Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-12-05
shapes in n lathe. exactly ike iron, and is
bored with an ordinary dry drill.

JoURNEYMEN AND MAcHINERY.-Prof
Francis A Walker would have the young
m"n Mt Boston of mechanical turn o.
mind go more thoroughly into
industrial pursuits. What he says ia
profitable enough, only it should be re
'nemhered that the system of the work
'hops is being completely revolutionized
In former days the young man who bounc
himself cut AS an apprentice was expe cted
TO pass through all The steps of the paint
'r's or carpenters trade, doing everything
well and nothing as an expert should d.
IT, From drawing chalk line and plan
ing n board TO The making of door or u
house the learner was not confronted bN
he disturbing element of trade unions OF
he competition of specialists or OF
machinery. Originality and intelligence
at II premium. the motive power was
he arm and not steam or electricity. Bu'
his is all changed The introduction OF
machines has nude machines of the
2reat bolv ofapprentices and journeymen
md also developed II few specialists. A.
rule, poor journey men in the old senst
ire at present in demand in our shops
since only n little prac ice is demanded to
enable man to turn Il screw or run II
woodlurnng machine all his life. The
stains of the trades as trades is
very much lowered, The brains of the
workmen SLEEP, and labor be, ONES more
and more Il uechanSm.
The master mechhuic and the manufac
lurer are not 1T ali aversc to this An
invention that doubles the production and
reduces the number of men only takes out
of the problem of business II margin Of
uncertainty. \ machine which does not
require any skin to manage will not go on
n strike. is not killed by bad air or bad
beer, and ut tie same tjme it liberates
many hands which arc thrown upon th,
land in search of work. With all that has
been sad about macbln, .,urned and hand
made chairs and tables, the demand fol
the former is SO increasingly great thai
the dvice to Young meii 10 enter the field
should be taken after serious concern. Al
any rate many of the trades now put
premium upon the unskIled workmen
Ihe genGr i character of our workshops
has undoubtedly degenerated, and we II
this country have not made the provisions
for education of worbmt that prevail il
the Enolsh towns.
1t would be much wiser, therefore, il
view of the undeniabe tendencies of the
trades and also their overcrowded condi
tion, to hold up the advantages, linanciaI
AID moral and physical, thai attend an
agricultural life for example. Not only is
it better for the country at large that there
should be wide agricultural interests, but
the tiIler of the soil is personally more
Independent and moIe II man and citizen.
We have not yet reduced agriculture, gen
orally speaking, to II system. A French
peasant makes more money out of his five
acres and his poultry than the average OF
our small farmers, because be utilizes to
the full his small opportunities. But how
ever that may be, 1t will not do to argu,
Il return to the trades upon the old lines.
SPECIAL schools there are for the education
and training of lads in certain departments
where machinery is and always will be al
a discount. But even hese institutions
are not doing the work of the old appren-
ticesnlp days. They lead directly to
specialists. rhe ordinary mechanic will
not be drawn there. ro use be words OF
the Manufacturer GazeAe: "lf work
man have no higher or broader mission
from day to day and from week to week
than to shape the hee of II boot, or cut the
thread of II screw, and to do it all by
at that, it can make but little
Il ditfsrence to him whether or not he is
verstd IN the higher mathematics, or what
are the natural laws and scientific princl
pies Involved in the operation. ."-Spr5ng-
ftLd Republican.