" RHYTHMIC DRILL " FOR THE PROFESSIONS.
1‘.CORRESPONDENT of an Irish newspaper has raised a question which ought to be made the subject of thorough discussion. It is certainly important enough to lay claim fairly to a share of the disengaged activity of the recess, which spends itself at present on the guinea worm and kindred topics. The wearying monotony with which Mr. Carlyle has preached his dogma of " rhythmic drill " has put many people out of patience with the idea ; but the exaggerations and excrescences of this part of the Carlylian theory ought not to blind us to the substratum of solid truth which underlies it. Laissez-faire has done great things, has developed a rich growth of individualities, has cleared away many absurdities; but our time has already begun to feel that laissez-faire, individualism, or whatever other name may be given to the violent reaction against excess of authority, may itself be carried to a mischievous extreme. There is an increasing and healthy craving for an organization of the social scheme, more intelligent and less selfish than the old organizations which individualism supplanted, that may utilize powers now wasted, and correct forces which now work independently,—that, in fact, may gradually guide and shape the multiform development of human activity into one harmonious whole. This craving is as yet wholly unsatisfied ; it must always, to a certain extent, remain so. But we may approximate to our ideal more or less closely. The hint which the writer above referred to throws out would, if put into practice, be a remarkable and useful step towards social organization. He points out the ineffi- cient and irregular way in which the law of Supply and Demand operates in the professions, and all the varieties of labour above the work of the ordinary artizan. Scientifically speaking, no doubt, the equation takes place in the higher activities just as it does in the lower ; but the supply seldom fits, though it may be compelled to satisfy, the demand. In handicrafts, preparation and suitability are needed by ,the novice ; but in the professions the former is seldom and the latter hardly ever taken into con- sideration. The careers of most educated men are determined in a great measure by accidents. Connection by family or friendship with one pursuit or another, opportunities of acquaintance with the inducements which it offers, guide the young man, whose education, as the phrase goes, has been completed, into that particular groove. It may be that this is, of all pursuits, the one for which he is least fitted, to which even he would, had he a free choice, be least inclined. But his field of view is narrowed by circumstances ; for him there is little or no competition of employments ; for hint
-the multiplication of active careers, which is the peculiar growth of an advancing and refining civilization, might as well have never existed. He is destined to tread the old mill-round which his father and his grandfather trod, to take up the work with no enthu- siasm, no sense of its dignity, but merely as a bread-winner. His labour becomes mindless and mechanical ; as Emerson says, " He gives no ideal worth to his work, but is ridden by the routine of his craft, and his soul is subject to dollars."
Mistakes of this kind, errors in the choice of a career, are not injurious only to the individual, but to the community. What a loss of energy is there when a powerful intellect is pent up in a pursuit which either gives no field for activity at all, or does not call forth the peculiar activity of the mistaken talent. In the highest cases, we may believe, though we must rely altogether on conjecture, that genius will break through all obstacles and find its own sphere. We are not dealing, however, with genius, but with average intelligence. " The general industrial power of a community," says the correspondent whose letter has suggested these considerations, " suffers when there is a plethora of men in one occupation and a scarcity of hands in another." 'This is quite true ; but it is not less true, and perhaps even more important to notice, that there is a greater public loss when, for example, a man who might have made a fortune in commerce, spends his best years wearily waiting for briefs in dingy chambers in the Temple, or when cotton-spinning absorbs the energies of a mind which might have made its mark in literature or in public life. Count- less cases of this unhappy distribution of forces might be men- tioned. Every one may verify them, or add to their number from his own experience. And it seems really time to ask the question which the letter of " A College Tutor" suggests :—" Can nothing be done to introduce order into this chaos, to give light and guid- ance to those who are now left to grope their way through the -dark alone ?" We have to consider how far it may be possible to map out the field of human labour for the instruction of the youth who begins to assume the responsibilities of the man, in what way we can teach him to estimate his own fitness for any given acti- vity, and to gauge the particular obstacles in his path. These problems are somewhat novel ; at least they have never yet been formally set for practical solution. They have all the difficulties which attach to everything new, and others arising out of their subject, and, it may be, less easy to overcome.
The distribution of all energies, now unorganized, and in conse- quence partly wasted, the classification of all fields for the employ- ment of those energies, the reduction to a system of the various methods for estimating individual capacities, these are the main lines of the organization to which the suggestions of " A College Tutor " point. " It is clear," he says, " that what is wanted is a new profession, whose function it would be to feed and regulate the supply to all others. We want a class of persons whose busi- ness it would be to give to young men information and advice as to the choice of an occupation, just as a lawyer gives his client information and advice as to legal rights and responsibilities." There is sound sense in this proposition, though its prac- tical working out to its fullest extent would scarcely come within the bounds of possibility. The new profession would -demand in those undertaking it an encyclopaedic knowledge of books, of practical life, and of almost every phase of society. It would be easy enough to ascertain the economical state of a particular occupation, but not so easy to understand, to be able to convey, and to gauge in another the qualifications ;requisite for success. Again, even these might not be found -overwhelmingly difficult in the case of professions such as the Bar, the Church, or Physic, which are carried on every day under our -observation, but what of those new and strange activities which are peculiar to our time? How would a professor of this new art of distribution become competent to guide a young man to any of those vast fields of work which the East, the Colonies, scientific -discovery, and manufacturing enterprise open up? We fear "A College Tutor" counts too hopefully upon the omniscience of his order. He has not yet explained, though he promises to do so, the manner in which the members of the new profession are to become qualified for their high duties, and the mode in which they may be best remunerated. These are among the difficulties which meet us on the threshold of the scheme, and which must be got over somehow.
The scheme, however, is at least possible on a small scale, and if once fairly attempted, would no doubt in the process of working widen its scope and perfect its organism. Even at home, in every-day life, leaving out of sight altogether the strange and distant, there is so irregular and unintelligent a flow of working power into the professions that guidance is sorely needed. Take
the legal profession. What usually determines a young man in favour of the Bar? Is it any previous capacity that he has shown for mastering knowledge of the kind that is amassed in law books? Is it any indication he has given of possessing the peculiar powers
of an advocate? Hardly ever. Easiness of access, some slight remnant of social consideration, vague myths about the sudden rise of great lawyers are the baits which tempt many men to the Inns of Court. Many of these never mean, perhaps the majority never seriously attempt, to master the business of the profession ; the rest hover about the skirts of practice disconsolately " waiting on Providence." To many others acquaintanceship with attorneys is the determining reason. This, whether the individual is naturally qualified for the profession or not, is considered a sufficient pledge of success ; and for a time the favour of brief-bestowers may prevent incapacity from being swamped. But business necessities assert themselves, and the incompetent man takes his place among the briefless. Not by any means, however, is it to be understood that the reverse is the case, that the com- petent man is certain of even a final triumph. The labour market often, indeed, as a rule, is overcrowded, and the chance of showing ability may come too late, perhaps may never come at all. Here the intervention of the new profession would be serviceable ; it would point out to the able but unknown lawyer the prizes which Indian or Australian practice holds out to him, would give him the opportunity of weighing the risks of emigration against its chances, of making a free but an intelligent choice. It is the same with most other pursuits. Has the young man with a small capital no means of judging bow he ought to invest it? Must he make hazardous experiments, at the cost of half, or more than half, his little fortune, before he can see his way to a safe and respectable enterprise? The farmer, the merchant, the manufacturer, all need the information which it is proposed to give them. Is it not possible to satisfy this want ?
Such an organization as has been indicated would differ widely, of course, from Mr. Carlyle's "Rhythmic Drill" under "Captains of Industry." It would have no element of compulsion in it. It would not interfere with individual freedom. It would base its success on its merit, not on authority. No doubt it would strike a blow at that unfortunate development of laissez-faire which has allowed every man to grope hie way about the world in search of his proper work, spending uselessly his time and labour, and in- terfering with those who had found, or were in the way to find, their fit vocation. This certainly would be a gain to civilization, scarcely alloyed with any countervailing evil. If we doubt the success of the scheme to which we have invited attention, it is not that we doubt the need that exists for it. The difficulty lies in providing a machinery, and this difficulty will not, we should hope, be found insurmountable. The practical develop- ment of the ideas which have been advanced above would do much towards making the action of society more perfect is the discharge of several important functions. It would react on our political administration, it would encourage a generally healthy tone in regard to public duties. It would almost give a death-blow to jobs. Under its light it would be no longer possi- ble to send out clever school-boys (who seldom turn out able men), because they had passed examinations with the usual success of clever school-boys, to govern India ; it would be no longer likely that the Bar would be choked with incompetent obstructives confident in the friendship of attorneys.
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