Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-13
Shackles for Printers.

AN order OF PUBLIC Printer Carter
that apprentices at the Government
Printing Office shall not pursue profess
sional Studies-medicine, law, ETC.
seems bound to arouse vigorous discus
sion. OF no great significance in itself,
since the number affected is few, the
order involves such far-reaching prin-
ciples that it is not likely to escape
without challenge. On its face it APP
pears directly contrary to the Amert-
can tradition. Sympathetic interpre-
tation is necessary to absolve Mr.. Car
ter from the charge of almost unprece-
dented autocracy.
The public printer is quoted as ex-
planning, I'VE hold the belief that their
acceptance of pay to learn printing
tends to become an act of accepting
money under false pretenses when they
turn to professional studies also" The
reasoning is difficult to follow. In fair
ness, it probably must be assumed that
there were more valid reasons under
lying the order.
Ordinarily what q man does with his
time outside working hours-so long
as his activities are legal, not scandal
lous and not calculated to injure his
mental and physical efficiency-is his
own business. Mr.. Carriers objections,
it is possible, are that night school stu
dents in Government departments are
more interested in their school work
than in their jobs and have an in
escapable temptation to study during
working hours. This doubtless inter-
feres with efficiency. It is a problem
with which department chiefs have
wrestled for many years.
But the order Is not stated in that
way. The implication is that Mr.. Carter
holds that person who accepts the
pay Of an apprentice is receiving con-
siderably greater compensation than the
work justihes and that he Is morally
bound to become printer because Of
this. He seems to believe that a man
mortgages his future, that he sells not
only his time but his life.
Presumably he would have no OBJ
lection to an apprentice pursuing any
other studies, however rigorous and
time-consuming, which did not lead d.
rectly to profession. His objection,
as stated, is not to the possible inter-
ference of school with work, but to the
horrible prospect of man trained as
a printer deserving this craft for a
more agreeable means of livelihood
using printing as a stepping stone.
However pressing may be the need of
trained craftsmen, the doctrine Is likely
to meet scant public approval.
In effect, Of course, the order might
be interpreted as prohibiting printer
apprentices from studying anything
whatsoever-for any line of study, in
the present complexity of civilization.
may lead to profession. Mr.. Carter
objects to the apprentices learning law,
for he seems to hold that they are
morally bound to become printers and
not lawyers. Would he object to one
OF them taking violin lessons--holdinR
that the acceptance of an apprentice
ship morally obligates man to for
swear all aspirations toward becoming
second Kreisler? Would he object
to the study of Anglo-Saxon prosody
or Chinese philosophy? He would, if he
is consistent.
A general acceptance of what appears
to be Mr.. Carriers philosophy might
although this is doubtful-result in
better craftsmen. But it would mean
hard stratification of society COM
parable to that of the worst urewar
autocracies of the Old World and
utterly unacceptable on this side of the
Atlantic where we still cling to the
idea that there is no inherent obiec-
ton or unpassable obstacle to a printer
becoming President.
1t is to be hoped that Mr.. Carter
restates his order-or recalls It. Such a
revolutionary precedent is not to be
lightly established.