REVERSIONS IN MODERN INDUSTRIAL LIFE. 37 



bered that certain oculists," says the president of the New York 

 State Optical Society, disclosing the bitter spirit that animates 

 these two classes of " philanthropists " and " benefactors," " have 

 elected to assault even skilled opticians by calling them quacks, 

 charlatans, and fiery- eyed ignoramuses, we are certainly justified 

 in refuting their allegations in a more gentlemanly and profes- 

 sional way." * Finally came the smothered conflict between the 

 " dispensing opticians " and the " refracting opticians," who, al- 

 though united for relentless war on the oculists, have widely 

 divergent notions as to the character and limits of their own 

 professional skill. 



The same belligerent spirit exists between the plumbers and 

 kindred trades. " A practical plumber, one who is concerned 

 about elevating his profession," says a reporf from Delaware, 

 " finds it exceedingly difficult in the small towns to compete 

 with the tinsmith and hardware men." f The same complaint 

 comes from Kentucky. " Nearly all of the plumbing in the 

 smaller towns," it says, is " done by tinners, hardware men, 

 machinists, and even ( nigger ' blacksmiths." J Could anything 

 be more provocative of indignation and resistance in men pos- 

 sessed of a high spirit and noble aims ? Afflicted as the feudal 

 corporations were with illegitimate competition, they did not 

 have to meet upon the field of honorable labor the ignoble rivalry 

 of " niggers." The vice-president of the Oregon Association men- 

 tions as a particularly flagrant example of the unfair competition 

 that the " honest plumber," one " concerned about elevating his 

 profession," has to struggle against, a firm that advertises " Hard- 

 ware, stoves, and ranges, sanitary plumbing, tin and sheet- iron 

 work, groceries, provisions, and cord wood." " And still," he adds, 

 as though recounting a miracle, but showing that honest work 

 may be done without laws and ordinances, " these parties do a good 

 job of plumbing." * Passing from the country to the city, where 

 the evolution of industry has gone further and the lines that 

 separate one trade or profession from another have become more 

 distinct, the conflicts between plumbers and other occupations are 

 more bitter and relentless. || A stone mason is not permitted to 

 build a drain under a house nor connect it with the sewer. With- 

 out the risk of arrest and prosecution a steam or gas fitter can 

 not put in a water or waste pipe. To the hardware man is denied 



* The Optical Journal, vol. ii, No. 4, p. 119. 



f Proceedings, Cleveland, 1896, p. 52. 



t Ibid., p. 58. * Ibid., p. 54. 



|| The recent quarrel between the plumbers and gasfitters in New York city, which at 

 one time threatened very serious consequences, grew out of the absurd question, decided by 

 President Seth Low, who was made arbitrator, as to which trade had the right to put in the 

 thermostatic attachment to radiators. 



