Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-04-18

THE RIGHT KIND OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
INSTEAD OF ORNAMENTAL-NEED OF INDUS
TRIAL EDUCATION.
To the Editor of THE EVENING STAR:
The brief reference in your editorial Of the 4th
To the above subject calls attention to one of
the most important questions of the day. It
was formerly understood that the want of
school education was the great source of crime,
and statistics were cited showing the relative
proportion of criminals who could not read or
write as conclusive on that point. Those who
have given close attention to this subject for
years past have, however, become satisfied that
1T is not so much the absence of education as It
is the rant Of the right kind Of education that fills
our aimShOuSeS and prisons, and by this mean
that education which qualities the rising gener-
alton for pursuing some Industrial calling by
which to secure a livelihood.
AS is apparent to all who will give the subject
a little thought the great mass of our people
must of necessity work for living in some
our educational SYSTEM SHOULD be to qualify ali
for some useful pursuit and as far as possible tit
in mem for the special sailing they are to pursue
our public schools is given to the theoretical
and ornamental, and
TOO LITTLE TO THE PRACTICAL.
A large proportion of the pupils leave school
unqualified for engaging in practical business
and hence we have in nearly every city what
are termed business colleges to instruct q GER
SiAA NAee'o AoA ShSoSAle Ia OIuAudFy lucTC6utllC
pursuits. But by far the greatest defect in our
schools is the utter absence OF Industrial educa-
tion-that practical education in the element
airy knowledge and practice necessary to enable
the young to engage in the industrial or
mechanical mech; meal pursuits It is because of this
with idle youth, young men and boys who are
not naturally vicious oridle, who would work
If they only knew how and had chance but
who not knowing how, are therefore idleCdrift
into all sorts of bad habits about the streets
and saloons, form bad associations, and then
this condition OF affa1fs that we find in every
factory and workshop throughout the land
american iaborers, old and young, displaced
Three out of four, if not nine out of ten, of ali
the skilled labOrers of the country are foreign
ers.men who by the industrial schools Of
England have been qualified for the business
including every branch of industry. These
men coming here take the places which
should be occupied by our own citizens
by our own sOns-whO are thus crowded
out and driven into enforced idleness, or a vain
often ending in career Of crime and disgrace
1t Is true, that native energy and enterprise en-.
able some to surmount these difficulties, and
graduate eventually as successful "selfmade"
men; but they are the exception to the general
rule. Every observing person knows that dur.
Ing periods OF depression in business, when men
increase of crime. Wherever, and from what
ever cause, idleness increases, there and in like
world over. 1t seems to be universal law,
from which there Is no escape.
THRY HAD NO TRADE.
1t is an old saying that Ignorance Is the
mother of vice." and it is literally true: but as
shown by the statistics of our penal institutions
it Is not, as many suppose merely or even
mainly an ignorance of reading and writing. or
the lack of good common school education SO
much as 1t Is the want of an Industrial edllca.
ton. From 1860 to 1870, there were ,6O5
phia, and of these Ills could both read and
write, but PIT had no trade. From 1870 to
1ss ISIS tn there Tr were re- Of whom 1e77 could
figures, which may be duplicated at nearly
every prison in the land, are eloquent in proof
of the above stated fact-that it is q want Of the
knowledge necessary to enable them to engage
in some honest industrial calling, and the Idle
ness resulting therefrom that fills our jails and
Take our own city as an illustration-see the
hundreds, yes thousands, of boys, black and
white who daily and nightly th1ong its
ness, and a large share of whom sooner or later.
are sure to graduate as criminals Of various
what it would be if they were taught some use
full occupation or trade, but they will live by
preying on the decent portion Of the commit
they do not escape, and to try and convict them
ff that be possible under the absurd and anti
quated mass OF technicalities called laws, in ex-
istence here, and then, If convicted, TO support
them in ideness in jail To get clear idea az the
case, one only needs to visit the Police or the
Criminal Court almost any day. And this is
but q sample OF what exists In every city of the
land and that too, In the afternoon OF this nine
teenth century, and among people who claim
to be among the most intelligent and enli0ht-
ened in the world surely, an education or q
system which produces such results cannot be
the best.
Trade unions and kindred associations. In.
stead of afording relief, only aggravate matters
in this respect because they prevent boys from
learning trades TO qualify them for leading
lives of industry. and nr6Vont NH
qualified from obtaining employment: thus by
both these means adding to the number of the
idle and consequently of the criminal classes.
And this Is an evil that will grow with the
growth of the country, because rs the popula-
up and becomes more valuable, 1t will be more
and more difficult for the poor to obtain homes
OF their own, which are the bonds OF good citt.
zenship, and the new opportunities 80 fire.
stantly decrease, thus increasing the number OF
the idle and consequently Of the criminal class
especially il foreign immigration shall con-
tinne as heretoiSre: It IS, however. impossible
article, and my object is mainly to call the affn
ton of the public to the subject and the remedy
In this connection desire also to call NJ.
tention to the recent work Of Judge Macarthur
try" II every citizen would carefully read thai
work, which costs but S14O. am conf5dart
they would see this whole subject in q liQhf fhaf
would be new TO most Of them.
April u, 1885. W. G. Donrr
Commissioner Colman'D Btg Comfrnet
From the Chicago Herald
DR.. Loring, for many years commissioners Of
Agriculture and aspirant to Q seat IN thu
cabinet, will be missed by the peoula. Hts
works on sorghum mills and beet suuar fArrms
have occupied leading place In the Junk shops