4 THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 



second or last grade, he should to that extent be a bet- 

 ter citizen and better prepared to solve the problems 

 confronting the average youth. Under our present 

 school system, he is not to any appreciable extent so 

 prepared. On the contrary, as in the seminary, his 

 training tends to lead him toward other things. The 

 first effect of this education is that it engenders an 

 indifference to, if not a contempt, for, labor or at 

 least a feeling that manual labor is very disagreeable, 

 if not degrading. 



Legitimate commerce has in all of its complex rami- 

 fications but one function the exchange of com- 

 modities between the producer and the consumer. 

 Five per cent, of our population are sufficient to fulfill 

 that function. Yet more than eighty-five per cent, of 

 all high school graduates, and almost as large a pro- 

 portion of the undergraduates, expect to find lucrative 

 employment in it. Those parents, especially of the 

 manual laboring class, making the greatest struggle, 

 subjecting themselves to the greatest self-denial in ef- 

 forts to educate their children, will give as the first 

 reason, " We don't want our children to work as we 

 have worked " that is, to do manual labor. To the 

 infant and to most adults, to do things with his own 

 hands is the most fascinating of exercises, and if done 

 accurately, with a definite purpose, among the most 

 effective for mental discipline. To those who never 

 expect to do manual labor it gives a quicker sympathy 

 for and a clearer understanding of those who labor 

 with their hands. Respect for labor makes for better 

 and broader citizenship. In spite of all our boasts 

 about giving dignity to American labor, we have been 



