THE DANGER OF UN SKILL 183 



unskilled employment is not disciplinary and it does not lead to a 

 skilled employment which is disciplinary. In the organization of 

 industry, the avoidance of waste is a great aim ; yet the lessening of the 

 greatest of all wastes — the waste of life — receives scanty attention. 



The writer of " The Long Day," 2 in drawing upon her own experi- 

 ence as an unskilled girl, looking for employment in a great city, sum- 

 marizes the situation in these works : 



For sad and terrible though it be, the truth is that the majority of 

 " unfortunates," whether of the specifically criminal or of the prostitute class, 

 are what they are, not because they are inherently vicious, but because they 

 were failures as workers and wage earners. They were failures as such, 

 primarily, for no other reason than that they did not like to work. And they 

 did not like to work, not because they are lazy — they are anything but la2y — 

 but because they did not know how to work. 



And again the same writer records her conclusions in regard to the 

 educational need of girls in view of the modern demand for skill : 



And there are other things more important than the " three R's " which 

 she should be taught. She should be taught how to work — how to work intel- 

 ligently. She should be trained young in the fundamental race activities, in 

 the natural human instincts for making something with the hands or of doing 

 something with the hands, and of taking infinite pleasure in making it perfect, 

 in doing it well. 3 



And it may be added that what is true of girls is equally true of 

 boys. The great cause of failure and resulting degeneracy is lack of 

 training. 



It must be recognized that the vocational impulse is deep-seated, 

 and as the child advances into youth he begins to look to the doing of 

 his life's work. He is restless with simply academic subjects, however 

 valuable. He is concrete in his demands. He wishes to do and earn. 

 But it is an interest in the deep human instincts and forces which must 

 be laid hold of, if we are to develop a healthy, hopeful life ; and among 

 these we must recognize the economic instinct leading to the desire to 

 earn and to make a place in the world of production. How much of 

 progress flowed from the development resulting from the vocational 

 education of the apprentice of the guild organization, it is not possible 

 to say ; but it certainly was a factor of no small import. And the close 

 association of the wonderful expression of artistic genius in Italy with 

 the development of the skilled artisan and craftsman, is a feature of 

 social history which should lead to serious reflection. 



But, further, lack of skill means insecurity of employment for adult 

 workers; and no greater danger threatens labor than this. Every 

 slackening of trade, every depression of business, every interference with 

 industrial progress, every mistake of judgment of the organizers of 

 industry, falls with heaviest force upon the unskilled. Their value in 



2 Page 277. 



3 Page 294. 



