Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-01
ADDRESS OF REV. DR.. PEABODY
AT THE
Technical School Commencement.

Many years ago there was a strong feeling
throughout New England in behalf of manual
labor schools, so called. | think am right in
saying that the experiment, wherever tried,
failed. The reasons are obvious. The labor was
not skilled labor, and therefore gave no mental
revenue and very low wages. 1t was simply n
clumsy endeavor Ito enable poor young men to
pay, by the least remunerative kinds of work,
for their board and tuition at half time schools.
The hand labor not only taught them nothing,
bnt Stupefied those of them for whom that work
remained TO be performed. Most of them having
started with not very large or active brain
capital, for so slow and limp gait on the way
TO knowledge presented lew attractions to youth
of genius or ability. This institution is at the
broadcast remove from those in theory
and in practice. Its name so implies.
1t is an institute of industrial science.
Its labor is brain work. Its machine shop is a
recitation room. Its mechanical processes cor
respond TO the students drawings on the black
board; its finished products to his corrected and
approved diagrams. Its object is TO train lb-
orally educated mechanics and artisans-men
who shall start in life with progressive ideas and
the power Of rapid Self-advancement, who shall
dffuse intelligence while they create values who
shall adon as men the society which they enrich
as operatives, who shall have, independently of
their callings, selfhood ipmeasurably more
precious and more honorable.
In addressing the students, graduates and
friends of this institution, have chosen for my
subject the worth of an extended education to
mechanics and artisans.
Suffer me to begin with the lowest considera-
tion-that of moneys worth-the lowest, as it
is commonly called, vet by no means TO be de-
Spised; for though we have the best authority
for saying that the love of money is the root of
all evil, that love and the sordd qualities which
it implies and engenders are, think, oftener
produced by pinching penury than by earned
and merlted prosperity; and the position, lnhu-
ence and capacity of unselhshness which money
confers are worthy of every mans strong desire
and honest endeavor. Especially do they suit
the ambition of him who may hope to enrich
himself by the creation of values, and not mere
ly by specializing upon them and levying con-
tributions on their transit. Let US analyze the
price of finished commodity Here is lathe,
or an air pump or steam engine, which is
held at certain price, which must, where COM
petition is free, be very near its exact value
That value is composed of three parts, the
wages of labor, the wages OF skill, and the
reimbursements and profit of capital.
The wages of labor, that is Of mere physical
force, or of processes which require no knOwl-
edge or discretion, constitute the smallest part.
Labor can never earn more than mere SUBJ
sistence, nor ought it. 1t cannot, left to itself,
produce more than enough to sustain meagre
starveling life The aborigines of North Amer
haps thousands of years, yet had not only ac-
cumulated no wealth, but were unable, except
at rare intervals, TO secure satisfying supply
for the rudeSt wants of nature. A New Eng
land farmer, even with the ownership OF his
land, if he applies no skill or science to his
farm, though he, by bis wife and children toll
incessantlv, can secure barely the necesSaries
hardly any of the comforts of life Now the
wages of labor must be measured by its pro-
ducts, and by this measure will in general fall
short of the cost of comfortable living. They a
little exceed this standard in our country at the
present moment. The reason of this is that in
the development of our resources, the cOnstruc-
ton of railroads, the opening of fresh soil, the
demand for manual labor keeps somewhat in
advance of the supply. But what mere bone
and muscle can earn in an old and settled
community, what their earnings tend
to become, and may very soon become here,
may be learned by the wretched pittance of OPP
eratyes in England, not sufficient 10 preserve
their families from death rate which shows
that poverty is no less destructive than pesti
lence. Moreover, low as these wages are, the
tendency, in a fully settled country, is to still
further decline. Though production may in
crease, the demand for unSkilled labor dimin-
ishes. The time was when all work was done
by hand. Now machinery, driven by steam or
water power, supersedes the greater part of
hand labor. All the strong men of the habita-
bic world could not exert the amount of physi-
cal power which is at this moment at work in
the little island of Great Britain. And the sub
stitutiOn of machinery for human strength is
still gong on, steam is replacing even the shovel
and the pckaX, and the time will come when
the Briorean engine will, with its fireman and
feeder, everywhere do the work which 100 arms
do now. The supply of labor thus tending con-
stantly to exceed the demand, its wages must
sink very nearly to the starvation point.
The second part OF the price of manufac-
n Of ut-
is distributed among the workmen employed
in proportion TO their respective degrees of
skill. He who can work only as a journey
man under the direction of others, or who
can perform but single and not very difficult
process in a completed piece of work, receives
somewhat higher compensation than he
would get for carrying a bod or shoveling
earth, and this slight advance is the price of the
imperfect training and the moderate degree of
brain power which he puts into his work. He,
on the other hand, who understands every part
OF this business, who can direct knowingly the
labor OF others, who can ensure for the articles
OF his manufacture the highest reputation, ana
can be relied on for the fulflment of his con-
tracts, can command and obtain price fully
proportional 10 his skill and ability. His in
come is compensation for the amount OF labor
which bis skill supersedes. A partOf the saving
enures to the public in the cheapening
Of commodities; large part becomes the
petition will prevent his receiving more
than he fairly cams, but the master machinist
or manufacturer, who has some hundreds of
operatives under his employ, even though he
have twice or three times the salary of the gov
ernor of tho state, earns all that is paid to him,
and is at the same time public benefactor to a
very large extent; for the commodities that he
furnishes would, under less skilllul superin-
tendence, be produced at a much greater cost;
and were II not for skill like his, many articles
of food, clothing and furniture, that are now
within every ones reach, would be too eXpen-
sive for the means Of any but the richest pur-
chasers. But this skill, except in the rarest
instances of mechanical genius, is to be acquired
by education alone, and not by the mere train
ing of the hand, bur equally of the brain. The
skilled labor cannot dispense with the knowl-
edge of chemistry, physics and mathematics.
BY chemistry be must learn the properties of
materials, their proportions and laws Of combi-
nation, the action upon them OF oxygen and
hydrogen, heat, light and electricity. By
physics he must become acquainted with the
mechanical powers, the strength of materials,
the effect of friction, the constants and
varables which must always be taken
INTO the account TO prevent either
the deficiency or the waste of, force But
physics is mathematical science, and chemis-
try has become so: till it was so indeed it hard
y meriled the name of science. Without a very
thorough mathematical training, neither chem
istry nor physics can be so understood that the
artisan can have a fair command of his mate
rails, instruments and forces, can meet mex
pected eXigencies, can avail himself understand
ingly Of improved processes, can calculate re-
suits, ecouomise resources, and give his pro-
ducts their highest degree of perfection. Then,
too, skilled artisan needs general culture. He
is 10 conduct correspondence, to treat on equal
terms with men of intelligence and education,
TO maintain in society a position worthy of re.
spect and confidence, to do his part toward rails.
ing bis special calling to the rank Of liberal
profession, for this is what the various depart
ments of mechanical art ought TO be, and will
be thus called aud recognized, so far as their
professors show themselves men Of liberal nur-
ture.
The third part Of the cost of a commodity is
The reimbursement aud profits Of the capital ex-
pended in buildings, machinery and raw mate
rails. Capital is in fact the accumulated saw
ings Of the wages Of skill. Labor creates all
value. But, as we have seen, mere hand labor
can no more than support the aborer; il leaves
no surplus to be saved. Skilled labor, on the
other hand, creates more value than the laborer
consumes, and the surplus remains in hand
III lhe ruder states Of society in such wealth as
eau Ne locked up IN Golfers wardrobcs or grana
iles, lh more advanced community in forms
w Which ~ can be reeXpended in industrial OPP
elations' by laws which have not time 10 ex.
pound, out as inevitable as those BY which the
niue streams OF valley lose Themselves i'm the
| river thai drains II, small capitals tend 10 RIM
| together thus to form the large capitals. which
Me INC oWect OF 50 much seDseless
Jealousy and hostility. These large capitals arc
nuspehsaDle 70 the stability Of industrial opera-
| IONS, Tor ~ the most lucrative desctiptinne nr
1 business ar No inf .