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Page 5
It is possible, on the contrary, for a young man to exceed his
instructions and volunteer advice that has not been asked. If he has
unfortunately gone too far for some time and been sharply spoken to,
he may fail the next in not fully doing the work intended. Simply
putting down a column of figures would not necessarily mean tabulating
facts. The arrangement and rearrangement of the columns aid in
classifying such facts, so that the results shown by them will be
readily seen and a great deal of labor saved in examination. A good
rule in a case of this kind is to try and find some work done by other
parties of a similar nature, and thereby ascertain what is needed and
expected. Reasonable questions to ascertain, where records are to be
found and the kind of records accessible, are always proper if made at
the proper time without interrupting an immediate train of thought;
and with such information as a start, if a young man will endeavor to
imagine himself in a place like that of the one who has finally to
decide, and try to ascertain just what information will probably be
required, then patiently go to work to find and present it in
condensed shape, he from that moment really begins to be useful and
his services will be rapidly appreciated. It is a good rule always to
keep the memoranda obtained in accomplishing a result of this kind; so
that if further information is required, the whole investigation need
not be made over.
This remark suggests another line of thought. Some young men with
quick perceptions get in the way at school of trusting their memories,
and omit making complete notes of lectures or of the various tests
illustrating their studies. This carelessness follows them into after
life, and there are instances where young men, who can make certain
kinds of investigations much better than their fellows, and promptly
give a statement of the general nature of the results, have, when
called on afterward for the details, forgotten then entirely, and
their notes and memoranda, if preserved, being of little use, the
labor is entirely lost. Such men necessarily have to learn more
careful ways in after life. It is a good rule in this, as in the
previous case, to make and copy complete records of everything in such
shape that they may be convenient for reference and criticism
afterward.
One of the important problems with which you will have to deal in the
future is the labor question, and it is probable that your very first
experience with it may be in direct antagonism with the opinions of
many with whom you have heretofore been associated. It is an honor to
the feelings of those who stand outside and witness this so-called
struggle now in progress between capital and labor, that they believe
the whole question can be settled by kindly treatment and reasonable
argument. There are some cases that will yield to such treatment, and
one's whole duty is not performed till all possible, reasonable, and
humanitarian methods are adopted. There has been an excuse for the
organization of labor, and it, to some small extent, still exists.
Time was that the surplus of unskilled labor was used on a mercantile
basis to reduce wages to such an extent that it was almost impossible
to rear a well nurtured, much less a well educated and well dressed
family, and, moreover, the hours of labor in some branches of business
were so long as to shorten the lives of operatives and make
self-improvement impossible. The natural progress of civilizing
influence did much to abate many of these evils, but the organization
of labor removed sores that had not and perhaps could not have been
reached in other ways. Having then an excuse for organization, and
supported by the success made in directions where public sympathy was
with them, is it to be wondered that they have gone too far in very
many cases, and that the leadership of such organization has in many
instances been captured by designing men, who control the masses to
accomplish selfish ends? Whatever may have been the method of
evolution, it is certain that the manufacturing operations of the
present day have to meet with elements entirely antagonistic to their
interests, and in very many ways antagonistic to the interests of the
workingman. The members of many organizations, even of intelligent
men, are blindly led by chiefs of various titles, of which perhaps the
walking delegate is the most offensive one to reasonable people. This
class of men claim the right to intrude themselves into the
establishments owned by others, and on the most trivial grounds make
demands more or less unreasonable, and order strikes and otherwise
interfere with the work of manufacturers, much in the way that we have
an idea that the agents of the barbarbous chieftains, feudal lords,
and semi-civilized rulers collected taxes and laid burdens in earlier
historical times. Necessarily these men must use their power so as to
insure its permanency. If strikes are popular, strikes must be
ordered. If funds run low, excuses for strikes, it is believed, in
many cases are sought, so as to stir the pulses of those who
sympathize with the labor cause.
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