The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1875-01-13

edge impaired OF more uSelul ana
practical kind. Our common school
system is now fixed Upon firm ba-
sis. and free education assured to
all who wish to avasl themselves of
ITS benefits, and inquiry should. there
fore be directed to the discovery of
the best plan to fit our children for
the numerous vocatiods that are the
outgrowth of the peculiar resources
and varied industries of the State.
Upon a survey of the agencies used
in unfolding these resources of Penn
sylyania. 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 complex
system of her industries, how mani
fold are the places where practical
knowledge and handieraft are needed.
It is TO our m;aeral wealth and
manufactures we mainly owe our
riches. power, and the advantages we
possess as a State, and 10 our mines.
! furnaces. forges, rolling mills, loco
motive works, and the myriads of
( factories. wherein ber products are
+ formed for use, trained hands and
minds are always wanted. Can they
be found among our own people!
Reasonable and just complaint Is
made of the want of skilled labor in
our midst, and the constant recourse
had TO foreign countries to supply
this pressing need. 10 our great iron
and other industries. and wherever
skilled labor is required, the greatest
number of those employed have ac-
auired their experience in Europe, or
Itbe Eastern States. Is it not time
! for PENNSYLVANIA to absolye herself
from this dependence, that imposes
upon many of her sons the condition
of common laborers, at the bidding
of overseers from without the State
In the future that awaits our great
State. with her exhaIstless wealth,
wherein are all the elements of EN-
pire. shall her children be the hewers
I 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 boys be-
come artisans, aud yet it is a maxim
of political economy that the measure
CT q States productiyeness is in pro-
portion to the skill of its labor We
/ disburse in this Commonwealth ten
millions of dollars annually to edu-
cate 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 fitness
for a trade or any requirements that
will enable them 70 compete success
fully 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 tie pride and chief support
of the State.
| am persuaded the members of
sis0 Psvss..s Legislature are interested
in any design that couce--s the nunV'
and welfare of the State, and | ap-
peal to your judgment whether the
dictates of common sense and q pro-
per 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 few suggestions
as the outlines of plan to impart
this knowledge which, upon examin-
alton, believe to be feasible and ap-
pIicable to our system of education.
Let Young men in our common
schools who desire to become mechan-
zeal engineers or master mechanics,
or acquire knowledge Of some par
ticular branch of mechanical indus
try, be transferred to schools where
they can be taught the science that
bear up n, and especially mathematics
! in their relations to the trade they
wish to learn. Lecture and draught-
ing rooms should be provided and
workshop furnished with all the i'm
proved machinery, the former to be
presided over by professor of me-
chanical engineering and the latter
carefully supervised by a master me-
chanic The time of the students
! could be divided between the school
room sld the workshop, and the les
sons taught in the one be reduced to
) practice in the other, and a knowr
Q edge obtained Of the mechanical pro-
cesses made use of from the simplest
to the most complicated work. Il
: there any practical obstacle to ed
ueating BOYS in this manner so that
t they can calculate the size and parts
= of machine, then draught and final
! ly make it with their own hands,
+ if required in Philadelphia, Pitts5urg,
? aad other large manufacturing cities.
: where the means Of acquiring infor-
I nation Of this kind are so ample.
schools, such as l have described,
might be established without great
! cost, and where provision is made
therefor by the local school boards,
: the State should be pledged to give
: them proper assistance.
COMPULSORY EDUCATION.
II If a parent neglects the education
Of child or selishness demands its
earnings when the State affords the
facilities for its instruction, can it be
argued that it is despotic or destruc-
/ tive of the principles Of free institu-
lions TO compel the attendance Of that
child at school, and is it not a duty
which the State owes, not TO the
child alone, but 10 her ovn safety, to
rescue it from the condition of life
this difference or greed may impose
upon it, and prepare it, not only to
be self sustaining. but good citizen
: as weIlg All ignorant men are not
paupers or criminals, but from this
class are recruited the the greatest
: portion of those who fill our aims
houses and jails. Wien, in certain
sections of the United States, you
: end only seven per cent. of the peo-
PIE, above the age Of ten years who
cabnUt read and write, and discover 50
| per cent. Of all the crime chargesble
TO these sections is committed by this
ignorant seven per cent, it will not
do IN DENY that ignorance has a most