Evening star., 1921-01-15
BUILDING TRADES
SCHOOLSARE URGED
Senator Calder Says the IN
dustry Needs Training Of
Apprentices.

With view to providing sufficient
skilled workmen in the building
trades to take care of future de-
mands for labor, Senator William NJ.
Calder. chairman of the Senate re-
construction committee, has sent let
ters to the governors of all the states
urging the establishment of trade
schools
The committee, of which the sena-
tor is chairman. has just completed
extensive Investigations of the hous-
ing situation in many of the large
cities of the country. This survey
has engendered the belief that one or
the more important problems facing
the nation today is the furnishing of
Workmen for building.
Need in Building Trndc.
In his letter. Senator Calder writes,
in part, as follows:
Zone of the outstanding factors
which Is now hampering the building
industry is the curtailment at the
source of the supply of skilled trades
men. The building industry is more
highly organized than any other
large industry. but it is noticeable
everywhere that it's members are now
getting along in years. and in some
trades the skilled young man is a
rarity. 1t has been the experience of
the past that the skilled mechanic
in the building trades drops out very
much earlier than in other trades and
is forced to take UP other or less
skillful employment. His pay has
accordingly been somewhat higher
than the usual run, but the necessity
for constant replacement has been
ever-present.
More Apprentices Required.
'"The American youth takes kindly
to the particular trades which re-
quire little more skill than the
others. and so we find among the
electricians. the plumbers and the
masons numerous young men OF
birth, but such is not the
case with the other trades. Here
tofore, men from foreign shores. DIS,
satisfied with the political and social
conditions existing in their father
land, have come to this country and,
without serving technical appren-
ticeship, they have started at the
bottom of the ladder in the building
trades. Those who have been worthy
have risen to heights limited only by
huge industrial training school where
the building trades were taught
largely to newcomers to our shores,
but the ravages of war cut off this
source of supply and the result is ap-
parent on every hand. The remedy
seems plain-more apprentices This
goes to the essence for without ap-
prentices we shall soon be short of
journeymen not only but of foremen
and practical employers. The prob
lem is: How shah this be achieved?
The best solution seems to be
through the fostering of building
trades schools Some of the states
have, under their labor codes, au-
thorized a state industrial commits
sion to operate an apprentice depart
ment.
Labor Specialization.
"Another thing which has been
patent in all of our Investigations is
that the supply of labor is depicted
through overspecialization. There
are trades. such as paperhanging, in
which work is done. but few
months in the year. This particular
trade is the busiest, of course. just
prior to the two seasonable rental
dates, with the result that these par
ticular trades are and must be highly
paid, or else the men who participate
therein must be competent to func-
ton in other trades in the off sea
sons. This leads to the thought that
extensive government or state aid to
trade schools, in which apprentices
NAV be trained in a sufficiently wide
range of related activities to enable
them to adjust themselves to changes
in Industrial conditions and season.
able demands of the construction in
dustry, would be beneficial not only
to the tradesmen themselves, but to
the body polite"