The Star

At a meeting of the Federation of Labor in Chicago the other day, many delegates complained that a man more than 45 had no chance to get work. One delegate said that the Illinois Central will not hire a mechanic who has exceeded that not enormous age. Another delegate declared that work at the Chicago and Northwestern car shops had been refused to 25 first-class mechanics simply and solely because they were more than 45. "A man should be dragged out and shot when he has reached the age of 45 years," said one delegate bitterly. So Absalom still has the call, as is natural; but are the men just in the prime of life so much shut out as the Chicago speakers think? The old race of mechanics used to work, still clear of eye and strong of limb, in their sixties and seventies. In judgment, in skill, in experience, in actual usefulness to his employer, the man of 45 ought to be superior to the man of 25. The employer learns and becomes more valuable to himself as he grows older. Does the employe wear himself out, get into a rut or what? Why should 45 be a dead line, if it is a dead line? Why should a man be at his worst in a manufactory at an age when he would be at his best in most trades and professions, asks the New York Sun.