The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-01-03

- well, uo'S d uu6 aCCOuul6ub UHI ~
I'd send him uptown oman errand be
might accomplish the errand all right,
and, on the other hand, might stop al
four saloons on the way, and when be
got to Main street would forget what
he had been sent for. ~ n4t3y 4 3 q
Can such man be entrusted to car
ry q message to Garcia ~ 's&2 VI
We have recently been hearing
much maudin sympathy expressed foI
the "down-trodden denizen OF the
sweatshop" and the "homeless wand
erer searching for honest employ
ment," and with it all often 60 many
hard words for the men in power. 90
Nothing is said about the employer
who grows old before his time In q
vain attempt to get frowsy ne'er-do-
wells to do Intelligent work and his
long, patient striving with "help''
that does nothing but loaf when his
back is turned. In every store. and
factory there Is constant wedding out
process going on. The employer is
constantly sending away t'help" that
have shown their incapacity to further
the interests of the business, and others
are being taken on. No matter how
good times are, this sorting continues,
only if times are hard and work is
scarce, the sorting is done iner-but
out and forever out, the Incompetent
and unworthy go. 1t is the survival
of the fittesl. Self-interest prompts
every employer to keep the best-those
who can carry message to Garcia.
know one man of really brilliant
parts who has not the ability to
manage business Of his own, and yet
who is absolutely worthless to anyone
else, because he carries with him con-
stantly the insane suspicion that his
employer is expressing, or intending
to oppress, him. He cannot give
orders, and he will not receive them.
Should a message be given him to take
to Garcia, his answer would probably
be, "Take it yourself"
Tonight this man walks the streets
looking for work, the wind whistllng
through his threadbare coat. No one
who knows him dare employ him, for
he is q regular firebrand Of discomfort.
He Is impervious to reason, and the
only thing that can impress him Is the
toe Of thick-sole No. 9 boot. Or
course I know that one 30 morally
deformed is no less to be pitied than a
physical cripple; but in our pity
ing, let us drop tear, too, for the
men who are striving to carry on a
great enterprise, whose working hours
are not at all limited by the whistle,
and whose bair is fast turning while
through the struggle to hold In line
dowdy indifference shipshod imbecili-
ty and the heartless ingratitude, which,
but for their enterprise, would be both
hungry and homeless. ,
Have put the matter too strongly :?
Possibly T have; but when all the
world has gone a-slumming wish to
speak word of sympathy for The man
who Osucceeds-the man who, against
great odds, had directed the efforts of
others, and having succeeded inds
there's nothing IN it nothing but bare
board and clothes. 1 have carried
dinner pail and worked for days wag-
es, and I have also been an employer of
labor, and know there issomething to
be said on both sides. There is no excel
lence, per se, in poverty; rags are no
recommendations, and all employers
are not rapacious and high-handed,
any more than all poor men are vir-
tuous.
My heart goes out to the man who
does his work when the "boss" is
away, as we'll as when he is at home.
And the man who, when given letter
for Garcia quickly takes the missive
without asking any idiotic questions,
and with no lurking intention OF