streams where they are now unsus- 
pected, or at least ungathered. bt reight 
rates on railroads restrict the industry 
within certain shipping distances. 
| eee gathering of shells, and cutting 
them into button blanks—disks 
later to be shaped, planed, bored, pol- 
ished and stained—might however suc- 
ceed where shipment of raw stock is 
forbidden by the freight expense. 
Blanks would go without much waste 
weight. Pearls, of themselves, do not 
generally pay. Too few are found, on 
the average. But luck sometimes 
favors a searcher. Not all shells can 
be sold, some being off-color, some too 
brittle, some too light, among other 
things. It all depends! 
These strictly independent outdoor 
occupations merge 
into the odd-jobbing 
of agriculture, help- 
ing for an hour, or 
days or weeks on 
farms or in orchards, 
during the stress of 
special’ seasons. Then 
there are always 
countless farm and 
village jobs. 
Bapiers are go- 
ing on the road, 
in their flivvers, with 
brushes and other 
tools of their trade, 
and they find many 
houses, barns, and 
other buildings which 
they can paint for 
wages—doubtless con- 
siderably lower wages 
than demanded by 
local experts. Car- 
penters, bridge build- 
ers, blacksmiths, iron- 
workers can find occupation during the 
season, and lately I met a number of 
electrical workers, wirers and installers 
who left New York and had found 
themselves too far west.and were now 
on their way east across the Missis- 
sippi, at Memphis. 
In the trades there are certain “fat” 
regions and “lean” regions. Accord- 
ing to the skill one has there is ap- 
portunity. During flush times, when 
money is plenty, workers sometimes 
throw down their jobs, and go forth, 
with ample funds. But they tuck their 
tools into the:car, nevertheless, against 
an emergency. During the great de- 
pression in rubber manufactures, there 
was a sudden upstarting among young 
women in an Ohio district. They had 
in mind going forth from offices, where 
they had work as stenographers, book- 
keepers, and office management. They 
could go from place to place, putting 
Page 217 
Photo by U.S. Forest Service 
books of garages, stores and small 
businesses in order, bringing up ac- 
counts to date, and installing simple 
systems of accounts. 
The number of women, from girls 
to middle aged, who wish to cut loose 
and earn their way across country is 
astonishing—perhaps. Many plan to 
go with families. Some think of going 
alone—which is not at all advisable. 
But I should not care to suggest that 
there are many regions in the United 
States territory where two, three or 
four sensible and competent women 
could not travel with security and 
pleasure, putting up with the difficul- 
ties of touring and camping. There 
are those who even earn their own 
way, 
as they go. Countless young 

couples sally forth, and whole families 
make livings on their way from place 
to place. The fact is, the farthest 
places in the nation are little different 
from those around home, and our 
people are pretty much alike, at heart, 
everywhere. A girl who makes her 
living in New York or Boston would 
find Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and 
other communities pretty much alike 
and so with villages and regions. If 
one can’t make good at home, out 
yonder the same difficulties are met, 
with the additional one of being a 
stranger. Work is generally easiest 
found among friends. It doesn’t come 
to any one as an offer of great success 
—it must be sought, by men or women. 
RAs? of the Mississippi, and north 
of the Mason and Dixon’s line 
there is more doing in town and 
country, with corresponding increases 
of opportunity per square mile, or hun- 
dred miles of highway. Picking and 
choosing in work is always easier 
where there is a great variety of jobs. 
New York State, as one of the great 
agricultural states, manufacturing 
states, business states and pleasure 
states, is probably the best country in 
the world in which to find work of a 
particular kind. Nevada, with its 
flocks and herds, its mines, and sca‘ety 
population offers as little as any state 
to the nomad. 
HE West is wonderful, but its op- 
portunities are limited, compared 
to the manufacturing regions. They 
do use husky, athletic youths on 
ranches, but if one cannot ride horses 
—hbad ones—and dig 
fence post holes, and 
rope cattle, there are 
few chances of the 
tenderfoot finding 
work. Expert garage 
workers can find 
work here and there, 
of course. But one 
might well hesitate 
crossing the _ 1,500 
miles of desert and 
mountains to look for 
a job in California. 
Jobs are there, but 
also great numbers 
of people have gone 
there looking for easy 
times in a glorious 
climate, and such mi- 
grations of humanity 
are not always easily 
assimilated. As in a 
gold rush, countless 
numbers are sure to 
be disappointed. The 
jobs offered by the 
West are found in mines, on railroads, 
in electrical construction, highway 
making, timber cutting, and the more 
or less simple tasks to be had in 
villages and cities. 
HE oil towns in their booms draw 
great crowds, not all of whom 
come to work. Transportation, espe- 
cially truck driving, is one of the more 
attractive jobs. Good drivers, compe- 
tent to take stages or burden carriers 
over western highways, might easily 
see through almost all the regions. The 
varieties of this commercial driving 
available for the job-seekers are in- 
numerable, from long hauls on enor- 
mously difficult highways or tote roads 
to dam and transmission construction 
to the highly specialized long-distance 
stage and touring routes on the main 
thoroughfares, as the runs from San 
(Continued on page 250) * 
