Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-25
SKETCH OF A SCHOOL
For the Purpose of Teaching Boys the
Window Glass Trade.
AFACTORY TO BE FOUNDED ATONCE,
When Competent Men Will be Employed
to Give instruction.
TRICKS MEN GIVE SIX DAYS NOTICE

A school to teach American boys the diff.
ferent branches of window-glass making.
This is the scheme which now occupies the
attention Of window glass manufacturers.
1t is the outcome of the meeting of the Ma
tional Window Glass Manufacturers Asso-
citation in New York on the 18th inst The
suggestion arose out of discussion on what
was claimed to be the bad conduct of the
men during the last blast and the remedy
for and protection against like conduct in
the future. The meeting was unanimously
agreed that the establishment of an indus
trial school, in which boys could learn the
window-glass trade, was the only remedy
possible under the conditions on which the
supply of window factory labor was now
furnished.
PLENTY OF CAPITAL FOR IT. -
The question Of locality has not been de-
cided, but it has been agreed that it should be
within thegas belt, and should be a tank fac
tory. One manufacturer offered to subscribe
$4,000 others from S. 000 and it is stated
that $50 600 could have been raised on the spot.
A committee of three, however. was appointed
to formulate the scheme. which, when decided
upon, will have the financial support OF the
association.
Speaking of this plan manufacturer said
yesterday: There will be no trouble whatever
in raising all the money needed for this pur-
pose, and would not hesitate to say at least
half a million dollars could be raised inside OF
two weeks, for American manufacturers are
forced to do something of this kind for self
protection, as the amounts of spare pots ex-
perienced as result of shortage or men, mas
simply been enormous during the past Few
years; SO much so that ex-President Camp
bell has repeatedly called attention to
the bad conduct of the workmen.
but without suggesting remedy.
pots entailed loss of several thousand dollars
last fire, and one house let out its fires long be-
fore the regular time through this very cause.
Manufacturers see this fully, and are deter
mined to make an attempt at a radical cure Of
the evil. If only each manufacturer will con-
tribute what he lost in spare pots during the
last three years, it will be sufficient to build an
immense factory, hire the best instructors, pay
them an ample salary, and in a short time, not
only make such an enterprise self-sustaining
but would in few years give us full supply
OF competent workmen."
MAY BE LOCATED HERE.
1t could not be ascertained yesterday who are
included on the committee Of three intrusted
with the execution of the plan, but there is a
probability that they are Pittsburg men. and
that, therefore, the factory will be located
here.
Another window-glass manufacturer, refer
ring to the necessity for such a school. said:
"Nine-tenths of the window-glass blowers are
foreigners, and disposed more to help along
their own countrymen than to see generation
of American workers arise. The scarcity of
blowers in the country is well known, and it is
equally well understood that under the pre-
vailing rules of the association governing the
blowers the supply must be met from abroad.
The Window Glass Workers Association, un-
der its rules, allows but one apprentice to every
five men. In addition, factory managers have
thrust on them men that they have no use for.
A system of nepotism prevails among the
workers, by which the manager must employ
practically any person put forward by the
Association. In this way, incompetent men,
past their work, boys unsuitable to the
trade, and the "sisters and the cousins and the
aunts' of the workers are put forward for
work by their friends, instead of the hardy,
well-setup class that free competition in labor
would bring forward,
PLENTY OF BOYS.
'There will be no trouble in getting plenty of
boys of the right class to learn the trade in the
school. There are plenty of hard-working
men, with sons whom they will be glad to afford
the opportunity of learning trade whereat
they can earn from $40 TO SIS per day. There
is no doubt that the school will be established,
and that, under proper instructors, it will turn
out class of blowers who will render this
country independent of foreign supplies of
labor as it is not at present."
The National Glass Budget of the current
week will contain an article outlining the plan