The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-09-13


New York City, and the public
schools did absolutely nothing to pre-
pare them to earn their living" said
Professor Mary Schenck Woolman,
of Teachers College, at recent adj
dress before the domestic science de-
partment of the Brooklyn Institute.
1t was a story of great interest
that Mrs. Woolman told to the
women present, mostly educators.
The feeling is very general
| throughout America, " she said, that
trades should not be taught in the
public schools; that the schools are
for education, not for trades. When
girls and boys receive free education
| from kindergarten, through State I'M
iversity, and then become teachers,
lawyers or ministers, have they not
| been trained for their trade? The
high school is an integral part of the
training of every professional man
and women; they cannot do without
it, But four out of every five chill
dren in the public schools go into the
trades We train the one-fifth for
their trades, and do nothing for the
four-ffths.
Perhaps you may say the manual
| training of the schools, the cooking,
sewing and domestic science, trains
for trades. l have taught fourteen
years in Teachers College. In that
time | have never trained one girl
for a trade l have trained them to
conduct their own homes and to
teach other girls to do the same
thing. Not one of my pupils could
have gone into a shop or factory
| ready and competent to earn her liy-
ing there The manual training of
the schools is not trade education.
| 1t is technical
Not Trained For Work
There are thousands upon thou
sands of girls of fourteen leaving
school every year and going into fac
tories. They begin at fifty cents a
week. They work up to So. Three
dollars is considered a living wage,
but | think if you and I had to live
on it we might have different opia-
! ACAAs L hOttotI1Au0 VI IuCUl nGRGl SGI
any more. In some high class fac
tories it is considered so desirable
for a girl to get an entrance there
and learn the trade that the employ
ers will pay her nothing the first
year The child is ushered into a
room full Of machines, each of whic.
! sets 1000 stitches minute. At first
she pulls threds, sorts silks, runs
errands and does other such things
/ for the operators. After a while |
/ she gets a machine, and then she is
so intent on her piecework to make |
her wages that she can think of moth |
/ ing else. She cannot think of pro-
! crossing, of learning higher or more
difficult processes. She rarely goes
beyond her first machine She is ig-
norant; she has no manual skill, |
not one thing in her home or school
training helped her in what she has !
! to do now The poor little ignorant
child simply has to face the world |
alone, and pick up her trade as best |
she can from those around her. She |
seldom becomes skilled. She seldom |
attains a decent wage. After
while she gets discouraged, and !
sometimes she marries very badly, |
and sometimes does worse, just to
get out of her slavery.
Factories Need Skilled Labor.
"Now, in the face of all this, the
manufacturers are in need all the
time of skilled labor. There is a |
constant dearth of those who can run
the more complicated and difficult /
machines that we have here, and /
vast sums go annually to Europe for
work that cannot be got here for |
any wage. I have spent months in
vestigating this matter, in Europe AZ
we'll as here, and it would take hours |
to tell you Of the places where they |
are making goods for America alone. |
Fairylike embroidered chiffors, pas
sementeries, garniture of every kind,
exquisite underwear, evening gowns, |
all for America. At St. Gall, Switz-
erland, where l went specially to see
such place, the proprietor spoke to
me in English When l commented |
on it he laughed and said Why, r.
an American citizen. Then why
don't you do your manufacturing at
home? said l, I can't get the work
ers, said he. I employ a thousand
women, and the kind of work they
is not to be had in America
Now, let me show you how the
skilled women workers of Europe are
trained. In the public schools Of
Belgium every girl at twelve years
chooses one of four courses, full
trade, full housekeeping, trade
housekeeping or housekeeping-trad