The New York herald., 1845-07-30

banks OF the Ganges and Burrampooter; while the
mad cry of the miserable fanatic is rending the air,
making day and night hdeous with lamentations
| for the woes of Southern negroes-and while all
sorts of pseudo philanthropists and reformers who
are SO long sighted that they only evils at
distance are creating exctements for the further
ance ofthervarious mad schemes, we AS independent
and impartial journalists, deem It our duty to call the
attention of our citizens to evil which springs up
in our very midst, and which, if not checked in its
growth will become ere long papabe that the most
superficial for fear and dread
We allude to the manner in which the apprentice
ship system, IN this great metropolis Is managed
or rather, as we should say, mismanaged. We
have here in our midst large class just about enter
ing upon the duties and privileges of men and ct-
zens, and IN whose hands, to a great extent, will
rest the future government and well-being of our
city, and through that our state and country, who
are, as we conceive, at present receiving but poor
education to fit them for the proper fuflment of
their future duties. We are not one of those who
are continually croaking over the real or imaginary
miseres of any portion of mankind, nor would we
wish to be prophets OF evil without a cause but,
believing the apprenticeship system stain upon our
national character, we call fora careful, candid, and
apprentices OF this city, in number many thousands,
are as is well known, youths from fourteen to
twenty-one years of age, who are indentured to
tradesmen and mechanics for the purpose of learn
ing the art, mystery, and secrets of the different
handicraits. BY the Revised Statutes Of this State
we believe it is required that a master-workman,
taking an apprentice, shall not only teach him his
particular trade, feed and clothe him. but shall also
attend TO his moral and mental culture-by precept
example, and restraint, so teach him that he may
become respectable man, a good and orderly men,
Der Of society. To effect this, it is, of course, ne
cessary that the master should have general care
Of the habits and practices of his apprentices. Now
what the facts? In this city, some masters en-
ploy fifty, and even hundred apprentices. they
are lodged, fed and clothed by them, and during
working hours, they careful that each one per-
forms his allotted task. But how is it then Does
this supervision cease? We understand that in
most cases ii does. The work of the apprentice be-
ing done, he is freed from all further restraint and
suffered to roam over the city and through its
dens OF ntamy, no further account being re-
quired' of him In a city like this, where thou
sands Of these young men thus circumstanced
united as they by common bond, which
from fellow-apprentce to his fellow, and from
both to their particular trade, extends to the whole
class it must necessarily be found that such class
will be source Of great good or evil and where
no moral restraint is exercised by those whose duty
ii is to guard them always, of evil-evil not
only to themselves and all who come directly within
their influence, but to the community a. large
Hence we find that the greater amount of mischief
and disordery conduct occurring, springs from this
class of apprentices These are the boys, who to the
exclusion of older and wiser heads throng the ropes
and station houses of our fire engines, fighting,
swearing, screaming, hallooing and causing great
annoyance to the Observation-Disclosures ready for
a race with rival company, without any particular
scruples about occasionally running over, in their
mad rush, some playing child or decrept old man,
or blooming bright eyedm unprepared for such
furious onslaught Arrived at the fire, they are ever
ready to assert the ultra democratic principle, and
back up with their fists the claims of their favorite
engine to superiority and precedence. Often while
their energies should be directed to staying the pro-
gress Of the devourlng element they are engaged in
what to them is pleasant row with the "boys'' Of
anothercompany- all the fiery notions Of honor
determined to stand up for their rights-they are
in most cases the cause Of embroiling in feuds and
quarres the older members of our different compa.
nies who, like band Of true and sacrificing men
engaged in noble and dangerous object, should be
| firmly united by bond of brotherhood.
! These boys, as a class, are ever ready to engage
In any rotous proceeding which promises "sport, .
and are in fact oft times the causes of serious bros,
which have spread terror and dismay over this and
our sister cities They are found assembled in knots
around our groggeres, and frequently insult our c-
thovp 60 h.a - a..
the moral training of apprentices is entirely ne
elected, that conscientious and affectionate parents
with difficulty decide to have their children learn
trades, and hence the overplus Of clerks
ers, teachers, and persons seeking employment,
while many Of the useful arts remain untitled Look
at the banefu circumstances thrown around the boy
who enters a shop for the purpose of learning a
trade-surrounded by older and unrestraned boys,
who receive him as one of them, and expect him to
participate in all their follies and amusements Ne
elected by the man in whose care he is placed, he
naturally yields to the entreaties and example of his
fellows, and is led by them into the various demo-
ralizing streams and of niquity and dissi-
patton. The groggery-the theatre-the brothel,
become his places of resort, and by the time his ap-
premiership has expired, he has been the whole
round of dissipation and acquired habits and prin-
ciples which cling to him in after life.
Now here are great and manifold evils. The
question is, can they be remedied, and how? The
causes, as are plainly seen consist in the neglect of
the master to superintend the morals Of his ap-
prentlces, and the absence of proper and attractive
places of resort for them, when freed from labor
The relation of the master TO his apprentice,
should as nearly as possible resemble that between
father and child. We certainly would not wish un-
due rlgor exercised, but weuld have the authority
given by the parent and the law used by the masters
with discretion. Reading rooms and Libraries a,
the public expense should be provided for them
free baths erected, and schools provided for their
benefit In all respects, should they be treated in
manner to make them useful citizens. In the mean.
time, let some active effort be made to prevent their
controlling our fire companies and thereby endan.