The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1909-08-05
PRESENT DAY OPPORTUNITIES.

The opinion is often advanced,
sometimes orally, sometimes in print, that
the young men of today do not enjoy
the same opportunities for advancement,
preferment and the requirement of wealth
as did the young men of a generation or
SO ago Those who put forward this
opinion base it on the fact that the en-
tire country is now practically settled up
and that Il denser population has resulted
in Il severcr and more strenuous struggle
in all lines of effort, making it more diff
fcult for the individual to break over the
limits of environment.
Assertions of this kind may obtain
credcnce with the superficial observer, but
to the man who has accustomed himself
to looking on both sides of the question
these assertions appear not merely absurd
but untrue.
When the Revolutionary closed and
the colonies became independent states of
the first free government established in
the New World, the avenues open to
young man, for advancement and prefer.
ment. were few and far between.
Aside from few poorly paid college
professorships and the ministry-equally
poorly paid-open only to men of learn
ing, there were but two professions that
ii young man could enter, with the hope
of gaining for himself even a moderate
competence.
These were the legal and the mcdi-
cal professions, and there is no record
of any lawyer or any doctor. who prac-
ticed his profession Il century ago, at
tanning to anything like great wealth. no
matter to what eminencc in his profession
his individual ability raised him. \ few
lawyers, who developed ability, worked
their way to the front, and became prom
'ncnt or controlling factors in the public
affairs of their day and generation, but
their number was exceedingly limit ed. and
would make but Il small percentage of the
bar association of any of the larger cities
of the present.
The great body of the American pco-
pie in the earlier years of the Republic s
existence We're agriculturists. and the
prevailing methods of agriculture were
crude, the principal farming implements
being the hoe-a very clumsy one too. as
then made-thc plow-scarccly less
clumsy-thc sickle the scythe. the fail
and the aX. These were generally made
by the village blacksmith and were prim-
Ivlte IN pattern and construction
Merchandising and sea faring offered
certain limited opportunities to those who
lived III the cities and towns along the
sea coast. Transportation overland was
by pack trains or wagons. and travel bv
horseback stage coach
With the advent of the steamboat came
an expansion of opportunities Men were
wanted for captains. mates. bookkeepcrs
and particularly for engineers and pilots.
and the last two named commanded wages
that were regarded as phenomenal
When the railroad came new opportuni-
ties were created. and these opportunities
have so expanded and increased that the
over two million men.
Every new invention of labor saving
implement machine meant enlarged
opportunities for as many men as were
needed to make and market it, with the
result that there are now hundreds of fac
tories of gigantic proportions that offer
To labor. skill and ability opportunities
unknown century ago
The wonderful development of electric
ity has opened up an inviting and attrac-
tive field of effort for young men all over
fers are snch to insure not only places
OF responsibility to the competent. but
compensation undreamed of in the DAVIS
OF benjamin Franklin.
In short. opportunities have multiplied