The Dignity of the 'Horny Hand'
In 1878, a Seattle editorial warned against the ‘pauperism’ caused by an overabundance of professional graduates who were too proud to labor.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
We have for several years experienced pretty hard times on this coast, and many families that formerly enjoyed affluence are now suffering the trials of actual poverty. This is due in a great measure to the abhorrence of this class of people to suffer their children to learn useful trades, which in case of adverse fortune would furnish them the means to not only secure for themselves but for their parents a comfortable livelihood. All must be professional men, and as a result our medical colleges, theological seminaries, and law schools are yearly turning out graduates in such great numbers that the ranks of the so-called learned professions must be more than filled. People thus educated are too proud to do manual labor, and are really fit for no other, hence the destitution and pauperism which afflict that peculiar class. Education is a very necessary thing to have, but it does not necessarily follow that those who receive it should turn their attention to the learned professions. Why not learn some useful trade? The more intelligent the man the more skillful the mechanic, and the greater assurance that his living is secured. It is better to have a horny hand with money in its palm, than a soft white one without.
“It is better to have a horny hand with money in its palm, than a soft white one without.”
This 1878 editorial reflects an enduring Seattle tension: the friction between high-cost professional aspirations and the value of manual labor. Much like the current discourse on the 'college for all' pipeline versus the critical shortage of skilled trade labor, the paper argues that economic resilience is found in the hands-on skills of the working class.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.