The Connecticut labor news., 1923-12-15
DAVIS AFRAID OF WHITE COLLARED
 MEN ON JOBS
Labor Secretary Would Dignity La | bor" and Get Some He-Men on Real Jobs.

Buffalo, N Y, Dec I5.-Genera- tions fstrugg1e were required to establish the freedom of labor and today the task before mankind is to establish the dignity of labor, James J. Davis, secretary of labor, said here in an address to the National Society for Vocational Education Too much stress has been laid upon the academ ic in the educational systems of the country, Secretary Davis said.
 To-day we are realizing our mis- take" he added, for we find that we are turning out 90 per cent. of our youth equipped only for the so-called white collar occupations, which can provide jobs for only 10 per cent. of them. We cannot continue to keep America III the vanguard of civiliza- ton if we permit the American people to become exclusively white collar people.
 Needs of Economic Structure.
 "The soundness of our whole eco homie structure-and our political in stitutions as wel1-depends upon the man who works with his hands. The world markets of the future will be- long to the nation whose labor IS most skillful and efficient, and the na-
 
 deficient will find 1t difficult to hold even it's own home market in the period of aggressive competition which Is bound to come when Europe recovers from the depression which has followed the war and steps forth with assured economic stride. Amer ica must make preparation for that rapidly approaching era of competl- ton for the markets of the world.
 We cannot hope for revival of the apprentice system. It was de- signed to fit the age of hand produc- ton, when the master workman and the learner worked side by side. Ii does not fit into the scheme of mod ern production Our hope lies in edu- cation, in the training of the hand of youth as we'll as it's head. We have begun the task of enlisting the pub lie school system, with its vast re- sources, and it's long experience, to cooperate with industry with train ing up a nation of workers. We are seeking the balanced education, for we have learned that the carpenter who as he saws the board can wis ualize the completed building IS bet ter workman and better citizen. Through the operation of the federal
  federal and state vocational education acts, we have during the past six years built up a system which we be- | lieve points the way to the solution of this problem. Today it IS reach ing 100000 potential or actual work CTS"
 Should Be Lifetime Process. Education should be life long pro- cess, not predicated upon the "cameI' theory, declared J. C. Wright, direc- tor of the Federal Board for Voca- tional Education, Washington, D. C., before the convention.
 "The camel" theory, explained MT. l Wright, IS based on the assumption that the full time school can meet all the educational needs of youth. Ut assumes" he said, s'that the child is an intellectual camel who can take his education in prolonged meal an educational gorge-store 1t up Tn an intellectual hump ,and live of the hump all the way across the journey of life"
 Doubtless Compulsory Play. l "I seriously question whether the prevailing program of the public schools which stresses general culture, | is adequate" he said, discussing the l Industrial army of 38, COG, ,ooo shown by the 1920 census to be engaged in pro- ductive pursuits There is ground for serious doubt whether the popu- lar tendency among educators to ad- vocate extreme increases in the age limit of compulsory full time school attendance is best for society or for the individual"
 l Education becomes continuous life process, he said, when the public lschools throw open their doors to the employed by means of evening and part time classes. "Real education and work cannot be separated" he de e1ared