Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-01-19

scientific as we'll as manual skill IL Is
claimed by workngmen that the trade
| schools turn out mechanics too rapidly,
| without giving them thorough knowledge
OF the craft. and that as a result there Is a
tendency TO lower the standard Of skin and
the rate Of wages. The same objection is
not urged against trade and technical edu-
cation where the men educated are al
ready workers in the craft.
The bureau reaches the conclusion that
even II the old form Of apprenticeship were
retained under modern conditions. and the
employer were still held personally respon-
sible for the training of the apprentice, in
the great majority of trades and occupa-
tons the practical usefulness Of such a
system would disappear. In Industries in
which automatic or semi-automatic ma
chimes and minute subdivision of pro-
cesses have come into play, small oppor-
tunity is afforded a boy to acquire a thor
ough knowledge Of all branches of craft
A mechanic under modern conditions finds
IL moro profitable to conhne himself to only
one narrow branch Of a trade: thus he
gains as great a pecuniary advantage to
himself as IL time and effort were expended
in the acquisition of the whole trade. Only
a very few employees in the manufacturing
industries possess a broad knowledge Of the
/ inherent DTdnCUeS ana processes OF Il Wnolt
craft, and these are generally the class Of
men who direct the labor Of others-the
! foreman and superintendents
! Owing to this disintegration of trades
neither employers nor employees are par
ticularly DESTROYS of having apprentices In
the workshop. The expense of training ap-
prentices together with the losses fire..
quently resulting from material spoiled by
them, the imposslbility of marketing
their product, leads employers to seek adj
ditional mechanics from laborers and help
ers rather than train apprentices for this
purpose This condition is aggravated by
the fact that the apprentices as well as the
employees no longer remain steadily in one
shop with the same employer, but readily
move about from place to place. seeking
higher wages and better conditions.
Modern industrial development is in this
way creating new and more numerous
gradatlons of workers In different trades
and occupations. When, IN former times,
It was essential for the mechanic to learn
! his craft as a whole, he was capable of
either producing a single commodity or
performing a complete mechanical process,
to which the tools and methods peculiar
to his trade were adapted. Under modern
conditions the mechanic may belong to one
| of several groups Of workmen in the same
industry. each group differing from the
others in earni IS and kind of work. the
finished product of the combined groups
being what was in former times the work
| of one man.
Obsolete Apprenticeship.
The specialization" or subdivision of oc
equations is not only far advanced in the
manufacturing Industries, but has also af-
fected many hand trades little influenced
by machinery, in which formerly all the
processes were performed by a single me-
chanic or by several mechanics of an equal
grade of skill and efficiency
! The gradual decadence of this ancient
method of teaching boys the knowledge of
a craft, the government investigators say,
may be ascribed to various causes, all of
which have their roots in the economic
changes wrought by machine industry. The
bureau of labor thus sums them up:
! a. Production on large scale, which de-
| stroys the personal relations between en-
ployer and employe or master and appren-
tice.
~ The extensive use of machinery and
(3) The unwillingness of employers to take
on apprentices.
! "a The unwillingnesS of 1ourneymen TO
(5J The dislike of boys for apprenticeship.
Beginners in Machine shops.
In machine shops of the present day APP
prentices or beginners may be separated
into five different classes First. those who
are taught the branches of lathe work. wise
work, plane work, gear cutting and mill
ing-the "all-round" machlnist; second
those who are taught lathe work and wise
work only; third. those who are taught
lathe work only; fourth, the handy men
second-rate machinists; and fifth. the spe-
cialists who simply taught to operate
or attend a single machine. The tendency
is to restrict apprentices more and more to
the last two grades. 1t is thus difficult for
employers to procure skilled machinists
and practically impossible for the unions to
enforce a definite term Of apprenticeship.
Consequently a crying demand for skilled
machnists and a widespread complaint of
the lack of competent and thoroughly eff
cient mechanics has arisen on the part Of
employers Several of the large firms
throughout the country have taken steps
to provide themselves with skilled me-
chancs. Schools for the training Of APP
prentices have been started in the shops,
wherein thorough instruction in all branches
of machinists' work is afforded the pupils.
To some extent the trend toward the
specialization of apprentices prevails in the
printing trade. The constant enlargement
Of printing establishments makes this pos
sibe. 1t is generally true that in only
small shops and country newspaper Offices
do apprentices have the opportunity of re-
ceiving an all-round training. Competitors
are restricted in a great many offices to
one line of work, such as display. adver-
Using, straight matter, job work and the
like. There is. consequently, among ma
chinists little opportunity for journeymen
to attend TO the needs Of apprentices. Mas
ter printers must rely chiefly upon the
small shops for this supply of thoroughly
trained journeymen.
Trade Schools.
The agents of the Bureau of Labor who