Arizona republican., 1892-09-14


 ply for work in shops and they are taken on in preference to the native born boys who desire to learn the trade. These foreign mechanics can learn quicker than boy generally, and while they are hired for low wages, they in a short time are able to do almost as much work as an expert tinsinith. This system is against the American boy, but so long as there is money in it for the bosses it will be kept up.
 This trade is not such a laborious one that 1t requires an unusual amount of strength. A tinsmith need not be as strong as 6 carpenter, blacksmith or bricklayer, but he mnst have plenty of endurance. He ought to be versatile intellectually, because he is not mere machine, but is often required to make entirely new things, which can only be done with a fair degree of inventive skill, besides an expert knowledge of the use of tools.
 "A boy will never become a good tin smith if he is not obedient and patient. He will have to do some simple thing over so many times that life will be- come very weary in the shop before he IS set to work upon something that ap- pears to be important to him. In the assortment shops boy will first be taught how to use the shears. He will be given a lot of old scraps to cut up, and before his muscles get used to the movement he will think that his arm will drop off. He will receive about three dollars week on the start.
 "The foreman watches the boy care fully, and if he does not take hold of the shears and other tools handily in a few days, he will probably remind him that he has made mistake in his calling. Some boys are put at this and other trades by their parents who would make good clerks and salesmen, but never will be good mechanics. To &C., custom the boy to the use of the mallet and hammer, he is kept straightening old pipe. When he knows little about tools and shows the proper spirit in doing his work, he is sent to the jour neyman's bench to hold things for him, and in this way gets an idea of the prac- tical use of tools. He may be kept at this for long time, and this is the period that will test his patience.
 Ut is always red letter day for the beginner when the foreman gives him a piece of metal and tells him to make a drinking cup. He has seen it done many times, but when he comes to cutting out the tin and getting it into shape his fin- gers seem to be all thumbs. He wants to make good cup, but his anxiety will knock it out of shape. When ii is all brightly polished it is taken to the fore man for inspection. Nine times out of ten the beginner is told to take it home as memento. He feels very happy, but he would not think so much of his work if he knew that the real reason that it was not taken by the foreman was that it could not be sold.
 ''The boy will soon find this out when the foreman keeps him making cups un- til he gets a perfect one. From cup he goes to other things of minor impor- tance, which he is kept at until he grad ually acquires skill. It depends upon the boy himself lfow much time he will waste before he becomes an expert If he is civil and obliging the journeymen will teach him pattern drawing, and in this way the boy will learn how to block out the models of every kind of work and cut out patterns for himself
 During the last thirty years there have been many changes ill the tin smiths trade. Machinery has taken the place of hand labor in the manufacture of nearly all utensils, but this has made no change in the tinsmith's condition. Organized labor has protected the work man. The principal machines in the as- sortment shops are presses giving the general outlines of manufactured goods, and lathes, which are used to perfect the lines of spinning. An important fact in the trade is the wheeling ma chine, which gives the bright polish and puts on the finishing touches. The pol ishiag used to be done by hammers on an anvil, but the wheeling machine can do better and more work. During the five years that boy ought to spend in learning this trade he ought to become expert in the use of all the machinery, if he has had the proper instruction. A boy will learn the trade better in shop than in a trade school. ."-NewYor Re corder.