Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-29
DOLLAR-A-DAY PEOPLE.
Many Who Are Inefficient and Worth
No Higher Wages.

From Success.
What can you do?" ct don't think can
do much Of anything; I was not brought
UP to anything. and never had to work "
But what do you think you can do?" Il
don't know; never tried anything" do
you write a good hand?" Il don't know
couldn't say" do you write rapidly?"
Not very?" will you write me a letter
of application, so that may get an idea
Of your handwriting and general educa-
tiOn?" Il don't believe I can do that"
This is the substance of a conversation
that recently took place between the fore
woman in charge of the clerks in the sub
scriptions department of a popular month
ly magazine and young girl who had
called in answer to an advertisement for
additional Office workers.
This girl is typical Of hundreds of people
in New York. and in every other large city
In the country, who are haunting publish
ers' Offices, clamoring at the doors of great
business houses, and wandering the
streets. footsore and weary. in search Of
work they cannot find.
Is 1t any wonder that such people fail in
their efforts? Is it surprising, under such
conditions, that an advertisement for a
clerk at s. or SO a week floods the adver-
tiser with hundreds of answers, while one
for man or woman at $4,000 year calls
out not one.
We boast of our educational system, and
the unrivaled opportunities of every boy
and girl living under the American flag to
obtain not only a common school, but also
a college. education if they have grit and
vim enough to work their way to it; yet
our land is full of incompetentS.
The twentieth century, with nineteen
hundred years of preparation and expert
ence and culture back of it, is turning out
a greater number of probable failures than
any of the middle ages, considering the
relative advantages of the times
When we compare Lucy Stone picking
rrsn To nrf,f no ~ Oh n frn n
or a Lucy Larcom working in a factory at
the age of ten, yet through her own UNI
aided efforts attaining high rank as
teacher and poet, with this other girl l1v-
ing in the midst of the opportunities offer
ed at great educational center. who
couldn't write simple letter; when we
compare a boy of the same type with
Garfield sweeping floors and ringing bells,
or an Elihu Burritt learning to translate
Hebrew during the pauses Of his work at
the forge we must answer that the fault
is with individuals. The young people or
our land are not awake to their advan-
tages.
age or more are working in offices or fac
tories, side by side with boys and girls.
and for the same pittance. They failed TO
educate themselves. Youth is past, and
they are reaping what they have sown.
There are, of course, many among them
who are victims of circumstances and are
not really responsible for their present
positions; but the majority are where they
are because they neglected the opportuni-
ties that called insistently to them when
they were boys and girls. Grammar
schools, high schools, evening schools, lee
lures and libraries offered them their
treasures, but they would have none OF
them. Now they complain that they are
unlucky, that fate is against them, and
that others no better or worthter than
they go to the top Of the ladder, while they
remain at the foot.