The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-02-07
Industrial Schools.

the pen of Mr.. H. NJ. Cobb, in the Jour.
nal of Progress: The effort to give art
industry an organized form is, so ar as
the technically useful arts are concerned,
of comparatively modern origin. The
old system of apprenticeship pursued by
the various trades down to a period not
so remote as to be purely tradition un-
doubtedly gave good results, though sci.
dom the best. But in our time the vari-
GUS trade organizations have so circum.
scribed apprenticeship, and 80 weighted
it with disabilities, that it can hardly be
said to exist. Undoubtedly there are ap.
prentices, but they bear little resem.
blauce to those known under the old
system. The trades unions declare that
they only seek to defend the public and
their guilds against imperfect work and
unjust competition. In limiting the
number of apprentices to be employed in
any establishment, however, they have
closed the avenues to thousands of boys
who must earn a living, by narrowing
the field of choice. The question con-
tinuaIly recurs, "What shall be done
with the boys?" and to this question the
demoralization of the youth in great
cities lends sinister significance. Every
day some newspaper deplorss the increas-
ing number of b,ys who have no trades,
and no visible means of support. And
it is common enough to hear the blame
for this want of occupation laid upon the
parents of the boys, who are said to be
ambitious of more brilliant future for
their Sons, or upon the boys themselves,
who are said to deapise manual labor.
OF course there is some truth in these
common enough charges. But there
must have been truth in them q century
or two ago likewise. Yet the evil We
speak OF is undeniably Of modern origin,
and we are not to assume that it is deriv.
able from a contempt for labor solely, or
even chiefly, until the fact is apparent.
The fact is that this evil began to increase
with the spread of trades unions and
other organized efforts to limit the mum.
ber of working members in any guild.
The rules of these organizations are re-
prossive. They 90 80 far as to take from
the father the selection of an occupation
for his son, ifitso happens that the father
be the proprietor ofan industrial establish.
ment where the unions bear sway. These
rules are founded in sel6shness, which
would not 30 much matter were they not
diametrically opposed to the exercise of
that freedom of choice which goes before
all healthy progress and prepares the
way. The establishment of art.indus.
trial schools was forced by the narrow
policy OF the various artisan guilds.
Their utility has been demonstrated be-
youd any question whatever, and they
have, in fact, given breadth 20 the field
of choice for youth which mas alreadd
borne abundant testimony to their excel
lence. But they have done much more
than this. Avoiding the rigid rules of
other organizations, they not only prac.
tically make choice of occupation free,
but give opportunity to the pupil TO dis
cover for himself to what occupation he
should devote his energies. These
schools are conducted strictly on the in.
ductive system. A boy entering one Of
them, un. ,rtain as to what he can best
do, soon finds his meter, and if destined
to profit by opportunity and instruction
cannot fail to 90 forth full armed and
equipped for victorious campaign in
the Industrial domain.
The schools of industrial art now in
operation have taken many lad with
nothing to do and no opportunity to do
anything, and given him new object in
life. That these schools will, at a not
distant day, Danish apprenticeship from
our shops and factories, and give to the
artisan world a greater amount OF skill
and enterprise than it ever had, and that
it can ever have under the systems of ap.
premiership now in vogue, seems unde-
niable. They may be regarded as the
beginning of q revolution in art industry,
but, if properly encouraged and sustained,
they may be made most prominent fac
tor in the solution of the aocial problem.
The question, "What shall be done with
the boys 2" is fundamental. The boys
of to. day, exactly as We equip them, will
be the men of tomorrow. 1t is for us to
say what order of men they shall repre-.
sent, and what shall be the measure Of
their manhood.