San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-11
POSITIONS VS.. JOBS

Due to high wages, steady employ
ment and scarcity OF workers in many
OF the manual trades. thousands of
American boys just out of high school
are going i'll for that kind of employ
ment. Carpenters. bricklavers. masons.
painters. finishers. paperhangers and
similar workers arc finding their ranks
recruited with a class of men that for
merly sought only white collar positions.
A distinction used to be drawn be-
tween a position and a Job. The fellow
who went inside had position and the
fellow who went outside had Job. To-
day conditions are exactly reversed so
far rs the pay envelope is concerned. The
position" is the outside work.
1t is one of the hopeful signs OF mod
ern times il the young American can be
induced to work with his hands and his
brains instead of just his brains. Ii the
young American can be successfully
steered away from the office and into
the shop. much good will result Owing
to the invention of adding machines, au-
tomato bookkeeping devices. cash regis
tiers and other Office equipment, employ
ment for office workers has been cut al
most in half. 1t requires no particular
skill to operate an adding machine. The
boOkkeerer OF fifty years ago was an ex-
pert. The bookkeeper of today not III
frequently. can scarcely add column of
figures. He does not have to add. He
is provided with machine that does
the work for him. All he does is punch
the buttons.
The American boy who goes into man.
ual trades will accomplish two things.
He not only will make larger wages
which is OF secondary importance. but he
will improve his physical health and ele-
vatc the trades of this country which
are sadly in need of some such stimulat-
ing influences. Moreover he will in part,
relieve the congestion in the large indus
trial centors because he will remove COM
petition for limited number OF white
collar Jobs.
Looking at the subject from former
angle-the social side. there is no rea-
son whatever to look down on the Young
man who chooses TO work with his hands
in comparison with the office worker or
store clerk. The manual worker has lust
as polite calling as the white collar
worker and he usually is many times
more useful. The time once was when
every boy was supposed to learn a trade
and any schooling over and above that he
got. usually was through his own efforts.
That was the heyday of the American
worker too, when the manual trades were
at their best, when workers combined
brains with muscles and turned out a
class of work almost unknown to the
modern worker who is urged to speed
rather than quality.
There is 4 scarcity in all of the manual
trades today OF competent men. There
are many workers masquerading as
skilled workers who are incompetents.
They will be eliminated in time by COM
petent workers and so much the better
ii native born American youths fill the
places. But aside from that angle of it,
there is room in the manual trades for
many thousands of competent workers
to handle the ordinary and normal work
OF the country from year to year. The
young graduate who goes into such work
will find much better opening and far
more promising field than he will find
in the average office or store. Moreover
he will be improving his health, helping
his country and clevating the particular
trade which he adoDts.