The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-12-14


OF all men he will be most successful
most useful. and most happy.
1t is for this special education along
industrial lines that 1 plead. England
and Germany and France and other Eu-
ropean countries have long ago learned
that to a great extent their commercial
supremacy depends upon industrial edu-
cation. They have expended millions of
dollars in establishing technical and
trade schools. So rich have been the re-
turns from these investments that each
year adds to the number of these schools
So numerous have they become and so
varied are their functions that today it
is possible to find school in Europe in
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 superintend his fac
tories, and today 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 matter choice but one
of necessity. This being So we must
choose between going outside of our State
for 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 ,ot
all of 1T. In the cotton mills Of the
State are to be found many men who have
had special school training. But new con-
ditions are arising in 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.
Manufacturers must have men educated
according to 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
otner 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 and Mechanical College, but half
enough has not been done. The cuuip-
ment Of this school is not half what it
should be. The State has not been as lib
eral as it should have been, and private
individuals have not come TO it's support
as they should. A splendid textile school
has been opened. but it is not near what
1t 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 have built and
equipped one of the finest textile schools
In the world. and the State of Pennsyl-
wanna has shown very liberal spirit
toward this school. These people have
found that such schools pay. If they
pay in those places will they not pay
here? Our young men are going to these
schools, and our manufacturers are glad
to have them go. Would it not be bet.
ter to have just as good schools at home?
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 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 would see this one of the
greatest industries in the State. Such a
school would not cost great deal OF
money. and it would be the means OF
bringing untold wealth to the State Our
furniture manufacturers cannot compete
with others in the production of fine
goods without specially trained men. 1t
will pay them to invest some money in
brain training, and it will pay the State
to assist them.
In specifying the above industries as
being worthy of special care l do not
mean 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-
facture 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 our resources. |
If we expect to become rich and powerful
we must do things ourselves. When we
demonstrate TO the world what can be
done In the State then others will come |
without asking. The manufacturers of
the State should take the initiative in |
this great work, and the State should |
literally assist them. But if private en-
terprfse 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 a 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 NJ. College by giving prizes In a |
word let every incentive be offered to all