Show Ii F t i TRADES AND WORKMEN 1 i 1 = 3 t 1 i 1i Mr Steinway the head of the rt I < i r great piano manufacturing firm r 1 iI was before Senator Blair committee 1 if commit-tee on education and labor the t j other day and among other things a 1 1ll 1 11 l said that in proportion to population J popula-tion there are more young men in J1 the United States without trades f1 i 1 than in any other country and her he-r l 1 b i4 j suggested that a good apprentice I ti system needed Mr Steinway Is t I t correct in both these opinions The I f demand for labor has been so much i iai II I 1 Z greater in this country than in the f old worid and wages so much z higher that the incentive to learn 1 I trades has not been so great as elsewhere r I else-where nor so general As a consequence 1 r I 1 f L conse-quence the trades are filled with t pretended journeymen who draw s i i i journeymens paybut do not half I understand their business A boy 1 1 1 spends year or two as an apprentice if appren-tice learns some of the rudiments w r = r of the trade and then thinks he is J qualified to start out as a journeyman hi journey-man The result Is bad work which q r i is always expensive Customers 41 I are not the only sufferers from this I J4 condition of things for employers y r also are put to trouble and expense j 11H A good apprentice system requiring r longer and more thorough training I I 11 will remedy the two evils of unskilled f tl un-skilled workmen and idle mechanics 1 It is questionable however if legislation 1 + i legis-lation can do anything in the premises I pre-mises further than provide the i requisite laws for young men who f i are inclined to learn trades An apprentice law cannot compel boys f l to designate their occupations in 1 j life but after making the selection S 4r 1 r it could holds them until they became s be-came competent through long and i thorough training While labor is i in such demand the halftrained f will command good wages for their fr r clumsy services and we will suffer from incompetent workmen As the population increases and labor A becomes more plentiful customers can choose their mechanics when 1 t there will be an incentive to learn trades thoroughly for only first 28 e t class workmen will get firstclass 1 k pay |