The silver star., 1899-11-24


Good.
It certainly seems at hrst sight to
be an economic danger this educating
OF the laboring man and woman to be
far too good for laborer's work. Let
us cast our thoughts. however. over
wider horizon, and see how the de-
cades that bring the peril are also
bringing the remedy. Science is stead
lily sweeping away all those humblest
classes Of employment. Hardly any
man has now to toll up ladders with
the hod Of bricks upon his shoulders.
The donkey engine does the purely
animal part Of the work. The reaper
Is replaced by the machine and the
ploughman is fast receding as the
steam plough makes its appearance.
We rarely see long lines of men laden
with coal bags, running up planks, as
In the olden days. The need OF men to
do the work Of horses is steadily d.
minishing.
1t is true that science has by no
means conquered the whole domain.
There is still much scrubbing of floors
to be done by men and women on
bended knees; and coal is still hewn
out with pick and axe and the use Of
muscle, with but little use Of brains.
And yet, even in our fertile country,
science never works by revolution,
but only by progress. One domain af-
ter another has gone. Where are now
the armies Of water carriers and chair
porters, and night men and sawyers,
whom our grandfathers used to re-
quire? Imagine IL ships had still to
be moved by galley rowers what mil
lions would be doomed to a beast-like
toll. Some parts of the big domains
OF unrefected labor will long be left
untouched. but the process is going
forward; and 1t Is clear that while ed
ucation Ia rendering the lower classes
unht for the humblest sorts of occupa-
tions, science is steadily sweeping
away these occupations. 1t would be
too much TO hope that these processes
should be at all times strictly proper
toned to one another. But in the
general drift Of thin g they are COM
pensatory. and II we only give to sci
ence reasonable time it will leave us
none of that labor to be done which
requires an uneducated laborer.
Then comes the uhelsy question as
to what is to become of the classes
thus deprived of occupation. The
working classes themselves often
curse the progress Of invention, and
are tempted to look upon 1t as no
friend to their welfare. There are
now, 1t is true, no longer any machine
breaking frenzies; but the difYiculty Of
ten arises In an acute. though silent.
suffering. Unfortunately society has
always to travel to permanent good
through transitory ills. When an
army Of competitors Is dismissed be-
cause someone has invented a machine
there Is some excuse for bitter feel
ing. And yet there was a time when
a whole army Of manuscript book cop
iers had to give way before the advent
Of the compositor.
But the dificulty is always evanes-
cent. for here. too. there are compen-
sating influences at work. For II SCI
cnce il abolishing occupations at the
lower end OF the scale, she Is creating
new ones at the top. Think Of the
hundreds Of thousands Of men who In
England are now employed In caiiings
that had no existence sixty years ago;
the telegraphers. the photographers,
and machinists Of a hundred kinds.
In the last decade or two what an
army Of skilled men have been de-
manded by the invention Of the bicy-
Gle. the telephone and the electric
light AZ compared with the begin
ming Of the century think Of the long
array Of marine and locomotive en-
gineers. the chemists. the journalists,
the draughtsmen. the teachers, the
postmen, railway porters and train
conductors. What multitude Of call
ings are there which are either new
Or else newly stocked. 20 that, while
the population has quadrupled, their
ranks have been multiplied . hundred
fold. But It 10 the entirely new en-
ployments that strike the mind most
forcibly. and any one who runs his eye
down . census Of the occupations Of
the people will satisfy himself that in
England Of the present day one-nfth
part Of the adult male population nnd
their livelihood In callings that had
no existence when the century began.
Thus while science takes away with
one hand II literally bestows with the
other. but what It takes away are the
low class occupations. and what It
Gives are the high class ones, demand
Ing intelligence and cuitivating II.
The general tendency IL. therefore, hu-
manising.
1ilissss 81 osail.
The section Of country around the