The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1916-11-02
HOME MEN FOR HOME POSITIONS.

No other proverb of mans coinage is SO true
as the old saying that "a prophet Il .ict without
honor save in his own country" But lor the life
OF us we can see no earthly reason why lie should
be without honor in his ON country. Yet, sad
to state, that seems to be almost in ,ariably the
case.
We have puzzled much over this popularity of
mankind. Why can not 2 young man succeed in
life just as well at home as away from home? Is
it really a fact that he cannot, and has this basic
fact Of human nature given rise to TIE proverb?
Or has the endless repetition Of the proyerb work
ed to create the condition?
We believe the latter slpposition to be correct.
We can see no good reason why, all things else
being equal, a young man should not succeed just
as well at home as abroad. - ~
And this suggests another phase of the ques-
ton.
Why is it that many communities have gotten
into the habit of seeking s~>rlicants for response
Bile positions among the citizens Of other COM
munities?. This is PARTICULAR true in education
al circles. Any man with g knowledge of school
conditions knows that, go where you will, you will
find the greater lumber Of responsible positions
IN any community filled by people from a distance.
Rarely is a home man found in such a position.
Our young men and young women grow up,
study and secure good educations, only to scatter
out in the world in search of good positions while
the management Of their home schools is turned
over to strangers.
Go into the stores and manufacturing plants
of almost any town, and you will find the same
conditions prevailing there-home boys leaving
home in search of employment, while their faith
ers are importing their assistants from a dis
lance.
Now we submit that this condition of things
is all wrong. People argue themselves into the
belief that a young man can not succeed where he
IS known Of everybody and where he knows every
body else, and so a stranger fills the place that
should be his, while he roams the world in search
Of a position in lieu of the one that by rights he
should fill.
"Home men for home POSITIONS is the just
and sensible view to take. In the first place, the
home man is well known, and we run no risk Of
picking an incompetent or untrustworthy man in
selecting him as when we employ a stranger.
Who has not known, for instance in schools, of
many communities torn up and disorganized by
incompetent and unreliable teachers brought from
a distance? Such instances are all too numerous
and in many of these cases it might have been so
easily avoided had those responsible for the
trouble have only employed a home man who was
probably anxious for the place and really in need
of it.
If we are loyal to our own community we must
stick to our home people. We must see to it that
no stranger fills a position which a home man is
of filling and will accept. This is not only
the sane and sensible rule to adopt, but it is only
justice. No man should be forced to seek employ
ment from strangers while there are positions to
be filled among his home people for which he is
fully qualified.
Let us stick to our boys and girls. 1t will pay
rs and them.