Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-07
Boys of District Learn Trades in Newly Established Soho

unit, on the basis of quality shown
Each unit Of work is an examination
in itself. for the youngster puts into
the finished product the accumulated
knowledge he has obtained in laying
the groundwork for 1t. And In ad-
dition, when shop job IL finished
whether 1t be steamfltting or printing,
he must fill out IA question sheet cor.
corning the steps of the job. This is
considered an examination.
Mechanical drawing at the Abbott
Is not course, but Is part of the
curriculum for every student. Hand
In hand with shop work and academic
studies must go, during the frst se-
mester. study in mechanical drawing
To give him the draftsman's view OF
the manual job he will later under
take
Boys may enter the school after
they have passed the age of Il years
and have gone through the seventh
grade OF grade school. It is signiti
cant that many applicants for en-
trance to the already overcrowdeo
classes come from the high schools,
some of them boys as old as 10 years.
who want TO learn o. trade or get
foundation for e. vocation in their
spare time. Provision has been made
by the school authorities for keeping
the school open in the evening for the
| the daytime there are several boys a.
the school who work at night to earn
their share toward the family support
Although the faculty Of this new
school believes Washington IS nearly
sold on the vocational school, il hopes
to see a great increase in the size Of
classes next year. when the school be
comes more widely advertised. Ever
then, however, Mr.. Smith holds thai
the true worth Of the ins.itatfon Var,
not be recognized. Probably not until
1927 or later, when its graduates be
gin to show the well grounded basis
| on which their trade knowledge IS
/ founded, will the employers of the CITY
/ take the real interest they should.
| The interest of the employers ana
/ labor unions today, even though con
I fined to a relatively small group, is
far more than passive. Mr.. Smith is
| probably cautious when he says I'VE
/ hope the employers will live up t"
their pledges to place our graduates
| They have also pledged themselves tc
! give credit or preferred posts to the
graduates of the vocational school.
a
MR.. SMITH believes the graduates
| OF the vocational school Will be
able to command higher wages as
trade apprentices than those who GO
into the trade shops without previous
| training of any kind. On that basis
| he says the boys who take the two
year course al the Abbott are really
/ working while in school on the de
ferred payment" plan, for their knowl
/! edge when they graduate viii place
them far ahead OF those who have nor
had the advantage Of similar training
I both i'll job preferment and IN salary
ITO the boy who does not expect 10
enter a profession. this school offers
| a new opportunity. 1t gives him train
ing in a specific trade and later. when
he is ready 10 leave school and con.
tinue with his chosen occupation, his
, advance standing as an apprentice
| will enable him to do more desirable
work and he will be better paid than
boys entering the trades without prep
aration.
Not only is a boy who graduates
from the school practically sure Of EN-
ploynent, but from a financial point OF
View boys may be said TO be earning
IN deferred payments. good salaries
while at school, IN addition to receiy
Ing an education"
Technical subjects offered INCLUDE
drawing, stetching, blueprint rsadinc
trade science. mathematics and safety
and hygiene, while non-techntcal sub
tects include English, civics. general
trade knowledge, geography, history
and related information.
Six complete shops. miniatures OF
the larger trade establishments to
which some day their occupants viii
go. form the present equipment at the
Abbott Viewing the imposing list Of
trade work offered In other cities, Mr.
Smith foresees the day when every
trade, from piano tuning TO pin max
ing, VIII be taught in the schools But
just now he is concentrating on the
two new courses-piumbing and wood
working-and looking ahead to Sep
TENDER, when courses in automobile re.
pair work and electrical work are to
be installed. These, he believes, will
be even more popular than printing
and metal working the backbone OF
the school at present.
Presided over by a thorough Scot
who learned his trade at hand settins
in Caledonia, before the linotype be
came the intricate. almost human. ma
chine 1t now is, the printing shop is
a complete duplicate of a small JOB
shop. In 1t the lads who would be
printers learn their pleas and ems
their spacing and leading; and all the
multitudinous details that lie behind
the typeman's product. They learn IL
completely and thoroughly. for Dun
| can McLaren, their teacher, besides
the work he did in Scotland, worked
in New York, and for several years
was a compositor on two of the Wash
ington newspapers before entering the
teaching end OF the printers trade
J X
ON the ground floor, opposite the
print shop, from a big room
flooded with sunlight, comes the SOUND
of hammers ringing on metal; the
CHEEKY sound OF the tinsmith at work
fashioning the material discovered By
ancient Britons into cornices and intri
cate patterns of today. A forge, cut
ting machinery, all types OF shaping
devices, n multitude OF hammers, plan.
ing tables and all the equipment
needed 10 put a boy in q real profes.
sionl atmosphere give him vent for
| his ambition to shape materials OF
metal to his own end. c. r. Gates is
major domo IN the sheet metal shop
instructor In q trade whose employees
receive high wages and have pleasant
hours.
On the same floor will open mex
week the plumbing shop, also with
complete equipment for the trade pop
ularly filled with the traditiona
plumbers helper. the apprentice Lac
who hands monkey wrenches to his
chief at 81 an hour. The loafers
won't get far in their younger years
at the Abbott. however. for Louis
Conradis. the plumbing teacher, in
tends to do a thorough job of instill
ing into his charges the value of dill
gence and the theory that a dollax
of pay Is worth q dollar of work.
| Upstairs, in room decorated with
shades no futurist may hope to
achieve, Is the home Of the embryo
painters. taught their art by T. H
-Frs, %fs,a.
tions, the proper way - set up q
l pafnter's scaffoid the right way to ap