Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-01-23
a WORD ABOUT BOYS.
The Need OF Good and Thorough Business
Professional Training.

OF EFOAesStonAi lrh1n1ngs
In the existing state Of society, with keen
competition in every department Of busi-
ness, and scores of well-equipped men
ready to snap up every vacant position that
is worth any thing, it is a crime for parents
TO turn their boys loose upon the world
without trade or a profession. The gam
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 life of toll, if not of crime.
There are exceptions, but they are few.
Greatness Of intellect and moral rectitude
sufficient 10 overcome natural obstacles 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 low
est to tue highest positions in life, can be
counted on ones fingers without gong over
them twice.
One of the oldest and most capable busi-
ness men in Pittsburgh expressed his views
in regard to training boys for the duties Of
life substantially as follows to a reporter Of
the Dispatch "If 1 had boy would no
more think of sending him from home to
earn his living without the necessary train
ing to enable him to make his way agains st
the strong opposition that he would be sure
to encounter at every step than l would
think of flying. / would consider It a crime
against society to do so What chance has
boy got to hold his own in the fierce strug-
| gle for existence without skill of some kind
None ct all The most he can homo for is a
lowly station and a career of drudgery at
manual labor of the toughest kind. He
may start out with high hopes and noble pur-
poses, but when he comes in contact
with actual business affairs he will
soon find that they are too COM
| plicated and precise for his crude ideas
and methods. The result can not be doubt
full. He will drift from post to pillar and
! finally bring up at the bottom of the ladder,
where he will remain. He has been tried
and found wanting. This is not his fault
he may have done the best he could; but it
all comes from his parents neglectng to
! give him that training Of brain and nend
| which is so necessary to success in this age
| Of keen wits and sharp competition.
Business methods have changed wonder
| fully since was a boy. Then it was con-
Quoted, for the most part, in a crude, hap
hazard sort of manner. Nearly every thing
was on small scale, requiring no part1cu-
lar 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 forty or fifty
years ago could hardly fill clerkship now.
Business has been reduced to a science,
and its manifold complications are as hard
to understand as any other branch of knowl-
edge. A good business man in these days
is competent to fill any position, public or
private. More tnan one President has
called men from the store or factory to as
sist in carrying on the Government l
do not care how or where boy is trained,
so that correct business principles are in
stilled into him. He may learn these at
home, in a store, factory or workshop; do
not insist that he shall be highly educated in
the learnings of schools, but do insist that
he shall be thoroughly grounded in some oc-
cupation, trade or profession. A business
half learned IS not learned at all. This is
the cause of so many jack-of-all- l-trades
which infest every community. They know
little Of many things, but not much of any
They have to give way when they come in
competition with better trained hands and
brains. a.-~---A--- ----
'The future glory and prosperity of this
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 af-
fairs-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 neglect in
this matter. The country is tull of public
schools where good education can be OBJ
tanned without money and without price.
Every city, town and village has its fac.
tories, shops and stores where actual bust
ness can be learned by the proper applica-
ton. Therefore, say there is no excuse
for parents 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 some
thing. Having no skill at any thing, they
seldom find employment, and then only
at the toughest and least remunerative
work. The result is that they first become
dissipated and then criminal. This pict-
ure is not overdrawn, it is borne out by
statistics, and matter of almost universal
experience and observation. l have known
many naturally bright boys who, from this
cause, have grown up to be drones in so;
ciety. They failed in competition with men
better equipped than themselves, became
discouraged, and settleo 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 occupa-
tion and not permitted to spend their time
in idleness, in which there is neither dig
nifty nor profit 1t will serve as an anchor
| to keep them from drifting with the wind
and give them far start in the race Of
life. 1t will not only be of lasting benefit
to the boys, but will be source of comfort
to the parents, save some Of them fro IN go
| ing down to the grave with broken hearts,
and be an element Of strength TO the coun
try which can be depended upon in time of
need. Nothing good comes from idleness,
which is the parent Of evil; but intelligent
industry is always honored and honorable.
To slightly paraphrase the sacred text:
Train up your boy in the way he should
go, and when he is old he will not depart
from it,"
Dangers of Ice Water.
Dr. Hammond protests against the Amer
ican habit of gulping down a great quantity
Of ice-water. He says shat it induces
/ 4. i Ia. .,