INGENUITY OF IDLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 21, 25 January 1934, Page 26

INGENUITY OF IDLE.

SALVAGING CAREERS.

TURN TO HOME HANDICRAFTS. BEAT CRISIS BY PLUCK. "What can I do in a world that no longer offers employment for my particular kind of knowledge and training?" is a question many have asked themselves since 1929 in the United States. Thousands of men and women, lulled to a feeling of security by a long succession of weekly pay cheques, by yearly business profits and by fees for professional services, have had to reshape their lives completely to meet calamities they could not foresee. The heavier burden has often fallen upon the middle-aged. For them to change the routine of years has not been the task of a moment, but they have done it, and frequently their new ventures have proved more successful than tlioee of the generation just beginning to shoulder responsibility. The wife of a Harvard graduate and mother of four demonstrated that one need not be young in years to meet the depression successfully. Single-handed and without capital to invest, she organised a flower club among her neighbours, and agreed to supply the members with tastefully arranged bouquets at regular intervals for a moderate charge. The idea has developed into a rapidly expanding'business. Early in the mtrning she drives to the flower market anc' returns with an assortment for the day's deliveries. In her basement workshop she composes the flowers in attractive combinations.

Over the table on which she works are two charts, one to show what varieties have been sent previously to each club member, and another to indicate the likes and dislikes of each for various colours. In addition to her usual orders, occasionally she supplies flowers for dinners, parties and weddings, arranging and placing them herself. . Architects Hard Hit. Few have encountered greater difficulties than the technically trained workers, often college men and women. The building famine has deprived thousands of architects and engineers of a livelihood in their chosen professions. In the days when construction of new buildings evoked no special wonder, one architectural draftsman's 500 dollars salary seemed a guarantee of security. Then business dwindled, building came to a halt. At the end of a long period of hopeful waiting, in which one project after another died on the drafting tables, tho firm had to let him go. Faced with the problem of supporting his wife and two children, he turned back to his student days for a solution. In those days he had earned his way with the help of a small hand-operated printing press. He had mastered the trade sufficiently to make spare hours pay all his expenses. The press had provided when he could devote to it only a fraction of his time. Now he would see if it could provide for the whole family. He set up the old press, added to the variety of his type and went out to find customers. Using his contacts, in the field of architecture as a starting-point, he met and talked with business men. He showed them samples of his work and asked for orders.

Wow Supports Family. Soon he began to receive orders from concerns that saw an advantage in using his careful work, and the orders were repeated. To-day this man is earning a living and supporting his family. A professional man who saw his practice drop to the vanishing point turned to radio broadcasting. When he started to take singing lessons, more than a year ago, it was not with a definite plan of turning this to account in earning a living. He wished merely to cultivate a natural gift. When bad times came, however, he began to consider the possibility of this change of career. He was "put on the air" recently, and is now devoting his time almost entirely to his new work, determined to capitalise a good beginning. Many of the unemployed have taken up handicraft work, and in some cases have been able to support themselves by it. One young woman, who had been employed in Oriental art stores until three years ago, turned to this work. She learned to make a variety of small novelties, curtain pulls, paper cutters, pendants, book-ends, and frames for handbags. The shop where she bought her materials offered her the opportunity of demonstrating handicrafts to the people who came to make purchases. As she was demonstrating one day a woman asked her for private lessons. The new pupil soon afterward recommended her young instructor as a person qualified to fill a teaching position in a suburban night school. She obtained the position and is now in charge of large classes in handicrafts three evenings a week.

Turns to Water-colours. A man who was for years a practising architect is deriving a small income from the sale of his water-colours, and from the occasional lessons he gives in drawing and painting at a dollar an hour. Although this person years ago achieved an enviable reputation for his work in water-colours, he is forced to sell at absurdly low prices. He is always busy arid has disposed of more than sixty paintings since early June. Occasionally he turns his hand to designing book-plates, Christmas cards, cigarette boxes, and small decorated novelties useful for paper-weights or door-stops. One former salesman is devoting his efforts almost entirely to designing, carving, and decorating a wide variety of wooden objects. These he does entirely by hand in the manner of antique Venetian peasant woodwork. Mirror frames of various sizes and shapes, console sets of a bowl and candlesticks, book racks, and cigarette boxes are a few of the products of his craft. These he gives a coat of a solution which forms the base for foliate and floral decoration in tempera. To soften the colours and produce an effect of age he then antiques the objects and applies a coat of varniish.' - Art shops and department stores are finding a constantly greater, demand for 'his work, and at times he employs an assistant to help him fill his orders. -'■ Two brothers recently graduated from a university started their own business when they were unable to find work. They obtained a license to sell eggs, drove about the countryside buying from farmers, and established a route near their home by peddling from door to door. ,

Sell 450 Dozen Weekly. At first they went to the country every week-end to buy their eggs, but later, when the route had expanded, they arranged for shipments to their home. Here they candled and boxed the eggs for delivery the next day. In two months they were disposing of 450 dozen eggs weekly for • a net profit of more than 25 dollars. The entire business is now handled by one of the young men, the other having found employment. Four enterprising young engineers, recent graduates of a technological institute, resurrected the chassis of an old truck from the dump heap, where it had been deposited by its former owner, collected enough spare parts to make it run, and built a new body of their own design. On this rejuvenated conveyance they loaded the paraphernalia of their trade, a grindstone for sharpening tools and J cutlery, rug beaters, a vacuum cleaner, | hammers, saws, shovels, wrenches, wire; anything, in fact, for which they could imagine a use in their comprehensive .household service plan. They rumbled from house to house, offering to clean rugs, wash windows, repair or wash automobiles, do odd jobs in whatever way might be suggested. In this manner each of them was able to earn from 10 to 20 dollars a week at a time when there was little possibility of finding permanent employment in their profession. They answered the question, "What can I do?" by offering to do anything.— (N.AJST.A.)