ADVOCATING TRADE SCHOOLS AND MODERN INDENTURED APPRENTICESHIP

EDITED AND PRINTED AT THE NORTH END UNION SCHOOL

OF PRINTING

BOSTON, APRIL, 1907

VOL. I, NO. IV

APPRENTICESHIP IN THE

METAL TRADES

THE National Metal Trades Association

Be it resolved, that the administrative council recommend to the members of the National Metal Trades Association the adoption, as near as possible, of a uniform agreement covering rules and regulations governing the employment of apprentices; and,

is composed of " persons, firms, or corporations engaged as principals, owning or controlling manufacturing plants operating principally in the metal trades, in which there are employed machinists, millwrights, blacksmiths, pipe fitters, boiler makers, pattern makers, carpenters, structural iron workers, iron ship builders, polishers and buffers, brass workers, sheet iron workers, electrical workers, or machine operators, and helpers to any of the above." These firms, it will be seen, employ highly skilled labor and their work is specialized probably more than any other important industry. The experience of such a body of intelligent men with regard to the training of skilled workmen has an important bearing on the subject of industrial education. Their knowledge of the actual need for trade education and a bona-fide apprenticeship system comes as near to "the real thing" as can be found among any body of practical men in the country. In the matter of apprentices, this association, in May, 1903, adopted the following "Council Resolutions," which it publishes in connection with its constitution and bylaws :

APPRENTICES

Whereas, There is at present no uniformity in the employment of apprentices in the shops of our members, and

Whereas, A proper apprenticeship system is essential to the education and perpetuation of skilled mechanics; therefore,

Be it further resolved, that the following conditions be advised for the incorporation in such agreement, subject to the laws of the State or Province in which the member's shop is located and the conditions in the locality involved:

1. No boy will be engaged as apprentice who is under fifteen years of age.

2. The regular time of apprenticeship shall consist of four years.

3. The period to be divided so that the apprentice may obtain experience in the various classes of work and upon the different tools.

4. A boy successfully completing his four years of apprenticeship shall receive a certificate to that effect, signed by the proper officers of the company or members of the firm.

5. The member should agree to give the boy every opportunity to become a thorough mechanic, by advancing him on better grades of work from time to time, as he demonstrates his ability and willingness for advancement.

6. We recommend that as generous compensation be given boys as circumstances will permit.

7. In consideration of continual, faithful, and satisfactory performance of the contract, and furthermore, as an incentive to diligence, a bonus of at least $100 be paid

the apprentice at the completion of his con

tract.

8. The member shall reserve the right to dismiss a boy who does not prove diligent trustworthy or competent, and a boy

9. In all cases the consent of the parent or guardian should be obtained.

တစ

10. It is recommended that for further experience the apprentice be advised to leave the service of the firm with whom he has served his apprenticeship, for one year, shall receive from his employer a recommendation to other firms of the National Metal Trades Association, and such apprentice should receive preference from N. M. T. A. members.

11. Apprentices who leave their employment for good and sufficient reason should receive a certificate covering the time they have served.

12. We recommend that members of this association shall decline to employ any apprentice who may have left his employer, with whom he has a contract, without the employer's consent, before the entire completion of his contract.

APPRENTICESHIP was given a bad

name and hanged by Adam Smith, who saw it under special circumstances, and his followers have inveighed against it ever since. Laymen look upon it as obsolete on their authority. The system these writers condemn is one involving restriction of liberty, injustice, oppression, and lack of adaptability to changing conditions of industry.

But these objectionable features are not inherent in the contract of apprenticeship. They are the results of unwise trade regulations, or undesirable trade customs associated with, but incidental to, that contract.

It is worthy of note that not even the opponents of apprenticeship have been able to suggest a satisfactory substitute for it as a means of craft training. It might be revived in a form which is free from the disadvantages referred to, and by its revival a great improvement might be effected in the technical skill of workmen of all sorts, and that in an easy, natural way involving no expenditure and little new machinery.-Methods of Social Advance (Macmillan & Co.)

facts which make the question of apprenticeship a matter of vital consequence to the welfare of every community. Here is what the president of the National Association of Sheet Metal Workers said at a convention held in Milwaukee a year or two ago. He touched upon a live topic among the employers in that industry, and his words apply with equal force to printers. He said:

"The present system of apprenticeship is not worthy of the name of apprenticeship. I would like to gather your experience, and I think it would be something like this: You want help and a boy comes to you. “Do you want a boy?" "Yes." The boy goes to work and he stays a few weeks, or a year, or until there is trouble between you. The boy leaves you and goes out to another shop and he stays there a little while, and in the following six months you may find him in another shop, and at the end of the second year he flouts himself as a first-class mechanic, whereas the chances are that he is a firstclass, all-round botch. That is our experience in Philadelphia and the East. It is a lamentable fact that there is no system among the sheet metal workers as to the employment and training of the boy. Now, the time was when the boy was indentured, and I am proud to say that I was indentured myself. I am proud of the fact that I was bound to a man under a contract for four years, and stayed those four years.

I hope the convention will do something that will bring about a general agreement as to the treatment of apprentices. In Philadelphia we have taken that question up, and it looks now as though we would draw up an agreement to bind ourselves to give the boy employment for a stated term of, say, four years, and at the end of that time we perhaps would give him a bonus. We are inclined to think that the boy should have some object to work for and at the end of his time there will be a bonus given to him for his proficiency.

"This is a golden opportunity for this association to put itself on record and do

something that will break up the pernicious system that is restricting the proper education of the boy, a practice that is absolutely un-American and almost uncivilized. Where are you going to get your men from ten years hence? I will tell you

that in the last ten years the demand for sheet metal work has doubled, and I am not going far astray when I say that in the next twelve years it will double itself again, and where are your workmen going to come from?

machine is so perfected that the intelligence necessary to operate it is reduced to a minimum.

However much we may inveigh against this system as regards its narrowing or benumbing effect on the individual workman, we must recognize its economic value in production, and therefore this system of specialization will undoubtedly continue.

"I trust that before we adjourn some definite action will be taken looking toward the training of apprentices in this country. We are not turning out first-class mechanics, we are turning out first-class botches and inefficient men, and if in ten years we do not have the men we need we will simply reap what we sowed. The fault is not altogether that of the labor union; the fault also lies with us."

It might seem, in view of this high specialization, that the all-round workman is doomed. But this is not so. A recent inquiry was made of a number of large manufacturing machinists relative to the effect of specialization on trade training and it was the unanimous opinion that beginners from sixteen to twenty years should not specialize narrowly in learning the mechanical process, provided their education and ambition qualify them for more general training. It was further affirmed that a certain number of all-round workmen, variously estimated from ten to fifty per cent of the whole number employed, are needed even in those industries where specialization has been carried to the extreme, and that the demand for men broadly trained and having large industrial intelligence is increasing.

THE VALUE OF APPRENTICESHIP

AN apprenticeship indenture is simply an

agreement between two persons to perform certain acts which are of mutual advantage. Printing, in common with other trades, is feeling the need of such an agreement as a basis of trade training, and the North End Union School of Printing deems that an apprenticeship indenture is essential to its success. It is believed that this principle is quite as essential to other trade schools wherein the shop supplements in any large measure the school training. Why is an indenture necessary, or even desirable?

The problem of trade training is made all the more complex by the system of specialization which obtains in every trade to a greater or less extent. This system, by which the processes of manufacturing are divided into parts, each part being done by different workmen, is developing as rapidly as new inventions and methods can be discovered. The time required to learn a single process is much less than is needed to learn several, and the learner becomes a productive unit just that much sooner. It is an economic achievement in manufacturing whenever a new device eliminates a pair of hands, or a

One large manufacturer of machine tools says: "As from year to year machinery grows more perfect, more automatic machinery is introduced, and greater specialization in certain lines is necessary, the demand for particularly trained workmen, according to our experience, will, if anything, be greater than it is now."

Thus it will be seen that under the most modern methods of production a certain number of broadly trained, all-round workmen are needed.

It takes time and opportunity to develop this superior industrial intelligence, and if any large part of this training is to be given in the shop, it is essential that the time and opportunity be assured. An indenture gives this assurance more surely than any other method.

The National Metal Trades Association has unhesitatingly declared that, "A proper apprenticeship system is essential to the

education and perpetuation of skilled mechanics." Other persons, collectively and individually, with intimate knowledge of industrial affairs, have affirmed the same conclusion.

AN INDENTURE GUARANTEES TO THE BOY:

(1) An opportunity to learn his trade
as a whole.

(2) A fixed wage and a steady in

crease.

(3) More rapid advancement in trade
training.

AN INDENTURE GUARANTEES TO THE EM

PLOYER:

(1) Continuous service of the boy
during a definite time.

(2) A better grade of boy. An em-
ployer will not enter into a contract
covering several years with a boy
whom he does not select with care.
(3) More faithful service. By such
an agreement the boy realizes that
his interests are bound up with his
employer's, and that his advancement
depends upon how he improves his
opportunity.

In a word, the employer wants a number of all-round workmen, not specialists alone, and he is willing to furnish the opportunity for the necessary training, provided he can be assured the boys will stay a definite time; on the other hand, bright, ambitious boys are willing to give the time necessary to learn a trade thoroughly, provided they can be assured that the opportunity will be given them.

An apprenticeship indenture guarantees both parties a faithful performance of this mutual service.

TECHNICAL education has already

THE SCHOOL OF PRINTING was established in January, 1900, by the North End Union, under the supervision of a number of leading master printers of Boston. It has had to demonstrate its purpose in practical results, and is gradually being recognized by those who realize the important need in the trade of such a method of technical instruction.

The aim of the School is to give fundamental and general instruction in printing-office work, and to offer young men, through a system of indentured apprenticeship, an opportunity to learn the things which are becoming each year more and more difficult for the apprentice to obtain in the restricted and specialized conditions of the modern workshop.

The course of study embraces book, commercial, and advertising composition, and platen presswork. The School is supplied with hand and job presses, roman and display types of various styles, and the usual furniture and material of a modern printing office.

The School is continuous and pupils may enter at any time. The hours are identical with those of a regular workshop, from 7.40 A.M. to 5.45 P.M., excepting Saturday afternoon.

The tuition fee for one year is $100. Applicants must be sixteen years of age or over.

Further information may be obtained by addressing SAMUEL F. HUBBARD, 20 Parmenter Street, Boston.

THE APPRENTICESHIP BULLETIN is intended to be issued each month in the year, except July and August. Price 25 cents for the ten numbers. The composition and presswork are done by the apprentices in the School.

No. 1. THE PRINTER'S TYPES.

A brief description of their mechanical features, com-
position, sizes, etc. 24 pp.

No. 2. THE COMPOSITOR'S WORK.
A leaflet for beginners. 20 pp.

No. 3. USE OF ITALIC.

Hints about the common uses of italic in combination with roman. 15 pp.

No. 4. DIVISION OF WORDS.

Contains many general directions and rules, with examples. 12 pp.

No. 5. QUOTE-MARKS.

An epitome of general rules and customary usages, with examples of their use. 12 pp.

Giving many general rules for capitalizing, as well as spacing and leading. 19 pp.

"John," said the printer's wife, as he came home with a black eye, a cut nose, and a bandaged jaw, "where on earth did you get that display head?”

When to use them and when to spell in full, with list of common forms. 26 pp.

No. 9. MODERN METHODS OF PRINTING.

A brief description of the relief, intaglio and planesurface printing processes. 22 pp.

Address, THE SCHOOL OF PRINTING, NORTH END UNION, PARMENTER STREET, BOSTON.

The Exhibit of the School of
Printing

[From the Boston Transcript, April 9, 1907]

HOW young persons seriously intending

to learn the printer's art may become proficient under conditions removed from the care, worries and commercial perplexities which beset the average printing office, is well set forth at the Exhibit of Industrial Conditions now being held at Horticultural Hall. The special department wherein this work is shown is section 5, in the main hall, and it embodies the results accomplished at the School of Printing which is carried on at the North End Union. As the employing printers of Boston have an oversight over the school-in fact, it is carried on directly by them-it becomes practical from the start.

One first is attracted by a large photograph of the school at work, and it is well to observe this first, for then the visitor forms some idea of the type of youth who have done the various kinds of printing which are seen on the burlap-covered walls of the improvised hollow square that holds the exhibit.

The exhibit consists of booklets, book covers, illuminated mottos, bill heads, business cards, specimen book pages and examples of lettering and coloring, all of which enter intimately into high-class printing. One feature is a comparison exhibit of a piece of work done by an amateur "genius" and one by a pupil under instruction. In this case the illustrative piece happens to be a business card, the setting up and the type used in the one case being crude and inharmonious, the other neat, artistic and well displayed. As an exhibit it is small but it serves its purpose to show the wrong and right way of doing something adequately enough. Not a feature of the typographical art is overlooked in the school which so thoroughly embodies theoretical

Number 5

and practical. This is especially to be noticed in display practice and in the series of technical leaflets.

The Exhibit at Horti

cultural Hall

From the Editor of the

School Arts Book

The school was started as an evening class in 1900 under the supervision of a board of several leading master printers of the city. The school met with so much favor that it was decided to open a day school, which should follow shop practices, the working time of the school to be the same as that of the shop-that is, nine hours a day for twelve months. The school, which gives a boy four years' apprenticeship (one year in the school and three years in the workshop), aims to acquaint him with the practice and usage of the customary working tools of a printing office, so that he may do his work with facility; also to inculcate efficient and workmanlike methods, careful habits, intelligent planning and enthusiasm for the work; to broaden his field of observation and to cultivate an appreciation of the possibilities of his craft.

I want especially to congratulate you upon the recent exhibit made by the School of Printing at Horticultural Hall. It not only contained excellent work, arranged most successfully, from a pedagogical point of view; but it was hung attractively. In arrangement and in color it was excellent. The next great development in the art of printing is to take place in this country, and is to be in the direction of a wider and more effective use of color. I believe that the Schoolof Printing,small as it is, is a leader in this direction. Cordially yours, HENRY T. BAILEY,

The course of instruction embraces book, job and advertising composition and platen press work. The instructor at the school is A. A. Stewart, and, besides the board of supervisors, there is an apprenticeship committee of five which keeps in intimate touch with the progress and development of each pupil.

The exhibit seen at Horticultural Hall is in every way creditable, both with regard to the selection of material and the manner of its display.