Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-24
Industrial Education.

seiZeS her opportunity, the Paris,
the Geneva, the Sheffield, the Not
tingham. the ChemnitZ, the Pots
DAMN short. the sum total of all
the fine manufacture cities OF the
old world, if she applies to mod
ern industry the same intellect and
vigor and Yankee 'gumption which
for nearly three centuries she has
had at her command"
This opinion, voiced by James P.
| Monroe, chairman of the committee of
Commerce, is worthy of notice, not on
| ly because of Mr. Monroe's position but
| because he supplements it by interest
ing declarations concerning the value
of educating New England artisans to
the highest degree of mechanical skill.
He takes the ground that while it
would not pay to transport pig iron
from Pennsylvania to New England
and manufacture therefrom structural
steel for use in Philadelphia or New
York, yet such transportation cost
would not be prohibitive if the raw
| material is manufactured into compli-
Gated machinery or any of the finer
products which contain large per-
centage of labor cost.
He is undoubtedly correct for highly
skilled labor demands and receives
high wage. 1t is found at it's best in
temperate climate and where the
social conditions are most advanced.
Skilled mechanics prefer to live where
the school facilities are best for their
children, where there are churches,
wholesome amusements and opportuni-
ties for mental and social advance
ment.
The greatest problem in connection
with the moving of an industrial en-
terprize from one section of the coun-
try to another is not the transplanting
of machinery or stock or office force. or
the superintendent of departments.
Any shoe manufacturer who has NOV
ed his plant from Lynn or Brockton
will tell you that his greatest problem
was to educate the new set of opera
tives in the place where his plant was
reestablished. 1t is true of other bust
nesses calling for as high a class of
skilled labor.
The problem is even greater when
an industry moves from a section like
New England to the West or South, in
order to be nearer raw materials. 1t is
a struggle of years to assemble force
of operatives equal to those abandoned
in New England. In some instances it
is never done and the manufacturer is
forced to drift into making a coarser
grade of goods in order to continue in
business. Of course conditions can be
such that this difficulty would be over
looked because of cheaper power, and
less transportation cost, but as mat
ter of fact New England contains an
ample supply of power at reasonable
rates, transportation charges are sell
dom excessive and the climatic condi-
tions are such that operatives can and
do give the greatest amount of energy
with the least effort. Under such con-
ditions the only danger which besets
us is that in other parts of the country
where raw material is close at hand
and cheap power combines with it to
attract manufacturers, efforts will be
made to educate large groups of me-
chanics in order to offset New
Englands advantage. 1t is up to New
England to educate it's young men and
women to the highest degree of skill
in order to combat such a move. AS
Mr.. Monroe says:
THE manufacturing future OF New
England cannot be in doubt as long as
she sticks to the principle that educa-
ton and industry must go hand in
hand. That was the secret of her man.
ufacturing prosperity in the days when
she mad little industrial competition; it
must be the watchword now that she
has to meet competition not only in the
national markets but in the markets
of the world.
Fine goods, artistic goods, we'll
made goods can hold their own against
the fiercest competition; for to make
them demands skill. and one cannot
buy skill at wholesale. 1t has to be
created by long years of education: and
in education New England has a very
long lead. She can keep that lead,
however. not by boasting about her
past, but only by hustling toward her