Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1901-03-01
is 1T A PROFESSION.
COURTS OF GREAT BRITAIN SAY
BARBGRiNG ONCE WAS.

'oN'eSS"os - Shsb FVSSuoiuNot
Calling. or Trade. in This Country.
The act before our State Legislature
for prescribing license for BARRIERS
based upon skill, knowledge and GER
tain personal requirements, recalls to
mind that it is only short time ago
that an English court decided that
shaving and haircutting should be
numbered among the professions.
This tribunal based its finding or a
law of Parliament enacted in the four
teenth century giving legal recogni-
ton of what had existed in fact for
ages. The barber as shaver and
hair-dresser, and also as an untiring
and Hever-ending conversationalist,
with all the conversation on his side.
is as old as civilization. Ancient his
tory gives the barber recognition be-
| cause he was a man of distinction.
In his order defining what the proph.
cts should do with their hair, Ezekiel
said: "And thou, son of man, take
thee a BARRIERS razor and cause it TO
pass upon thine head and upon thine
beard" Whether Ezekiel ordered the
prophets to shave themselves lest
they should be talked to death while
sitting in the barber's chair, he does
not so much as intimate, but he ad.
mitted that the barber and his razor
were matters of course.
In bygone ages, BARRIERS were profes-
sional blood.letters, that being spe-
cific for almost every disease, and the
red stripe on the barber's pole was an
insignia of his sanguinary avocation.
Subsequently the NJ. DIS procured an
act of Parliament declaring the pro.
fession of barber foreign and inde-
pendent of that of surgery and it for
bade BARRIERS performing surgical op-
erations. Up to that time BARRIERS
belonged to the gentry class or the
next step above those in commercial
pursuits. 1t was that act of Parlia-
ment that became the wedge which
finally split the fraternity off the So
cial log and stripped it Of its gentry"
toga. Perhaps it is not generally
known that until quite recently the
surgeons of the Swedish navy we're
also the BARRIERS for the crew.
Before the introduction of the rail-
way and the telegraph in England q
barber shop was a sort OF general news
agency. Anyone receiving news from
abroad or hearing anything OF interest
relating to local affairs or to the king
dom would hasten to the barber shop
to circulate it. The shop was gene
raj resort for idlers and 1t was no un-
common sight to see lords and ladies
dropping in to hear the news and lis
ten to the music which the barber fur
nished during shop hours, though the
band usually consisted of but one Lutte
player. Whoever the caller might be
the conventions Of society obliged him
to treat the barber with consideration,
for his position before the world was
anything but plebeian. He was q gen.
tleman both by birth and association,
professor Of barbery." as the Eng
lish law put it, and "scientiss in sur.
gery."
The BARRIERS chair, foot rest and
other appliances to insure comfort to
customers are modern. Until recent
years the victim-for he was victim
would sit on stool or straight
backed chair and submit to having
his head pulled and hauled about
to suit the humor of the barber. To
this day nearly all the Asiatics use
the stool or straight-backed chair
and the basin of soap. The Chinese
barber shops in San Francisco fol-
low the old custom, but ae their most
particular work is shaving beads per-
haps their way is the better one for
them.
An occupation that is merely me.
chanical is not called q profession in
the United States, but the business of
making the liquids which the barber
uses is profession, because some
knowledge of chemistry is required.
In recent years barber shops have re-
ceived good deal of attention from
inventors with the result that work is
now done with greater ease by the
barber and with more comfort to his
patrons.
Prices, too, have been reduced. A
quarter of a century ago shaving cost
% cents and hair-cutting so cents,
but these figures have been reduced to
Is cents for shaving and to 25 cents
for hair-cutting. Location of the
shop, its fixtures and appointments
have much to do with prices in the
East, where sometimes one may get a
"shave" as low a. q nickel.
The reduction in prices and the
many comforts of modern shops has
increased the business of BARRIERS
greatly in recent years. Some BARRIERS
claim there is more profit in the busi-
ness than ever before and nearly all
OF them agree that the business never
had so many skilled "artists" as now
and that wages even are higher, all
things considered.