Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-05-27

hear from Mr.. 3. 4. Caldwell upon the
subject
APPRENTICE SYSTEM AND TECHNICAL
SCHOOLS.
Mr.. Caldwell said:
"Mr. President came here to get
my Supper-not to make a speech, but
If can get that frog to lie still laugh
ter long enough I will try to make q
few remarks. Applause. Mr.. Wilson
has gone even further than that. He
has not only called upon me TO speak,
but he has given me a text. Pm very
poor hand 10 speak from a text. I'm a
good deal like the Marshall county
hunter, who aimed at game in a tree
my shots are apt TO scatter all over the
field.
seriously, 1 am not prepared to
speak as I Saould like TO on the subject
of manual training. IL is something
which Wheeling needs more than any
other one thing. The city is one great
mandatory Of iron and pottery and
glass and other things. Ohio county and
the country surrounding Us can't raise
enough 90 feed our people. We have to
send to the West for our grain, and for
our hay, and for many other things
that we need. We must have some
thing 20 send back 70 those people in
exchange for the things we need, and to
that end we manufacture pottery, and
glass, and nails, and iron, and all the
rest of the long list. To do that taxes
skilled mechanics. We haven't got
enough OF them. There is cry, Mr..
President, about imported labor, and
yet at the same time we close our
schools 20 technical studies. II our
Board OF Education would devote as
much money annually 10 manual train
ing as 10 devotes TO the public library,
start would be made, and we
would not have 10 import skilled
labor. Our bows would do it
themselves. lApplausel. 1t is the
duty of every man in this house TO so
away from here tonight determined 10
aid in the establishment Of \ trade
school. / have here a newspaper VIII ch
is pertinent 20 the situation. L will
read It,"
Mr. Caldwell then read an extract
from newspaper complaining that cap
able mechanics were rare, and COM
mented upon 10 with much force as he
went along. Among other things he
Said:-
at is true that capable men are rare.
Capable boys are also rare. They make
capable men. "A good man is never out
of "a Job That is true. l have men IN
my shop who have worked for me for
thirty years, and who are better OF,
financially, than am. y man out OF q
lob IS open 90 suspicion That is true,
aud there are a good many men here In
Wheeling who are open 10 suspicion.
Wheny geta coOd manStick TO him.
That is good advise. When yOu have
good men, you know your business and
your interests are In good and capable
hands.
Gentlemen, these are things which
ought 20 be thought over seriously, and
especially here In Wheeling, where we
depend upon our industries, On that Is
based our hopes, and one of the ways 10
ala i'm our manufacturing development
is by manual training school Such q
school would develop the talents OF our
boys A teacher In q manual training
school watches his pupils, and he sees
that John has talent for drawing, aud
ia is encouraged, and he develops into
an architect, or q drauVhtSman; Will
lam becomes q fine machiniSt, Jacob n
blacksmith, or Tom timer. The
youth is put on tue right path, and
talents are developed which might
otherwise lie dormant for all time.
"Mr. President, our boys can no
longer be learned in the shops. There
they now learn but one thing. 1t is
not like &c used 10 be. A wagOnmaker
no longer learns TO make wagons, but
the material is brought ready fashioned
20 him. and he simply puts il together.
1 see examples of it in my business. We
have big lantern factory here, and
they recently made q change In their
method OF manufacture. Dozens Ofmen,
timers they called themselves, came
90 me for work. They could only do
one little thing about lamp, and when
they lost that job they had no trade.
Thus 10 is i'm all branches. This COM
munity needs a trade school, and l am
ready 90 furnish the Board Of Education
no least $1,000 TO aid ia the matter.
LAppiause
O5her speeches were made by Messrs.
G. =. Hamilton, w. w. Wood, z. j.
GHligan, Carl Hamilton, and others,
and il was midnight when the gentle
men dispersed, with the full knowledge
that a pleasant and profitable evening
had been spent.