Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1906-08-03
Something Out of Tune.

SOln6llllllg Uul OF lune.
There appears to be something sadly
out of whack with our industrial
fabric. The county is enjoying a
boom in prosperity never before wit
messed to q like extent III Its wonder
fully progressive hlstory-indeed,
never paraIIeIed in the worlds his
tory. Every wage Garner able and
willing to work is working at good
wages. The tramp of the army of the
unemployed is no more heard in the
land. Every wheel in the complex
machinery of industry is moving to
its utmost capacity, and still the out
put fails to satisfy the demands.
This has been the condition of
things for years. 1t is not mere
spasm. In sympathy with this labor
demand, the wages for all kinds of
manual work-the commonest grade
of labor has been travelling skyward,
and is still travelling. The spectacle
is presented of mechanics, brick
layers for Misunderstanding $40 per
day of eight hours, with 81 per hour
overtime. Other tradesmen are
approximating these flood tide rates.
How long can the Industrial fabric
hold up at such extortionate wages.
The whole system is turning topsy
turvey. Brain work-such as that
demanded Of lawyers, doctors, and
others-is not paid anything like in
proportion. Their average earnings
in these piping times do not total up
anyway near. those of the common
laborers. The plain logic of this
situation is that we are long on the
devotees of the professions, and short
on artisans and unskilled toilers.
Our high-toned educational institu-
tions are annually turning out thou
sands of graduates to exc out precar-
rious living as lawyers, etc. The vast
majority of them will never be able
to earn more than miserable exist.
ence in their respective professions
Many of them will be forced from
sheer necessity into the ranks of the
manual laborers, and will greatly
benefit their financial prospects by
the novel change of base. Think Of
it. The monetary inducements are
now strongly drifting toward the
callings that require least Slime anc
mental capacity to master.
1t is very serious problem
whether the IiberaIity of our educa
tionaI system has not largely contri.
button to thus throwing our indus
trial fabric into disorder. The popu.
lar clamor for free higher educa
tlon-that university training
should be placed within easy reach of
every boy and girI-has diverted
thousands from the paths of gainfuI
pursuits, for which nature had in
tended them, to the ragged edge of
professional life, where the struggle
for bare existence is becoming fiercer.
Io some, who cling to the naked Idea
that Labor is king'' this condition
OF affairs may seem right and proper,
and in accordance with their ideals.
Labor is the creator of all wealth,
they cry; why should not labor own
that which it creates. But this CIV
is a hollow and delusive one. Labor
is truly king. No one will dispute
that proposition. But labor itself.
even far beyond the sphere of the
terms skilled and unskilIed in their
ordinary acceptation, is graded and
classified by natures inexorable
DEGREES.
There Use as much difference in
mental and muscular labor in human
nature. as there is variety in the
metallic ores hid away in the earth.
And the intrinsic value of the differ
ent kinds of human labor is governed
by the same immutable law that fixes
the value of the various metals. Gold
is placed at the top in value, not
because it Is the most useful, but
because of its rarity and the difficult
ties involved In its recovery from its
native receptacles. Iron is a far
more useful metal, but it cannot
compete with the yellow metal in
value. So it is in the world of human
labor. The common muscular labor
is like the iron-there is plenty of
1t. The high class expert mental
labor-the planning, inventive, and
scientific enius-represents the gold
IN the labor world. 1t is useless to
attempt to make the common iron
crowd the golden channel of labor.
But that is what our impractical
educational system is trying to ac-
complish.