Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-01-19
WANING DAYOF HAND TRADES
Machinery Displaoing Old Forms of Skill
and Workmanship.
NEW OCCUPATIONS AND NEW METHODS
Forms of Apprenticeship Becoming
ObsOlete-InterestinE Facts Bull
letIned by the Bureau
of Labor.

"old hand trades are rapidly disappear
| ing" is one of several interesting facts
brought out by an investigation conducted
| by the National bureau Of labor and set
| forth in a bulletin just issued. The investi-
! gators found that hundreds Of thousands
/ of new occupations have grown up in the
place of few well defined trades, and
many of them consist in a single, simple
| operation. In the field Of labor. else
where, specialization has become the gen.
eral practice. The workingmen Of the
country have come to realize that the policy
of direct opposition TO the introduction OF
machinery is impracticable; the present
disintegration Of trades makes It impossi-
bic, except in a few occupations, strictly
| to enforce apprenticeship regulations or
effectively control in other ways the con-
ditions Of entrance to a trade. Regulation
OF the use Of machinery and the new pro-
| cesses introduced and the organization un-
der their control Of the machine operators
and the lower grade workers is the line
along which the laboring men are work.
ing to maintain tho standards Of skill in
their respective crafts
Specialization Increasing.
BY prohibiting the grade of iourneymen,
opposing team work and the employment
do the work of journeymen many work.
ers are also endeavoring to maintain the
standard Of skill. Thus the conditions of
entrance to q trade become an important
matter to workngmen desiring to prevent
not only a too rapid increase in their
numbers, but. what is more important.
the. injection into the trade of men OF less
skill The control of the entrance to
trade is, however becoming increasingly
difficult The extensive use of machinery
in almost all trades and handicrafts the
minute subdivision of labor processes, and
the consequent specialization of occupa-
lions have been gradually displacing the
old forms of skill and workmanship and
causing the institution of new methods
| of acquiring craft knowledge. The old
system Of apprenticeship, which at the be-
ginning of the nineteenth century was the
almost universal method of entering
trade or handicraft, is fast becoming OBJ
solete. Though in former days apprentice
ship possessed many advantages, under
modern conditions It is becoming more and
more unsuitable, especially in trades in
which there has already been a decline
| in the skill of the workers. In many inn
portant trades where the labor processes
have been infinitely sUbdivided and sim
| plified, such as boot and shoe making,
garment making, etc. apprenticeship reg
ulations have been abandoned and even
in trades in which apprenticeship still
forms the principal avenue of entrance to
the trade II not only differs in many other
respects from the old form of apprentice
ship, but it's term is lessened and the re-
quirements are not so strict or so rgidly
enforced. In its bulletin on the subject
the bureau of labor points out, in the
building trades. for example, which have
been less affected by machinery and the
subdivision of labor than most other
trades, Ithat many workmen become jour
| neymen without serving fun apprentice
ship. 1t is coming to be recognized that
tho organization of modern industry is not
| adapted to the proper training of appren-
tees.
In industries in which production on a
large scale is carried on as a result of the
| use of machinery and the subdivision of
| labor neither the employer nor the work.
| man can afford the time the effort to
| apply himself systematically to the train
| ing Of apprentices, and even II he could his
work would be of small value to the boy,
and is usually not desired by him. Boys can
| now readily become proficient in an occu-
| patton at which they can earn Journey
mans wages by applying themselves to a
particular branch of a trade rather than by
endeavoring to acquire the whole trade
through an apprenticeship.
New Methods Necessary.
AS a consequence OF the unsuitability of
the apprenticeship system to modern in
dustrial conditions other methods of &C
curing skill in the craft have been substi-
tuted. The bureau of labor finds that
chief among these are, first. the helper sys-
tenn, by which a knowledge of the craft is
acquired casually in the shop, and second,
systematic trade and technical education.
The first system is peculiar to certain trades
in which experience rather than training is
essential to competency. and in which the
labor is too arduous for boys. Since there
is no definite form Of probation under the
helper system, the workmen have no control
over the number of learners in the trade.
Friction results between helpers and jour
neymen, and trouble arises from the en-
deavor of the journeymen to prevent the
helpers from entering the trade.
Trade and technical education is applica-
BILE only to those trades requiring some