Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1905-11-23
WORK FOR EVERYBODY.
Occupations in Which the Demand
Now Exceeds the Supply.

occupations in Which the DcrEand
Now Exceeds the Supply.
There is work for everybody who
wants it in the United States to-day,
says the Utica Globe. If any well man
is idle it is because he is lazy; or thinks
| the value Of his labor is greater than
the man who can employ him will pay
for it; or because he has accumulated
enough of the fruits of toll SO that he
can look with contempt upon it. Immi-
grafton is at flood tide. The countries of
Europe which offer so little to their peo-
pie in return for the loyalty and service
which they exact are sending us great
throngs of strong and ambitious, if not
mind-molded, men and women, so that
one is forced to speculate as to how they
are to sustain themselves here. And
while we speculate, the problem solves
itself The great vortex of industry
clutches them with a grip which they
cannot escape and they become 4 part
of the producing machinery which makes
this nation the Industrial marvel of the
world.
1t is an Unsuitable demand which the
varied occupations Of America make
upon its cosmopolitan pOpulace. From
the Atlantic to the Pacific the call is
heard for more men. The channels of
commerce absorb them. The manufac
tories which throw upon the markets of
the world a wonderful mass of utilities
which are eagerly purchased are con-
stantly drawing upon the native and the
incoming population for help. These &C.
equations, with their greater remunera
ton and shorter hours, rob the farm Of
the men it needs. They take from the
building trades young men OF skill and
stamina who, despite the splendid wages
Of construction artisans, think that the
larger industries, with their steadier and
less hazardous employment, offer better
means of livelihood. They take from the
kitchen and the chamber the domestic,
for the average girl, with persiStency
which facts do not warrant, sticks to
the belief that housework offers her less
independence, less pay and more de-
meaning service than the shop and the
mill. To her folly she sacrifices comforts
which the manufacturing plant and the
store counter cannot yield, and opportu-
mites for self-improvement which can
nowhere be found in such generous meas
uFe Us ulluer the mistress Oh Il uOuSeuOiu
with kindly heart and fat purse.
Three phases of the industrial situation
are evident. In the first is the scarcity
of farm labor The fields are ripe and
the harvest is plentiful, but where are
the reapers? The tiller of the soil could
give employment to many more. Not
only in the great Northwest, but in New
York State, there is scarcity of men.
The Department of Agriculture says the
Empire State wants $4,000 farm hands
and will pay each from $50 to $3.50 per
season. SO limited are the hired men
that farmers have to give their own time
in exchange with one another in order to
work their fields. Another phase is the
need of builders in Pittsburg, which is
typical of other large cities. But there,
especially, telegraph dispatches report a
dearth of men in the building lines, so
pronounced that five firms have offered a
bonus Of from 80 cents to 81 per day
above the highest union wages. Manu-
facturers have asked the building trades
for 1000 more men, the shortage having
seriously delayed work on some impor-
tant buildings. The demand is especially
for masons, bricklayers, carpenters.
structural iron workers, housesmiths,
sheet metal workers and puddlers in iron
mills. The third phase is the ever pres.
ent need of domestic servants