The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-15
.edge-and be a real printer.
Must Steal the Trade


Who will question that reasoning or
deride the aspiration? Barring the
misfortune of incompetency, this
youth is like other men-he has the
same attributes, and mayhap gets
married and becomes the father Or
children, which L suppose is his right
Or, perhaps, mother or brothers ana
sisters are dependent on him; at all
events, he has the ordinary RESPONSE
bilities of other workers. He goes
forth with his determination to steal
trade which another man tacitly un-
dertook to teach him as recompense
for the low wages paid the youth.
He applied and secures a position by
dint of Misrepresentation, by the
spoken word, or by observing a dis
Greet silence during the foreman's US
ual Interrogation. The unfortunate
is soon found out and given short
shrift. This experience is repeated
in office after office until he is known
as an incompetent. Then employ
ment comes only in times when bus
mess is rushing and there are no 9TH
er unemployed men in sight. This,
of course, involves casual employment
with its concOmitants of some hun
ger. debt, oppression and friendless-
ness. The poor unfortunate has no
place to go and is welcomed no.
the lowest class.
Such conditions assail and break
down the SturdieSt fibre of charac-,
tiers, and there is sure to be mental
and moral decadence If the incom-
petent is father, then these condi-
tions are almost sure to breed Grim
inal tendencies among his children
Each one of us can pick out several
among our acquaintance who have
gone this route, and close investiga-
ton will demonstrate that a mock
apprenticeship was the parent of their
misfortune. 1t is hardly an answer
to point to others who have over
come these obstacles and become good
workmen and good citizens. for the
social truth is that men, should not
be exposed to the temptations and
dangers which flow from incompetent
cy.
AS union men, we do not recognize
the need of specialization at this stage
of industrial development, and we
have a right to ask employers and
ourselves if it should not stop short
of being practiced on apprentices,
when in the end it spells not only
economic loss, but the possible ruin
alton of men.
Too Much Hypocrisy.
We could listen with some grace
to the fulminations of employers on
this subject if any considerable num-
Der of them were really in earnest 1t
is the fashion to-day for employers
to speak loudly about trade education
technical education continuation
schools, and so forth and so on; it is
also charitable to many of them to
suppose that they have not paid much
attention to the subject and are mere
ly talking for the purpose of help
ing along a fad. Some are lauding
educational systems, the promoters Of
which say they are making printers
when they teach boys how to set type
without any regard to spacing pune
tuation, capitalization and other feat
ures that enter into type composition.
1t would be hard to think of anything
more cruel and heartless than to send
a boy out into the world to make his
living with the impression that he is
a printer after such an education
mere typesetting-as is provided for
in some of the so-called trade schools.
lauded is one which contemplates
turning out a large army of appren-
tees every year. 1t seems to me that
these people are short-sighted, be-
cause when they overstock the labor
market wages are likely to fall, and
then they will be bereft of their prin-
cipal argument, that the printing
trades offer steady employment and
good wages"-two factors which typo
graphical unionism has been probably
the most active in advocating and fos-
tering. But perhaps this group of
trade educators is not SO anxious about
equipping boys for the battle of life
and advancing the interests of the
trade as they are in reducing wages
and otherwise impairing working con-
ditions.