The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-15


kensington museum with its great art
classes and courses Of instruction.
More recently Manchester investIgat-
ed, by special commission, the facili-
ties offered in Germany and Switzer-
land in the technical schools, and re-
ported the dangerous inferiority Of her
own. Since then revolution has been
accomplished and system Of advanced
technical and art schools is maintained.
birmingham conducts central
school OF art with several branches,
chiefly for evening pupils from the
working classes.
There is growing up in every large
center or British industry q system Of
instruction in all the scientific and ar
tlst1c processes that pertain to standard
INES or manufacture, under municipal
control as department of the work
OF the town councils.
mere are single manufacturing CEN
tiers where from $4,000 to 10000 pupils
are attending the evening technical and
art classes, obtaining knowledge and
skill that help them to earn good
wages and aid the towns to maintain
and increase their Industrial prosperity.
DIR. Shaw, in his work on municipal
government in Great Britain, says:
What English manufacturing centers
nave learned from the continent those
or America must learn from England I"
Inc manufacturer depends upon the
taste and skill, the artistic sensibility
OF the designer and also upon the same
qualities in the workman, who must
nave true conception of the article
ana It's design If the finished product is
to be of the highest grade.
Inc business Of every civilized coun-
try and its prosperity is coming more
ana more to depend upon the quality
ana cheapness of it's manufactured
goods. The struggle of the coming
years will be fought out in the fac
torres and markets of the world, rather
than on battlefelds
FROM these conditions arises the
necessity for the teaching of art and
sciences, and the elementary schools
should give the fundamental instruc-
tlon, and as much as possible of it to
all. Even with the most that the
American scholar can acquire, who does
not pass beyond the grammar school.
put from this graduates to the shop,
now poor is his training compared with
that OF his competitor over the sea.
1t Is remarkable that while there are
many institutions giving artistic train
ing OF high class, they have been
supplied entirely by private benefactors
who saw this need. Among these are
the Cooper Union, New York; Armour
and Lewis institute, Chicago; Lowell
institute, Boston, and the Cincinnati
art academy. which, by it's training of
the artist who decorate the we'll known
RookWood pottery, has shown what
purely American talent can do
But there is not in the United States
a single technical art school under
municipal control
1t is the absence of art education that
has made us so largely dependent upon
foreign designers for original patterns
IN every kind of fabric and material.
This has in a great measure led to the
importation of large quantities of arti-
cles showing taste, beauty and artistic
skill. $3.50
The growth of our manu- curing in
dustries is desired by all. 1t is to effect
this that we are at present living be-
hind the walls of a protective tariff
designed to shut out foreign made arti
cles. But sooner or later, here and in
the markets of other countries, which
are being sought by Americans, our
goods must meet competition on the
same footing. Then if the American
made goods are to excel, the education
OF the artisans must be thorough and
their sklH and artistic ability must be
educated from the very beginning in
the primary schools. There the founda
t1ors must be laid wide and deep and
continued in technical and art schools
as other countries are doing. 1t is not
enough that art education should be
given as a part of higher education.
This does not reach the great mass of
the people on whose ability our pros
perity depends.
10 illustrate that even high school
teaching does not reach the great mass
OF scholars; the present school enroll
ment in the public schools of st, Paul
IS approximately $1,000. The high
schools contain 1,443 scholars. Allow
ing that the grade schools occupy eight
years and the high school four, the
percentage of scholars who attend the
nigh school is about fourteen, and of
those who do not is eighty-six
Inc practical value of art training
IN developing powers of observation is
often held to be it's most Important
function. It is well to remember that
careful and accurate observation is a,
most important factor in our intellec-
tual pursuits and in all our endeayors
to grasp scientific truth.
The cultivation of the hand as an
instrument of artistic skill and a
means OF acquiring knowledge, is one
or the features Of the new education
1t Is, too, valuable part of the Froabel
methods. which utilize the hand in OBJ
tanning information through things and
representing in things the pictures of
the mind.
Drawing may be called a universal
language, and should be taught to all
1t is one Of the three modes Of express
sion by which we communicate orr
thoughts. In this connection it must
be understood that drawing" as re-
ferred to Is not alone free hand. b1lt
also geometrical, or mechanical in the
widest sense, and including so much Of
what IS known as "art education" as
the school course can be properly made
to do Just what and how is the prov
ince OF our professional teachers who
are Well equipped to do it if thew are
only given the opportunity, and bear
ing in mind that this is an appeal NOT
TOT fad, as some branches taught
IN our schools are occasionally called
. ut II is plea for something that will
lit BOY to be better carpenter. black
smith, tailor. or other artisan; for ther.
IS not a shop to@ay in which the ability
ID make and understand plans and
drawings is not of every day use.
Children who have studied drawing
as part of their school work NAV none
OF them become artists or designers.
put they will have acquired immense
benefit from the habit formed of Look
ing at things carefully and closely.
as they must do to reproduce them on
paper. The cultivation of this habit
OF accurate observation, which is ac-
CURED by drawing, is a part. and a
very important part, of the discipline
OF science, equally important to the
naturalist at the microscope the nbv-
stefan at the bedside, the engineer on
the express train, Or the artisan in the
shop. 80 INC
Returning again to the thought of
hand training, 1T may be noted that.
Notwithstanding the great development
OF machine work in every Industry.
the taste and demand for hand work
h,rf
must be of beautiful design and finely
finished. The value of this hand train