The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-01-09

be defined and liked as those OF the
insurance commissioners now are.
TRADES UNIONS AND LABOR oRGANI.
zATIoNs.
The governor has a good deal to say
on trades unions and scientific train
ing, commencing with statement of
the decline of the system of appren.
ticeship, the decadence of skilled la
Dor, and the rapid increase Of com
mon day laborers, and giving the
causes. He says,
"To couuteract these influences, the
assistance of the State will be required.
But another cause, arising from the
misdrected efforts of the workingmen
themselves, can only be removed with
their cooperation. Trades unions
and various labor organizations, which
profess to elevate the condition of the
laboring classes, have, in reality, ma
terially contributed to impoverish and
degrade them. Millions of dollars
have been collected from workingmen
and squandered in profitless strikes,
during which other millions have been
lost through enforced idleness, without
even a transient effect upon the nat
ural fluctuations of wages. The in
dependence Of individuals has been
sacrificed to the tyranny of a class,
and they have gradually learned to
depend for prosperity upon other
agencies than their own personal in
dustry and thrift. The regular edu.
cation of skilled mechanics has been
restricted by the same agencies, fore
ing the growing generations into the
undistinguished mass of day laborers,
the lowest and poorest pail of any
class, and reducing the nation to the
necessity of supplying its skilled la
Dor from foreign countries. These
things strike at the welfare of labor
and the prosperity of the State. Even
from the workingmen's standpoint, no
good that it seems possible to derive
such meaDs can compensate for their
deterioiating effects upon the condition
and morale of the laboring classes.
The growth of the individual is dwarf
ed, his substance wasted and his chill
dren deprived Of their rights. The
doors of his own trade and all Others
are closed against them by his fellow
workmen, and they must enter another
calling, or become the mere drudges
of society. AS long as the trades are
closed, as at present, we must ever
complain of over. crowded professions
and commercial pursuits, Of u lack .
skilled mechanics and an excess o
J common laborers.
!. A THOROUGH SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL
a TRAINING
a must embrace the children, the work
+ ingmen and the people. The children
It of skilled and prosperous mechanic
!. might find in the primary schools in
o struction in mechanical and free hanC
is drawing; and to those who are cir
o cumscribed by harder conditions, fire
d night schools could furnish the oppor
,s tunities of slower advancement. Re
n form industrial schools, under a wis
e system of compulsory laws, coul,
n grather the children of utterly desti
Is tute or vicious parents and educat
7, them for a useful calling, without cor
< tact, on the one hand, with acknowl
edged paupers or criminals, or lower
ing the public schools, on the othe
a hand, with offensive poverty or To-
c. associations. In addition to the the,
rs ry, it may be necessary for the Stal
a to afford practical training in tn
u mechanical arts. 1t is not probabl
a that the old system of Apprenticeship
s. which has gradually fallen into disus
n can ever be generally restored. TW
I'd causes alone would seem to be sufficieI
of to prevent it. In the extensive mo'
n ern workshops, the proprietor, or ma
he ter mechanic, or foreman can. nev'
ir find time to devote to the instructio
r. Of apprentices, who are consequent