p. 685 | Remuneration

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 13, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 43.

Remuneration.

No AMBITIOUS or capable boy can afford to enter an office, a factory, or business of any description, and work at low wages unless he is acquiring a knowledge and experience that will count to him dollars and cents in the future. A boy without moneyed capital can only have mental capital, and mental capital is slowly accumulated. Brains are not sold in the stock market.

If a boy is gaining experience and knowledge that will be of practical value to him in the future, he can afford to work at the lowest possible figures consistent with his circumstances. If he has a home and parents who are able and willing to help him financially, it would be wiser and better for him to work for the knowledge he would gain, without money, than to give up a position where he is acquiring mental working capital that can be used in after years.

The curse of the present day to many men and women is that they work with an eye only to present remuneration, rather than to future benefit. There are few boys who are capable of seeing the advantage to be gained in the future by making use of every opportunity of the present; and there are but few parents who take the time to investigate and so point out to a boy the losses and gains attending his present position.

The complaint is often made that in this age of extravagance, when people marry, they wish to begin housekeeping where their parents left off; the complaint can be made with equal justice that many boys expect to command at the beginning the salary of a man who has spent years in acquiring the knowledge that enables him to command and hold his position of trust and responsibility. The men who have acquired prominence in their walk of life, whose position in the business world is desirable, are the men who as boys did each little duty given into their hands well and carefully, so that employers recognized their trustworthiness, and gave them larger opportunities and more important work, consequently more pay. Ability is eventually recognized and commands the best prices; it is useless to expect ten dollars' pay for five dollars' worth of service.—Christian Union.