The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1871-08-26
Educated Printers.

The report OF the commissioners OF
education for 1870 contains, together
with much other valuable matter,
some inquiries touching the relation
of education to labor, and the replies
thereto from representatives of al
most every industrial interest in the
country. We have been much inter
ested in the answers given by Allen
Coffin, printer, formerly of this city,
and now of Washington. In response
to the question, "have you as a
workman, observed a difference in
the skill, aptitude or amount of work
executed by persons, arising from a
difference in their education, and in
dependent of their natural abilities -
he said that he had noticed differ
ence, and that it was in favor of
educated mechanics or laborers. He
proceeded to say that there is a
marked difference in the value of the
labor of two men, one of whom can
read and write while the other can
not; that the man who can tell the
time of the clock is worth more than
one who cannot. In printing a book
on the subject Of geology, he said
printers who have studied the sub
iect and are familiar with the terms
employed in treating it, will accom-
plish a given amount Of work in four
tifths of the time occupied by those
who are wholly ignorant of the
science. Further, knowledge of
the principles of natural philosophy
and mechanics is of great assistance
to the printer; and the pressman
who understands theprinciples which
are embodied in the lever, the cam,
the cog, the ratchet, ETC., is worth
one-third more than he who does not
understand them. Even uneducated
employers, Mr.. Coffin said, would
prefer to employ persons who had
received q common school education
rather than those who have not. Per
sons of education were much to be
preferred in positions of trust, as
foremen, etc.
In answer to a question as to the
effect ofeducation and mental culture
upon the personal and social habits
of workingmen, Mr.. Coffin said, very
pertinently, in substance as follows ::
That mental culture creates wants
which the uneducated know nothing
of; that tits these wants which re-
fine and beautify life; that educated
workmen live in better houses, wear
better clothes and eat better food
than their uneducated fellows; have
more virtues and fewer vices than
these, and by thus making them
selves singular or conspicuous, in
eyitably acquire predominance over,
and leadership among their less
cultivated comrades. McCalla &
Stavely, publishers Of Philadelphia,
declared that better education would
undoubtedly increase the value Of a
printers work such rudimentary
knowledge of foreign languages, as
will enable a compositer to set the
types, will increase his pay about
ten per cent.
1t is unnecessary to inform our
readers that the standard of educa-
ton among printers has, within the
last twenty-five years, been mate
rally lowered. Formerly a thorough
knowledge of photography, a. fair ac-
quaintance with the rules of gram
mar, and a reasonable amount of
general information, were esteemed
indispensable qualifications for a
compositor. Fifty years ago, it is
safe to say, the majority of printers
were competent to edit the paper ON
which they worked-if not to write
it's contents, at least to put them in
type correctly. Then a printer was
looked up to as a man above the
common-as one possessed of an ex-
traordinary degree of learning, and
to whom questions of spelling and
grammatical construction were refer
red, as high authority. Then the
Office of ppoof-reader was an easy
charge, and compositors took pride
in making "clean proofs" and a
pride in their avocation, which was
aided by as it was an aid to educa,
ton. Now we have changed all that.
The ranks of printers in city offices
are crowded by men who have gone
to school long enough to get smat-
tering of "reading, writing, and
arithmetic" and served perhaps a
years apprenticeship at the case,
join the honorable company Of jour
neymen ON a footing Of equality with
veterans Of thirty years. service. A
good deal can be learned in a print.
ing office, but the rudiments of a
fair education must be gained before
the scholar enters it. We advise
every printer and every workman to
read the commissioners report, and
Judge for himself of the testimony
therein presented as to the influence
of education upon labor Boston
Record.
The velocity of electric waves
| through the Atlantic cables has been
ascertained by Professor Gould te
be from 1000 to 5000 miles per sec.
ond. Telegraph wires upon poles
in the air conduct the electric waves
with a velocity more than double
this. It is a curious fact that the
rapidity of the transmission increas
es with the distance between thu
/ miro and the earth oI, with the hinh1