Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-11-04
CHOOSING a. CAREER.
4 TiNsMITH DISCUSSES THE oPpoR-
TuNlTIES or HIS TRADE.


Practical Talk That should Interest
Thoughtful Parents What = Boy May
Expect In Work and Wages Details Of
the Apprenticeship.
Matthew Barr is the walking dele |
gate Of the Tin aud Sheet Iron Workers,
nnion, and worked for many years as 4
tinsmith in q shop and in business for
himself. "1he tinsmith trade" said
Mr.. Barr to a reporter. lis split into sew
eral branches, and to be able to do all
kinds Of work in tin and sheet iron re-
qnires considerable time spent in each
department. Sheet iron work, as it is
understood in this city. is carried on in
what are known as furnace shops
while the manufacture OF tin goods il
restricted to what are called assortment
shops Apart from these there are the
cornice makers and slate and metal
roofers, which are included among the
branches that tinsmiths must know to
round out their knowledge.
THE best age for boy to begin the
tinsmith trade is about sixteen. He
ought to have picked up sufficient edu-
cation from the common schools at this
age to give him q fair start in life. No
boy Is bound out as an apprentice to .
tinsmith in this country, but beginners
are not locked upon as full fiedged
journeymen until they reach the age Of
manhood, no matter how proficient they
may be. Ir some shops boy has very
little show, because there is q system of
employment which practically excludes
him.
This is the result of surplus of labor
in other countries. Tinsmiths land here
from other lands with but little knowl-
edge of what the trade requires here,
but with general knowledge Of the
business and the use Of tools. They ap-
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 short
time are able to do almost as much work
as an expert tinsmith. 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 laborious
one that it requires an unusual amount
of strength. A tinsmith need not be as
strong as carpenter, blacksmith or
bricklayer. bat he must 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 fair degree of inventive
Skill besides an expert knowledge Of
the use of TOOLS
"a boy will never become 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 a boy will first be
taught how to use the shears. He will
be given 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 statesmen, but
never will be good mechanics. To ac-
custom the boy to the use of the mallet
and hammer, he is kept Strengthening
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.
teal use of tools. He may be kept al
this for a long time, and this is the
J period that will test his patience.
''lt is always a red letter day for the
beginner when the foreman gives him 8
piece of metal and tells him to make g
drinking cup. He has seen it done many
times, but when he comes to cutting ou
, the tim and getting it into shape his fin
) gers seem to be all thumbs. He wants
to make good cup, but his anxiety vii
. knock it out of shape. When it is al
brightly polished it is taken to the fore
) man for inspection. Nine times out O
ten the beginner is told to take it HON,
as a memento He feels very happy
but he would not think so much of hi
work if he knew that the real reason
3 that it was not taken by the foreman
was that it could not be sold.
The boy will soon find this out whel
e the foreman keeps him making cups un
: til he gets perfect one. From GU
d he goes to other things of minor impor
j lance, which he is kept at until he grad
i ually acquires skill. 1t depends upol
/ the boy himself how much time he vii
: waste before he becomes an expert
r he is civil AMI obliging the journeyme
will teach him pattern drawing, and i
e this way the boy will learn how to bloc
e out the models of every kind of wor
a and cut out patterns for himself.
During the last thirty years ther
have been many changes in the til
smiths trade Machinery has taken tn
't place of hanl labor in the manufactur
10 of nearly all utensils, but this has mad
d no change in the tinsmith's condition
', Organized la oor has protected the worl
ot man. The .incipal machines in the a.
d sortment shops are presses giving tn
g. general outlines of manufactured good
0, and lathes, which are used to perfet
is the lines of spinning. An importar
A. 40 SO ho WI