| Show k tel 4 r f v r Mer j h i M 1 I e i X tim W rr I I n 1 A U 1 n I Ii I i i America Americas s Most Lost Serious I y I i r l S T Economic Problem Today i ib V-J V ii b tl M g e I Says Labor Leader in Cabinet 1 i M II L iI U i a li fl I i I I Ill I U p I Is to Get Our Orr Young Men JIen I I Back to Honest Tool Toil 1 I T N I I I A. A 1 I and 1 While our young men a women crowd into the skyscraping skyscraping sky sky- i I sera scraping in office buildingS buildingS' which buildings line the street canyons of our Burr i v- v cities our industries ar are i iline clamoring for workers I Y I Ill r rII I Ix 4 II tt i J j lI W I JJ n 1 r rI I I 1 r t tr L r 1 r t 1 J V t S 1 i THE THE United States may be riding for a at t fall economically and financially if isn't done to turn the minds t of our young men away from the idea t that at manual labor is undignified and a athing athing athing thing to be scorned says Secretary of Labor James J. J Davis t For it has been known since the beginning bet be- be f ginning of time says Secretary Davis Davis r that brains without brawn cannot make and maintain a great people History has proved again and again that a nation of thinkers only cannot survive The thinkers must be balanced by the doers r We have before us a concrete c example c of the danger that lies in this contempt f for honest toil Recently an American investigator tor made a survey of conditions condition in the African Republic of Liberia Liberia Liberia Li Liberia Li- Li beria was founded soon after the Civil War Its pioneers were American Ner Negroes Negroes Ne Ne- r groes who had served in the war Today that Republic which began life so vigorously vigorously vigorously vigor vigor- and so energetically two generations generations generations genera genera- ago is declining toward utter ruin tl Its founders attacked the rude face of tt nature with courage and with energy Today I am informed the labor of r their hands lies almost in ruins t. t The investigator who visited the dying dy dy- q that the for the ther 1 ing lag republic says reason r decay is found in in the occupations of the preach preach- j descendants They are lawyers preach preachers i ers ere small traders clerks and politicians r. r Their fathers who drained the e swamps t i fought fevers cleared the jungles and o prospered wanted their sons to be gentlemen gentlemen gen I and made no provision for carrying carrying carrying carry carry- ing on the work of the pioneers Their sons and daughters were sere sent to school where they aimed to acquire white collar habits an and master I ions lions This ge generally was accepted as asi i the definition of a gentleman and re reveals reveals re- re further the popular belief that agIt agriculture ag ag- or manual labor of any kind as is js It J the function only of savages Now America is not Liberia But Buto o f any thinking man may read the U United out of the experience 1 States a lesson of f the little Liberian republic and it is 13 isa r lesson that is' is sorely needed just at atI ator a l or I present it We have built up in America a great J t 1 system of schooling We have been at 1 work for more than a a century building i- i up this system but In in our our building we have one vital factor factor We 4 Jet have stressed too too mu much h the purely academic academic academic aca aca- demic in our ur instruction we have been 00 to accept e education of the mind n too prone alone as the ideal 1 Today we are realizing our mistake for we find that w we are t turning out 9 90 I per cent of our ouy youth equipped for the called so-called o called white-collar white occupations which can provide jobs for only 10 per cent of cf them While our young men and 1 1 w women en leave our schools to crowd into the sky-scraping sky office buildings which line the street canyons of our great cities our industries are clamoring for workers We cannot continue to keep America in inthe inthe inthe the vanguard of civilization if we permit the American people to become exclusively exclusively exclusively ex ex- a white collar people For the soundness of our whole eco ceo economic economic structure structure and and our political institutions Institutions in institutions In- In as well well depends depends upon the man who works with his hands The world markets of the future will belong to the nation whose labor is most skillful and efficient and the nation whose workers are untrained and deficient will find it difficult to hold even its own home market in the period of aggressive aggi competition which is is bound to come when Europe re recovers recovers recovers re- re covers from the depression which ha has followed the war and steps forth with assured economic stride America must make preparation for that rapidly approaching approaching approaching ap ap- ap- ap era of competition for the markets markets markets mar mar- of the world SECRETARY DAVIS spent the greater part of last summer touring Europe studying labor conditions and their effects effects ef ef- ef- ef upon the European nations Himself Himself Him Him- self elf a native of Wales a time one-time in an American steel mill he knows the heart and mind of the American Amean laboring laboring labor labor- ing man as probably no other member of the Administration knows it He Ile knows American laboring conditions I both in the heart and in the home a and d he V is j a firm believer in fhe he dignity and J sity of manual m nual toil 1 I I dont don't know what my boy is f. to do O when he rA going e grows uP but Ivo Ive been tr trying to fo drive home mg the 7 nece necessity for t r being able to make a living X J with hs hia hands And L Im I'm going going- t to do my be best t to that see he knows how to work Whenever any one j industry i b becomes overcrowded wages arc are I naturally t to o d drop rp in In th that at r line me And y going some other in industries in- in ar are going to feel a shortage now OW theres there's s I a tremendous dous Just in the market for S ng ngI white-collar white J. J jobs b 0 s. s I In E n Europe 1 it t is IS the for a mans man's customary th thing In I sons to learn the fat fn 8 trade and this general fathers father's S st. goes on genera generation on after a genera generation t. t lOn Th There ere is assured 1 er a supply of workers workers for all lines steady Ot of course occasionally a genius crops in the family and he branches up out and be becomes becomes becomes be- be comes an artist or a preacher or r a doctor But generally speaking the son learns learns learns' fathers father's trade In Inthis the this country it seldom happens The fathers themselves dont don't want their sons to follow the same line And that goes for professional men as well Back in the little Welsh town where J I was born an Eisteddfod was held this last summer Its It's a great occasion and housewives with vie vie vie- with one another in making making making mak mak- ing the best loaf of bread or the best cake or in in exhibiting the best example of needlework Then there are oratorical contests singing contests Prizes are given for th the best b st original poems and the best specimen of penmanship Th The Theman man who won the prize for the best poem was a flagman on a train Just because a mans man's a laboring man manis manis is no reason why he shouldn't be inter inter- ester in poetry art and literature in Europe the laboring man is interested inV inc in c t f J t F l r j ili jj 1 t Jl J l r 1 it if th t h x t R s' s V J f ft tf J Ji i l i t t W j I r ri i- i H i. i k tn 1 1 r d w w S a r 4 that sort of thing We offered a prize for the best poem written about our Mooseheart 1 Home in America An Italian an ditch digger won the tho prize and th the poem he wrote is one of the best on the subject Ive I've read Its It's a beautiful thing Europe is filled with young m men n who have just completed their education and who would be glad of the opportunity of d doing ing common labor Unemployment is is great th throughout Europe though and only a few of them can can get jobs They V IJ 4 w 41 I i NI I s y Secretary Davis in in his his' youth was an iron and and he has never forgotten forr for for- r gotten hi hu humble ble l origin and the exhilaration exhilaration ex ex- J of toil and nd the feling feeling of Wd d h having a v i i n g accomplished 1 pUshed something with his hands Nothing is more symbolical of the theman's thema theman's ma mans man's s 's life than this statue shown at the left which recently was setup setup set setup up up at the Moose Home for Children Children Children Chil- Chil Chil Chil- dren at Mooseheart Mooseheart Mooseheart Moose- Moose heart Ill which ich L k he I founded dv jl V lad manual labor a as disgraceful disgraceful disgrace disgrace- dont don't look upon lad of ofa undignified The They'd d be Flad ful and lies hes the Before work a chance to onest contempt task of ending this Curies old that old centuries e work of culminating and honor of Struggle struggle for the dignity labor which began when the Carpenter of Nazareth wrought with edge and saw in the h house use o of his foster It has ta taken n generations of struggle marked at times with bloodshed to es establish establish establish es- es the freedom of labor Today Jve ve face the necessity of establishing t e b dignity of labor in the tho minds of mankind Every EvelY year some of our boys and girs girls leave loave our schools to take their places in our cur economic life The The Thelast Thelast Thelast last census disclosed Sed fewer than apprentices who vho were were at work gaining a knowledge of the skilled crafts which are so vital to our economic jess ress If the apprenticeship system was wasat wasat wasat at work as it has been Tn in m past generations generations generations genera genera- v we e would find some seven or eight millions of our youth learning the trades But the the vast majority leaving school find themselves thrown out into the world without adequate training for earning a livelihood They are forced to pick pickup pickup up an occupation wherever they may find it s' s Some me succeed but far too many fail through no fault of their own and andare andare andare are doomed to a lifetime of drudgery at atan atan atan an occupation for which they are in in no noway noway noway way fitted fitted Industry and the community as well vell as ass as the individual pay the penalty for these untrained workers For the untrained untrained untrained un un- un- un trained worker is the migratory worker the square re peg which is always seeking in vain for the square hole into which to tofit tofit tofit fit itself He is is the vital vita factor in that incubus of industry labor turnover It has been estimated estimate that the industries of the United States lose annually two hundred millions of dollars by reason of labor abor turnover and that the average cost to the tho employer of hiring men to fill fiU the of those who vho their places quit employment employ employ- spent ment ent is 50 DAVIS bet believes eves that through the Federal B Board 1 of oC V Vocational Vo Vo- Vocational 0 Training under Federal Federa and State vocational acts we wo have built up upa up upa a system which points the way to the solution of the problem by placing within the means of half a million people the training that will fit them for an active part in the Nations Nation's work T The e cost of this system n m which links s practical work at the bench or forge in inthe inthe the shop with academic instruction in inthe in inthe n the classroom is very low The total expenditure of Federal State and local funds for this purpose under the Federal Education Act in the fiscal year 1922 1921 was Through the expenditure expenditure expendi expend ture Lure approximately schools were reached total This This total expenditure was less than one-fifth one of what American women spent for cosmetics last year It was less than twentieth one-twentieth of the amount which the United States spent for candy in inthe inthe inthe the same period If we succeed In increasing the earning earning earning earn earn- ing capacity of our vocational students only ten cents a day day day-a a modest assumption tion we tion-we we have increased the earning of y our half a million students for fen a day I work year by or more than the expenditure for the entire system If the wage earning wage earning life of this half a million workers is thirty years our gain r- r r economically would be This is a profit which the American people cannot afford to overlook In addition to the economic gain thus accounted for we have the additional gain of an increased increase number of trained and skilled workers who are vitally essential essential es es- to the welfare of the country and without whom we never could prosper an and retain our place in the vanguard of nations But far beyond any monetary return from our vocational training program lies the benefit to the i individual as a member of the community the increased service to society and the Nation which the trained worker is qualified to render The elimination of the misfit worker the boy who is thrown into an occupation 1 for which he has no aptitude and who wastes t the e best years of his life struggling struggling J gling against fate will be an inestimable benefit to society And we are restoring the dignity of labor We are overcoming that tendency to look upon work with the hands as menial and degrading which is is one of the pressing perils of ot American life We Weare are providing for the tho future o of America merica self-reliant self self supporting citizens each a credit to himself and to the community 1 THE THERE E. E is a n larger college attendance now now nw 1 in America than at any previous time in history but the tho Secretary does not believe it is too large What he does believe is that too many of o the tho college men en will flock to offices and white collar jobs Jobs' and leave the work of the count country to somebody else Every very business in t the country i IS depend dependent nt upon manual labor somewhere along Its Us line line lino 0 of production Rega Regardless of what line of work a man mangoes mangoes goes into he eventually will goes get to the top if he has the brains and training 4 necessary The carpenter carpenter will become a n contractor the he railroad raIlroad man will h become become be- be come first a n district superintendent and hives eventually a n general manager h he ho a b be- be e- e But what is needed is an increased number of men to start s art attl at the bottom to work to the fullest extent Of th their ell ability and to rise to the top In thO this IS way they will know now vastly more moro about their line of bus business mess than the college man m an w who h hackles 0 tackles ackles s a white collar j job b. b The American young man doesn't want to resort to manual labor Somebody must d do th the work and the greater part of our immigrants are willing both both willing andablo and ad able ablo workers ti tir Copyright 1024 1924 by Le Ledger er Company t Liw r r I II |
