Birmingham state herald., 1897-02-07
FIRST OF TEXTILE SCHOOLS.
Mir. Norths Address at Lowell on the
 Opening of the State School ,.,.a Technical Education.
sprlngfleld Republican.

fAnet sLONell LeAllle ScnOOi, 0SldDllSileu under the act of 1895, was opened yester- day The state by this act offered to each of the four chief textile manufac- turing eities-Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River and New Bedford-S25, 900 for the establishment of such school, provided an equal amount was contributed by each city, and Lowell has been the first to take advantage of the act. The princi- pal address yesterday was given by $. D. North, secretary of the national as- sociation of wool manufacturers. He re- garded the occasion as highly significant of the broadening scope of state educa- ton, and hoped the act of 1895 was only the beginning of series of laws culmi- mating finally in the full recognition by the commonwealth of the fact that in- dustrial education is become the chief corner stone in making the modern state.
 Lowell he said, is the city, of an New England cities, in which this new move ment should have had birth. It has a history all it's own. In the best sense of the term Lowell is an industrial city; it has no annals which are not bound up with modern industrialism. Up to the day of its birth no such city had been founded before since the world began. You are familiar with the story-in time to come 1t will be recited at one of the romances of history. In 1921 the area now. covered by the most thickly settled part of Lowell consisted of four farms of about 400 acres between which ran the river Merrimac. There were then in Boston few men gifted with prophetic insight into the industrial possibilities locked in the bosom of that splendid river. It was not alone or chiefly her great water powers that made Massa- chusetts the early home of the textile industries; it was because she was the moth of such sons as Francis c. Lowell, Nathan Appleton, Patrick Tracy Jack son. Kirk Boot and Paul Moody-the founders of Lowell-men with the brains to understand what wealth this river could create, with the courage, the ener- gy, the skill and the foresight to convert these river beds into mill races and these meadows into teemng cities. Nowhere in the history of industry can be found record of individual achievement finer and more potential than theirs.
 Proceeding to develop the idea of the importance of industrial education both to the employer and employe, MT. North continued. Every industrial city and town in Great Britain and upon the con- tinent of Europe, which, like Lowell, is dependent upon a few specialized indus tries. has been far-sighted enough to supply the buttress in its industrial forti- fcation which Lowell has hitherto lacked. Those of you who have travelled abroad have noticed in every considerable textile center, of France, Germany, Holland, Bel gium, Switzerland, and England, that hostage of the future--the local technical school. It is generally large and hand some building, located near the center of the town, often the most interesting ob- ject in the town, dedicated to the tech nical training of the artisan. Near to the. technical school or college, and often a. part of 1t, will frequently be found an industrial art museum-the twin sister of the, technical school, equipped with models and replicas of the best art of all ages, and specimens of the textile achievements of all tripc---q w open to the inspection and study of the practical mill workers who throng these museums, eager for knowledge, for sug- gestion, for inspiration
 The surprising thing to Americans is that, the citizens of these industrial towns are willing to spend money so )ayishly in building, equipping and main taining these technical schools and in- dustrial museums. The national govern nents have contributed to them with law ish purse; the municipalities have grant ed liberal annuities. Beyond these pub lie sources of revenue, often exceeding them in amount, have been the generous contributions of private citizens, and par tieularly citizens engaged in manufac- turing enterprises.
 , What is the secret of this generosity in dealing with these institutions? They do not stop to count the cost of indus trial training abroad, because they under stand,1eas Huxley has experienced it,
 
 enterprises succeed is by not counting their cost; and industrial education is universally regarded abroad as the most vital, the most overShadowing matter now concerning the governments and the people. As distinguished German visitor to this country once put it: Your finest work shops are those in which you make your machines and your fab iies; our finest work shops are those in which we make our men,"
 NIanbipprV considered anarf from the human agency behind it, tends to re- duce the whole world to level plane. The spinning frame in India or China will accomplish just as much work, turn out as many pounds of yarn per day or week, as the same frame, located in Lowell. What then differentiates the la Dor of Lowell from the labor of India and China? What shall save the one from the overwhelming competition of the other? Nothing can save it but the superior intelligence of the men who run the machines. That alone will not save it. unless it is an intelligence trained in the art and technic of manufacture. It is because they have found this out abroad that they have founded technical schools for the artisan. They are not one whit in advance of us there in the mechanism of manufacturing. They are one whole generation in advance of us in the training of their artisans.
 Recent German advance In manufac- turing was cited by MT. North as a striking example of the persistent and lavish effort in educating the artisan. England, fifty years ago, refused to ad- init the possibility of outside rivalry in manufacturing, but here is Germany. the inventor of the technical school, now giving England hard race in the worlds markets for manufactures. No textile artisan, said MT. North, is properly edu- cated who does not know the whole mechanism of the industry from the steam engine up. But again, he must have intimate knowledge of the flores, Of the fundamental differences between i them and of their proper treatment un- der all conditions. Men devote their whole lives to the study of a single fibre without learning all that is worth know ing about 1t. Can men be called compe- tent to manufacture them who have never studied the fibre at all, who do not even know their chemical constituents, who have never seen fibre under the microscope?
 still again, theFe is the whole vast efild of industrial chemistry, involving in it's rudiments the knowledge of chemical ac-