The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1888-02-08
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.
How Young Men May Learn Something
Besides What Is Taught in Books.
tErom INC columbia DaiIy Record.l

ION, q gentleman Oh long experience dS u
teacher, publishes a card in the News
and Courier, in which he announces bis
"strong desire to be elected to the Legis-
from Charleston, upon the next
Democratic ticket" Mr.. Stuart
disclaims any special desire for ''the five
dollars q day" or for the reputation he
will make as an intelligent and efficient
member" though he has ''no doubt of
that" The ground of his aspirations, he
states in the proposition, that South
Carolina and the entire South needs sew
eral hundred industrial boarding schools
for students from fifteen to eighteen
years Of age, in which the instruction
shall be of the first order, and the labor
of the students will he so managed and
applied for several hours daily, as to Sc
cure them their entire maintenance, their
food and clothing and books and furnl-
ture, while they are improving their
health and pursuing their studies during
the spring season Of early youth"
These schools "should be feeders TO our
universities, +" as Prof. r. Means Davis has
SO admirably suggested. They should
yield "remuncrative revenue, to be OBJ
tanned by methods of labor already fully
understood and proved efficient, should
alone he aimed at, as the object Of the
work" Mr.. Stuart thinks that ample
provision should be made for the indus
trial education of the negro, and says
that 'if the Legislature Will pledge an
appropriation conditioned upon $4,000
being raised outside OF the appropriation
for such a school for negroes, he VIII
undertake in person to obtain the
money" He concludes by promising
that ':if the citizens Of Charleston vii!
! -. III -. A. 1,r4,,nt reGrrn ON u-hlph
he desires to be a candidate, the atten-
ton OF the entire State and of the man
ayers of our educational system VIII DE
| directed to this matter.
Without passing upon Mr.. Stuart's
particular claims to the place he seeks,
and without undertaking to determine
how far he might be able to impress his
views upon the Legislature and upon
"the entire State, 1t IS plain that the
subject he mentions is one of great N
portincc to the people OF South Caro-
lima. Nobody can question the. need OF
industrial training III tins State. Inc
tendency OF our youth has for the past
twenty years been more and more away
from the very departments Of labor
which would be features of the course of
training in the schools which MIR. Stuart,
IN common with numerous other cdu-
Gators, desires to see established, There
has been a constant reduction Of tho
avenues through which a young man
might seek competence and indcper.
dence, If not wealth and case. The
workshop, in every department OF labor,
seems to have become SO distasteful as to
be thought well-nigh dishonorable. II
is perhaps more due to this sentiment
than to the absence OF opportunities that
50 few Of NJ young men have received
any special treining Tor any department
| of human labor. They quit the farm to
be clerks or to find sUIuc employment
more congeuial or, what Is more to the
| point, less uncertain to yield an income.
1t is for this class perhaps more than for
any other that industrial training Is
nccded-tLough, in oil orr towns, there
are young men who are irlttcrlnB away
their time as clerks or salcsmcn at beg
carly salaries, with little prospect ni any
thing higher or better III the future. If
more OF these persons could be induced
to learn trades, it would he infinitely bet.
ter for them, and the good effects would
soOn be felt in the communities In which
they live.
To establish separate Industrial schools
must be the work Of time. We need
| an "a l''lILN "AASsNp, W iiAI'l iSGS 4
necessities. There are opportunities now
waiting, which our young men ought to
be induced to employ. In every impor-
tant town III South Carolina there is at
least one printing Office. Here is an OPP
poItunity to learn "a trade which prom
Uses constant and rclnuncrative employ
mint to competent persons. Few de
sewing printers remain long out OF
work. 50 with other trudcs-wood-
working, ~shoemaking, blacksmithing,
the machinlsts trade, and perhaps 9TH
ers. Why neglect these opportunities,
on the plea Of waiting for industrial
schools? The answer, We fear, must be
found Iii tue notion, ever too prevalent
in the South, that manual labor, how
ever skilful, however fruitful OF good to
society, is III some sense degrading,
Whether or not degrading in itself-and
OF course it is not-evcry man may, if
he will, lift his calling up to the plane
he himself deserves to occupy.
But it will OF course be urged that We
must have industrial schools, in order
that industrial training may be accompa-
MED with studies such as will make the
artisan intelligent al well as skilful. This
is quite true. Ignorance and skill are
of course incompatible. Fortunately
the difficulty suggested is readily solve-
bic in most sections of the State. The
free schoOls-mOre especially the graded
schools already established IL various
parts of the State-afford ample facili-
ties for just such education as ought to
prccedc the learning Of a trade. Let the
boy finish his course at a good high
school, then take his trade under some
competent mechanic; and he will leave
the workshop quite AZ well equipped as
the graduate Of an industrial school. 1t
might even be practicable, though per-
haps not especially desirable, 10 combine
the gradual requirement of a trade with
the taking of a special course Of study
at school.
Industrial schools are unquestionably
most excellent means of training the
youth to systematic and wcll-dircctcd
labor. They ought to be established.
But we ought not to await the accom-.
plishment of this object, meanwhile
neglecting opportunities already at hand.
If those who have the guidance, not to
a a " ppntrnl IF tho unnfh nc tln GE.t.