THE DOOM OP THE MAN CLERK.

Northern Advocate, 2 December 1893, Page 7

THE DOOM OP THE MAN CLERK.

; A LAMENT OF AjpANADIAN MAU. Iw the Canadian Magazine for the month of August Mr.J.L. Hayne publishes a very notable article entitled "The Displacement of Young Men." His view is that girls are so much more clever as clerks thah. men, that the male clerk is doomed to extinction like the dado, and he thinks the results are most disastrous both to women and to men. The following are the salient- passages of a paper which will be read with interest, and possibly with sympathy by a good many men outside the Dominion of Canada:— Nearly all classes of clerical work are passing rapidly into the hands of young women. These young women enter the offices with skilful fingers, winning manners, industrious ways, •and general- uptiftss to write letters, keep books, count cash, and the multitudinous duties attaching to business life. They do their work satisfactorily and well. Takeu altogether, they are neater, better behaved, and quicker than young men. Nor can it be said any longer that physical disabilities render them inferior to young men in clerical positions where endurance sometimes becomes a factor. Experience has clearly demonstrated that these young women can do whatever is required of them, and do it to the satisfaction of their employers. From observation, I should say that two young women now enter the departments at Ottowa and Washington to one young man. What is true of the Civil Service IS Unquestionably true of all branches of business where clerks are employed. Shops and offices are all but closed to young men, and each year the situation assumes i more fixed form. Into all the lighter branches of labour womn *re entering in steadily increasing numbers, to the exclusion of men. The result is, that these bright young fellows, capable of doing excellent work, are forced to toil for long hours, often at night, for the munificent salary of $15 a month. Aftei two or three years of hard' and faithful service, promotion to the $25 a month class is possible; while $35 to $50 is the outside figure to which a clerk may aspire if he exhibits special qualifications and sustained devotion to his task. If the next twenty years witness the same relative increase in the number of working girls and women as has taken place since 1870 in this country and the United States, we shall see young men doing the housework, and their sisters and mothers earring on half the business of the land. As an instance of how the pinch is commencing already to be felt, I might cite the case of a family, consisting of tvo girls and a boy, all old enough to earn their living. The young man is a wide-awake, industrious and clever fellow; but, while his sisters are iv good situations, ' he finds it impossible to secure an opening in which he could hope to make even the price of his board. This is by no means ian exceptional 'case. Marriages are on the decrease m proportion to the population. Some months ago I took occauiony in writing for an American magazine, to prove by statistics two really grave-- faots:- .First, that the proportion of marriages on the part of young men between the ages of twenty-three and thirty had materially declined during the past twenty years; and, second, tharthe "number of unmarried persons, in relation to the total population had very materially increased^ I hold, after giving the matter careful thought, that the increasing number of working gifrM, and the falling off in the relative, number of marriages, are connected in the relation ot cause and effect. ' Neither young men nor women are content to live as did young men and women a generation ago- a tiuug which is natural and in most respects 1 commendable, but it is only accomplished by the payment of a high price. A part of this- price is, that the daughters shall earn their living as well as the sons, and that neither the daughters nor sonß shall have the williugnessto begin ■ married life on a humble scale. lam honestly in doubt as to. whether or uot a remedy for this state of affairs can be successfully applied at the present time, or in the near future. Any means at all practicable would liave to be educational in character, and fchduld aim to simplify the general conditions of life 1 . Take' away ; this artificial basin <]t social and domestic life, this imprudent and wasteful effortion the part of common people to live as it they were opulent, and by that one iictyoii iwpßld return half the' girls who now work to their homes. I say this because I believe that more' than fifty per cent, of all. the mrls who now toil do not need to .dp .so. TweJity-hve years ago only one girl eurned hr- living to ten who dp so to-day.. Will anyone bay that necessity has caused this • great change V I think not. A very large proportion of the additional -iuriefyj.per cunt, have entered the field of toil in order "that their parents may keep up appearances and they themselves enjoy many luxuries. .":• ' No girl should work who does not need to. If this rule were observed it would create an opening for at leas.t two hundred young men iv this city of Ottawa alone ; for there are at' least that number iv the capital who have,, no other excuse for working than copies from conbiderations of cupidity, selfishness and pride. I know something of the circumstances of at least tify girls who can earn thenliving, and it is the simple truth to 'say that thirty of them should be at home. ] Young women must realise these two things hi chief : Firßt, that in* working if they do not need toy they take places properly belonging to young men ; and secondly, that modern iio'tions. "about the iudependeuce of woman, coupled with extravagant ways of living, are partly responsible ior the conditions which are brii)iiingabo<|t a (atoafiilydecliuing marriage rate biilnb^pfi#v<iJ^yoßnte. men. In other words, When : " girK wprk^^ey intensify the conditioiiiTwhicb aKrffllfiiK this country with spinsters and bachelors,' . . .! '' \: '■":,: = -