The Value of a Trade

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 15, 11 April 1907, Page 12

The Value of a Trade

The following remarks on the- wisdom of boys mastering trades, which appeared In a recent issue of the New York Times ', are -as applicable to New Zealand as to the United States :—

The idea that a trade is an excellent thing- for any young man to possess is rapidly gaining weight among the thoughtful people of this country. The idea is a pood one, and the more widely it is extended the better it will be for this nation and for'its peopi© There was a time when it was -deemed degrading for the son of a rich man to perform any unnecessarylabor. There seemed' to be a feeling that, as the father had made all the money that his family could reasonably be expected to require it was the duty of

' his children to be £ ladies ' and •' gentlemen ' for the . remainder of their Jives. To fill such a position, according to those who held this opinion, the young .men " and women should have nothing to do but loaf around, with nothing to do except to get into mischief. Happily there has been A Changein this phase of public opinion. To-day industrial and mechanical genius is recognised, and it is thought no disgrace for- the £cion of the house of millions to den overalls and jumper that he may not soil his clothes while he is mastering the trade at which his father amassed his fortune. Cornelius Vanderbilt did it, and is^ doing it now." He went into the yards of the New ' York Central Railway and learned to run a locomotfive. He learned to run it so well, in fact, that he has already perfected ' several inventions that have been accepted as profitable improvements. As the result the company owes -a great deal to the industry of this son of; the Vanderbilts, and society thinks none the less of Mm because he wore old clothes and got himself . all mussed up and dirty studying the mechanism of "an engine. Cornelius Vanderbilt is not the only young millionaire who has boldly asserted his right tci make himself of some use in the world. One has only to read the daily papers to know about scores of young men who are doiin^ the same thing. Instead of saying disparaging things about them everybody commem'ds them, for their good judgment. Toiling in overalls among other workmen does not rob them of any of the traits that entitle them to be regarded as ' gentlemen,' and they certainly are better fitted to look out for themselves in the world. That is the Keynote of the whole situation. That is the reason- why every young man ought to be compelled to learn some trade. Of course so far as the son of a poor man is concerned, the argument in favor of a technical education is practically unanswerable. Such a young man is compelled to go to work through the pressure of circumstances. The education that he may receive in his boyhood is due largely to the extent of his father's resources. Some men are able to send their boys through college, while others are obliged to put their sons to work after a very limited period of school instruction. Whatever the time may be, howe,ver, whether it is long or short, the poor man's son has got to go to work sooner or later, and the only question is what kind of labor he will determine to pursue. There are some young men who elect to become clerks, or salesmen in a shop because the work is not very hard and it- is possible to keep oneself clean while doing it. There are other young men who, like Cornelius Vanderbilt, are not afraid of dirty work. For the sake of mastering a trade they are willing to soil thctir fingers. To .accomplish their purpose nci manual labor is too hard. There is just as- much Difference in the Recompense for the two grades of work, however, as there is in the work itself. The clerk in the office, the salesman behind the counter,' the stenographer who attends to the office correspondence, all keep their hands clean, but at the week's end there is a considerable difference in the size of the sum that is found in the pay envelopes. - The man with a trade may have worn overalls when at work, but there is money enough in his envelope to enable him to wear a good suit of clothes during his idle hours. He may have soiled his hands, and his" face may not have been as clean as that of the clerk in the store, but when the end of the week-comes he has money enough to assure his children a good education. The clean, easy job may "be the pleasant job, but -it doesn*t pay as well as x the joy of the welltrained: mechanic, simply because a man must- have both' brains and a certain amount of technical skill to be the master of . a £OOd trade, whereas anybody can learn how to measure lace by the yard, or sell sugar by the pound. In other words, there is so much competition for the easy jobs that employers are not obliged to pay large wages to those who fill them. >. Whether a trade must of necessity foe used or not, every young man should master one •of them. It is impossible to tell what the future has -in store for anybody, and a young man who is a skilled laborer in any trade is in a position where he can look the „ future in the face with -perfect confidence. If circumstances are such that he is not compelled to. make use of his trade he is fortunate, but 'he is equally fortunate in knowing that- with a good trade at his finr gers' ends he is prepared for the worst that may happen. ' . ~