Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-11-17
MANUAL TRAINING.

vet only initial gift of one million dol
lars in five per cent. bonds for the in
auglnation of technical training
school in the city of Pittsburg is a
Gift to the young men and women Of
the present generation which means
more than can be at present compre-
hended and which will be better ap-
preciated with the lapse Of few years.
1t means, when plans are perfected and
the new institution under way, that
hundreds and thousands will be en-
abled to supplement the ordinary lit
serary training OF the schools, common
and high, with practical knowledge
Of manual work in many departments
which VIII mean an easy comprehen-
sion of mechanical principles, thor
ough- understanding of many trades,
and a short cut to professions which
bring honor, reputation and often much
cash.
The manual training school, has its
opponents, but the opposition, we be-
lieve, comes from misunderstanding
OF their scope, purpose and effect.
There is no reason why young man
should not learn the principle OF ma
chinery as we'll as master the multi
plication table; why not teach carpen-
try as well as geometry, or bricklaylng
as we'll as astronomy? To educate
young man or young woman does not
mean thatNthe curriculum shall be con-
fined to the three RS" or even the an
cient languages and the exact sciences.
The higher and broader education calls
luseAmnre u this work-a-day world, and
the school in its wide and modern
sense, should teach all things worth
knowing.
In both America and abroad such
technical schools as. is proposed by Nj.
Carnegie for Pittsburg have met with
wide success and have been great
boon to the young men and women of
limited means. In this country we
have the celebrated school at Worces-
ter, Mass, that OF Boston, and the
DrexeI institution in Philadelphia, the
Pratt institution in Brooklyn, and the
Armour institution in Boston, while
abroad there are many such schools.
Manual labor starts a man or woman
right. The examples of the truth of
this are multitudinous. AS Mr.. Car
negie himself points out in his letter
to Mayor Diehl
at is really astonishing how many OF
4 the worlds foremost, men have begun as
! manual laborers. The greatest of ALL
Shakespeare. was wool carder Burns, a
plowman: Columbus sailor: Hannibal,
blacksmith: Lincoln. rail splitter: Grant
a tanner. | know of nc better foundation
from which to ascend than manual labor
I'm youth.
1--WE have two notable examples of this
in our community whose fame is world
wide. George Westinghouse was a me-
chanic. Professor Brashear millwright."
And proceeding, he said:
81 believe that first-class technical
school. probably as large as that of Wor-
cester, would develop latent talent around
US TO such extent as to surprise the most
sanguine.
These are the mature words Of a man
once telegraph messenger boy, later
a mechanic now one of the wealthiest
men in all the world-a more than du-
plication OF Mr. Scott, President of the
Union Iron Works, of San Francisco,
who personally told the writer of this
article that he arrived at San Francisco
a humble ana friendless blacksmith,
with fifteen dollars in his pocket-but
he knew mis- trade Nov he builds bat
tleships, and builds them very well. and
employees six or seyen thousand men.
The trades the thing, and the manual
training school is a good way to ac-
quire technical and practical knowl-
edge.