Show r CAREER A TINSMITH ITH DISCUSSES THE opportunities OF HIS TRADE A practical talk talfe that T h at should In terest thoughtful ful pare n t s what a 6 coy y MB ay expect lu in work a anil nd wages details deballi ol of the apprenticeship At ala matthew ethew barr is ia the walking delegate of the tin and sheet iron workers union and worked for many years as a tinsmith in a shop ind and in business foi himself the tinsmith trade said mr banto ban barr to a reporter is ia split into several branches and to be able to do all al kinds of work in tin and sheet iron requires bousi considerable demable ti time 6 spent in each department sheet iron work as it is understood in this city is carried on m I 1 j what are known as furnace s shops while the manufacture of tin goods it restricted to what are called assortment ass shops apart from these there are thi th cornice col nice makers and slate and meta roofers which are included amon among th branches that tinsmiths must know ow tc round out their L knowledge ge the best ago age for a boy to begin tinsmith trade is about sixteen ha H ought to have picked up sufficient t education from tha common schools at this age to give him a fair sta rt in life ne nc b boy oy is ia bound out as an apprentice to t tinsmith in this country but beginners begin nere are not looked upon hs as full fledged journeymen until they reach the age ol 01 manhood no matter how proficient they abe may bp be in some shops a boy has ve very ry little show because there is ia a system 01 ol employment which practically elc exclude ludes him this isabe is th e result of a surplus of lab laboi 01 in other countries tinsmiths land hert here from other lands with but little knowledge of what the trade requires here but with a general knowledge of the business and the use of tools they apply for work dvork in shops and they are takee on in preference to the native born boys who desire to learn the trade these foreign mechanics can learn than a boy generally genera lly and while they arfi are hired for low wages they in a short time are able to do almost as much work as an expert tinsmith this system it ii against the american boy but so long lona as there is money in it for the bosses ii will be kept up this trade is ia not such a labori om out one that it requires an unusual amount of strength A tinsmith need not be as strong as aa a carpenter blacksmith oi 01 bricklayer but he must have plenty ol of endurance eudIn rance ho ought to be versatile intellectually because he is not a mere machine but is often required to make entirely new things which can only be done with a fair degree of inventive skill besides an expert knowledge of the use of tr la 13 ils A boy will never become a good tinsmith if he is not obedient and patient ho he will have to do so some me simple thing over so many times that life will become very weary in the before hs is set to work upon something that appears to be important to him in the assortment shops a boy will first be ba taught how to use tho the shears ile he will be ba given a lot or old scraps to cut up and before his muscles get used to the movement he will t tink think ink that his arm ana r P ol og olha ha wilu it w W t thra I 1 r la V A ao 0 t th I 1 ar t pu 1 y ant 4 ho 0 b boy oy caresa na 1 T auti 11 ener tools handily Y I 1 in m a aj few days he will wili probably rem remind ind id him bim that he be has made a mistake distl o in i m hi hia 18 calling some boys are put at this and a nd other trades by their parents who would make good clerks and salesmen but never will bo be good mechanics to accustom the boy to the use of the mallet mallat and hammer he be is kept straightening old pipe when he knows a littlon about tools ind and shows the proper spirit in doing his work he be is sent to the jour ney noy mans bench to hold things for him and in this way gets an idea of the use of tools he may be kept at this for a long time and this is tb period that will test his patience icib always a red letter day for fortha the beler beginner when the foreman gives him a piece of metal and tells him to make a drinking cup he has seen it done many times but when he cornea comes to cutting out ont the tin and getting it into shape his fingers seem to be all thumbs he wants to make a good cup cap but his anxiety will knock it out of shape when it is all brightly polished polis lied it is taken to the foreman for inspection nine times out of ten the beginner is told to take it home as a memento he feels very happy but he would no not think so much of his hia work if he knew that the real reason that it was not aken by the foreman was the that it could not be sold ITI the e boy will soon find this ont out when the foreman keeps him making cups until he gets a perfect one from a cup he goes to other things of minar importance which ho is kept at until he be gradually acquires skid skia it depends upon the abo boy himself how much time ho bo bijl aiji before he becomes an wert expert if he is civil and obliging the journeymen will teach him pattern dra drawing and in th this 5 way the boy will learn how to block out thi the models of every I 1 kind ind of work and cut out patterns for himself during tho the last thirty years there havo have been many changes in tho the tinsmiths trade machinery has taken the place of hand labor in the manufacture of nearly all utensils u ken sils but this has made no change in the tinsmiths condition organized labor has protected the workman the principal ina machines chines in the assortment sort ment shops are presses giving the general gener at outlines outline of manufactured manufacture d goods lud ind lathes which are used to perfect tho the lines of spinning an important fact in tile the trade is the wheeling machine chic gives the bright polish and puts puta on the finishing touches the polishing used ased to be dono done by hammers on an anvil 11 1 but the wheeling machine ca can 11 do better and moro more work during the tha five years that a boy ought to spend in learning this trade he ought to become 1 acome expert in tie use iise of all the machi machinery il ery if he be has had bad tho proper instruction A boy will le leun ferrn un the better in m a shop than in a trade school 11 newyork recorder |