The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-12-16
PROPERTY CAN BE CREATED
BY INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
Technical Schools Would Multiply Our Wealth, and
so Paw Taxes for the General Education
so Much Needed.

which any artisan, male or female, can
receive instruction useful in his trade or
calling. These schools have enabled
these countries successfully to compete
with the rest of the world in every i'm
portant field of manufacture. Until a
few years ago it was TO these schools
that the American manufacturer turned
for skilled men to suDerintend his fac
tories, and today a very large proper
ton Of the superintendent in American
shops and factories was educated in
foreign schools. The demand for this
class Of men is growing. Competition
is SO sharp and processes of produc-
ton have become SO scientific that the
ordinary mechanic cannot meet the re-
quirements of modern industrial life. The
employment of technically trained men
is therefore not a matter choice but one
of necessity. This being SO we must
choose between going outside of our State
fer skilled artisans and providing edu-
cational facilities in the State.
Most of the industrial progress Of the
State has been made without the assist
ance Of specially educated men, but rot
all of it. In the cotton mills Of the
State are to be found many men who have
had special school training. Blu now con-
ditions are arising ia the manufacturing
business and they cannot be met by old
methods. Competition is sharper, ma
chinery is growing more complicated and
processes are becoming more scientific.
manufacturer must have men educated
according 10 these new conditions or
their business will cease TO grow, if it
does not die. The great industrial centers
OF the country are realizing the necessity
of scientific help and we find that in New
England, New York, Pennsylvania and
other sections of the country there are
springing up technical schools. North
Carolina needs Just such schools, and if
she is 20 progress she must have hem.
A beginning has been made in the Agri-
cultural AMI Mechanical College, but half
enough has not heen done. The equip
ment of this school is not half what it
should be. The State has not been as lib
eral as il should have been, and private
Individuals have not come to its support
as they should. A splendid textile school
has been opened. but it is not near what
it should be. The textile manufacturers
of the State could not invest a hundred
thousand dollars in any enterprise that
would bring as rich returns as a first
class, up-tO-date textile school. The
textile manufacturers of New England
have invested hundreds of thousands of
dollars in textile schools. The manu-
facturers Of Philadelphia nave built and
equipped one of the finest textile schools
in the world. ard the State of Pennsyl-
vanla has shown a very liberal spirit
toward This school. These people have
found that such schools pay. If they
pay in those places VIII they not pay
mere? Our young men arc going to these
schools, and our manufacturer are glad
to Rave them go. Would it not be bet.
ter to have just as good schools at home9
We would thereby keep our money and
our young men both at home.
We need a school in which furniture
making can be taught. This industry
has increased more than a thousand fold
in the last ten years. This is just the
beginning. if the industry is fostered. We
have an abundance OF the best material
in the world, and if we had men trained
in the science of this business another
twenty years woui see this one of the
greatest industries in the State. Such a
school would not cost a great deal or
money. and it would be the means or
bringing untold wealth to the State. Our
furniture manufacturers cannot compete
with others i'll the production OF fine
goods without specially trainc pen. 1t
viii pay them to invest some money i'll
brain training, and it will Pay the State
to assist them.
in specifying the above industries as
being worthy of special care / do not
moan That Industrial education shall stop
with these two schools. Provision should
be made for training in many other lines.
We need great machine shops to manu-
facturc machinery for our factories, we
ought to develop the tanning industry
we should diversity our manufactures in
a hundred directions, and to do these
things we must prepare Our own people
for the task. We cannot afford to sit
down and wait for outside men and mon
ey to come in and develop cur resources.
II we expect TO become rich and powerful
We must Go things ourselves. When we
demonstrate 70 the world what can be
don in the State then others Will come
without asking. The manufacturer of
the State should take the initiative in
this great work, and the State should
literally assist them. But if private en-
terprise is blind TO its interests then the
State owes it as a duty to itself to provide
Industrial education on a liberal scale.
Let the State offer 4 premium to any
community which will establish an indus
trial school, Let it encourage young men
to enter the practical classes of the A.
and VI. College by giving prizes. In a