The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-04-19
OUR BOSTON LETTER.
YOU MUST BE n SPECIALIST IF
roo WOULD SUCCEED.
Jack at All Trades Not vanted-Union
Passenger station Dcmandcd-The
Gas Trust Gets . Hard Blow.

IL were going TO preach sermon TO
young men and women who are anxious
to come TO this city to earn a living, or to
use their expressions, to gain fame and
fortune. should take the necessity Of hav-
ting a special and specific purpose in life
for text A jack at all trades may exist
here, but il is only the specialist that lives
and get on in the world. Boston is too
large for the man who can do little OF
everything and excels at no one thing. The
country store that sells everything from a
moving machine to cambria needle is all
right in many localities, but 1t would be
out Of place on our business streets. So
the clerk who has dabbled in q general
trade finds his occupation gone in the city.
He has a superficial knowledge of great
many things; to succeed here he shcaIld
have a special and exhaustive knowledge
OF one thing. What Is true of commercial
life is true of almost every business and
extends TO every profession and the ten
dency is growing stronger every year.
business is divided into branches and men
and women follow those divisions and
achieve regulations in certain lines.
Ordinarily we speak of member Of the
bar as lawyer, and the term is correctly
applied. but here a qualifying word is
needed to indicate how the follower Of
Coke and Blackstone earns his daily bread.
He may be real estate lawyer, q criminal
lawyer, a patent lawyer, an admiralty
lawyer. an Office lawyer and conveyancer
- hx ha1f nth M a f.
torneys, that to the number of 1000, have
hung out shingles in Boston. The differ
ent classes have little I'm common and are
hardly known to each other except by rep
utation. The all around practitioner who
is found one day in police court trying an
assault case, the next arguing before n
jury some real estate cause and the next
presenting law questions to the full bench
or court of law is rara avis, II indeed he
is not extinct in the Hub.
To great extent the members of the
medical profession have drifted into special
practice. OF course there are found gen
eral practitioners, but they are not the men
you read about or hear talked of. The pub
lie recognizes the fact that "A doctor cannot
know everything and SO for special dis
eases man seeks those who have made
special study of cases of character simi
lar to that which atilicts him. In short
time a physician gets n reputation and de
clines all other business Thus it happens
that you consult one doctor for a sore toe,
another for torpid liver, third for the
earache, and SO on through the list. Spe-
cialties pay, therefore men become special
lists.
In newspaper work the same rule holds
good. know that nine-tenths of the news
paper workers in the smaller New Eng.
land towns turn their eyes toward Boston
Us the land Of milk and honey they hope
to reach, but before they come they should
make special study Of some particular
branch of the business and should unlearn
a great deal they have learned in all round
work. The utility man who can turn his
hand to anything is the fellow who gets
poor pay for great deal of hard work
Apply for position on one of the leading
dailies and tell the managing editor that
you have done little of everything on
newspaper and he will politely regret that
there Is no opening for you, but you go to
the same man and tell him that you have
made n spec al study of one particular line
and would like to demonstrate your ability
and il he is not more than crowded you
may get an opportunity to show the stuff
you are made Of
Iagree that bending all your efforts in
one direction may gain for you the reputa
tion of being crank on the subject, but
don't mind that il you are looking for
work in this OF other large cities. The
brightest and most noted men i'm the coun
try today have been called crazy or eccen-
trio before the use Of the word crank came
to be so coI1mon.
What is true of the professions is true in
all directions here. The clerk who SELL
you a paper Of pins in a large store knows
no more about the handkerchief trade than
though she worked in coal yard. Hei
speciality is pins In the same way the
young man who fits you to pair of gloves
would be lost If asked To show you suit
of clothes. You must master speciality
thoroughly to prosper in Boston and the
place to dt yourself is before you come
here.
So in whatever direction you are labor
ing learn to do something well; get some
part of your business down so fine" 60
use slang expression, that you are not
afraid to compete with anyone on equal
terms In other words be specialist, and
then come here. In everything there is
room at the top, while the other steps of
the ladder are crowded with struggling
mortals who wonder at the slowness Of
their ascent.
But you may say, this makes mans
life narrow and circrmscribed, and vour
remark is, to n certain extent, true, hut at
the same time this special training makes
him thorough, self-reliant and aggressive.
II makes him what the times demand, an
expert in his line, and ensures him n COM
petence so long as he remains in the front
rank. That is what you are looking for il
you are coming to Boston, and you may as
well understand the situation before you
make the attempt
We can almost forget the fact that the
legislature has been long time in session
when the several committees begin to take
positive, independent positions and to
move in the direction Of better things for
the people II there Is any one thing that
Is demanded in Boston il Is "A union depot
or depots. Both northern and southern
n