The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-01-14

unusual care, VIII enlist the profound study
OF those interested in the mental and moral
training of our youths Convincing as
these details are, of the close relationship
existing between education and the welfare
of the State, our people are still slow to
adopt methods used in other countries and
States, whereby the boundaries of instruc-
ton are extended, and knowledge impaired
OF more useful and practical kind. Our
common school system is now fixed upon a
firm basis, and free education assured to
all who wish to avail themselves of its
benefits, and inquiry should, therefore, be
directed to the discovery of the best plan to
fit our children for the numerous vocatipns
that are the outgrowth of the peculiar re-
sources and varied industries of the State.
Upon survey Of the agencies used in un-
folding these resources of Pennsylvania, it
must be confessed, the mechanical work
necessary for their proper development,
requires labor Of the highest skill and if
this survey extends over the vast and COM
plex system of her industries, how manifold
are the places where practical knowledge
and handicraft are needed ~.
1t is to our mineral wealth and manu-
flctures we mainly owe our riches. power,
and advantages we possess as State, and
in our mines, furnaces, forges, rolling mills,
locomotive works, and the myriads of
factories, wherein her products. are formed
for use, trained hands and minds are always
wanted. Can they be found among our
own people ? Reasonable and just com
plaint is made OF the want of skilled labor
in our midst and the constant recourse
had to foreign countries to supply this
pressing need. In our great iron and
other industries, and wherever skilled
labor Is required, the greatest number of
those employed have acquired their ex-
perience in Europe, or the Eastern States.
Is it not time for Pennsylvania to absolve
herself from this dependence, that imposes
upon many of her sons the condition of
common laborers, at the bidding Of ovcrseers
from without the State?
In the future that awaits our great State,
with her cXhaustlcss wealth, wherein are
all the clements of empire, shall her children
be the hewers of wood and the drawers of
water, or shall they assume the position to
which their birthright entities them and
direct and control her destiny? A very
small number of our bows become artisans
and yet it is a maxim of political economy
that the measure of States productive
ness Is i'll proportion to the skill OF. it's labor.
We disburse in this Commonwealth ten
millions OF dollars annually to educate our
children, and no one doubts the wisdom,
policy. or necessity of this expenditure ::
and of the children who complete their
terms at her schools not one has any special
iltness Tor trade or any requirements that
Will enable them to compete successfully
with the skilled labor engaged, in MANY
instances at high prices, in extracting our
mineral stores, or in the conduct of the
great industries that are the pride and
chief support of the State.
| am persuaded the members of the
present Legislature are interested in any
design that concerns the honor and welfare
of the State, and Iappeal to your judgment
whether the dictates of common sense and
a proper appreciation of the true sources of
our prosperity do not demand that some
provision should be made for training a
portion Of our children in knowledge of
the mechanic arts, and beg leave to offer
a few suggestions as the outlines Of plan
to inipart this knowledge which, upon
examination, [ believe to be feasible and
to our system of education Let
young men in our common schools who
desire to become mechanical engineers or
master mechanics, or acquire a knowledge
Of some particular branch Of mechanical
industry, be transferred to schools where
they can be taught the sciences that bear
upon, and especially mathematics in their
relations to the trade they wish to learn
Lecture and draughting rooms should be
provided and Il workshop furnished with
all the improved machinery, the former to
be presided over by a professor of.
mechanical engineering and the latter
supervised by a master mechanic.
The time OF the students could be divided
between the sclloolroom and the workshop,
and the lessons taught in the one be re-
duccd to practice in the other, and a
knowledge obtained Of the mechanical
processes made use of from the simplest to
the most complicated work. Is there any
practiaI obstacle toscducltipg boys in this
manner 50 that they can calculate the size
and parts of a machipe, then draught and
finally make it with their own hands, if
required !; i'll Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and
other large manufacturing cities, where the ]
means Of acquiring nfornation Of this kipd
are 50 ample, schools, such as have describ-
ed, might be established without great cost,
md where provision is made therefor by
The focal school boards, the State shonld be
pledged to give theni proper assistance.
q eooMpULsoRY EBreNrGoxy - =
ffap parcntne9lects tie education ofachild1
1r selfshness demands its earnings when
.he State affords the facilities fori It's instruc-
ion, can it be argued that it IS despotic OF
destructive of the principles of fee institu-
ions to compel the attendance of that child
IT school, and is it not a duty which the
State owes, not TO the child alone, but to