Wichita eagle., 1890-01-04

German statist recently asserted, in g
carefully drawn up monograph on the sub
ject, that the majority Of university students
and, indeed, of all educated lads in Germany
were living in dream They all wanted te
be professional men," and there was not
professional work in the country, including
among the professions the service of the state
for more than one-third of them all. Either
the work must he divided and professionals
become poorer even than at present, or two
out of three candidates must, as far as their
professional incomes were concerned, 60 with
out food.
TIE PROFESSIONS ovERCROwDED.
Germany is overrun with half starved pro-
fessional men, so is America, and so before
long the United Kingdom will be.
| The increase OF remunerative work to be
done by the educated who desire to live by
their brains, and, if possible, by the profes-
sions recognized as comforting a diploma of
presumable culture, and leaving the workers
| gentlemen in their own eyes and those of the
girls they court, bears no proportion to the
increase in the numbers of those whe contend
for it.
The ceases" which come before the chief
of the professions grow more painful every
day, and it has become truism to say that
of all who start on professional careers one
third ''go under"-that is, get sick, die or
migrate-one-third barely survive fighting
on, without a hope of retiring to old age,
and one-thrd make decent or cOmf0r table
living. That is just the proportion given by
| the learned Geruisn, and we fear the num-
bers of the first class are far from having
reached their limit
The rush caused by the enormously in
creased numbers of the educated has hardly
begun and there are other causes The de-
sire for "a life in which ability tellsn is in
creasing even faster than eduoet ton, and SO is
the indisposition to lead the kind of life, no
doubt most painful one, which business"
with insufficient capital involves. Caste
feeling, which always feeds the professions,
grows stronger than ever in certain sections
of the community; while. owing at once to
the greater accumulation and diffusion of
wealth, there is a new pressure into the
ranks Of young men with small hxed incomes,
the class which looks on its gains from work
as supplementary, and which all over the
continent keeps down the salaries OF profes-
SIGNALS. These men all think that they rise
in life by entering the close professions The
pl itc cl tHi bAc IDS 10 lOi tic Sdssic ItSSOu
rising, while, owing to the habit of postpon
ing retirements, vacancies grow constantly
fcwer; and the system of jobbing in favor of
close relatives Is, outside the service of the
state, more inveterete than ever. Men de-
scend to anything for the sake of sons-in-law.
The prizes, too, grow less Democracy
hates large salaries and thinks all salaries
large, while, though the close professions
make desperate efforts to keep up their stand
ard of remuneration, it is declining in every
direction. The ordinary professional man"
must either take less or see bis connection
gradually slip away.
This diminished chance, moreover, is not
accompanied by any dimiIIution in the strain
Of life. That increases every year with the
increased number of competitors, and with
the incessant rise in the standard of necessary
requirement, till it snow asserted that hard
ly any professional man escapes serious loss
from any illness which may visit him; while
an interruption of six months from any
cause whatever ruins toe most promising
career. The absent are, US far as pecuniary
hope is concerned, the dead.
This is not a pleasing outlook for the new
generation, which needs money more than
ever. People say simplicity increases, and
that is true in sense, but it is simplicity
rather in thought and in methods of express
sion than in habits Of lifo. Nothing is cheap
Or except bare food rent in the professional
districts does not decline--witness the new
habit Of dividing houses between two or more
dissociated men of the same profession--and
there never was time when 1t was more i'm
perative on professional men just starting to
lead ''civiliZed" life, meaning In a great
city life in which one bleeds money from
every pore.
WHAT IS THE REMEDYa
Even success has become for professionals
less valuable than it was The immense ma
1ority Of them desire TO save, and the change
IN their position in this respect has been as
founding The fall In the rate of interest to
be obtained covers every secure investment,
except, we believe, certain kinds of house
which it is a heartbreak TO inherit,
and which no one with his time fully occu-
pied would or could attempt 30 manage prop
erly Every one feels this fall, but very few
realize its full extent
In 1860 it was possible for q man without
working to obtain $500 year for a principal
of 10000 with the fullest security, and now
be is fortunate if with the same security he
whittles away his income, but leaves the road
choked with competitors who, were the an
nual product of sleeping money still per
cent. would retire at once. That evil. if it
be one. affects men in business, like men in
The professions; but the latter feel it moro,
for while business may be indefinitely e1-
panded, the professional mans gains are
limited by that great natural fact that
neither energy nor ability will put more than
twenty -four hours into one day.
What is the remedy? There Is none what
ever. As the pressure increases. the work
must either be divided or tae pr'e of work
must come down, with, in either ease, re-
iuction of professional income Te do not
believe that the strong causes whsrb increase
the number of those entering Oh . profes-
'ional career will lose their potency in our
line, and fully expect to see the great pro-
eesional class an exceedingly poor ane In
1910 the situation here will probably resemble
hat IN America, where though q very few
make great incomes, majority |
Ire not bette. off than English Dissenting |
and to earn by inceesant work |
e 200 year IS to lave succeeded greatly |
The mass of those who do not go under" |
will make from gI50 TO $500. and will look |
'ut most aSsiduously for wives who can |
,ring SOME addition TO their incoms That |
; already the position OF affairs on the CON |
lnsnt. ard there lsnothing whatever to pro /
ect Englishmen from a similar pressure. |
The change results from progress, from that /
hirst for education which it is in our day /
ne ambition OF legislators IN CRAFTY. and |
rom that desire for refined life which Is ils /
result The capacity for brain |
work IS growing more common, and brain |
work is therefore less valuable
That is al, but that is sufficient TO cause a
nail social revolution, out of which that
actioa Of the classes" whom Mr. Gladstone