The Washington times., 1908-01-12
Industrial Schools Bad?

During recent years the general
public has come to look upon in
dustrial schools as distinct IN
provement of modern times, as of
the greatest benefit to our youth. as
one of the means of salvation for
the eolored race, and as a means of
teaching respect for labor and the
labor.ug man, and intoxicating the
principles of democracy.
Now comes James O'ConnelI, of
Washington. president of the Inter
national Association OF Machinists,
and declares in language the Presi-
dent himself might have used that
they are debasing, undesirable, rep
rehensible, and infamous in every
way. If quoted correctly by The
Boston papers, for it was in Boston
that he made his attack, Mr.. O'Con-
nell said:
The workshop is the only place where
an education can be gained that is
practical and thorough, calculated 10
make up a fun-hedged mechanic The
industrial school merely supplies o
veneer OF education, which can never
compete with the solid practicablity Of
the education acquired in the factory.
It's Well-rOunded thOrOughness comes
from observation, from intuition, from
absorption and all-arOund hard work
that comes with everyday application.
II can never be acquired elsewhere OF
gained IL any other way than in the
hard school of factory experience. The
factory workshop can be depended upon
for practical results in the matter OF
supplying fully equipped mechanics
which can never be expected from the
industrial school as long as It is de-
pendent upon itself alone.
The effect Of Mr.. O'ConneHs at
tack is somewhat weakened as we
proceed to read his remarks, for we
find him growing more bitter as he
describes an incident in which the
pupils in one industrial school were
once used to break q strike. Of this
he says:
On one occasion I witnessed this re-
markable spectacle: About twenty-five
young men were being marched from a
school 10 a factory where men had
been on strike for several weeks. The
young men were headed by a detach-
ment of the State militia, and in the
rear Of the parade was a squad OF city
policemen. These young men were
marched from the school to the shop
in the morning, and from the shop to
the school in the evening. The strike
was finally adjusted, and the boys then
remained at their school
The Industrial school in these cases
worked a great Injury upon the men
on strike, though not nearly as bad as
the injury " did 10 the lads induced 10
take the strikers places To them the
injury is Well-nigh irTeparable- 1t
leaves a stain on their characters that
years cannot effacc, a stain that will
cling to them as long as they attempt
TO earn a living in the vocation they
have chosen, and upon which, IN the
estimation Of their ShOpmateS, they
have brought disgrace.
May it not be that Mr.. O'Connelrs
resentment toward this use of the
BOYS in these industrial schools has
led him into an unjust and unWar-
ranted condemnation Of the whole
system? 1t hardly seems possible
that the schools are or could be as
bad as he paints them. As a rule,
they are in charge of practical me-
chanics, are conducted along prac-
teal lines, are managed as ordinary
workshops are managed, and the
pupils are given real work to do,
and turn out the same sort of prod
uct as real workshops. On the
whole, we are inclined to believe
that Mr.. O'Connell has allowed his
indignation TO betray him into de-
nunciation of what he knows to be
a most advantageous and beneficial
institution.