Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1872-03-07

Who will make, and mend our
wagons, our boots and shoes, our
harness, our houses, or shoe our
horses, and mend our plows, twenty
years to come? BY that time, the
hands that now do this work will
have laid down the plane and ham.
mcr. Hardly single apprentice is
found at any trade, in any of our
towns. Boys stand about with moth.
ing to do; years are taking them into
manhood all unable to meet its re-.
sponsibilities, because they are una.
bIe to use themselves, either in pow.
ers of hand or mind,-at some trade
or business. Very many are now
growing up as helpless in their man.
hood as they were in childhood
Where is the error One error is IN
the idea that the popular school edu-
cation of the times is q thing which
of itself alone can ensure to our
children means of livelihood. The
knowledge Of the schools has no real
value till it is made to work its WIS
dom into some business of life. The
tolls OF life are the mysterious play
Of forces which make education pro.
ductive wealth. The trades and
tolls of life, work up and out the
school training of modern society
The manhood of our day needs many
ways of working, and we must train
the young to an application of their
knowledge to the wants Of business.
Boys are to feel pride Of power by
reason Of education, for dong all
work Of hand and head wisely and
well.
Apprentice laborers are impatient
and restless as soon SIS they can do
anything in the trade. They want
wages and will not wait to get their
trades we'll. So the trades fill up
with poor class of workmen, which
lowers the per cent of wages and be-
comes an imposition upon the public.
The haste to earn becomes q waste
for life to the workman and to the
community.
Any apprentice who will stand by
his bench rs faithful learner, till his
time IS all told, will IN five years
have more money than he who de.
serted his post for premature wages.
A trade I, lily acquired is an advan-
tagc and premium in the hands OF
the mechanic. lie will get work
when others are idle. He will get
full pay when others are compelled
to submit to . reduction.
The need Of every trade is, more
skilled labor. Not in the so. called
trades, only, but in every calling
The plowman or hackman that holds
the reins with an educated hand and
head and faithful heart gives value
to his labor. The young lnan who
brings worth to his toll from the ed
ucation OF his school days, will get
pay for his wits and wisdom, and
book knowledge, which can not do
service, will not get pay sooner than
horse which will not &c under sad
die or in harness. 1t matters little,
when the education is applied, it will
get pay for its value.
II the young will put their wits to
work they will find living, but wits
left TO idlcness will be no better than
ignorance.
The educated, high minded mechan
ic, that puts large, rich character and
energy and skill into his trade will
find honor in it. These are the things
which we delight to hoLor and pay
for, and they command price every
where.
The trades suffer for lack of men
of character, enterprise and skill to
carry them on.
Ben. Franklin gave such honor to
his trade, that it has filed the call.
ing with men for the last hundred
years. lie and his trade perfected
alike as the labor went on. They
both grew honorable rs time tested
the worth Ut both. So ought it to
be; the mechanic should honor his
trade as thing which is to enlarge
and ennoble his lie. He should he
faithful to it and it will be true to