Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-03-19
|DR. BRUMBAUGH IN
CHILD LABOR CASE
Makes a Statement Showing What
Commonwealth Has Done For
Vocational Education

Governor Brumbaugh got into the
discussion of the child labor bills last
night. Paul Furman. of the Pennsyl-
vania Child Labor Association, came
out in the late afternoon with an at
J tack on Joseph X. Grundy that sound
! ed like old times. The Governors
statement was an answer to the inti-
4 nation that the State was not doing
anything on vocational education.
The statement was;
| Since the passage of the vocational
education act in 1918, seventy-three
vocational schools and departments
have been established in twenty-siN
counties of the State. Fifteen thou
sand men. women, boys and girls have
received instructions in vocational sub
1ects in the public schools of Penn
sylvania during this period.
| Agricultural high schools are now in
operation in twelve counties of the
State. There are at present more ap-
pliCationS for new schools of this type
than can probably be granted. In
| these schools, four year courses in
/ agriculture are given to boys living
/ on the farm. These courses include
a study of such subjects as soils, ferti-
lizers, poultry raising, dairying. farm
crops, vegetable gardening, farm man
agement. farm bookkeeping, farm
mechanics, woodworking. blacksmith
J ling, etc. Short courses are offered
during the winter to young men be-
yond school age. Between five hum
dred and one thousand farmers have
this winter attended farmers night
schools in connection with these agri-
cultural high schools. Men of farm
experience and trained in our agri-
cultural colleges. have been put in
charge of this work and are employed
| for twelve months of the year.
/ This period has witnessed the es-
schools and departments in fifteen diff
ferent counties. instruction was
given for the boy and adult alike.
Some of the courses offered were de-
signed to assist the mature worker;
others were planned to train the youth
for industrial occupations. This is all
! in addition to the manual training
work which is taught in one hundred
school districts of the State.
The education of the girls and wo-
men for the business of home making
was successfully carried on in twenty
two schools of seventeen different
counties. Instructions in cooking,
sewing. millinery, care of the home,
sanitation. home nursing and many
other activities related to the home
| life. were given. not only to the girls
now in school. but to a large number
already employed. These home max
| ing schools are in operation both in
the country and in towns and cities
In addition to this work, domeSti s,
science has been successfully taught
in ninety school districts of the State.
The teachers employed in the indus
trial and home making schools have
had from three to twenty-one years
experience in the occupations with
which they are dealing.
The development of vocational edu-
cation in PENNSYLVANIA has already at
tanned such proportions as to astonish
those not familiar with it. From pres
ent indications there will be a still
greater eXpension in the immediate tu-
ture.
This is taken to mean that the Gov
ernor is for the Cox bill and members
were asking to-day what would be
done about the Phipps bill.
Mrs. George X. Johnson, president
of the PENNSYLVANIA Congress of
Mothers and Parent-Teachcr Associa-
tions, issued q statement yesterday in
which she took exceptions to the as
sertion that Mrs. Herman II. Birney
| had appeared at the child labor hear
| ing before the joint legislative COM
mittee Wednesday as the authorized
representative of the Pennsylvania
Congress. She also objected to the
| statement attributed to Mrs. Birney
that the executive board of the con-
gress had indorsed either the Child
| Labor Associations bills or the Gov
ernor's bill.
Mrs. Johnson asserts that the Reyn-
olds bill. presented at the instance of
Mrs. Frederic Schoff, president of the
National Congress and honorary presi-
| dent of the PENNSYLVANIA Congress,
and Miss Mary S. Garrett. chairman
of the legislative committee of the
Pennsylvania Congress. is the official
bill OF the congress, and that a large
majority of the board have given il
their UNQUALIFIED Endorsement.