New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-02

Made in Germany" ever before her eyes, ana
with her Prime Minister confessing that the
glory of industrial supremacy has departed
from her. Great Britain wishes that Mr.. Mum
della's advice had been needed and that tech
meal schools had beer made as plenty and as
effective in her realm as in the German En-
pire.
There are several Continental countries, in
deed. in which industrial education has been
carried further than in Great Britain or, re-
gret to say. the United States, but we mention
Germany alone because it is in population and
industries the greatest Of them, and because
such education has there, probably, been car
ried to its highest efficiency. II is scarcely too
much to say that Germany has universal edu-
cation in the industrial arts. Saxony, for ex-
ample. is a small State, in population surpassed
by several Of the States of this Union, but II
has about ono hundred and twenty technical
schools. Hesse, with a population little more
than half that Of New-Jersey, has more than
eighty schools of design, fOrty-ive OF manu-
featuring industries, and many others of agri-
culture, commerce and what not. Prussia, the
largest German State. has $50 such institutions,
Of which twelve are maintained by the royal
government and the rest by individuals, cor
porations chambers of commerce, and the like.
OF the $50 there are thirty-fve for painters and
decorators, sixteen for tailOrs, nine for shoe
makers, and so on, each trade having at least
one. In the whole German Empire there are
more than $50 such schools Of manual train
ing, with more than 1500 practicaI workshops
and laboratories attached to them. It is in
these that the story of Germany's industrial and
commercial growth is being written, and for
any nation to attempt permanently to rival
that growth by the old. prescienti6c methods
is as futile and fatuOuS as for stage coaches to
challenge railroads. or for an army with sings
and crossbows to attack one equipped with re-
peatng rifles and machine guns
Now, the application of all this is suggested
by the deplorable fact that the United States.
though perhaps ahead of Great Britain, is stin
tagging too far behind the leaders in this mat
ter Of scientific industrial education. We have
some fine university schools of applied science.
and some admirable independent institutions of
the same class These turn out what we may
call professional scientists and industralsts,
but scarcely touch the great masses Of the
working world Too much still, as of old. the
workingmans son picks up his fathers trade
through some sort of apprenticeship. more or
less empirical. True. we have some manual
or industrial training schools. There are near
ly two hundred OF them in the United States,
such as they are of which sixty -four have been
endowed by the national government. But
what are all these with their total OF perhaps
seventy-fve thousand pupils. compared with
our needs? What are they compared with the
$50 of Germany, a country of only twO-thirds
our numerical size? In all the industrial arts
America has made great inventions, and is to-
day achieving superb results. But these things
are not enough II the United States is perma-
nently 10 hold a high place among industrial
nations it, too. must identify itself with the sci
entific era, and must make technical schools,
from those giving the simplest manual training
10 those giving the highest scientific instruc-
ton, so plentiful that they will everywhere be
regarded a matter of course. The business
men and manufacturers Of Newark have shown
sagacity and foresight in establishing such
an excellent technical school in that hive of
human industry. and have set an example
which other cities may well follow.