Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/281

 WHAT 8 IN A JOB 275

habits of thought and in their outlook upon life. They have in the meanwhile become young men and women, but have not increased their earning power: the result is that we have millions of men and women incapable of earning more than children's pay.

That this situation is wicked morally, hardly any one wiLl probably deny. That it is necessary economically, hardly any one will claim. In the first place the marvellous increase in productivity during the the past fifty years would in itself be sufficient to justify the claim for decent living conditions for all workers. But the process of im- provement is continuous, and has recently received added acceleration in the development of '^ scientific management.'^ In the second place, every time that outside pressure or humanitarian sentiment has wrested from employers another slice of ''welfare work,*' the reaction showed itself in the form of increased dividends. In other words, the humane organization of an industrial or commercial enterprise pays. In the third place, the employers are constantly complaining that we have not enough trained workers to maintain an effective competition with foreign manufacturers; that an increased skill on the part of the workers would mean relatively larger productivity. Presumably they intend that some of the gain shall go to the workers. At any rate, the implication of the claims of these experts is that high-grade labor is more profitable than low-grade labor, even under modern capitalistic conditions which have made so much of low-grade labor attached to machines. Finally, the admission of untrained children to business and industry brings about a pernicious circle from which there is no appar- ent escape. It results in raising up a population of men and women incapable of earning a living wage, and doomed, in consequence, to a parasitic life on a very low plane; and this makes impossible the escape of the succeeding generations from the bondage of low standards of living.

The question then is not, "Can we afford to train children for high-grade, efficient and happy lives?'' — ^but, "Can we afford to leave out such training?''

In looking about for means of improving the situation, we may expect much from legislation. The agitation of the labor unions, of the consumers' leagues, of the welfare workers and reformers, must bring before us the need for remedial legislation, largely in the nature of restrictions upon exploitation and the protection of the public health. Legislation of this kind should be supported at every opportunity.

But more far-reaching than legislation is an attack upon the chil- dren. They must be taught what they have a right to demand, they must be inspired to insist upon their rights.

Is it too much to ask that the jobs we are offered shall represent useful, meaningful work — ^that they shall help to clothe or to feed 01

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