method in industry, calculations for many years in the future become habitual; and as a result more consideration is being given to the labor side of each industry. Apprenticeship is desirable chiefly for two reasons: to furnish an adequate supply of skilled men, and to maintain and improve the character and efficiency of workers. Manufacturers cannot afford as a business proposition, all ethical and philanthropic considerations aside, to neglect suitable provisions for teaching apprentices. If the United States is to maintain its present high rank as an industrial nation provision must be made for a future supply of trained and skilled workers. It has frequently been stated that the old form of apprenticeship has passed out of existence; this statement is probably correct, but a new form of apprenticeship is rapidly coming into being.

Within the last ten or twelve years two important private investigations have been made as to the prevalency of apprenticeship in the machine shops of this country. In the first inquiry it was found that 85 out of a total of 116 shops investigated— builders of engines and pumps, tool builders, railroad shops and locomotive shops, and miscellaneous machinery builders-took apprentices. In the second inquiry it was found that 73 out of a total of 112 shops took apprentices. Railroad shops and locomotive builders are most strongly committed to this policy; 22 out of 25 investigated took apprentices. In the shops having the most advanced and commendable systems, night-school work or correspondence instruction is required of apprentices.

A foreman of apprentices is also employed. It is his duty to see that the young men have proper instruction, and that they are promptly advanced from department to department. The Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia; Brown and Sharpe Manufacturing Company, Providence; The Westinghouse Company, Pittsburg; The General Electric Company, Schenectady; and Hoe and Company, New York, are among the best examples of firms which have established thorough apprenticeship systems.

At a recent date The Baldwin Locomotive Works indentured three different classes of apprentices. Members of the first class were not to be over seventeen years and three months old at the time of entrance. A good common-school education was required, and the apprentices were obliged to attend. night school two evenings per week for the first three years The term of apprenticeship in this class was four years. The wages per hour for the first, second, third and fourth years were, respectively, five, seven, nine and eleven cents. At the completion of the four years a bonus of $125 was given each apprentice. Members of the second class must not be over eighteen years of age at the time of entrance. They must have completed an "advanced-grammar" or high-school course, and were required to attend night classes in mechanical drawing during the first two years. Their term of service was three years, at the end of which time a bonus of $100 was presented to each young man. The third class was designed for graduates of

colleges or technical schools. No regular night work was required, but the members of this class. were asked to read technical journals, and to hand in synopses of various articles. Members of the third class were indentured for only two years.

men.

During the year 1904 many agreements as to apprentices were ratified between The International Machinists' Association on one hand, and railroad companies on the other. These agreements were all similar. The number of apprentices to be allowed in any railroad shop was one to every five journeyThe length of indenture was four years of three hundred days each. The company agreed to give the apprentice adequate instruction, and to change him at regular intervals from one job to another. The policy employed "is aimed to protect the railroad against a scarcity of skilled labor, for which it has a continual demand. It may be further serviceable in stimulating the loyalty to the company and protecting the esprit de corps of the organization." An agreement between the Mason Builders' Association and the Bricklayers' Union of Boston and vicinity provides that apprentices must be able to read and write English, and emphasizes the desirability of educating the apprentice, particularly as to the strength and quality of materials and the science of construction. Both parties agreed to join in an effort to establish a school for members of the trade.

From a consideration of these examples it is evident that successful apprenticeship involves, in the eyes of both employer and employee, more than

mere shop training. The best apprentice is a student as well as a worker. In recent years there has also been a rapid increase in the number of laws regulating and restricting employment in certain trades, and requiring that these trades shall not be practised except by well-qualified persons. The federal government and at least three fourths of the states have passed statutory provisions requiring the examination and licensing of persons practising trades other than those included in the so-called higher professions, such as stationary, locomotive and steamboat engineers, plumbers and gasfitters, horseshoers, barbers. These requirements increase the demand for school training. The old principle of granting a monopoly to those who have attained a certain proficiency seems to be returning to favor. If the state is restricting and raising the requirements for entrance into a trade, it should stand ready to offer adequate opportunities for obtaining the requisite knowledge and training required by law.

CHAPTER XI

TECHNICAL, AGRICULTURAL AND COM

MERCIAL EDUCATION

TECHNICAL EDUCATION

The United States Military Academy at West Point is the "cradle" of American engineers. All technically educated civil engineers of the early part of last century came from West Point. As early as 1802 two civil engineers were graduated from that institution. All the early engineers were "civil" or "military" engineers. The differentiation of engineering into mechanical, electrical, mining and chemical is a later development. The Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, founded in 1824, was the first technical school in the United States for the sole purpose of giving instruction in engineering. Laboratory work in that institution was originally included under the head of amusements. The University of Michigan was the first state university to open an engineering department. This branch of the work was made equal in rank with that given in other departments. The Colorado School of Mines was the pioneer in mining engineering.