The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-05-06
THE NATIONS
HUMAN RESOURCE
Scholarly Address by Prof. Charles
zueblin Under Auspices of
Brattleboro Woman's Club.

brattIeboro Woman'S Club.
finished and scholarly address on
the subject, The Nation s Human Re
source, which engrossed the attention
of "a small audience, was delivered in
the Congregational church last night
by Prof Charles Zueblin of Boston,
who came under the auspices of the /
Brattleboro Woman s club. The speak
er made. decidedly favorable impress
sion, but there was little inspiration
for him in the mass of empty pews. A
highly educated man of pleasing pre- i
senee, Prof Zueblin gave a lecture
worthy of crowded house He is the
pioneer in promoting civic revivals,
and none hear him without feeling a
sense of obligation to strive for the
betterment of community conditions.
His address was, in part, as follows;
At present there is no accurate
measure of efficiency. while all honest
4 men and women are trying to get their
share of advancing prosperity. For
most of them, this is impossible with
I ont organization This is peculiarly true
/ of manual workers, because the con
/ ditions of their employment and their
. -
/ the competition of unscrupulous en-
/ plovers and inefficient workmen. The
4 former compete with the honest en-
1 ployers, and the latter with the able
w0rlmen, to reduce wages.
The necessity for an organization for
| each group of workers, to maintain
their standards of living, may be ap-
preciayed if we consider how similar
|. their methods are to those of other or
4 CARNATIONS. They attempt, i'll the first
instance, to maintain their right to the
/ trade and to the exclusion of non-unjon
workmen, by the methods of monopoly
and efficiency. Some times the best
workmen do not belong to trade unions,
but on the whole it is the least efficient
who are unorganized; and the protec-
ton of the majority involves monOpo-
| ly. Objectionable as this term is to us,
we may understand it if we compare
trade unionists with physicians. Ply
sicians have to protect themselves
against pharmacists, quacks and faith
healers. Whatever the legitimate func-
ton of these groups, the trained ply
sician feels that he has right to his
calling, and he is often justified by
those who criticize trade union.
The trade union has to met the prob
lem of the introduction of machinery
destroying old methods, the entrance
into the trade of women and unskilled
workers, the consequent decline OF the
quality of workmanship, and the grad
ual extension of the idea of a minimum
wage and maximum hours to stand
ard of sanitation and education.
While each group of workers should
be organized for the sake of the value
of the experience, the standards of
living can only be maintained for the
country at large by an appeal from pri-
vate organization to legislation. The
standard of living of the weaker work
ers and the children must be main
| tanned by the state; but the best guar
antee of this maintenance is the organ
| ization of labor.
The day is coming when we shall
want to use the scientific knowledge we
| are acquiring so that every child that
| is to come into the world shall have at
| its entrance the presence of a govern
/ ment physician, to see that all is done
Il properly and that the child is guaran-
Il teed life. The mother may have as
H many private physicians and other peo-
II pie whom she may consider indispens-
II able as are within the command of her
II pocketboOk, but government subsidies
II must guarantee a decent entrance into
III the world. That is n perfectly legiti-
ii mate requisite on the basis of the sci
II entifc knowledge we have. Does that
III seem UtOpian? We already impose q
III penalty for failure to report the death
II of any one. If it is concealed, we look
L into the matter and suspect crime
II Surely it is more of crime not to get
Il children properly into the world.
III Children will no longer dread the
II schools when we begin to use our scien
II tiic knowledge in the treatment they
II receive there. Already we have nurses
II and medical inspectors in some of the
II schools, and give the pupils good foo6
once a day, though there are people
who cry out against these things as
paternalism. Meanwhile we are going
on in the same old way, breeding NJ
better children, giving all our money tt
increasing our scientific attainments il
, the rearing of dogs, horses, cattle anG
poultry.
This country suffers from more
serious accidents than any other coun
try in the world. 1t is almost incred
n ible to think that in a school in Cleve
Of land two hundred little children ha(
lr their lives snuffed out, while in
Pennsylvania town a similar holoeaus
took place only few weeks befor,
and the disaster at the Iroquois theatr
in Chicago occurred only year earlier
= 1t is incredible that these things shoul,
> be repeated in the same country, whel
we know how to protect buildings from
= fire. We know what sanitary precau
tions are, but we are just beginning t
take them.
We shall go on in this application o
science still farther. We shall begi
to distribute our population. We know
where we need people today, and W
know where we do not need any NOR