was an effect OF the causes
that have made it possible now for any one to
pursue the calling for which he feels he is best
fitted. There is about the American people a
strong tendency to roam, lack Of disposition
to settle down, an inclination to 20 about in
search of new and better luck, that is totally
different from the condition of things in Ger
many. Here it takes one six months to walk
from one edge of the country to the other,
while there are some German principalities
across which one can walk in half day.
BENEFICIAL FREEDOM.
The freedom Of the country is probably
beneficial, as liberty always has within itself a
regulator that adjusts things. The natural law
of the survival OF the ittest may be cruel, but
it is very effective. Men are born with certain
individual and personal traits that distinguish
them from one another. There are never exact
duplicates, one man of another, although there
may be resemblances. No two men can be
exactly alike in faculties, qualities, tendencies
or accomplishments, and therefore it is impos-
sible for two men to feel, think and act in the
same manner. This all tends to show that
every man has his own natural calling; that
every person must be specially we'll fitted to
perform one kind Of work better than another.
At the close OF DR.. Klemms paper member
made short plea for the old system, which,
he said, tends to produce races of tradesmen
who are wonderfully we'll qualified in their own
particular callings, such as the lace makers of
France and the glass blowers Of Bohemia.
DIR. W. j. Hoffman, read q paper on the
mythology Of the Menomini Indians, which
was full Of interesting stories of that tribe,
told in a style somewhat resembling the tales
of TIncle Remua vjthout ha dialact