The Connecticut labor press., 1919-04-26
BARBERS WANT APPRENTICES TO
 HAVE LICENSES
Topic for Annual Convention of Connecticut Barbers Pro-
 tective Association.
WILL MEET IN AUGUST
Claim That Boys Should Serve Three Years Before Being Elm
 ployed as Journeymen.

The executive board of the Connecti- cut State Barbers' Protective AssocIa- ton will meet soon and select the time and place for the annual convention of the association. 1t will be held some time i'll August and it is understood that New London, New Haven or Hartford will be the convention city.
 The principal matter To come up is the licensing of apprentices. They are not licensed now and according to the officials of some of the unions the boys should be licensed. While every barber must be licensed according to the state law, nothing has been done about the apprentices. According to the rules of the unions, each shop IS entitled to one apprentice and no apprentice is allowed to become member of a union until he serves three years as an apprentice.
 Union officials claim that if the boys are licensed, record can be kept of them and 1t will be known just how long they have been employed. It Is said that some apprentices secure Situa- tions before they serve three years and cannot be rated as skilled Workmen. The state association desires to have high standard of workmanship main tained and does not want shoemaker" to bring the tonsorial art into disre- pute.
 To become an apprentice in barber shop, 1t is necessary that boy should be 16 years old and have some con- versational skill. Before he is taught to handle a razor or cut customers hair, the boy is shown how to father the face of a victim, comb his hair, part his whiskers and keep the comic papers in the shop on file.
 When this matter was discussed the other day in the headquarters of An thony Merlino, recorder of the state association and business agent of the New Haven union, one of his callers told of an experience he frequently had with an apprentice in shop in Bran ford some years ago. There was a boy i'll shop there," he said, "who must have been an apprentice because all he did was to father my face, rub the soap into the skin and my mouth and nose, the place had shaved me, this youth washed my face, combed my hair and dusted off my hat. Now, l understaEd that this is the regulation duty for an apprentice. But whenever the boss had a hard beard to go over, one that took a long time, and when he started on 1t about the time that this boy began to lather me, I did not think much of the system and I'll tell you why.
 .Fhes boy kept putting on the father and rubbing 1t in and then he'd mix up new supply and rub that in and then he would repeat the dose and he kept this up. until the boss was ready with his razor. Now, 1t is all right, of course, to have the father rubbed i'll good and strong but when they keep it up at a high pressure for 10 minutes or so your face naturally rebels at such treatment. I remember once that the boy rubbed my face so much while waiting for the boss to finish his customer that he had rubbed all my beard off and there was nothing for the boss barber to do but put a little brilliantine on my eyebrows. wash my face, and invite me to call again" >t
 Some of Mir. Merlino's callers, all bar bers and most of them Italians, were interested in the return of the regiment to this country that had served on the Italian front. They had put one tight go with the Austrians, for most of the time they were either frightening or chasing them. They lost but v killed. But General Guglielmotti, military .ar- tache ut Washington, told of what they did for the Italian civil and military morale last summer, and Colonel Wal lace told how they impressed the Aus trians.
 We forced a crossing at the Fave, he said, "in fashion that led British airplane to drop us pennant inscribed Well done, 332dr and after that we didn't catch up with the Austrians until they were way across the Tagliamento and the armistice had been signed. Then a group of ranking Austrian officers came to me in Codrolpo and asked me to accept the surrender of their forces.
 q told them that I was short of rations, that only had regiment any way and that there were but enough men in my whole command to supply the necessary guards for their 3oOoO," mediately wanted to know where the rest of the American army iii Italy was and when I told them that our regiment was the only American force there they would not believe me. They said thev had it definitely from their inte1li- gent service that there were 100000 Americans opposed to them"