Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1921-07-22
V'VIvIv3~ NJ IVIV1cI0f1lVlV
From Other Pens
Student Investigators of Labor

| Stuuent investigators OF Labor
Few men who ride on trains know
how the tires were placed in the road
bed, or care to know They pay for
The ride. But the fact is that a great
deal of sweaty toll was expended in
bedding the ties in the gravel. Doubt
less they were carried on straining
backs to the cars that brought them
thither. Toss one to your shoulder
under June Sun and try it, Thirsty
perspiring men snuggled them into
the grade and tamped them down.
and heard the foreman's shouted ad-
monition: keep them shovels NOV
ing!" A competent, complacent tie
wearied many back before it made
smooth the way for the passenger
This truth, among others relative
to labor, presumably will be learned
by 20 undergraduates of Princeton
who have vowed to mingle with the
day workers for season, and gan
thereby an understanding of the prob
lens and struggles and aspirations
of labor. Inasmuch as the students
are raw material, unskilled in any
craft, tasks comparable to tamping
ties will be their portion. They will
be infinite with labor, as task, in
any event. But what will they de-
rive that can be of benefit to the
understanding of society with regard
to labor?
| The college youth is by no means
a new element in the ranks of day
labor. 1t has long been his occa-
sional custom, either for funds or
the fun of it, to spend a vacation in
the harvest fields or the construct on
camp. Yet if one of the fraternity
has brought back message worth
while, as these Princeton undergrad
yates promise to do, there is no rec
ord of it. 1t is obvious that single
season among the toilers of Drawn
cannot yield more than hazy con
ception of the viewpoint of labor.
For the experimental youth is never
compelled, by harsh and unrelenting
circumstance, totally to change places
with the fellow in overalls. Always
he has the knowledge Of security, of
potent resources, and the assurance
that for him at least the job doesn't
matter. Under this handicap he can
not attain the state of mind essential
to true analysis. Hopelessness is
never tasted by him, nor despair, nor
the sharp dread of losing job. He
is apt, far too much so, to emerge
from the trial with a soul full of
half-digested theory, and with moth
ing of service save his own hardened
muscles.
| 1t may even be that the young in
vestigator will, as many better
man, be prompted to break lance
for certain "downtrodden" elements
that, disguise the truth as we will,
were born to the pick and shovel and
have no thought above three meals
and a pipe. There is no cruelty in
such a statement, nor wish to thwart
or deaden ambition. 1t is fact, and
the worker who has within him the
essential inspiration and brains and
willingness will prove its truth by
rising Undergraduates cannot hope
to cope with the problems to which
labor leaders and gifted economists
have given and are giving exhaustive
thought.
AS a democratizing experience the
adventure proposed by the Prince
ton students will do them a world of
good, and as a physical experience 1t
will lengthen their lives. But from
| the economic standpoint it can do no
more than teach them the worth of
toll and their fellowship to those who
eat their bread by the sweat of their
brows. The recollection of that va
cation will react generously upon
| their attitude toward labor, and, as
Stunning that some of them will be-
come employers, will serve to fit
them for that duty. But as a source
of enlightenment to the country at
large the experiment will discover
nothing that is not known.--The
Morning Oregonian.