The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-20

4 =
ing them. Our primary object is make
/ mechanics for our : shops. We can
hire all the mechanical engineers we
/ want, hire all the draughtsmen we
| need, employ all the college men we
want, but our pressing need, not only
+ ours, but that of the railroads and
manufacturing plants all over the
country, is first class skilled mechan-
les, and the mechanics we graduate are
certainly better suited and fitted to
our needs than those we can hire, for
they know the Santa Fe ways Santa
re methods, and Santa Fe standards.
1t is common occurrence in our
shops for gang foremen to put in a
| nid In advance for some apprentice
/ whom they know will shortly be out
of his time. Under the old system
| OF indenturing a boy out to learn a
trade, where the master acted to-
wards the boy as father to son, good
| all around mechanics were the result
OF such training, but under our mod
ern method, there are not enough
fatherly employers. The foreman of
the shop is too busy to stop to help
or to show a boy. The boy is simply
and to pass away the four years even
tually leaving at the expiration of his
apprenticeship. knowing really moth
ing of the trade he was apprenticed to
| learn.
! Says Unions Limit Output.
The labor unions of the country
have limited the number of apprentices
in some shops to such an extent that
even If they were properly trained,
| there is not half enough to meet the
| demand.
There is nothing that will ever take
| the place of an apprenticeship. There
/ Is no trade school or training school
i in the country that will turn out
young men or boys who are capable of
entering shop and competing with
| the average mechanic; while they
may be taught considerable book
| learning their practical instruction
must of necessity be limited. There is
| nothing that will take the place of
practical experience. Manual training
| in our public schools and trade schools
may bring out the talent, may display
the genius, but the boy, even after
completing such course, has no con-
| ception of time, no idea of the prac-
ticul use of jigs, templets, etc. If the
1 boys mind is imbued with the idea
| that as soon as he graduates from a
| training school he can enter a modern
shop and can work alongside regular
lJourneymen, competing with them, he
has been deceived. If a boy desires
and intends to follow a trade for q
livelihood, he should attend our public
| schools until he has reached the age
/ of 16, and then should enter a shop
| as an apprentice Further schooling,
believe is unnecessary and in
out upon his apprenticeship at the
age of 16 or II, he will have completed
| 1t by the year he has reached his ma
| jority, and will be fully prepared to
/ enter upon his 1ife's work.
Frats Teach Ease Not Work.
1.-THE fraternities and sororities of
our high school system have made too
| many boys, who are natural born me-
| chanics, shun the actual work, and
dread the thought of an apprentice
/ in H. 1ir7rx xrvf& ~,
social and snobbish ideas gained from
| the fraternities and sororities while
passing through high school.
| while the remuneration paid ap-
! prentices learning a trade has increas-
ed during the past few years, it is still
| too small. Many boys who would
make first class mechanics, accept
| positions which have practically no
| future to offer, but whose immediate
gains are greater than that of an ap-
| prentice during his four-year course.
| Apprentices must be paid living wages,
sufficient for them to have nutritious
| You can not expect to develop the best
| in a boy when his body is lacking
| nutritious food and is not warmly
clothed.
Night Schools a Failure
| "All of our actual apprentice in
struction is during the daylight hours.
Any corporation, any manufacturing
plant that requires the apprentices to
return regularly at night to attend
school, is counting failure. The boys
we have, the boys we desire, the boys
you would like to have, in fact the
| boys out of whom we can make our
best men, have an abundance of red
blood coursing in their veins. and
must have some hours for recreation
and play. After they have worked all
| day in the shop, they are entitled to
some hours for recreation. While we
are historically familiar with a num-
Der of men who during their child
hood endured all kinds of privations
and hardships to obtain an education
| men who when boys, after a days
| work, studied at night by dimly light
| ed lamps, thirsting for knowledge,
| these are rare exceptions and the his
torian deemed it of sufficient impor-
lance to record the fact. There are
thousands of others who have studied
| at night, and who are still living in
| the night. The present age offers as
| many more places of amusement, so
many more free entertainments, and
the writer believes the boys should be
| allowed to enjoy themselves all they
/ possibly can while they are in their
teens. An apprentice boy who has
worked all day is physically unfit to
/ study in the evening. We have en-
| deavored to make our apprenticeship
| system as attractive as possible. We
want our boys to be happy and con-
| tented in serving their apprenticeship
| as it is possible for US to make them;
we aim to make them so contented
| and happy while learning their trade,
that they will gladly continue in our
service after completing their ap-
| premiership
Taught to Use Brains.
| another thing, we teach our boys
that all the brains in, the country are
not in the medical or legal profess
sions, or even within the halls of con-
gress We teach them that fully as
many brains are engaged in mechan-
ical, electrical and mining engineering
as in the other professions. We teach
our boys also that the diploma we is
sue them is a bread earning parch-