Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1913-05-23
THE FUTURE OF LABOR.

speaking VI tuC loANNAAoy ~
to feel that they are above "common
labor. the Duluth News-Tribune says
That the schools of today educate
bows away from common labor Is
truisn. Every one admits this;
great many applaud it. Yet there must
ALWAYS be common labor; must Their
ignorance be continuously imported tc
Fill its ranks7
A good many thoughtful mel "r'
asking this question and on tn iron
ranges with their splendid schools
among the most advanced IN methods
and most completely equipped in the
United States, it is asked with great
deal of seriousness.
The mining interests have not only
willingly, but as settled policy, pad
the far larger part Of the cost Of these
schools. But the boys from them do
not follow their fathers into the mines
to do manual labor. What is the cure
for this condition. Is it fault Of ed
location or is it good omens
A mining superintendent recently
sad that at the same cost of produc.
zion machine was preferable to men.
Why? Well, one reason is that a ma
chine IS never educated above its bust
ness; another is that it is always de-
lenlable.
But just why should a boy gradual
ed from high school refuse to start
with shovel and pick to work ont
business SUGGEST Is there any such
thing in right thinking as unskilled Ia
bor7 There is right way and a wrong
way to handle even these commonest
of tools, and to regard the material
handled. The right way is that of in
telligence, the wrong way that of ig-
norance.
Boys left the farm largely because
all soil to them was just dirt; all farm
work was but manual routine, cow
was COW, horse was horse, plant
ing was but labor process and grow
ing grain had no meaning.
Today education has put meaning
into all of this. Intelligence under
standing has given it all interest.
There is no longer right place on q
farm for ignorance and from the plow
to the thresher brains are in demand
for every item of hand work.
We believe that the same process
that has brought this change will
bring similar transformation every.
where else whether in the mines or IN
the ditch. There should be no such
thing as unskilled labor and any boy
that is willing to take his trained
brains into the mine or ditch will fiud
plenty of interest and continuously de-.
velop them, and fitting reward.
Mining captains, superintendent,
managers, and presidents have come
largely from the ranks Of those who
worked in the ore with their hands.
This! is equally true in all the ;odus-
tries and it is more important to i'm
press this fact upon boys in school,
than it is to give them courses of
study which have no meaning and no
relation to their every day life.
1t is of first Importance to teach
school boys that the first essential in
success, the only sure way to success
is to do whatever they have to do SO
we'll that they will have a personal
pride in the result. One thing done
carefully, thoroughly and completely is
worth as training and as preparation
dozen half done or thoughtlessly
done.
We believe every school boys should
have certain amount of manual wor.,
to do not only in the shops, but out of
doors. 1t is just as essential that 2
boy should know how to mix and Law
concrete, dig the ditch and make the
foundation, should learn to drain, ex
cavate, build, to handle a shovel. ;
wheelbarrow and the other so.callcr
common tools, as that he should learr
to make table, or desk or tool or Bit
of ornamental iron.
There is artistry in the one as vel
as in the other. There is mental dis
cipline in the one as we'll as in tn,
other and there is that true cultur,
that comes only with Thoughtful thor
oughness, with thinking which is tn
basis Of all culture.
Boys can be trained to put skill i,
unskilled labor; they can be taught t.