The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1907-05-22

gressive spirit and power for good in
this community, for which indeed your
organization stands. as a Committee on
Manual Training. of the Montgomery
School Improvement Association, we ap
peal to you to use your influence 10
have this much needed form OF lhslTuG
ton introduced into the schools OF TINS
city .,,n
Us IL not practical, that we have our
mechanics and artisans. as wen as our
expert iaborers' SO sqT1R Is industries,
that they shall be drawn from our
1T is well known fact that the
youths of this city now. leave scnooi
after finishing the seventh grade work
Would not this Manual Training vita
lie their daily round ana comHion
task, and allure them into completnS
an education. too often forsaken for
the hazardous life OF an uhtraihe" poS-
Arnold Toynbee, the great sociolo-
eist saws. The boys go. in most places,
10 whatever employment first comes TO
hand Much of this belongs to inc
class of unskilled labor. such boys ne.
come messengers. errand boys, shop
bows or bundle wrappers. All these re
ceive higher wages at first than they
would receive If they went to skilled
emnloyment by which later they could
earn their living, and the poverty OF
the parents makes them anxious Tor
the wage which is higher for the mo-
But the system is fatal for the
boys. At the age of early nanhood
they are no farther advanced than on
the day they lett school. They nave IN
deed gone backwards; having ceased TO
he boys. they are not wanted at the I'M
skilled jobs they went to, and having
learned no trade, they are OF no yaiua
adult labor Thus they DRIFT into the
ranks of the unemployed, ana mitl-
mately become the unemployable. That,
,-tn Aty a
of thousands of American children.
Especially is there an urgent need
for the establishment of this depart
ment in the schools of our factory dis,
tricts. where, with little training OF
the hands. useful citizens could be
made from the now degenerate. wh)
scorn. book knowledge
by manual training, we do not mean
domestic science for girls tthe cheap
est form of such training), our plea is
for our boys, too long neglected. BY
such work as bench work, carpentry,
etc, the intellectual. moral and physi-
city of over $4,000 inhabitants, the
statistics of the average attendance Of
boys of school age are startling and
appalling. We earnestly believe that
manual training will ameliorate this
condition.
this form of instruction. we earnesti,
beg you to create among our citizens
stronger interest in the education of
our boys, that they may be aroused to
the important necessity of realizing
the conditions which surround us in the
technical education of the negro boz
and neglect and indifference to our
Anglo Saxon youths
I'VE urge that definite action be
taken at once with the Board of Edu-
cation and the City Council, both bodies
having expressed an interest in the
movement
Selma adonted the system five vaors
ago, and Troy and Florence soon fell
into line and shall Montgomery, the
Capital City of Alabama. be less pro
gressive than these places?"
Respectfully submitted,
Mrs. Eliza w. Little, Mrs. Phares
Coleman. Mrs. Clifford A. Lanier, Mrs
A G. Forbes"
To accomplish the cooperation re-
quested. the directors voted to invite
the members of the committee to
conference to be held Immediately after
the club has become domiciled in its
new quarters on Court Square. To tn