Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1893-02-24
OBJECT LESSONS TO rHAIaRAHTs,


An Irishman long resident in New
York, but recently the inheritor Of
estates in Ireland, found a man on his
Irish property who received consider
ably more per week than other men
doing like work, and on asking the
workman why this difference, received |
the answer: 1--WE been TO America |
and learned how to work" An Amer
ican contractor who was to build an
important structure in Scottish city |
found it profitable to take over Amer
ican workmen, rather to employ
native workmen at lower wages. An
American visiting Oxford found an
English mechanic passing his holiday
with friends in the university town,
and discovered that he was well read
in political economy. Later the
American visited the Englishman at
his home in Swinton and found that
he had a library Of between 1900 aud
5000 volumes, mostly of economic
works. nearly all of which he had read.
The Englishmau owned that he had
caught the habit of reading while o
resident of the United States. The
late Duke of Marlborough explained
to an American that one secret OF the
success o. American machlnists lay in
their facility in taking advantage of
cheapening processes. He illustrated
this by noting that the machinery
manufactured by an English company
of which he was president made each
machine upon special order and with
out regard to any other, while Amerl-
can machines were made in identical
parts, any one of which could be re-
placed by reference to number or a
letter.
Employers of labor in this country
nnd that nearly all kinds Of foreign
workmen, save few artist artisans,
upon first coming to America, are in
ferior in skill and strength to native
workmen in the same trades. This is
true even Of day laborers. IL is espc-
cially true Of many mechanics. 1t not
infrequently happens that carpenters,
blacksmiths and the like, from abroad
make no attempt to ply their trades
in competition with native American
workmen, but hire ont as day labor
ers. Other mechanics especially
from countries whore men are not
so well developed physically as
men in America, handle the heEvy
tools of their trade in use here with
difficulty, and acquire the faculty OF
doiug a full days work only by long
, and painful experience. Even stout
. peasants work so slowly and so awk
wardly as day laborers upon first com
ing to the United States that they
earn less than current wages. TlOus
. ands Of Scotch bricklayers and mason.
work spring, summer and autumn IL
the United States and return to Scot
q land for the winter. But they ar,
picked men Of their crafts, for no 9th
ers could hold their places beside th'
skilled American in those trades
The foreign workman, skilled or un
skilled, commonly comes to this coun
a try unacquainted with the ingeniou
labor saving devices of American
o workmen, and often a stranger to tn
newest and most effective tools s.
quickly seized upon by Americans.
, This city is the great school, no
= only Of foreign, but Of native work
men. Only the cleversst rural me
chanics Of native birth and trainin
Y can come to New York and keepin
along with men trained In the me
10 thods Of this great and active town
1t is a delight and revelation to
man who has seen only country mC
chanics at work to come to This tow
and see the skill, aleTtness and INTEL
eence Of q New York mechanic Ca
penters in New York are especial
distinguished by their ingenuity, the
economy Of time and their quiczno'
). to adopt improved tools Country ca
I. penters commonly work in sma
A gangs, and lose time because they ca
not take advantage Of all that is TO D
A. gained by the subdivision Of labo
be Carpenters working upon large co
tracts in this city lose little OF J
j" time from such causes, and the cOu
's' try carpenter, when he first finds hil
self employed with a gang Of his f
lows trained here, feels as if he hi
W. fallen in with a whirlwind. With /
n this, the skilled mechanic in Ne
- York is a digniaed, seif-respectin
~ good-mannered, kindly fellow, and
NJ often as not very good looking.
II But the best Of the countrymen a
- Of the foreigners are quick to acce
the schooling Of the New World q
its one great town. The raw pessa
employed at unskilled labor common
finds that his daily wages incres
within year from his arrival CC
tractors In this town do not care
employ permanently men who are J
worth $3.50 per day az unskilled lab
The skilled foreigners learn presen
IN handle the new and the hes