Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-11-15
THE MAN WHO CAN WORK
IS A COURTED INDIVIDUAL
The Shortage Of Common Labor and the
Changing Status of the
White.Collar Man

IN RECENT years great many people
= have been woefully concerned about the
welfare of the Common Man. The Common
Man. as he appeared to anxious theorists,
was the one who. lacking special talent or
training, was compelled to do the hard and
elemental labor Of the earth. Doubtless he
was badly used and neglected in the past
and overcrowdcd in his particular field. But
times have changed. They still are chang.
ing.
Nowadays, rs successive reports from all
quarters indicate, the man who can engage
without distress or collapse In any Of the
primitive and wholesome forms Of physical
labor Is the most ardently wooed person in
the industrial field.
lie is hard to find. His wages are going
up. lie is beginning to experience the nd.
vantngcs that fall normally only to the
specially gifted. And It should surprise no
ole II some future political campaigns swing
upon the question of the changed state of the
White Collar Man.
Once the white collar was accepted as
sign Of superiority Of place and attainments.
Now 1t Is beginning TO he the sign Of the
humble and the unwnnted. Lawyers. doc.
tors. clerks. statesmen and the minor profes.
sionals clutter the Landscape and tread upon
one another's toes. Skilled labor and even
technical labor are plentiful enough. l'ut we
nre learning that II there aren't people about
to wrench iron out Of the earth and dig tun.
nels md bitches md lift burdens and cut
through mountains, all the other works Of
civilization will he seriously impeded.
We are learning that there was something
wildly wrong about the belief. created In the
too gcnteel days of Mckinley and Victoria.
that honest manual labor was somehow
vocation for the unfit.
The processes that have forced this change
Of view have little to do with the new i'm.
migration laws. The modern immigrant
comes to this country not to work. but 70
get rich to hang about the cities. to escape
from toll. The workers are disappen ring
even In Europe. Rrawn. as an abstract
ideal. has had some appreciation in the col.
leges. 1t is In industry that the rugged
person able to thrive on fresh air and cxer.
else and meat and green's and potatoes Is
now esteemed almost beyond words.
He has some Of the aspects Of vanishing
| type. He hasn't had IN opportunity to
| cultivate the habits of life and diet which,
as DR.. s. r. Harris. president Of the
Southern Medical Association. said yester.
day. lead to progressive physical desen.
| eracy In America
Tho Common Man himself Is far from
content. Ile aches to risk his neck In pow.
erful motorcars and to acquire the spiritual
and nervous prostrations that affect the
over-rich and the persistently jazzed. He
appears seldom In the divorce courts. He
covrts the white collar Of the White Collar
Man. lie doesn't get old before his time in
the cnbarets. The I. W. W. has made q
cause for him. 1t might be said to be cry.
Ing out in flaming words for more jazz and
wine sauce for the proletarint IL wants
more OF the golf that is at best poor sub.
stitute for plowing In field. and more Of
the sort Of life that softens the muscles and
hardens the liver.
The Common Man Is moved to novel de-.
sircs by all this. lie will not he satisfied,
since 1t is only ny new experience that any
| of us acquire wisdom. lie will ngitate and
feel hurt Meanwhile the world that has
| the things he Graves looks out Of Pullman
windows and w!stfully envies the truck .
worker his complexion, his shoulders, his
wind and his digestion. And. as We said
before. common labor is hard to find For II
!s II fact that the people Of the Western
world have been In a way to forget the
trick Of working hard and constructively
with their hands
People who view the situation in n prac.
tica! rather than philosophical light arl
wondering and meeting the emergency with
larger wages. They looked for while te
| Mexico as possible source Of common
labor. Rut after some thousands of Mexi.
cans had been left broke In this country
and nf,er their Government had paid theil
way home, Mexic" began experimenting Will
laws that require protection and qua antee
for all workers who may be invited into tn
United states.
Revision Of The immigration laws will b.
OF little use. There remains the Negro, nm,
there are signs of movement to start
nor.hward migration Of Southern labor sucl
rs took place In the early days OF the wa
industries, All sorts Of troublesome com
nlications would result from such an alter
native. But will the white man ever b
able to recover his enthusiasm for the sor
of labor that mode our civilization wha
II IL?
One thing We are learning: that Ia, tina
wSrk and contacts with the elemental force
Of the earth are not, as the rising generatio
still believes, somehow ignoble and unworth