“ Those who are slow and clumsy, who suffer from weakness of body or mind, or who lack nervous, mental, and physical stamina, must sink down, sometimes rapidly, some times step by step, to the bottom. Accident, by disabling an efficient worker, will make him inefficient, and down he must go. ”
Jack London, The People of the Abyss (1903). copy citation
| Author | Jack London |
|---|---|
| Source | The People of the Abyss |
| Topic | weakness workers |
| Date | 1903 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_People_of_the_Abyss |
Context
“The engineer who is irregular or irresponsible will sink down until he finds his place, say as a casual laborer, an occupation irregular in its very nature and in which there is little or no responsibility. Those who are slow and clumsy, who suffer from weakness of body or mind, or who lack nervous, mental, and physical stamina, must sink down, sometimes rapidly, some times step by step, to the bottom. Accident, by disabling an efficient worker, will make him inefficient, and down he must go. And the worker who becomes aged, with failing energy and numbing brain, must begin the frightful descent which knows no stopping-place short of the bottom and death.
In this last instance, the statistics of London tell a terrible tale.”
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