Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-12-01
wHxKrrSs,s TRADE POPULATION

wHEELINss TRADE POPULATION.
Wheeling Is manufacturing city-a
great workshop. ~
Nearly the entire population, young
and old, is comprised Of Woodworking
people.
We have a larger class Of young peo-
pie engaged In the trades than any other
city of the size in the country.
The spectacle witnessed on our streets
of a Saturday night when the weeks
work is done and the laboring classes
have washed themselves free OF the dust
and SCOT of the mill and workshop,
donned their clean linen and come out
upon the street for promenade, gives
us an idea Of the immense number OF
our population, especially the class OF
Young men, who are actively enlisted
in the industries for which our city Is
distinguished.
Our workshops are the schools Of our
young people. From the time they are
able to perform any part Of the work of
one of our manufactures they begin to
work for wages. They grow up with no
more education than is derived from the
discipline of their daily labor.
Our free schools are doing little or
nothing for the rising generations of our
city. This Is fact as true as 1t Is inn
pOrtant. 1t is fact that demands the
serious consideration of those who have
our educational interests In charge.
If we had been given the authority to
Law out the work of the educational
convention lately in session in this city,
we would have confined its deliberations
exclusively to the solution of this most
important problem: how to make our
free school system useful, or attractive,
to those who desire to prepare them
selves for the trades; how to provide for
a more practical system of education In
our free schools for this class Of people.
We do not wish to be understood as
holding that the usual course Of eduea-
ton and training furnished by our free
schools is of no advantage to the young
man entering the trades. On the con-
trary, every young man, no matter what
his avOcatiOn in life, is in need OF such
an education.
But they will not, and i'll many cases
cannot afford the time necessary to ac-
ouire such an education,
We are more firmly convinced the
more we reflect upon this subject, that
our free schools will have to incorporate
i'm their system the features of the ordl-
nary "trade schools" if they would reach
the clsss of young men to which we re-
fer and benefit the entire population for
which our free schools have been estab-
lished. No other plan seems likely to
draw this element of Our community.
We commend the subject to our enter
DriSinn school men, MeSSrS. BUTCHER
and BIRCH, as one which opens grand
| field for investigation and experiment.
Trade schools are as yet i'll their i'll
fancy, and supported entirely by private
patronage, but there is no reason why
| they may not have their mission ex-
| tended to all classes of our population
by becoming an integral part of our COM
mon schools. TheS have become an
established institution i'll the education
al work of the great city of New York.
The prospectus of these New York
chOOlS, lust issued for the season, Begin
ming on the 2lst off the present month,
sets forth the object of these schools to
lie to give a more thorough education to
the apprentice or young mechanic than
he can acquire in a workshop. AT the
same time, to familiaTiZe this class with
the best shop methods, the work in the
schools is conducted iuthe same manner
rs first-claSs shop, practical instruction
being given by NEE hanicS skilled i'll the
different branches of their trades, under
the supervision of the manager of the
schools. ..
Taking as an illustration the course of
instructiOnin plumbing and sanitary en-
cheering, branch of business in which
the health of families often depends on
perfect workmanship, the instruction
given by competent practical plumbers
includes the use of tools, hot and cold
water supply, waste pipes and drainage,
trapping and ventilating, fitting of pipes,
boilers, baths, ranges, &c, the workshop
containg all the appliances OF n first
class shop. Instruction Is also given i'll
such mechanical drawing as to connect
with the business, and will enable the
student to lay out working plans. Be-
sides this preliminary training, series
of lectures is given on the science of
plumbing and sanitary engineering by
experts in such matters.
We have cited the course of instruc-
ton in this particular branch of me-
chanics as illustrating what is done in
other branches in the same schools. 1t
is obvious that the intention of the pro-
mOterS of these schools Is to make thor
Ough wOrkmen and to lift mechanical
operations to n higher plane than it has
reached hitherto among us, and by this
means to dignity the sphere of the work
man. The want of such instruction, in
the absence of the old guilds and the
training which they gave to the appren-
tees whom they received rs candidates
for membership, has long been felt.
Aside, however, from any such de-
mands, the necessity ofproviding train
ing in mechanical and art industries is
pressing upon us, and the first step in
the progress toward skilled workmen
and perfect work is TO provide good
trade schools for those who are ambi-
ioIls to become masters in their crafts.