The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-29
ssSend The Whole
 Boy To School. "

.
 world. With the disappearance of this
 advantage it Is held that it will become
 increasingly difficult for American
 manufacturers to meet the competition
 of the cheaper and more abundant
 labor of other countries
 'gThe situation may be illustrated oy
 comparison of the relative positions
 of this country and Germany in the
 excellence of the mechanic art today
 and a generation ago." said manu-
 facturer whose products are sold In
 almost every country of the gioDe.
 At the time of the Centennial Ex-
 hibition in 1876 the German Commls-
 sion sent over to observe the relative
 merits of the exhibits of various coun-
 tries reported that in comparison with
 the American exhibit the display of
 their own country made sorry show
 ing. Both in quality and appearance
 the German mechanical products were
 behind those of other countries and
 while some of the other countries were
 ahead of the United States in the finish
 of their machinery the latter was un-
 rivalled in point of efficiency, in the opinion of the commission. It was largely as result of this report and of the recommendation of the investi- gators he had appointed that Emperor William I instituted the spstem of i'm dustriaI education that has done more than anything else to put the German Empire in it's present advanced posi- tion as manufacturing nation.
 Two years ago when another group of German investigators came over here they were able to report that their country had nothing to learn from us in the methods of training labor and they marvelled that with the great amount of attention paid to the higher education in engineering in the United States no system of trade education has been adopted"
 The situation, so far as practical training in the industrial arts is con- cerned, is expressed in different and even more striking way by Secretary James A. Emory of the Citizens Indus-N trial Associations: The statietics of education show,
 says MT. Emory, that between 5,000- 900 and 6,0O0,000 children entered the schools of this country in the early weeks of September. Of this great army less than 100000 will enter the colleges and institutions of higher edu- cation. Less than 250,000 will continue Into the high schools. The great
 majority, numbering probably 5.000,00O,
 will leave schoor from choice or peces- sity between the ages of ten and six teen, most of them at twelve to four teen Of these q small proportion will receive some sort of preparation for clerkships and office positions from schools of stenography and business. The others will have had no training in the use of their hands, and will be fit- ted to rank only as unskilled labor, the supply of which is steadily augmented by the great volume of immigration. A boy out of this army of untrained workers may learn to operate single machine, but he will be like the young man referred to in a recent report on this subject who has worked for four years in turning out a single part of machine but had no knowledge as to how 1t fitted in with the other parts. ~Such man cannot be called me- | chanic. He has none of the familiarity with the use of tools and the purpose 1 of his work that is needed to stimulate l his interest in hi stask and to make 1t 1 easy for him to turn from one thing to 1 another. The chances are that ne 1 cannot make even the simplest repairs I on the machine that he operates. Spec l falization In industry and the use of machinery Is bound to cpntanue and to I increase, but the man who has learned | in his impressionable xeaTs to use his | hands and to acquire amtliarity in the | relation of various appliances is certain 1 to become better workman than one who gets his knowledge haphazard and | without following any systematic l course. That is part of the purpose of industrial education. It is to make mechanics instead of machines of the workers, as well as to impart thorough l knowledge of ono particular subject" :" 1 While the work of special institu-
 lions may serve to meet the needs of | the particular localities in which they l are situated, or even to satisfy the re- | auirements of some restricted indus | tries. in the matter of skilled labor it | is held by those who have studied this l question that the only means of solving l the problem presented by the 5,000.0o0 l school children who are growing up ! with no prospects of special industrial l training to fit them for one of the l skilled trades Is by the adoption of a | comprehensive system of trade educa-
 ton under the co-operation of the ma
 tion and the States. Thls is phase of | the subject that the Citizens Industrial Association purposes to take up with a | view to recommending definite and practical plan of procedure. As this | orRanization is composed of practical l men, representing the body polite as a