The Southern herald., 1888-09-08

NO. 20.
sRAlNs VERSUS HANDS.


why the American Workinsanen are Vas
stripping the Foreigners
just now. while d certain eIass Of ed-
ucational reformers are trying to turn
our American common schools into ln-
dustrial schools, patterned after Euro
pean models, it is worth while 70 COM
pare, not only systems, but results.
IN Europe the practice Of manual ana
Industrial training ID not new There
In all its mind-dulIing, msHa-narroWlng
certainty this pernicious hand-training
Of the mere child has been IN vogue i0r
generations. "A sort Of fatal necessity
some would cay, but rather, be y saaa.
fatal ignorance, has there compelled
the child through d course Of alreeA
training In the manual arts to the nee-
lect Of the development Of common ln-
telligence.
In America the social and civil con-
ditions have permitted the establish
ment Of our great free school system
for the culture Of the intellectual and
moral part. American common sense
has long since decided that the common
necessities Of life outside 81 and beyond
school hours compel hand labor and
| pure hand skill enough. American
foresight has also carefully noted the
fact that only when the hand u gnAded
BY intelligence, by thought and renee
| ton, based on knowledge can the best
the most highly productive manual
skill, be developed. Hitherto, indeed
in the true spirit Of our Institutions
American educators have secuted tne
idea Of degrading the American stock
Of men and women by permitting fhe
mere child to be directly trained TO "a
dustrial callings With what RESULT
The training Of American youth y
| literature, in mathematics, n science
and In thought has mace us nation q
inventors. Universal intelligence hAs
been brought in contact with tne proD'
lens Of manufacture. The American
brain has aimed to relieve the hands ol
all mankind from drudgery, and theZe-
by, too, to raise all mankind TO q higher
plane Of thinking and acting. Ameri-
can machinery, the expression Of this
commonly diffused American power q
reflection, Is, then, not merely bringing
to every poor mans door the food, the
! fabrics, and the thousand luxuriea
which formerly were only accessible 70
} kingly households, but II has, hesldess
) astonished and stimulated the whole
!, round world BY the boldness and scope
Q Of Its achievements.
, Take for contrast the two methods
b and two results Swiss matchmaking
r and American matchmaking. It j. moi
y SO many years since the world turned
a to Switzerland for its accurate time.
pieces. There the watch-maker had
n been trained in the art and practice q
q delicate manipulation from q mere
I child, and with such training none
e could hope to compete. Much les'
d could the American, with hand-train
v ing neglected or ignored. But the bolt
III American starts his factory and fills !
Is with Americans every one intellectu
!. ally trained. Hands at first q little
70 clumsy, but directed by thought
lr straightway the brighter worlxmen In
70 vent machines as delicate as though
itself. Invention follows invention un
til, at Elgin, Waltham and even Water
bury, American intelligence proud.
triumphs over its European competi
d tors. Meanwhile the dull Swiss brain
a borne down by generations Of the mos
exact and exacting industrial training
u still plods on philadelphia Nesos.