The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-12-27

tAAN SAuiANANAS VI AhShiNS
struction on Mechanical and Elec-
trical Topics in Demand.
! A recent issue of the New York Sun
| contained the following under a Scran-
| ton date line, with reference to the
| International Correspondence school Of
! this city:
On Wyoming avenue here in Scran-
! ton, there stands n pink granite build
| ing that Is as large as the New York
Normal college at Lexington avenue
and SiXty-eighth street. 1t is a school
building. At o'clock every morning
and at l.3O o'clock every afternoon the
| streets of the neighborhood are crowd
! ed with young men and women making
! their way into its doors. They are all
/ teachers and clerks. Not one Of them
Is pupil. If a pupil should come TO
7 the school he would be Informed, firm
ly but courteousy, that If he came as
a visitor he was welcome to so through
the place, but If he came as Il pupil
the school would much prefer that he
should so right straight home and stay
there The school has had since 1t was
/ started eight years ago 10000 students.
/ Seventy-live thousand and more are
/ under instruction now From 5000 to
I D'V'' cllt iuutu lu llS Tolls every uuy,
. and they all receive their instruction
I by mail
Among the other Industries which
have developed in this Industrial city,
! with its fuundriCs and mines and silk
/ mills and factories, there has grown up
/ in the last eight years remarkable ex-
ample of the profitable possibilities of
( the correspondence system of teaching.
starting with question and answer
column" In n technical weekly journal,
/ the concern now gives instruction in
/ seVenty-four courses in subjects rang
/ ing from civil engineering to spelling
| and peumanShip. The system as il is
| now organized is the property of the
/ stock company with o paid-up capital
/ OF 81. 600 under the general manage
ment of 7. ]. Foster. Mr.. Foster was
. the editor of the Miners Herald. in
! columns of which the school had its
beginning.
WHAT THE SCHOOL Is.
The school is not a philanthropic in
| stitution, 1t makes no pretence of eX-
| isting for the good of the rest of the
! universe. 1t is business organiza-
| ton which has for sale that which a
! great many people seem to be willing
/ to buy and to be satisfied with when
| they have bought it, The managers of
! the school say that their best answer
! to questions as to the real usefulness of
| instruction by correspondence is shown
, by the fact that they are strongest
among the people of Scranton and the
mining region thereabouts. Their grad
yates send students to them.
The school is called the "Interna-
tional Correspondence Schools" The
main Office is the big granite building
in one of the best streets in Scranton,
/ which was built by the company within
/ year or two. There are branch offices
oil L..
/ the work of drumming up new stu
dents and collecting tuition fees is car
ried on. But all the instruction pro-
ceeds from this main office in Scranton
In which several hundred men and wo-
men arc employed through the week all
day long, sending out question papers
T and textbooks and receiving and cor
recting the exercises from the pupils
/ The architecture of the building is
I rather moro ornate than that of the
ordinary city high school or college,
The building is four stories in height
is heated by steam and lighted by cleo
triCity with an auxiliary euuipment for
. gas lighting. There is connected with
. IL a similar building in which the print
Ing and binding is done, so far as it
| can be done in Scranton. ThreeLfifths
Of the printing work of the schools is
done by two New York publishing
houses. Plans have already been drawn
ana lllt liUU mas Deen DOu&nL IOI q
. building which viii cover five acres OF
ground in Scranton. When this is COM
plotcd all tho printing will be done
there. 1t Is easy to understand that
the opportunities for employment of all
kinds Of labor and all grades of minds
which are opened to the people in
Scranton by this concern make il a
very popular institution with the busI-
noss men and the working people in
Scranton. The prosperity Of the post
master, for instance has been so di-
rcctly affected that the grade of his
postofIlcC has heen raised three times
in tho last eight years on account of
the heavy mail business done by the
school and his salary is now the same,
Scranton folks tell you with pride, as
that Of the postmaster OF Philadelphia.
STORY OF DEVELOPMENT.
The story of the development of the
school affords interesting material for
the study OF the desire of the great
American people to better itself In 1881
Thomas j. Foster, who is now the man
ager Of the school under the stock COM
pany, published the Mining Herald at
Shenandoah, Schuylkill county, Pa. 1t
was Il technical weekly publication.
Nj. Foster soon found out TO his own
satisfaction that the mining county
itself was not the place for mining
newspaper of the sort he had intended
to print. He came to the conclusion
that such a journal should be printed
in the coal markets of the East In
stead of moving the paper he changed
its character, and began to make il a
means Of discussing the problems that
| confronted the miners every day in
their work. IT was no longer Il mine
owners or operators paper, but a
miners paper. He established a corre-
SpOndenCe column, in which he under
took 10 answer such questions as he
could OF those asked by his subscribers,
ana beyond that let his subscribers
help one another, This part of the
paper became very popular and he
found that if he were to let his corre-
spOudence have free swing it would
soon swamp him. Meanwhile, Mr. FOs-
ter was advocating the passing of mine
laws by the state Of PENNSYLVANIA
which would insist upon some sort of
an educational test for the places of
! responsibility in the mines. England
has had such laws governing her mines
for more than generation In 1885
the anthracite mine laws of the, state
Of Pennsylvania as they now stand
were introduced into the legislature by
Charles +. King and were enacted into
law.
The study of mine ventilation, mine
| surveying and mine mechanics became
absolutely necessary among all the men
engaged In mining who wanted to get
ahead The Mining Herald, which had
meanwhile changed its name to the
Colliery Engineer, was already in the
| field as the easiest and cheapest means
for the miners who wanted instruction
and aid in this work At about the
same time Mr.. Foster, who was him