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diff --git a/16964-8.txt b/16964-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59470a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/16964-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6005 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wage Earning and Education, by R. R. Lutz + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wage Earning and Education + +Author: R. R. Lutz + +Release Date: October 30, 2005 [EBook #16964] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WAGE EARNING AND EDUCATION *** + + + + +Produced by Stan Goodman, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: Some very obvious typos | + | were corrected in this text. For a list please | + | see the bottom of the document. | + +------------------------------------------------+ + + +WAGE EARNING AND EDUCATION + +THE SURVEY COMMITTEE OF THE +CLEVELAND FOUNDATION + +Charles E. Adams, Chairman +Thomas G. Fitzsimons +Myrta L. Jones +Bascom Little +Victor W. Sincere + +Arthur D. Baldwin, Secretary +James R. Garfield, Counsel +Allen T. Burns, Director + +THE EDUCATION SURVEY + +Leonard P. Ayres, Director + +CLEVELAND EDUCATION SURVEY + + + + +WAGE EARNING AND +EDUCATION + +BY +R.R. LUTZ + +THE SURVEY COMMITTEE OF THE +CLEVELAND FOUNDATION +CLEVELAND · OHIO + +1916 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY +THE SURVEY COMMITTEE OF THE +CLEVELAND FOUNDATION + + +WM. F. FELL CO. PRINTERS +PHILADELPHIA + + + + +FOREWORD + + +This summary volume, entitled "Wage Earning and Education," is one of +the 25 sections of the report of the Education Survey of Cleveland +conducted by the Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation in 1915 +and 1916. Copies of all the publications may be obtained from the +Cleveland Foundation. They may also be obtained from the Division of +Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York City. A complete +list will be found in the back of this volume, together with prices. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + PAGE +Foreword 5 +List of Tables 10 +List of Diagrams 12 + +CHAPTER + I. THE INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION SURVEY 13 + Types of occupations studied 13 + The Survey staff and methods of work 14 + + II. FORECASTING FUTURE PROBABILITIES 18 + The popular concept of industrial education 19 + The importance of relative numbers 20 + A constructive program must fit the facts 23 + An actuarial basis for industrial education 24 + + III. THE WAGE EARNERS OF CLEVELAND 25 + + IV. THE FUTURE WAGE EARNERS OF CLEVELAND 29 + The public schools 29 + Ages of pupils 32 + Education at the time of leaving school 34 + + V. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FOR BOYS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 38 + What the boys in school will do 40 + Organization and costs 44 + What the elementary schools can do 45 + + VI. THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 47 + Specialized training not practicable 48 + A general industrial course 49 + Industrial mathematics 52 + Mechanical Drawing 54 + Industrial science 55 + Shop work 56 + Vocational information 58 + + VII. TRADE TRAINING DURING THE LAST YEARS IN SCHOOL 60 + The technical high schools 62 + A two-year trade course 66 + + VIII. TRADE-PREPARATORY AND TRADE-EXTENSION TRAINING + FOR BOYS AND MEN AT WORK 69 + Continuation training from 15 to 18 74 + The technical night schools 76 + A combined program of continuation and trade-extension + training 80 + + IX. VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR GIRLS 83 + Differentiation in the junior high school 86 + Specialized training for the sewing trades 88 + Other occupations 90 + + X. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 92 + The work of the vocational counselor 92 + The Girls' Vocation Bureau 94 + + XI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 97 + + +SUMMARIES OF SPECIAL REPORTS + + XII. BOYS AND GIRLS IN COMMERCIAL WORK 101 + A general view of commercial work 106 + Bookkeeping 108 + Stenography 108 + Clerks' positions 109 + Wages and regularity of employment 110 + The problem of training 111 + + XIII. DEPARTMENT STORE OCCUPATIONS 115 + Department stores 115 + Neighborhood stores 116 + Five and ten cent stores 117 + Wages 118 + Regularity of employment 122 + Opportunities for advancement 123 + The problem of training 124 + Character of the instruction 129 + + XIV. THE GARMENT TRADES 131 + Characteristics of the working force 132 + Earnings 135 + Regularity of employment 139 + Training and promotion 140 + Educational needs 143 + Sewing courses in the public schools 145 + Elective sewing courses in the junior high school 147 + A one year trade course for girls 148 + Trade extension training 149 + + XV. DRESSMAKING AND MILLINERY 151 + Dressmaking 151 + Millinery 153 + The problem of training 156 + + XVI. THE METAL TRADES 158 + Foundry and machine shop products 159 + Automobile manufacturing 169 + Steel works, rolling mills, and related industries 170 + + XVII. THE BUILDING TRADES 173 + Sources of labor supply 173 + Apprenticeship 174 + Union organization 176 + Earnings 176 + Hours 178 + Regularity of employment 179 + Health conditions 179 + Opportunities for advancement 180 + The problem of training 181 + +XVIII. RAILROAD AND STREET TRANSPORTATION 187 + Railroad transportation 187 + Motor and wagon transportation 192 + Street railroad transportation 193 + + XIX. THE PRINTING TRADES 195 + The composing room 198 + The pressroom 201 + The bindery 203 + Other occupations 204 + The problem of training 206 + + + + +LIST OF TABLES + + +TABLE PAGE + 1. Occupational distribution of the working population + of Cleveland 26 + + 2. Nativity of the working population in Cleveland 27 + + 3. Pupils enrolled in the different grades of the public + day schools in June, 1915 30 + + 4. Enrollment of high school pupils, second semester, + 1914-15 31 + + 5. Ages of pupils enrolled in public elementary, high, + and normal schools in June, 1915 33 + + 6. Educational equipment of the children who drop out + of the public schools each year, as indicated by + the grades from which they leave 35 + + 7. Per cent of total male working population engaged in + specified occupations, 1900 and 1910 40 + + 8. Distribution of native born men between the ages of + 21 and 45 in the principal occupational groups 41 + + 9. Distribution of third and fourth year students in + trade courses in the Cleveland technical high + schools, first semester, 1915-16 63 + +10. Distribution by occupations of Cleveland's technical + school graduates 64 + +11. Time allotment in the apprentice course given by the + Warner and Swasey Company, Cleveland 70 + +12. Course and number enrolled in the technical night + schools, January, 1915 77 + +13. Per cent of total population engaged in gainful + occupations during three different age periods 84 + +14. Number employed in the principal wage earning + occupations among each 1,000 women from 16 to 21 + years of age 85 + +15. Per cent of women employees over 18 years of age + earning $12 a week and over 120 + +16. Wages for full-time working week, women's clothing, + Cleveland, 1915 139 + +17. Average wages for full-time working week for similar + workers, in men's and women's clothing, Cleveland, + 1915 139 + +18. Proportions and estimated numbers employed in machine + tool occupations, 1915 161 + +19. Average, highest, and lowest earnings, in cents per + hour, and per cent employed on piece work and day + work, 1915 162 + +20. Estimated time required to learn machine tool work 164 + +21. Average earnings per hour in pattern making, molding, + core making, blacksmithing, and boiler making 166 + +22. Estimated number of men engaged in building trades, + 1915 174 + +23. Union regulations as to entering age of apprentice 175 + +24. Union regulations as to length of apprenticeship + period 175 + +25. Union scale of wages in cents per hour, May 1, 1915 177 + +26. Usual weekly wages of apprentices in three building + trades 178 + +27. Average daily earnings of job and newspaper composing + room workers, 1915 199 + +28. Average daily earnings of pressroom workers, 1915 202 + +29. Average daily earnings of bindery workers, 1915 203 + +30. Average daily earnings in photoengraving, stereotyping, + electrotyping, and lithographing occupations, 1915 205 + + + + +LIST OF DIAGRAMS + + +DIAGRAM PAGE + 1. Boys and girls under 18 years of age in office work 103 + + 2. Men and women 18 years of age and over in clerical + and administrative work in offices 104 + + 3. Per cent of women earning each class of weekly wages + in each of six occupations 119 + + 4. Per cent of salesmen and of men clerical workers in + stores, receiving each class of weekly wage 121 + + 5. Per cent of male workers in non-clerical positions in + six industries earning $18 per week and over 122 + + 6. Per cent that the average number of women employed + during the year is of the highest number employed + in each of six industries 123 + + 7. Distribution of 8,337 clothing workers by sex in the + principal occupations in the garment industry 134 + + 8. Percentage of women in men's and women's clothing and + seven other important women employing industries + receiving under $8, $8 to $12, and $12 and over + per week 136 + + 9. Percentage of men in men's and women's clothing and + seven other manufacturing industries receiving + under $18, $18 to $25, and $25 and over per week 138 + +10. Average number of unemployed among each 100 workers, + men's clothing, women's clothing, and fifteen + other specified industries 141 + +11. Percentages of unemployment in each of nine building + industries 180 + +12. Number of men in each 100 in printing and five other + industries earning each class of weekly wage 196 + +13. Number of women in each 100 in printing and six other + industries earning each class of weekly wage 198 + + + + +WAGE EARNING AND EDUCATION + + +CHAPTER I + +THE INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION SURVEY + + +The education survey of Cleveland was undertaken in April, 1915, at +the invitation of the Cleveland Board of Education and the Survey +Committee of the Cleveland Foundation, and continued until June, 1916. +As a part of the work detailed studies were made of the leading +industries of the city for the purpose of determining what measures +should be taken by the public school system to prepare young people +for wage-earning occupations and to provide supplementary trade +instruction for those already in employment. The studies also dealt +with all forms of vocational education conducted at that time under +public school auspices. + + +TYPES OF OCCUPATIONS STUDIED + +Separate studies were made of the metal industry, building and +construction, printing and publishing, railroad and street +transportation, clothing manufacture, department store work, and +clerical occupations. The wage-earners in these fields of employment +constitute nearly 60 per cent of the total number of persons engaged +in gainful occupations and include 95 per cent of the skilled workmen +in the city. The survey also gave considerable attention to the +various types of semi-skilled work found in the principal industries. + +Each separate study was assigned to a particular member of the Survey +Staff who personally carried on the field investigations and later +submitted a report to the director of the survey. Each report was also +subjected to careful analysis and criticism from other members of the +Survey Staff before it was finally passed upon by the Survey +Committee. Mimeographed copies were sent to representatives of the +industry and to the superintendent of schools and members of the +school board and their criticisms and suggestions were given careful +consideration before the Committee and the director of the survey gave +their final approval to the publication of the report. The value of +the work was greatly enhanced through the ample discussion of the +different studies from widely diverse points of view secured in this +way. The industrial studies were carried through under the direction +of the author of this summary volume. + + +THE SURVEY STAFF AND METHODS OF WORK + +The reports of the studies relating to vocational education were +published in a series of eight separate monograph volumes. The names +of the reports and the previous experience in educational and +investigational work of each member of the Survey Staff are as +follows: + + "Boys and Girls in Commercial Work"--Bertha M. Stevens; teacher + in elementary and secondary schools; agent of Associated + Charities; secretary of Consumers' League of Ohio; director of + Girls' Bureau of Cleveland; author of "Women's Work in + Cleveland"; co-author of "Commercial Work and Training for + Girls." + + "Department Store Occupations"--Iris P. O'Leary; head of manual + training department, First Pennsylvania Normal School; head of + vocational work for girls and women, New Bedford Industrial + School; head of girls' department, Boardman Apprentice Shops, New + Haven, Conn.; special investigator of department stores for New + York State Factory Investigating Commission; three years' trade + experience as employer and employee; author of books on household + arts and department stores; Special Assistant for Vocational + Education, State Department of Public Instruction, New Jersey. + + "The Garment Trades" and "Dressmaking and Millinery"--Edna Bryner; + teacher in grades, high school, and state normal college; eugenic + research worker New Jersey State Hospital; statistical expert in + United States Bureau of Labor Investigation of women and child + labor; statistical agent United States Post Office Department; + Special Agent Russell Sage Foundation. + + "The Building Trades," and "The Printing Trades"--Frank L. Shaw; + teacher in grades and high school; principal of high school; + assistant superintendent of schools; superintendent of schools; + special agent United States Immigration Commission; special agent + United States Census; industrial secretary North American Civic + League for Immigrants; author of reports on immigration + legislation. + + "The Metal Trades"--R.R. Lutz; teacher in rural and graded + schools; superintendent of schools; secretary of Department of + Education of Porto Rico; took part in school surveys of Greenwich, + Conn., Bridgeport, Conn., Springfield, Ill., Richmond, Va.; + Special Agent Division of Education, Russell Sage Foundation. + + "Railroad and Street Transportation"--Ralph D. Fleming; special + agent and investigator for United States Immigration Commission, + the Federal Census of Manufacturers, the United States Tariff + Board, the Minimum Wage Commission of Massachusetts, the National + Civic Federation, and the United States Commission on Industrial + Relations. + +The work began in April, 1915, and ended in the same month of the +following year. Two members of the staff, with one stenographer and a +clerk, were employed during the entire period. One member of the staff +was employed 11 months, one nine months, one approximately five +months, and one two months. + +The field investigations consisted largely of visits to industrial +establishments for the purpose of securing first-hand information as +to industrial conditions and the nature and educational content of +particular occupations. Over 400 visits of this kind were made by +members of the Survey Staff. Many conferences were held with employers +and employees with the object of securing their views as to the needs +and possibilities of industrial training. + +The task of tabulating and classifying the data obtained by the +individual investigators in their visits to the local industrial +establishments involved much time and labor. Although it was not found +practicable to maintain complete uniformity in the different +inquiries, the members of the staff kept in close touch with each +other, so that with respect to the points of principal importance, the +results of their investigations are comparable. Practically every +recommendation made in the reports was discussed in conferences with +school principals and with other members of the teaching force engaged +in the teaching of vocational subjects. + +Throughout the survey the objective held constantly in mind was the +formulation of a constructive program of vocational training in the +public schools. In outlining the field of inquiry a clear distinction +was drawn between those kinds of general education which have a more +or less indirect vocational significance, and vocational training for +specific occupations in which the controlling purpose is direct +preparation for wage-earning. The studies were purposely limited to +this latter type of vocational training. The survey did not concern +itself with manual training conducted for general educational ends, +with the art work of the schools, or with courses in domestic science +and household arts. These subjects in the curriculum were dealt with +in different sections of the education survey, but were considered as +being outside the legitimate field of the vocational survey. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FORECASTING FUTURE PROBABILITIES + + +The industrial education survey of Cleveland differs from other +studies conducted elsewhere in that it bases its educational program +on a careful study of the probable future occupational distribution of +the young people now in school. It does not claim to foretell the +specific positions that individual boys and girls will hold when they +are adults but it does claim very definitely that our safest guide in +foretelling their future vocational distribution is to be found in the +official figures of the present occupational census of the city. + +One of the most familiar and time-worn platitudes of educational +speakers and writers is that "The children of today are the citizens +of tomorrow." In the field of industrial education it is quite as true +that the school children of today are the workers of tomorrow. +Moreover, since occupational distributions change but slowly even in +these modern times, it is unquestionably true that the boys and girls +now studying in the public schools will soon be scattered among the +different gainful occupations of Cleveland's industrial, commercial, +and professional life in just about the same proportions as their +fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters are now distributed. + +The plan of the survey in advocating types of present preparation +based on studies of future prospects seems at first sight so obvious a +mode of procedure as hardly to warrant extended explanation. This is +far from being the case. The reader who proposes to follow the +working-out of the principle and to scrutinize the evidence underlying +it must be prepared to scan many a detailed table of statistics and to +arrive at most unforeseen conclusions. + + +THE POPULAR CONCEPT OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION + +For many years past the public has given respectful attention to the +arguments of the champions of industrial education. There has been +general assent to the proposition that the schools should train for +and not away from the industrial age in which we live. We have come to +think of the carpenter shop, the machine shop, the forge shop, and the +cooking room as necessary and desirable adjuncts of the modern school +and to our minds these shops have typified industrial education. All +of these have come to be almost synonymous with progressive thought +and action in public education. Very generally it has been felt that +the problems of industrial education were to be solved through the +wider extension of these shop facilities in our public schools. + +When these familiar generalizations are submitted to careful analysis +their whole structure begins to totter. In Cleveland about 3,700 boys +leave school each year and go to work. They represent various stages +of advancement from the 4th grade of the elementary school to the 4th +year of the high school. They are scattered through more than 100 +school buildings. The problem of industrial education is to give these +boys with their differing ages, their widely varied school +preparation, and their scattered geographical distribution, the best +possible preparation for taking their places in the work-a-day world. +They represent every grade of intelligence, every stratum of social +and economic life, and it is extremely difficult to bring them +together for instructional purposes. They are scattered in little +groups through more than a thousand classrooms. + + +THE IMPORTANCE OF RELATIVE NUMBERS + +Now it is possible to foretell with some certainty what these young +people will be doing a few years from now. Almost all of them are of +American birth and it is certain that in a few years they will be +engaged in doing just about the same sorts of work as are now done in +the city of Cleveland by adults of American birth. The data of the +United States Census of Occupations show us that among every 100 +American born men in Cleveland there are eight who are clerks, seven +who are machinists, four who are salesmen, and so on through the list +of hundreds of occupations. The number of American born men in each +100 engaged in each of the 10 leading sorts of occupations is +approximately as follows: + + Clerks 8 + Machinists 7 + Salesmen 4 + Laborers and porters 4 + Retail dealers 4 + Draymen, teamsters, etc. 4 + Bookkeepers 3 + Carpenters 3 + Commercial travelers 2 + Manufacturers 2 + ---- + 41 + +This simple list at once calls into question all the standard +assumptions about the extension of industrial education depending on +greatly increasing the number of carpenter shops and machine shops in +the public schools. The figures show that among each 100 American born +men in Cleveland only seven are machinists and only three are +carpenters. Clearly we should not be justified in training all the +boys in our public schools to enter the machinist's trade or the +carpenter's trade when nine out of each 10 will in all probability +engage in entirely different sorts of future work. The more the +figures of the little table given above are studied, the clearer it +appears that our conventional ideas about industrial education need +critical scrutiny and careful challenge. These 10 leading occupations +include only 41 out of each 100 American born men. Moreover, more than +half of these 41 are engaged in mental work rather than in manual +work. + +From these considerations one definite conclusion inevitably emerges. +It is that the safest guide for thinking and planning for industrial +education is to be found in a study of the occupational distribution +of the present adults. From the very outset such a study indicates +that the most difficult and important problems which must be met and +coped with are not those relating to methods of instruction but rather +those of organization and administration. The future carpenters and +machinists cannot be taught until we can get them together in fair +sized classes. They represent the most numerous of the industrial +groups and yet their numbers are relatively so few that the average +Cleveland school sends out into the world each year only two or three +future machinists and perhaps one future carpenter. + +The trouble with present thinking about this matter has been that we +have noted the very large numbers of machinists and carpenters in the +population and have failed to realize that while these groups are +numerous in the aggregate they are after all quite small when +relatively considered and compared with the total number of workers. + +Another important fact that has been almost invariably overlooked is +that many of the present carpenters and machinists are foreigners by +birth and that there is every prospect that this same condition will +maintain in the future. Hence these trades and most other industrial +occupations are not recruited from our public schools to anything like +the degree that has been assumed. + + +A CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAM MUST FIT THE FACTS + +The simple principle which underlies the method employed by the survey +is the same on which all large business undertakings are conducted. +The results of its application in the field of industrial education +are, however, fundamentally different from those commonly arrived at +on the assumption that nine-tenths of the rising generation will earn +their living in industrial pursuits. The fact is that no such +proportion of the children in school will become industrial workers. +All the native born labor now employed in manufacturing and mechanical +industries constitutes only 44 per cent of the total number of native +born workers in the city. Moreover, nearly half of the industrial +workers are employed in unskilled and semi-skilled occupations for +which no training is required beyond a few days' or weeks' practice on +the job. Such training calls for a mechanical equipment far more +extensive than the resources of the school system can provide, and can +be given by the factory more effectively and much more cheaply than by +the schools. + +In the final analysis, the problem of industrial training narrows down +to the skilled industrial trades. Approximately 22 per cent of the +total number of American workers in the city are employed in skilled +manual occupations. This does not mean that a constructive program of +industrial education would affect 22 per cent of the present school +enrollment. All the weight of educational opinion and experience is on +the side of excluding the children of the lower and middle age groups +as too young to profit by any sort of industrial training, while the +evidence collected by the survey goes to show that of the remainder +less than one-fifth of the girls and one-fourth of the boys are likely +to become skilled industrial workers. + + +AN ACTUARIAL BASIS FOR INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION + +Considerations like the foregoing have determined the fundamental +method of the Cleveland Industrial Survey. Plans for the present +generation have been formulated on the basis of future prospects as +foretold by state and federal census data. The methods used were +characterized by a member of the Cleveland Foundation Survey Committee +as "the actuarial basis of vocational education." This is accurately +descriptive, because the method of forecasting the number of men the +community will need for each wage-earning occupation closely resembles +that employed by life insurance actuaries in foretelling how long men +of different ages are likely to live. Such methods are similar to +those commonly used in commerce and industry. They deal with mass data +rather than with individual figures, and with relative values rather +than with absolute ones. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE WAGE EARNERS OF CLEVELAND + + +In 1910 Cleveland ranked sixth among the cities of the United States +as to number of inhabitants, with a population of approximately +561,000. The city is growing rapidly. From 1900 to 1910 the increase +in the total number of inhabitants was over 46 per cent. The Census +Bureau estimate of the population in 1914 is approximately 639,000. + +Of the 10 largest cities in the country only one--Detroit--had in 1910 +a greater proportion of its wage earners engaged in industrial +employment than Cleveland. Relatively Cleveland has one and one-fourth +times as many industrial workers as New York, Chicago, St. Louis, or +Baltimore, and one and two-fifths times as many as Boston. On the +other hand a smaller proportion of the adult workers of the city earn +their living in professional, clerical, and commercial work, or in +domestic and personal service employments than in most large cities. + +Table 1 shows by large occupational groups the distribution in 1910 of +the working population in Cleveland. The classification is that +adopted by the federal census. More than 56 per cent of the male +workers of the city and about 33 per cent of the women workers were +engaged in manufacturing and mechanical occupations. The trade group +ranks next, about 14 per cent of the men and approximately 11 per cent +of the women being engaged in commercial occupations. Of each 100 +women in employment 30 are servants, laundresses, housekeepers, or are +engaged in some other form of personal service, while only five men of +each 100 earn their living in this kind of work. Railroad and street +transportation, with the telegraph and telephone and mail systems of +communication, requires the services of 11 per cent of the male +working population, but uses very few women. About seven per cent of +the men and 15 per cent of the women are employed in clerical work. A +slightly larger ratio of women to men is found in the professional +occupations, due mainly to the large number of women in the teaching +profession. The whole professional group constitutes less than five +per cent of the total working population. + + +TABLE 1.--OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORKING POPULATION OF +CLEVELAND, CENSUS OF OCCUPATIONS, 1910 + +----------------------------------------+---------+--------+--------- +Occupational group | Men | Women | Total +----------------------------------------+---------+--------+--------- +Manufacturing and mechanical industries | 109,644 | 18,201 | 127,845 +Trade | 27,229 | 5,942 | 33,171 +Domestic and personal service | 9,546 | 16,467 | 26,063 +Transportation | 21,530 | 1,110 | 22,640 +Clerical occupations | 14,047 | 8,100 | 22,147 +Professional service | 7,204 | 4,869 | 12,073 +Public service | 3,461 | 39 | 3,500 +Agricultural and extraction of minerals | 1,367 | 80 | 1,447 +----------------------------------------+---------+--------+--------- +Total | 194,078 | 54,808 | 248,886 +----------------------------------------+---------+--------+--------- + +From the standpoint of vocational training one of the most striking +facts about Cleveland wage-earners is that a large majority of them +are not Clevelanders. Almost exactly half of the men in gainful +employment were born outside the United States and, due to the rapid +growth of the city, there has been a considerable influx of workers +from the surrounding country in recent years, so that a large +proportion even of the American working population was born, brought +up, and educated in some other place. The number and per cent of +foreign born, of foreign or mixed parentage but born in this country, +and of native parentage is shown in Table 2. + + +TABLE 2.--NATIVITY OF THE WORKING POPULATION IN CLEVELAND. U.S. +CENSUS, 1910 + +----------------------------+-------------------+----------------- + | Men | Women + +--------+----------+--------+-------- +Nativity | Number | Per cent | Number |Per cent +----------------------------+--------+----------+--------+-------- +Foreign born | 96,291 | 50 | 16,673 | 31 +Foreign or mixed parentage | 55,074 | 28 | 24,275 | 44 +Native parentage | 42,713 | 22 | 13,860 | 25 +----------------------------+--------+----------+--------+-------- +Total |194,078 | 100 | 54,808 | 100 +----------------------------+--------+----------+--------+-------- + +More than three-fourths are foreign or of foreign or mixed parentage. +The proportion of those born in this country of American parentage is +approximately the same for both sexes, but the number of women workers +of mixed parentage is relatively much larger than among the men. +Roughly, of each 10 men employed in gainful occupations, five, and of +each 10 working women, three, were born abroad. + +The large proportion of foreigners in the trades has an important +bearing on the problem of vocational training. Some of the skilled +occupations are monopolized by foreign labor to such an extent that +they offer a very limited field of employment for native workmen. +Cabinet making, tailoring, molding, blacksmithing, baking, and shoe +making, are examples. Some of these trades have practically ceased to +recruit from American labor. This condition has to be constantly borne +in mind in planning training courses to prepare boys for the skilled +trades, because of the marked disparity which often exists between the +size of a trade and the field of opportunity it presents for boys of +native birth. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FUTURE WAGE-EARNERS OF CLEVELAND + + +In 1915 there were in Cleveland approximately 50,000 boys between the +ages of six and 15, and 56,000 girls between the ages of six and 16, +the age period during which school attendance is required by law. Of +these 106,000 children approximately 37,000 boys and 38,000 girls were +enrolled in the public schools. Exact data as to those attending +private and parochial schools are not available. The total enrollment +in such schools has been variously estimated as between 25,000 and +30,000. + + +THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS + +The public school system in 1915 enrolled approximately 82,000 +children of all ages, of whom about half were boys and half girls. +They are taught in 98 elementary schools and 10 high schools. The +elementary course comprises eight grades. At the beginning of the +school year 1915-16 two junior high schools were opened for pupils of +the seventh and eighth grades. It is to be expected that this plan +will soon be extended throughout the city, so that the enrollment in +elementary schools will be made up of pupils of the first six grades +only. The distribution by grade is given in Table 3. The kindergarten +grades and the special ungraded classes are omitted. + + +TABLE 3.--PUPILS ENROLLED IN THE DIFFERENT GRADES OF THE PUBLIC DAY +SCHOOLS IN JUNE, 1915 + +-------------------+-------------------- + Grade | Pupils +-------------------+-------------------- + 1 | 13,108 + 2 | 10,857 + 3 | 10,562 + 4 | 9,323 + 5 | 8,902 + 6 | 7,259 + 7 | 6,429 + 8 | 4,903 + | + I | 3,122 + II | 2,100 + III | 1,534 + IV | 1,399 +-------------------+-------------------- + +About 77 per cent of the children are enrolled in the grades below the +seventh, about 13 per cent in the seventh and eighth grades, a little +over six per cent in the first two years of the high school, and less +than three and one-half per cent in the third and fourth. + +There are eight academic high schools, two technical high schools, and +two commercial high schools. The technical high schools are steadily +growing in favor. The registration of boys in these schools increased +about 33 per cent from 1913 to 1915, and of girls about 77 per cent. +During the same period the registration of boys in the academic high +schools decreased slightly, while the increase of girl students was +only eight per cent; in the commercial high schools the number of +girl students increased 20 per cent, while the enrollment of boys fell +off more than 10 per cent. The enrollment by individual schools is +shown in Table 4. + + +TABLE 4.--ENROLLMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS, SECOND SEMESTER, 1914-1915 + +----------------------------------+-----------------------------+ + | Enrollment | + Schools +---------+---------+---------+ + | Boys | Girls | Total | +----------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+ + | | | | + Academic high schools | | | | + Central | 804 | 711 | 1,515 | + East | 607 | 688 | 1,295 | + Glenville | 405 | 611 | 1,016 | + West | 246 | 377 | 623 | + Lincoln | 277 | 329 | 606 | + South | 213 | 238 | 451 | + | | | | + Total | 2,552 | 2,954 | 5,506 | +----------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+ + | | | | + Technical high schools | | | | + East Technical | 1,161 | 548 | 1,709 | + West Technical | 515 | 242 | 757 | + | | | | + Total | 1,676 | 790 | 2,466 | +----------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+ + | | | | + Commercial high schools | | | | + West Commercial | 249 | 528 | 777 | + East Commercial | 49 | 96 | 145 | + | | | | + Total | 298 | 624 | 922 | +----------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+ + | | | | + All high schools | 4,526 | 4,368 | 8,894 | + | | | | +----------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+ + +About three-eighths of the high school pupils of the city are in the +technical and commercial schools. Of the boys 56 per cent are enrolled +in the academic high schools, 37 per cent in the technical schools, +and seven per cent in the commercial schools. Of the girls 68 per +cent attend the academic high schools, 18 per cent the technical +schools, and 14 per cent the commercial schools. In the commercial +high school approximately two-thirds of the enrollment is made up of +girls. In the technical high schools the opposite condition prevails, +the girls constituting less than one-third of the total enrollment, +while in the academic high schools the girls outnumber the boys by +nearly one-sixth. + + +AGES OF PUPILS + +The distribution as to ages is shown in Table 5. The largest group is +made up of children seven years old. Between 14 and 15 over 30 per +cent leave school. The loss from 16 to 17 is approximately 43 per +cent, from 17 to 18 about 44 per cent, and from 18 to 19 nearly 62 per +cent. + +The compulsory attendance law requires boys to attend school until +they are 15 and girls until they are 16. That the law is not +adequately enforced is demonstrated by the heavy loss between the ages +of 14 and 15, and the fact that the loss between 15 and 16 is +approximately the same for both boys and girls, although girls are +required to attend one year longer than boys. Additional evidence as +to the laxity in the enforcement of the compulsory law is found in the +results of an inquiry conducted by the Consumers' League of Cleveland +in the spring of 1916, in cooperation with the survey. + + +TABLE 5.--AGES OF PUPILS ENROLLED IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY, HIGH, AND +NORMAL SCHOOLS IN JUNE, 1915 + +------------------------------------------------- + Age | Boys | Girls | Total +-------------+-----------+-----------+----------- + 6 | 4,255 | 4,180 | 8,435 + 7 | 5,012 | 4,815 | 9,827 + 8 | 4,496 | 4,407 | 8,903 + 9 | 4,268 | 4,103 | 8,371 + 10 | 4,093 | 3,951 | 8,044 + | | | + 11 | 3,747 | 3,593 | 7,340 + 12 | 3,700 | 3,646 | 7,346 + 13 | 3,676 | 3,631 | 7,307 + 14 | 3,445 | 3,271 | 6,716 + 15 | 2,358 | 2,291 | 4,649 + | | | + 16 | 1,190 | 1,163 | 2,353 + 17 | 672 | 680 | 1,352 + 18 | 403 | 358 | 761 + 19 | 135 | 156 | 291 + 20 | 41 | 52 | 93 + | | | + Over 20 | ... | 22 | 22 +-------------+-----------+-----------+----------- + Total | 41,491 | 40,319 | 81,810 +------------------------------------------------- + +An attempt was made to follow up the cases of all the children who had +left one public elementary school during the period of one year +preceding the study. The work was done by the case method and the +homes of the children were visited. The total number of cases studied +was 117, of whom 89 were girls. It was found that one-third of these +children had graduated and gone on to high school. Another third had +gone to work, and of these, 40 per cent had done so without +graduating. The children constituting the remaining third were staying +at home, and among these a majority had dropped out without +graduating. + +Of the eighth grade graduates one-half were found to be illegally +employed, as they were less than 16 years of age. Among those who +dropped out and went to work before completing the course 80 per cent +were illegally employed. + +The fact that many girls drop out without graduating and before the +end of the legal attendance period and remain at home indicates that +most of them do not leave on account of financial necessity. This +conclusion is substantiated by the testimony of the girls and their +parents, many of whom say that the girls left simply because they grew +tired of attending and did not see the value of remaining. + +These facts point to the necessity for much more effective work in +enforcing the compulsory attendance laws, for far better inspection of +shops and factories to detect violations of the child labor laws, and +above all to such a reform of the schooling opportunities provided for +older girls as will make them and their parents see the value of +securing the advantages of the training provided. + + +EDUCATION AT THE TIME OF LEAVING SCHOOL + +About 3,700 boys and an approximately equal number of girls drop out +of the public schools each year. Most of the boys and a considerable +number of the girls enter wage-earning at once. Their educational +equipment at the time of leaving school is indicated in Table 6. + + +TABLE 6.--EDUCATIONAL EQUIPMENT OF THE CHILDREN WHO DROP OUT OF THE +PUBLIC SCHOOLS EACH YEAR, AS INDICATED BY THE GRADES FROM WHICH THEY +LEAVE + +--------------+--------------------- + Grade | Number leaving +--------------+--------------------- + 4 | 70 + 5 | 440 + 6 | 960 + 7 | 1260 + 8 | 1630 + | + I | 890 + II | 590 + III | 150 + IV | 1410 +--------------+--------------------- + Total | 7400 +--------------+--------------------- + +Slightly less than one-fifth finish the high school course. Nearly +three-fifths drop out before entering the high school, and +approximately three-eighths before reaching the eighth grade. + +Under the present compulsory attendance law a boy who enters school at +the age of six and afterwards advances at the rate of one grade per +year until the end of the compulsory attendance period should cover +nine grades--eight in the elementary school and one in high school--by +the time he is 15 years old. In actual fact, however, only about +two-fifths get any high school training. Nearly all of the rest take +the eight to nine years' attendance required by law to complete eight, +seven, six, or even a smaller number of grades. + +It is from this body of pupils that most of the wage-earners are +recruited. In the course of the survey several investigations were +made for the purpose of finding out what educational preparation +workers in various industries had received. One of the most extensive +of these was conducted in connection with the study of the printing +industry. Educationally the printing trades rank higher than most +other factory occupations, yet the average journeyman printer +possesses less than a complete elementary education. Composing-room +employees, such as compositors, linotypers, stonemen, proof-readers, +etc., undoubtedly stand at the head of the skilled trades as to +educational training, but it was found that only eight per cent were +high school graduates. Six per cent had left school before reaching +the seventh grade, and 16 per cent before reaching the eighth grade. +The other departments of the printing industry made a much less +favorable showing. + +An investigation conducted by the Survey in the spring of 1915, +covering 5,000 young people at work under 21 years of age, indicated +that only about 13 per cent of these young workers had received any +high school training and that less than four per cent had completed a +high school course. Over one-fifth reported the sixth grade as the +last completed before leaving school, and nearly half had dropped out +before completing the elementary course. Less than seven per cent of +the boys engaged in industrial pursuits had received any high school +training and only 42 per cent had got beyond the seventh grade. The +educational preparation of the boys engaged in commercial and +clerical occupations was somewhat better, nearly 22 per cent having +attended high school one year or more; about one-half had left school +after completing the eighth grade and nearly one-third had not +completed the elementary course. + +These facts have a vital relation to the problem of vocational +training. If the great majority of the children who will later enter +wage-earning occupations do not remain in school beyond the end of the +compulsory attendance period, and in addition over half fail to +complete even the elementary course, vocational training, to reach +them at all, must begin not later than the seventh grade, and if +possible, before the pupils reach the age of 14. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FOR BOYS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS + + +In Chapter III the distribution of the wage-earners of the city was +outlined, mainly for the purpose of establishing a basis on which to +make a forecast of the future occupations of the children in the +public schools. Such a forecast is essential as the preliminary step +in any plan of vocational training to be carried out during the school +period, for the reason that without it a clear understanding of the +principal factors of the problem is impossible. The kinds of +vocational training needed by children in school, and how and where +such training should be given, must always depend in the first +instance on what they are going to do when they grow up. + +The average elementary school in Cleveland enrolls between 350 and 400 +boys. When they leave school these boys will scatter into many +different kinds of work. With respect to the future vocations of the +pupils, the average school represents in a sense a cross section of +the occupational activities of the city. It contains a certain number +of recruits for each of the principal types of wage-earning pursuits. +A few of the boys will later enter professional life; many will take +up some sort of clerical work; a still larger number will be employed +in commercial occupations; and the largest group of all will become +wage-earners in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. + +The future occupation cannot be foretold accurately with respect to +any particular boy, but we do know that, whatever their individual +tastes and abilities, the boys must finally engage in activities +similar to those in which the adult born native male population is +engaged, and in approximately the same proportions. We do not know, +for example, whether Johnny Jones will become a doctor or a carpenter, +but we do know that of each 1,000 boys in the public schools about +seven will become doctors and about 25 will become carpenters, because +for many years about those proportions of the boys of native birth in +Cleveland have become doctors and carpenters. + +One of the most impressive facts which comes to light in the study of +occupational statistics is the constancy in these proportions. The +business of any community requires certain kinds of work to be +performed and the relative amount of work required and consequently +the relative number of workers vary but slightly over a long period of +time. This principle is illustrated in a striking way by the list of +occupations selected at random presented in Table 7, showing the +number of persons engaged in the occupations specified among each 100 +male workers at two successive census years. + + +TABLE 7--PER CENT OF TOTAL MALE WORKING POPULATION ENGAGED IN +SPECIFIED OCCUPATIONS, 1900 AND 1910 + +----------------------------+--------------------- + | Per cent of total + Occupation | working population + +----------+---------- + | 1900 | 1910 +----------------------------+----------+---------- +Machinists | 4.7 | 5.8 +Saloon keepers | 1.1 | .7 +Tailors | 2.1 | 1.7 +Commercial travelers | .8 | 1.1 +Lawyers | .5 | .4 +Barbers | .8 | .7 +Bakers | .6 | .5 +Physicians | .6 | .5 +Carpenters | 3.4 | 3.3 +Cabinet makers | .5 | .4 +Plumbers | .9 | .9 +Stenographers and typists | .3 | .3 +----------------------------+----------+---------- + +With the exception of plumbers and stenographers there was either an +increase or a decrease from 1900 to 1910 in the relative number +employed in each of these occupations. In only one occupation, +however, that of machinist, did the change amount to as much as one +per cent. In all the others the shift during the decade was less than +one-half of one per cent, and in more than three-fifths of them it did +not exceed one-tenth of one per cent of the total number of male +workers. + + +WHAT THE BOYS IN SCHOOL WILL DO + +The figures in this table, presented for illustrative purposes, do not +accurately represent the proportions of boys now attending the public +schools who are likely to enter the occupations named, because they +do not take into account the fact that a considerable number of the +workers in Cleveland came to this country after they reached adult +manhood and that a disproportionate number of these foreign born +workers enter the industrial occupations. For this reason the total +adult working population is not strictly comparable with the school +enrollment, which is approximately nine-tenths native born. When the +boys in the public schools grow up they will be distributed among the +different trades, professions, and industries in about the same +proportions as are the American born men in the city at the present +time. This distribution is shown for the different occupational groups +in Table 8. + + +TABLE 8.--DISTRIBUTION OF NATIVE BORN MEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 21 AND +45 IN THE PRINCIPAL OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS + + Approximate + Occupational group per cent + +Manufacturing and mechanical occupations 44 +Commercial occupations 20 +Clerical occupations 16 +Transportation occupations 11 +Domestic and personal service occupations 5 +Professional occupations 3 +Public service occupations 1 + ---- + Total 100 + +The figures in the column at the right of the table represent the +number of native born men between the ages of 21 and 45 among each +hundred native born male inhabitants engaged in the occupations +comprehended in the various groups. In the case of the industrial +group the figure is too high, as the census data relative to the +distribution of foreign and native born include all ages, and there is +a smaller proportion of American born adult men employed in industry +than is found in the lower age groups. Extensive computations have +shown, however, that the inaccuracies due to this cause are not +serious enough to affect the use of the figures for our purpose. + +Let us now consider what these proportions mean in establishing +vocational courses to prepare boys for wage-earning pursuits. The +future expectations of the boys in a large elementary school enrolling +say 1,000 pupils of both sexes would be about as follows: + +_Number of boys who will enter_ + Manufacturing and mechanical occupations 220 + Commercial occupations 100 + Clerical occupations 80 + Transportation occupations 55 + Domestic and personal service occupations 25 + Professional occupations 15 + Public service occupations 5 + ---- + Total 500 + +This distribution includes all pupils, from the beginners in the first +grade to the older boys in the seventh and eighth grades. It is +certain, however, that differentiated instruction for vocational +purposes is not possible or advisable for the younger children. +According to the commonly accepted view among educators, vocational +training should not be undertaken before the age of 12 years, and many +believe that this is too early. In an elementary school of 1,000 +pupils there would be about 80 boys 12 years old and over. Applying +to this number the ratios given in the previous table we obtain the +following: + +_Number of boys who will enter_ + Manufacturing and mechanical occupations 35 + Commercial occupations 16 + Clerical occupations 13 + Transportation occupations 9 + Domestic and personal service occupations 4 + Professional occupations 2 + Public service occupations 1 + --- + Total 80 + +The industrial group includes all of the skilled trades and most of +the semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations. The skilled trades +are usually grouped in four main classifications: metal trades, +building trades, printing trades, and "other" trades, these last +comprising a number of small trades in each of which relatively few +men are employed. With respect to their future occupations the 35 boys +in the industrial group are likely to be distributed about as follows: + +_Number of boys who will enter_ + Metal trades 8 + Building trades 7 + Printing trades 1 + Other trades 2 + Semi-skilled and unskilled industrial occupations 17 + --- + 35 + +The analysis can be carried still further, for these trade groups are +by no means homogeneous. The building trades, for example, include +over 20 distinct trades, a number of which have little in common with +the others as to methods of work and technical content. + + +ORGANIZATION AND COSTS + +At this point it becomes necessary to take cognizance of certain +administrative factors which have a marked bearing on the problem. +They relate to the organization of classes in elementary schools and +the cost of teaching. In a school of 1,000 pupils there would be at +least five separate classes for the seventh and eighth grades. The 35 +boys who need industrial training are not all found in a single class, +but are distributed more or less evenly throughout the five +classrooms, that is, there are approximately seven in each class. A +differentiated course under these conditions is difficult if not +impossible. In a few of the Cleveland elementary schools the +departmental system of teaching is in use. Under this plan something +might be done, were it not that the total number of pupils requiring +instruction relating specifically to the industrial trades is too +small to justify the expense necessary for equipment, material, and +special instruction required for such training. This is true as +regards even an industrial course of the most general kind, while +provision for particular trades is entirely out of the question. The +machinist's trade employs more men than any other occupation in the +city, yet the number of seventh and eighth grade boys in the average +elementary school who will probably become machinists does not exceed +five or six. Not over two boys are likely to enter employment in the +printing industry. The smaller trades, such as pattern making, cabinet +making, molding, and blacksmithing are represented by not more than +one boy each. + +A possible alternative is the plan now followed in the teaching of +manual training whereby the boys of the upper grades in various +elementary schools are sent to one centrally located for a short +period of instruction each week. The principal objection to this plan +is that the amount of time now given is insufficient to accomplish +much in an industrial course, nor can it be materially increased +without seriously interfering with the work in other subjects. + +The first condition for successful industrial training is the +concentration of a large number of pupils old enough to benefit by +such training in a single school plant. Only in this way is it +possible to bring the cost of teaching, equipment, and material within +reasonable limits and provide facilities for differentiating the work +on the basis of the vocational needs of the pupils. The fact that this +condition cannot be met in elementary schools is one of the strongest +arguments in favor of conducting the seventh and eighth grade work +under the junior high school form of organization. + + +WHAT THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS CAN DO + +The most important contribution to vocational education the elementary +school can make consists in getting the children through the lower +grades fast enough so that they will reach the junior high school by +the time they are 13 years old, in order that before the end of the +compulsory attendance period they may spend at least two years in a +school where some kind of industrial training is possible. That this +is not being done at the present time the data presented in Chapter IV +amply demonstrate. In recent years there has been a tendency to regard +vocational training as a remedy for retardation. The fact is that the +cure of retardation is not a subsequent but a preliminary condition to +successful training for wage-earning. Vocational training is not a +means for the prevention of retardation, but retardation is a most +effective means for the prevention of vocational training. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL + + +In 1915 the Board of Education authorized the establishment of a +system of junior high schools in the city, and at the beginning of the +school year of 1915-16 the new plan was inaugurated in two schools. +The Empire Junior High School, situated in the eastern part of the +city, had an enrollment of about 700 children made up of seventh and +eighth grade pupils formerly accommodated in the elementary schools of +that section. The Detroit Junior High School on the west side had an +enrollment of about 400 pupils. No decision has yet been reached as to +whether the course shall include only two years' work, or three years, +as in other cities of the country where the junior high school plan +has been adopted. + +A comparison of the course with that for corresponding grades of the +elementary schools shows some marked differences. Less time is devoted +to English in the junior high school and considerably more to +arithmetic, geography, and history. Mechanical drawing, not taught in +the elementary schools except incidentally in the manual training +classes, is given an hour each week. All boys receive one hour of +manual training a week against slightly less than one and one-half +hours in the seventh and eighth elementary grades, but they may elect +an additional two and one-half hours a week in this subject, together +with applied arithmetic during the first year, or with bookkeeping +during the second. Girls may elect an additional two and one-half +hours a week of domestic science, with bookkeeping. The manual +training for boys comprises woodwork and bookbinding. + + +SPECIALIZED TRAINING NOT PRACTICABLE + +In the junior high school, as in the elementary school, the greatest +difficulty in the way of trade training for specific occupations lies +in the small number of pupils who can be expected, within the bounds +of reasonable probability, to enter a single trade. Hand and machine +composition, the largest of the printing trades, will serve as an +example. In a junior high school of 1,000 pupils, boys and girls, the +number of boys who are likely to become compositors is about five. But +to teach this trade printing equipment occupying considerable space is +necessary, together with a teacher who has had some experience or +training as a printer. The expense per pupil for equipment, for the +space it occupies, and for instruction renders special training for +such small classes impracticable. All of the skilled occupations, with +the exception perhaps of the machinist's trade, are in the same case. +An attempt to form separate classes for each of the eight largest +trades in the city would result in two classes of not over five +pupils, three classes of not over 10 pupils, and only one of over 13 +pupils. The following table shows the number of boys, in a school of +this size, who are likely to enter each of these trades. + +_Number of boys who will probably become:_ + Machinists 36 + Carpenters 13 + Steam engineers 11 + Painters 10 + Electricians 9 + Plumbers 7 + Compositors 5 + Molders 5 + + +A GENERAL INDUSTRIAL COURSE + +The members of the Survey Staff were, however, of the opinion that +through the system of electives in the junior high school, industrial +training of a more general type, made up chiefly of instruction in the +applications of mathematics, drawing, physics, and chemistry to the +commoner industrial processes, would be of considerable benefit to +those boys who, on the basis of their own selection or that of their +parents, are likely to enter industrial pursuits. A course of this +kind is outlined in following sections of this chapter. + +The objections which may be brought against this plan are frankly +recognized. It takes into account only the interests of the industrial +group, comprising less than one-half of the boys in the school. +Unquestionably it would tend to vitalize the teaching of mathematics, +drawing, and science for the boys who enroll in the industrial course, +but it leaves unsolved the question of method and content of +instruction in these subjects for the boys in the non-industrial or +so-called academic course. Very possibly future experience may +demonstrate that the plan recommended for the general industrial +course affords the best medium for teaching science and mathematics at +this period to all pupils, in which case a differentiated course would +be unnecessary. + +The organization of vocational training in junior high school grades +presents many difficulties which cannot be solved by a more or less +abstract study of educational and industrial needs. Experimentation on +an extensive scale, covering a considerable period of time, is +necessary before definite conclusions can be drawn as to the +limitations and possibilities of such work. It is with a full +appreciation of this fact that the following suggestive outline is +presented. + +The purpose of the general industrial course is to afford to boys who +wish to enter industrial occupations the opportunity to secure +knowledge and training that will be of direct or indirect value to +them in industrial employment. It is not expected that by this means +they can be given much practical training in hand work for any +particular trade. The most the school can do for the boy at this +period is to bridge over for him the gap that exists between the +knowledge he obtains from books and the rôle which this knowledge +plays in the working world. It must not be assumed that the transition +can be effected merely by the introduction of shop work, even if it +were possible to provide the wide variety of manual training necessary +to make up a fair representation of the principal occupations into +which the boys will enter when they leave school. It is doubtful +whether, so far as its vocational value is concerned, shop work +isolated from other subjects of the curriculum is worth any more per +unit of time devoted to it than several of the so-called academic +subjects. This is particularly true of the two most common types of +manual training--cabinet making and forge work. Both represent dying +trades. During the decade 1900-1910 the increase in the number of +cabinet makers in Cleveland fell far below the general increase in +population. The blacksmiths made a still poorer showing. Both trades +are recruited mainly from abroad and the relative number of Americans +employed in them is steadily declining. + +In the opinion of the Survey Staff a general industrial course should +cover instruction in at least the following five subjects: Industrial +mathematics, mechanical drawing, industrial science, shop work, and +the study of economic and working conditions in wage earning pursuits. +These may be offered as independent electives or they may be required +of all pupils who elect the industrial course. The details of +organization must, of course, be worked out by trial and experiment. +They will probably vary in different schools and from year to year. + + +INDUSTRIAL MATHEMATICS + +Of the hundreds of employers who were interviewed by members of the +Survey Staff as to the technical equipment needed by beginners in the +various trades, nearly all emphasized the ability to apply the +principles of simple arithmetic quickly, correctly, and accurately to +industrial problems. Many employers criticized the present methods of +teaching this subject in the public schools. In the main their +criticisms were to the effect that the teaching was not "practical." +"The boys I get may know arithmetic," said one, "but they haven't any +mathematical sense." Another cited his experience with an apprentice +who was told to cut a bar eight and one-half feet long into five +pieces of equal length. He was not told the length of the bar, but was +given the direct order: "Cut that bar into five pieces all of the same +size." The boy was unable to lay out the work, although when asked by +the foreman, "Don't you know how to divide 81/2 by 5?", he performed the +arithmetical operation without difficulty. The employer gave this +instance as an illustration of what to his mind constituted one of the +principal defects of public school teaching. "Mere knowledge of +mathematical principles and the ability to solve abstract problems is +not enough," he said. "What the boys get in the schools is +mathematical skill, but what they need in their work is mathematical +intelligence. The first does not necessarily imply the second." + +This mathematical intelligence can be developed only through practice +in the solution of practical problems, that is, problems which are +stated in the every day terms of the working world and which require +the student to go through the successive mental steps in the same way +that he would if he were working in a shop. The problem referred to +above is one of division of fractions. If we state it thus: "81/2÷5," +the pupil takes pencil and paper, performs the operation and announces +the result. If we say, "A bar 81/2 feet long is to be cut into five +pieces of equal length; how long should each piece be?", the problem +calls for the exercise of greater intelligence, as the pupil must +determine which process to use in order to obtain the correct result. +It becomes still more difficult if we merely show him the bar and say: +"This bar must be cut into five pieces of equal length; how long will +each piece be?" Several additional preliminary steps are required, +none of which was involved in the problem in its original form. Before +the length of the pieces can be computed he must find out the length +of the bar. He must know what to measure it with, and in what terms, +whether feet or inches, the problem should be stated. Again, if we +say: "Lay this bar out to be cut in five equal lengths," another +step--the measurement and marking for each cut--is added. Many +variations might be introduced, each involving additional +opportunities for the exercise of thought. + +It is through practice in solving problems of this kind that the pupil +acquires what the employer called mathematical intelligence. It +consists in the ability to note what elements are involved in the +problems and to decide which process of arithmetic should be used in +dealing with them. Once these decisions are made the succeeding +arithmetical calculations are simple and easy. In technical terms the +ability that is needed is the ability to generalize one's experiences. +In every-day terms it is the ability to use what one knows. + +The work in applied mathematics should cover a wide range of problems +worded in the language of the trades and constantly varied in order to +establish as many points of contact as possible between the pupil's +knowledge of mathematics and the use of mathematics in industrial +life. Practical shop work is one of the best means to this end. The +trouble with much of the shop work given in the schools is that it +runs to hand craftmanship in which the object is to "make something" +by methods long ago discarded in the industrial world, rather than to +give the pupil exercise in the sort of thinking he will need to do +after he goes to work. Successful teaching does not depend so much on +the use of tools and materials as on the teacher's knowledge of the +conditions surrounding industrial work and his ability to originate +methods for vitalizing the instruction in its relation to industrial +needs. + + +MECHANICAL DRAWING + +At the present time the junior high school course provides for one +hour a week of mechanical drawing. All the boys who may be expected +to elect the industrial course can well afford to devote more time to +drawing. For such boys no other subject in the curriculum, except +perhaps applied mathematics, is of greater importance. In many of the +trades the ability to work from drawings is indispensable and the man +who does not possess it is not likely to rise above purely routine +work. + +In a drawing course for future industrial workers the emphasis should +be placed on giving the pupil an understanding of the uses of drawing +for industrial purposes, rather than on fine workmanship in making +drawings. Seventh grade boys can't be made into draftsmen in three +years and if they leave school at 15 they are not likely to become +draftsmen. The ordinary skilled workman seldom has any need to make +drawings or designs, beyond an occasional rough sketch, but he often +has to work from drawings. To put it in another way, drawing to the +average workman is like an additional language of which he needs a +reading but not a writing knowledge. No doubt it would be well to +teach him to write and read with equal skill, but in the two or three +years most of these boys will remain in school there is not time +enough to do both. + + +INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE + +In many of the trades an introductory knowledge of physics and +chemistry is of considerable advantage. Boys in the junior high school +cannot be expected to take formal courses in these subjects, but they +should not leave school without some acquaintance with them and a +knowledge of their relations to industrial processes. A fair equipment +should be provided for demonstrational and illustrative purposes. The +subject matter should be correlated as closely as possible with the +shop work, and the principal mechanical and chemical laws explained as +the shop problems furnish examples of their application. + +In addition the boys should be taught the common technical terms used +in trade hand books. The man who expects to advance in his trade will +have to keep on learning after he leaves school. There are many +avenues of information open to him, and the school can perform no more +valuable service than to point the way to the sources of knowledge +represented by reference books, trade journals, and other technical +literature. Some of the popular magazines, such as "The Scientific +American," "The Illustrated World," and "Popular Mechanics" can be +used most effectively to bring home to the pupils the close connection +existing between the class work and the outside world of science and +invention. + + +SHOP WORK + +It is difficult to determine the exact function of the manual training +shop work in cabinet making and bookbinding which figures in the +curriculum at present. That the work was not planned with vocational +training in mind seems clear from the action of the school board in +adding bookbinding to the course about the middle of the year. The +bookbinding trade is one of the smallest in the city, and there is +little probability that more than one boy among the total number +enrolled in both junior high schools will enter it after leaving +school. + +Fully three-fourths of the industrial group will later be employed in +occupations where most of the work is done with machines or machine +tools. Even in the hand tool trades, such as carpentry, sheet metal +work, cabinet making, and blacksmithing, the use of machines is +constantly increasing. It would seem, therefore, that some +acquaintance with different types of machines would be of considerable +value to the pupils who may later enter industrial employment. The +number of boys who are likely to become machinists is large enough to +warrant the installation of a small machine shop. Repairing, +assembling, and taking apart machines should occupy an important place +in the shop course. Most boys are intensely interested in getting at +the "insides" of a machine, and the processes of assembling, with +their attendant problems of adjustment and co-ordination of mechanical +movements, afford opportunities for the best kind of practical +instruction. One of the great advantages of this type of shop work +lies in the fact that it consumes little or no material and is +therefore inexpensive; another is that a fairly extensive equipment +can be easily obtained, as any machine, old or new, will serve the +purpose and may be used over and over again. + +The extent and variety of shop equipment will depend largely on the +resources of the school system. The more the better, so long as the +money is expended on the principle of the greatest good to the +greatest number, which means that the kinds of tools and equipment +used in the large trades should be preferred to those used only in the +smaller trades. + +In order that the time devoted to shop work may yield its greatest +results, it is necessary that every lesson center around knowledge and +ability that will be of real subsequent use to the pupils. It must not +run to "art" and it must not be mere tinkering. Its principal value as +vocational training, in the last analysis, lies in its use as an +objective medium for the teaching of industrial mathematics and +science. + + +VOCATIONAL INFORMATION + +During the second and third years all the boys who elect the +industrial course or who expect to leave school at the end of the +compulsory attendance period should be required to devote some time +each week to the study of economic and working conditions in wage +earning industrial and commercial occupations. A clear understanding +of the comparative advantages of different kinds of employment is of +the highest importance at this period of the boy's life. It seems to +be generally assumed that an adequate basis of knowledge for the +selection of an industrial vocation is an acquaintance with materials +and processes. Such knowledge is valuable, but making a living is +mainly an economic problem. What an occupation means in terms of +income is more significant than what it means in terms of materials. +The most important facts about the cabinet making trade, for example, +are that it offers very few opportunities for employment to public +school boys, and that it is one of the lowest paid skilled trades. The +primary considerations in the intelligent selection of a vocation +relate to wages, steadiness of employment, health risks, opportunities +for advancement, apprenticeship conditions, union regulations, and the +number of chances there are for getting into it. These things are +fundamental, and any one of them may well take precedence over the +matter of whether the tastes of the future wage-earner run to wood, +brick, stone, or steel. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TRADE TRAINING DURING THE LAST YEARS IN SCHOOL + + +Between the end of the compulsory attendance period and the entering +age in most of the trades there exists a gap of from one to two years +which is not adequately covered by any of the present educational +agencies of the school system. + +Two years ago the Ohio State legislature extended the compulsory +attendance period from 14 to 15 for boys and from 14 to 16 for girls. +The result has been to force into the first years of the high school +course a considerable number of pupils who have no intention of taking +the complete four year course, and who will leave as soon as they +reach the end of the compulsory period. That these pupils are probably +not getting all that they might out of the time they attend high +school is no argument against the present compulsory attendance age +limit, which should be raised rather than lowered. + +The study of industrial conditions conducted during the survey left +every member of the Survey Staff firmly convinced that the industries +of Cleveland have little or nothing worth while to offer to boys +under 16. Very few of the skilled trades will accept an apprentice +below this age. The general opinion among manufacturers was +unfavorable to the employment of boys under 16. "They are more of a +nuisance than a help," said one; "they are not old enough to +understand the responsibilities of work." "They break more machinery +and spoil more material than they are worth," said another. In several +of the building trades apprentices must be 17 years old, as the law +forbids boys under this age to work on scaffoldings. The new workmen's +compensation law exerts a strong influence in favor of a higher +working age limit, owing to the greater risk of accident among young +workers. + +The fact is that the law is still about one year behind the +requirements of industrial life. If a vote were taken among employers +who can offer boys the opportunity to learn a trade it would be found +that a large majority favor raising the working age to 16. Employment +before this time usually leads nowhere, and the pittance the boy earns +cannot be compared with the economic advantage he could derive from an +additional year in a good vocational school. The average boy who +leaves school at 15 spends a year or two loafing or working at odd +jobs before he can obtain employment that offers any promise of future +advancement. These years are often more than wasted, as he not only +learns nothing of value from such casual jobs, but misses the healthy +discipline of steady, orderly work, which is of so great importance +during these formative years of his life. + + +THE TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLS + +The two technical high schools, the East Technical and West Technical, +occupy an important place among the secondary schools of the city. At +the present time the two schools enroll nearly two-fifths of the boys +attending high school. The course comprises four years' work. In the +East Technical the shopwork includes joinery and wood-turning during +the first year, and pattern making and foundry work during the second +year. In the West Technical the first year course includes pattern +making and either forging or sheet metal work; and that of the second +year, forging, pipe-fitting, brazing, riveting, and cabinet making. +During the remaining two years of the course the student may elect a +particular trade, devoting about 10 hours a week to practice in the +shop during the last half of the third year, and from 11 to 15 hours +during the fourth year. + +The proportion of pupils who graduate is small and the mortality +during the first two years is very heavy. This is due in part to the +fact that the type of pupil who leaves school early is more likely to +elect a technical course than an academic course. About 25 per cent of +each entering class drops out after attending one year, and 25 per +cent of the remainder by the end of the second year. By the time the +third year is reached the classes are greatly depleted and the +survivors as a rule are of the more intelligent and prosperous type. +Only a small proportion of them expect to enter skilled manual +occupations. Table 9 shows the distribution of the third and fourth +year students among the different trade courses during the first +semester of 1915-16. + + +TABLE 9.--DISTRIBUTION OF THIRD AND FOURTH YEAR STUDENTS IN TRADE +COURSES IN THE CLEVELAND TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLS, FIRST SEMESTER, +1915-1916 + + Trade courses Students + Electrical construction 68 + Machine work 52 + Printing 28 + Cabinet making 22 + Pattern making 12 + Foundry work 1 + ---- + Total 183 + +That relatively few of these students will ultimately become +journeymen workmen is shown by the records of the boys graduated in +the past. The principal of the East Technical High School recently +sent a questionnaire to all the students graduated up to 1915, asking +for information as to their present occupations and their earnings +during the first four years after graduation. Of those who replied, +over 60 per cent either were attending college, or employed as +draftsmen or chemists. About 28 per cent were employed in the skilled +trades. The distribution in detail is shown in Table 10. + +The data furnished by graduates as to their earnings during successive +years after leaving school supply still more convincing evidence to +the effect that the technical school graduate seldom remains in manual +work more than two or three years. The complete course gives them an +equipment of practical and theoretical knowledge that speedily takes +them out of the handwork class. The technical high schools are +primarily training schools for future civil, electrical, and +mechanical engineers. To the student who cannot afford a college +course they offer excellent preparation for rapid advancement to +supervisory and executive industrial positions, and for drafting and +office work in manufacturing plants. + + +TABLE 10.--DISTRIBUTION BY OCCUPATION OF CLEVELAND TECHNICAL HIGH +SCHOOL GRADUATES + + Occupation Number + Attending college 111 + Draftsmen 51 + Electricians 33 + Machinists 32 + Chemists 8 + Pattern makers 7 + Cabinet makers 6 + Printers 3 + Foundrymen 1 + Unclassified 32 + ---- + Total 284 + +The output of the schools falls into two main divisions: those who +leave at the end of the second year or earlier, and those who +graduate. The records show that most of the pupils who reach the third +year complete the course, but nearly half drop out during the first +and second years. The benefit they obtain from these two years' +attendance is problematical. The course was designed on the basis of +four years' attendance, and the work of the first two years is to a +considerable degree a preparation for that of the last two. + +The principals of both schools are fully alive to the disadvantages of +the course for the large number of pupils who drop out within a year +or two, and admit that such students would derive greater benefit from +more practical instruction aimed directly toward preparation for the +industrial trades. Both believe that the only practicable solution is +a two-year trade course in a separate school, covering a much wider +range of shop activities than the present high school course. + +To the only alternative--the institution of a short course within the +technical schools to be conducted either as a part of or +simultaneously with the four year course--they present objections of +considerable weight. They point out that a preparatory course for the +trades and a preparatory course with college as the goal differ not +only in length but in kind. The work in mathematics for the future +civil engineer, for example, must conform to college entrance +standards and involves an amount of study that is quite unnecessary +for the boy whose aim is to become a carpenter or machinist. The first +needs a thorough course in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry; the +second needs industrial arithmetic, with only such applications of +higher mathematics as may be of use to him in his trade. The same +principle holds with respect to other subjects. + +What boys who expect to enter industrial occupations most need at this +period is instruction that will be of practical value to them for +future wage earning. It is doubtful whether high school courses which +have been formulated in the first instance to prepare pupils for a +college course can furnish such instruction and it is still more +doubtful whether the trade training required by the future mechanic +and the broader preparation required for the professions can be given +effectively in the same school. + + +A TWO-YEAR TRADE COURSE + +It is the opinion of the Survey Staff that a separate school in which +direct training for the industrial trades is emphasized would result +in more profitable use of the pupils' time and probably induce many of +them to remain in school up to the apprentice entering age. Such a +school, with a curriculum embracing vocational training for all the +principal trades, would easily command an enrollment sufficient to +justify the installation of a good shop equipment and the employment +of a corps of teachers qualified by special training and experience +for this kind of work. Even if only one-half the number who enter the +skilled trades each year attended the school, the enrollment would +reach at least 800 boys. + +A trade school of this kind would relieve the first and second year +classes of many pupils that the technical high schools do not want and +cannot adequately provide for. The minimum entering age should be not +less than 14, and no requirement other than age should be imposed. +This would draw part of the over-age pupils from the grades and take +from the junior high school a certain number of boys who could profit +by the greater amount of time given to shop work in the trade school. + +A good many will stay only one year, and every effort should be made +at the time of entrance to learn the intentions of the pupil. If it +seems fairly certain that he will not remain longer than a year he may +well omit such studies as have no direct bearing on the trade he +wishes to learn. The courses should follow the lines laid down in the +general industrial course recommended for the junior high school, but +with a greater proportion of the time devoted to practical shopwork. +As the number of pupils for each trade class would be relatively +large, a closer correlation could be effected between the academic +subjects and the work in the shops than is possible in the junior high +school. + +Both general and special courses should be provided. Many of the +pupils will wish to specialize on a particular trade. Others who have +not yet reached a decision need a general course that will give them a +wide range of experience with materials and processes. The +organization of classes should be planned so as to permit transfers, +whenever desirable, from the general to the special courses, or +vice-versa. + +By the time the pupil has reached the second year he usually will +settle down to steady work on the trade he selects, although here +again the organization should be sufficiently elastic to allow +transfers when there seems to be good reason for making them. It is to +be expected, however, that nearly all the pupils will devote their +time during the second year to practice and study limited to single +trades. The success of the school in holding boys to the age of 16 or +17 will depend on its ability to convince them that the extra time in +school is a paying investment, and this cannot be done unless they +stick to one line of work. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TRADE-PREPARATORY AND TRADE-EXTENSION TRAINING FOR BOYS AND MEN AT +WORK + + +Several forms of trade-preparatory and trade-extension training for +apprentices and journeymen workmen are carried on in the city. +Probably the most effective work done in the teaching of boys after +they have entered employment is found in manufacturing establishments +which maintain apprentice schools in connection with their shops. +There are two excellent examples of this type of instruction in +Cleveland--the apprentice schools conducted by the New York Central +Railroad and by the Warner and Swasey Company, manufacturers of +astronomical instruments and machine tools. + +The Warner and Swasey Company school was established in 1911. The +course covers a total of 560 hours, extending over a period of four +years. The apprentices attend the school four hours a week for 35 +weeks each year. The time allotment for the various subjects included +in the course is shown in Table 11. + +In 1915 there were 65 apprentices enrolled in the school, most of them +from the machinist's trade. The sessions are held during working +hours in a room in the factory fitted up with drawing tables and +blackboards. No shop equipment is used. The purpose of the course is +to develop a body of trained workmen competent to take positions in +the factory as foremen or heads of departments. Less than one-tenth of +the total time of the course is devoted to the study of shop practice. +Standard textbooks are used in the teaching of mathematics. + + +TABLE 11.--TIME ALLOTMENT IN THE APPRENTICE COURSE GIVEN BY THE WARNER +AND SWASEY COMPANY, CLEVELAND + + Subject Hours + Arithmetic 35 + English 65 + Mechanical drawing 70 + Shop practice 40 + Algebra 70 + Geometry 40 + Trigonometry 30 + Physics 70 + Materials 35 + Industrial history 35 + Mechanics, strength of materials, and mechanical design 70 + --- + Total 560 + +The enrollment in the school conducted by the New York Central +Railroad is about 140 boys, nearly all of whom are machinists' +apprentices. They are divided into three classes, the members of each +class attending the school four hours a week. About two-thirds of the +time is devoted to mechanical drawing and one-third to mathematics and +shop practice. The instruction in these two latter subjects is based +on a series of graded mimeographed or blue print lesson sheets, +containing a wide variety of shop problems, with a condensed and +simplified explanation of the mathematical principles involved. In the +main the work is limited to the application of simple arithmetic to +problems of shop practice. No textbooks are used, but the booklets on +machine shop practice published by the International Correspondence +Schools are studied in connection with the course. + +In addition to the required classroom work in mechanical drawing, each +apprentice serves four or five months of his term in the regular +drafting rooms of the company. The classroom is equipped with models +of railway appliances and machinery, together with laboratory +apparatus for teaching the laws of mechanics. No machine tools or +other shop equipment are used in the classes. The course covers about +700 hours of instruction exclusive of the time spent in regular +drafting room work. About 20 apprentices finished the course in 1915. + +Several of the building and printing trades' labor unions take an +active interest in the training of apprentices, and in at least two +instances the unions maintain evening classes for teaching trade +theory. The Electrical Workers' Union, made up principally of inside +wiremen, conducts apprentice classes taught by journeymen. The +International Typographical Union course for compositors and +compositors' apprentices is undoubtedly the best yet devised for +giving supplementary training in hand composition. It is taught by +journeymen in evening classes, under the supervision of the central +office of the Typographical Union Commission, to which all the work +must be submitted. In February, 1916, about 100 students were +enrolled, of whom approximately one-third were apprentices and +two-thirds journeymen. The course consists of 46 lessons in English, +lettering, design, color harmony, job composition, and imposition for +machine and hand folding. The classes are held at the headquarters of +the union. As the students' daily practice in the shop provides plenty +of opportunity for the acquisition of manual skill, no apparatus or +shop equipment is used in connection with the course. + +The apprentice school conducted by the Y.M.C.A. represents another +type of apprentice training. The instruction is given during the day. +The apprentices are sent to the school by various firms in the city +under an arrangement whereby the boys attend four and one-half hours +each week during regular shop time. In February, 1916, the enrollment +consisted of 46 apprentices, practically all from the metal trades. +The employers pay the tuition fee, which amounts to $20 a year. The +course requires four years' work of 40 weeks each, a total of 720 +hours. It comprises instruction in shop mathematics, drawing, English, +physics, and industrial hygiene. No shop equipment is used. Fifteen +boys were graduated from the course this year. + +The factory apprentice school of the Warner and Swasey Company and New +York Central Railroad type possesses many advantages over any kind of +continuation instruction carried on outside of the plants where the +boys are employed. A better correlation between the class and shop +work is possible together with a more personal relation between +teacher and pupils than is usually found when the pupils are drawn +from a number of different establishments. It must be admitted, +however, that this method of training apprentices is not feasible +except in very large plants, as in small classes the teaching cost +becomes prohibitive. There is little probability that it will ever be +adopted by enough employers to take care of more than an insignificant +proportion of the boys who enter the skilled trades. + +The results obtained, here and in other cities, through coöperative +schemes, such as the Y.M.C.A. continuation school, are in the main +disappointing. Their failure to reach more than a few of the boys who +need trade-extension training is due partly to the fact that they +operate under a condition that is fundamentally unjust. One employer +interviewed during the survey stated the case very clearly: "I can see +no good reason why I should make pecuniary sacrifices for the benefit +of my competitors. Very few of my apprentices remain until the end of +their term, because by the time they have completed their second year +other firms which make no effort to train their quota of skilled +workmen for the trade steal them away from me. Any plan for the +training of apprentices which does not apportion the burden among the +different establishments in direct proportion to the number of men +they have, simply penalizes those public-spirited employers who +participate in it." + + +CONTINUATION TRAINING FROM 15 TO 18 + +The years between 15 and 18 are among the most important in the life +of the young worker. If left to his own devices during this period, he +is very likely to lose much of vocational value of his earlier +education, because he does not grasp the relation which the knowledge +he acquired in school bears to his daily work. As a result the problem +of supplementary instruction at a later age, when he wakes up to his +need for it, becomes much more difficult than if trade-extension +training had been taken up at once when he entered employment. + +The vocational interests of young workers and the social interests of +the community are both opposed to the current practice of "graduating" +boys from the public schools at the ages of 15 or 16 and then losing +sight of them. The fact that the large number who go into industrial +occupations will not or cannot remain in school beyond these ages does +not absolve the school system from further responsibility for their +educational future. There should not be a complete severance between +the boy and the school until he has reached a relatively mature age. +In other words, the school system should maintain, as long as +possible, such a relation with him as will help to round out his +education and lead him to continue it after reaching manhood. + +It is the opinion of the Survey Staff that the only practicable +solution of this problem lies in the day continuation school, backed +by a compulsory law which will bring every boy and girl at work under +the age of 18 into school for a certain number of hours per week. Only +through a comprehensive plan that will reach large numbers of young +workers can the difficulties inherent in the administration of small +classes be overcome. The night schools have never been successful in +holding boys long enough to make more than a beginning in +trade-extension training. It is certain that growing boys should not +be expected to add two hours of study to their nine or 10 hours of +unaccustomed labor in the shop. Both individual and community +interests demand that this problem be taken up in such a way as to +obviate the sharp cleavage between the boy's school life and his +working life. From every point of view it is unwise to permit him to +lose all contact with the educational agencies of the city during his +first years at work. + +The compulsory continuation school avoids the difficulties which are +responsible for the common failure of those schemes which depend for +their success on the initiative of individuals or the voluntary +coöperation of employers and trade unions. One of its great advantages +is that the principle on which it is based makes for equal justice to +all. There can be no doubt that the decline of apprentice training in +the shops is due partly to the fact that employers find that much of +the time and money it costs goes toward providing a skilled labor +force for competitors who make no effort to train young workers. The +cooperation of employers on a comprehensive scale will be secured only +when the burden is equally shared. + + +THE TECHNICAL NIGHT SCHOOLS + +Night classes are conducted in both of the technical high schools for +two terms a year of 10 weeks each, the pupils attending four hours a +week. A tuition fee of $5 a term is collected, of which $3.50 is +refunded to those who maintain an average attendance of 75 per cent. +No special provision is made for apprentices as distinct from +journeymen, and the trade classes are attended by a considerable +number of wage-earners employed in occupations unrelated to industrial +work. The list of courses offered during the past year, with the +number enrolled in each course at the beginning of the second term, is +shown in Table 12. + +A glance at the list of courses shows at once that while the +vocational motive is given first importance, the schools also aim to +provide instruction in cultural subjects which have only an indirect +vocational application. Less than one-third of the students are +pursuing courses which are directly related to their daily work. The +remainder are enrolled in courses which have little or no connection +with their daily occupations. In but four of the courses--machine +shop, architectural drawing, printing, and sheet metal work--are more +than half of the students employed in directly related occupations. + + +TABLE 12.--COURSES AND NUMBER ENROLLED IN THE TECHNICAL NIGHT SCHOOLS, +JANUARY, 1915 + + + Number + Course enrolled + + Mechanical drawing 328 + Machine shop 222 + Electrical construction 159 + Sewing 103 + Mathematics 89 + Architectural drawing 83 + Pattern making 73 + Woodworking 67 + Chemistry 59 + Sheet metal drawing 52 + Cooking 46 + Foundry work 36 + Agriculture 31 + Printing 27 + Sheet metal shop 23 + Business English 20 + Electric motors 19 + Arts and crafts 18 + Millinery 18 + Electricity and magnetism 16 + ------ + Total 1,489 + +The policy of the schools is to form a class in any subject for which +a sufficient number of students make application. Only a small +proportion of the pupils attend more than one year, and the mortality +from term to term is very high, although the tuition fee plan insures +fairly good attendance during the term. The data collected by the +survey indicate that the average length of attendance is approximately +two terms--the equivalent in student hours of less than three weeks in +the ordinary day school. + +Most of the men who enroll in night school classes need a course of at +least two or three years. All but a few, however, insist on having +their supplementary training in small doses. Frequently they want +only specific instruction about a specific thing, such as how to lay +out a certain piece of work or how to set up a particular machine +tool. They want to secure this knowledge in the shortest possible +time, and very few want the same thing. A course of two or three years +does not appeal to them. Another difficulty is that their previous +educational equipment varies widely, and some are not capable of +assimilating even the specialized bit of trade knowledge they need +without a preliminary course in arithmetic. As the personnel of the +classes changes to a marked degree from term to term, the courses +undergo frequent modifications. Apparently the teachers and principals +have made a sincere effort to adapt the instruction to the demands of +the men who attend the schools, but the fact is that the difficulties +inherent in such work make it impossible to organize the classes on +any basis except that of subject matter, which means fitting students +into courses, rather than adapting courses to the needs of particular +groups of workers. + +The enrollment is far below what should be expected in a city of +nearly three-quarters of a million inhabitants. The total number of +journeymen, apprentices, and helpers from the skilled manual +occupations, receiving trade instruction in the night schools, is +considerably less than one per cent of the total number in the city. + +A large enrollment is necessary for efficient administration. Success +in specializing courses in night schools, as in day schools, requires +a large administrative unit. The possible variety of courses is in +direct ratio to the number enrolled. In a class of 200 carpenters +there would probably be, for example, 10 or 15 men who need +specialized instruction in stair-building. On the basis of the present +enrollment of 40 or 50 carpenters the class would dwindle to three or +four, with the result that the per capita teaching cost becomes +prohibitive. + +The relatively small result now obtained is not the fault of the +schools, but is due principally to the fact that the great field of +evening vocational instruction is treated by the school system as a +mere side line of the technical high schools. The evening classes are +taught by teachers who have already given their best in the day +classes. The enrollment cannot be greatly increased so long as this +type of education is handled as one of the marginal activities of the +school system, manned by tired teachers and directed by tired +principals. It is a totally different kind of job from regular day +instruction and requires a different administrative organization, with +a responsible head vested with sufficient authority to meet quickly +and effectively the widely varying demands of its students. This will +require the speeding-up of administrative methods in the establishment +of courses and the employment of teachers, a freer hand for the +principals as regards both expenditures and policy, and most important +of all, the organization of all forms of continuation and night school +instruction under a separate department. + + +A COMBINED PROGRAM OF CONTINUATION AND TRADE-EXTENSION TRAINING + +In considering the general conclusions of the survey as to what should +be done in the matter of trade preparatory and trade-extension +training in both day and night schools, it must be borne in mind that +these two types of vocational training are still in the experimental +stage. Their future development will probably involve a wide departure +from conventional school methods and the evolution of a special +technique through trial and experiment. At the present time we can +only formulate certain of the main conditions to which future advance +in these fields must conform. + +First of all, it must be recognized that such work is a big job in +itself and cannot be successfully conducted as an appendix of the day +school. It is worth doing well, or it is not worth doing. It needs an +organization sufficiently elastic and adaptable to quickly make +adjustments to unusual and unexpected conditions. It needs the +supervision of a competent director who can devote to it all his time +and energy, and a corps of teachers who not only know how and what to +teach, but who possess a firm conviction of the value and utility of +this kind of instruction. In the hands of teachers who bring to it +only the margin of interest and energy remaining after a hard day's +work in the high school, or who are unable to comprehend the radical +difference between teaching a boy in the day school 35 hours a week +and teaching a boy four hours a week in the continuation school or +evening class, the full measure of success cannot be expected. The +employment of day teachers for night school work has never been other +than a makeshift, and the insignificant results attained in night +schools throughout the country have been due in great measure to this +cause. + +Apart from the fact that the interests of adolescent workers +imperatively demand the establishment of day continuation schools, an +additional argument in favor of such schools is that they would +provide a means for making the night trade-extension work effective, +through the use of continuation day school teachers for night school +work. Such a plan would mean that teachers employed on this basis +would have charge of a day continuation class during one session of +four hours, and a night class of two hours, making a total of six +hours' work per day. A plan of this kind would make possible the +establishment of the fundamental conditions for successful +trade--preparatory and trade-extension training in the night schools. +The present system is unjust to both teachers and students;--to the +students because the man or boy who sacrifices his recreation time to +attend night school has a right to the best the schools can give; to +the teachers because no teacher can work a two-hour night shift in +addition to seven or eight hours in the technical high school without +seriously impairing his efficiency. + +The development of this plan would necessitate the establishment of +two centers, one located in the eastern and one in the western section +of the city. In these centers should be housed the day vocational +school, the day continuation classes, and the night vocational +classes. This would relieve the technical high schools of a task which +does not belong to them, and which by overloading the teachers +seriously interferes with the work they were originally employed to +do. At present a considerable number of the technical high school +teachers are devoting from one-fifth to one-fourth of their total +working day to elementary teaching, as most of the work in the night +schools is below high school grade. + +By bringing together all the trade preparatory and trade-extension +work under one roof, it is possible to secure the highest efficiency +in the use of equipment. Expensive shops can be justified only on the +basis of constant use. If the suggestion for the establishment of a +vocational school is acted upon, such future contingencies as the +continuation school should be borne in mind in planning the buildings +and equipment, so as to permit of extensions as they may be required. +It is practically certain that universal continuation training for +young workers up to the age of 17 or 18 will be made compulsory in all +the progressive states of the country within the next decade. The Ohio +school authorities should get ready to handle the continuation school +problem before the example of other states and the overwhelming +pressure of public opinion forces it upon them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR GIRLS + + +The discussions in the preceding chapters have been limited +intentionally to a consideration of the needs and possibilities of +training for wage-earning pursuits in which men predominate. The +conditions which surround vocational training for girls are so +fundamentally unlike those encountered in the vocational training of +boys that a combined treatment leads to needless complexity and +confusion. + +Cleveland uses a relatively smaller amount of woman labor than most +other large cities. In only one of the 10 largest cities in the +country--Pittsburgh--is the proportion of women and girls at work +smaller as compared with the total number of persons in gainful +occupations than in Cleveland. In 1900, 20.4 per cent of the workers +in the city were women; by 1910 the proportion of women workers had +increased to 22 per cent, a shift of less than two per cent for the +decade. + +A consideration of the occupational future of boys and girls shows at +once how widely their problems differ. The typical boy in Cleveland +attends school until he reaches the age of 15 or 16. About this period +he becomes a wage-earner and for the next 30 or 40 years devotes most +of his time and energy to making a living. The typical girl leaves +school about the same time, becomes a wage-earner for a few years, +then marries and spends the rest of her life keeping house and rearing +children. To the man wage-earning is the real business of life. To the +woman it is a means for filling in the gap between school and +marriage, a little journey into the world previous to settling down to +her main job. + +The most radical and important difference between the two sexes with +respect to wage-earning is found in the length of the working life. +The transitory character of the wage-earning phase in the life of most +women is clearly seen in the contrasted age distribution shown in +Table 13. + + +TABLE 13.--PER CENT OF TOTAL POPULATION ENGAGED IN GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS +DURING THREE DIFFERENT AGE PERIODS + +----------------------+-------------+------------+ + Age period | Women | Men | +----------------------+-------------+------------+ + 16 to 21 | 60 | 85 | + 21 to 45 | 26 | 98 | + 45 and over | 12 | 85 | +----------------------+-------------+------------+ + +Approximately 85 per cent of the boys and slightly less than 60 per +cent of the girls between the ages of 16 and 21 are at work. In the +next age group--21 to 45--given by the census, 98 per cent of the men +are at work, but the proportion of women employed in gainful +occupations drops to 26 per cent, or about one in four; in the next +age group--45 and over--it falls to about 12 per cent, as compared +with 85 per cent of the men. Of the women still at work in the older +age group, over one-half are engaged in domestic and personal service +as servants, laundresses, housekeepers, etc. + + +TABLE 14.--NUMBER EMPLOYED IN THE PRINCIPAL WAGE-EARNING OCCUPATIONS +AMONG EACH 1,000 WOMEN FROM 16 TO 21 YEARS OF AGE + +Manufacturing and mechanical industries: + Apprentices to dressmakers and milliners 4 + Dressmakers and seamstresses (not in factory) 20 + Milliners and millinery dealers 17 + Semi-skilled operatives: + Candy factories 6 + Cigar and tobacco factories 15 + Electrical supply factories 10 + Knitting mills 11 + Printing and publishing 8 + Woolen and worsted mills: + Weavers 5 + Other occupations 7 + Sewers and sewing machine operators (factory) 53 + Tailoresses 25 + +Transportation: + Telephone operators 19 + +Trade: + Clerks in stores 28 + Saleswomen (stores) 35 + +Professional service: + Musicians and teachers of music 6 + Teachers (school) 4 + +Domestic and personal service: + Charwomen and cleaners 5 + Laundry operatives 13 + Servants 81 + Waitresses 9 + +Clerical occupations: + Bookkeepers, cashiers, and accountants 26 + Clerks (except clerks in stores) 20 + Stenographers and typewriters 62 + +The occupations in which the girls now in the public schools will +later engage can be determined with a relative degree of accuracy by +employing a method in general similar to that utilized in forecasting +the occupations of boys. It must be taken into account, however, that +the wage-earning period for women, except in the professional +occupations, usually begins before the age of 21. For this reason the +16 to 21 age group probably offers the best basis for determining the +future occupational distribution of girls in school. If all women at +work up to the age of 25 were included the figures would be more +nearly exact, but unfortunately data for the period between 21 and 25 +are not available. The figures at the right of Table 14 show the +number engaged in each specified occupation among each thousand women +in the city between the ages of 16 and 21. The proportions given for +the professional occupations, particularly teaching, are too small, +because of the fact that few women enter the professions before the +age of 21. + +Applying these proportions to the average elementary school unit, it +will be seen at once that the number of girls old enough to profit by +special training is too small in any single occupation to form a class +of workable size. In such a school there would be about 80 girls 12 +years old and over. Of the skilled occupations listed in the table +stenography and typewriting offers the largest field of employment, +yet the number who are likely to take up this kind of work does not +exceed five or six. + + +DIFFERENTIATION IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL + +The organization of the junior high school, where the enrollment is +made up entirely of older pupils, obviates this difficulty to some +extent. Instead of 80 girls there are from 300 to 500, with a +corresponding increase in the number who will enter any given +wage-earning occupation. + +Not less than one-eighth and probably not more than one-fifth of these +girls will become needleworkers of some kind. They will need a more +practical and intensive training in the fundamentals of sewing than is +now provided by the household arts course. The skill required in trade +work cannot be obtained in the amount of time now devoted to this +subject. It should be made possible for a girl who expects to make a +living with her needle to elect a thoroughly practical course in +sewing in which the aim is to prepare for wage earning rather than +merely to teach the girl how to make and mend her own garments. As +proficiency in trade sewing requires first of all ample opportunity +for practice, provision should be made for extending the time now +given to sewing for those girls who wish to become needle workers. +This can easily be done through the system of electives now in use. +The establishment of classes in power machine operating during the +junior high school period appears to be impracticable, due to the +immaturity of the girls and the small number who could profit by such +instruction. + +A discussion of the present sewing courses in the public schools will +be found in Chapters XIV and XV, which summarize the special reports +on the Garment Trades and Dressmaking and Millinery. In the present +chapter the consideration of these occupations is limited to an +examination of the administrative questions connected with training +for the sewing trades. + + +SPECIALIZED TRAINING FOR THE SEWING TRADES + +The compulsory attendance law requires all girls to attend school +until they are 16 years old. This forces a considerable number into +the high schools for one or two years before they go to work. As a +rule the type of girl who is likely to enter the needle trades selects +the technical high school course, not because she has any idea of +finishing it, but because she believes it offers a less tiresome way +of getting through her last one or two years in school than the +academic course. The technical course requires three and three-quarter +hours a week of sewing during the first two years. The student may +elect trade dressmaking and millinery during the third and fourth +years. + +Very few girls who can afford to spend four years in high school ever +become dressmakers or factory operatives. If the school system is to +do anything of direct vocational value for them it will have to begin +further down. Most of them leave school before the age of 17 and the +years between 14 and 16 represent the last chance the school will have +to give them any direct aid towards preparation for immediate +wage-earning. + +For successful work in machine operating the class must be large +enough to warrant the purchase and operation of sufficient equipment +to give the pupils an opportunity for intensive practice. The only way +this condition can be secured is by concentrating in large groups the +girls who need such training. Little will be accomplished in training +for the sewing trades without specialization, and specialization in +small administrative units is impossible. The teaching and operating +cost in a school enrolling, say 200 girls, who want the same kind of +work, can be brought within reasonable bounds. In a school where the +total number who need specialized training does not exceed 10 or 15 +the cost is prohibitive. + +In the opinion of the Survey Staff a one or two year vocational course +in the sewing trades should be established. The entrance age should +not be less than 15. Courses should be provided for intensive work in +trade dressmaking, power machine operating, and trade millinery. A +conservative estimate of the number of girls who could be expected to +enroll for courses in these subjects is 500. A trade school might be +established where only this type of vocational training would be +carried on, or it might be conducted in the same building with the +trade courses for boys recommended in a previous chapter. In either +case the number of pupils would be sufficient to warrant up-to-date +equipment and a corps of specially trained teachers. + +Training for the sewing trades consumes more material than any other +kind of vocational training. For this reason economical administration +requires some arrangement for marketing the product. During the latter +part of the course the school should be able to turn out first-class +work. The familiarity with trade standards the pupils obtain through +practice on garments which must meet the exacting demands of the +buying public has a distinct educational value. The Manhattan Trade +School for Girls in New York City and other successful schools in the +country operate on this basis. There is reason to believe that there +would be little difficulty in making arrangements with the clothing +manufacturers in Cleveland to furnish a good trade school as much +contract work as the classes could handle. + + +OTHER OCCUPATIONS + +From one-fourth to one-fifth of the girls in the school will later +enter employment in commercial and clerical occupations, as +stenographers, typists, clerks, cashiers, bookkeepers, saleswomen, and +so on. Their needs will be considered in Chapters XII and XIII, in +which the findings of the special reports on Boys and Girls in +Commercial Work and Department Store Occupations are summarized. + +A relatively small number will become semi-skilled operatives in +industrial establishments, such as job printing houses, knitting +mills, and factories making electrical supplies, metal products, and +so on. As a rule such work requires only a small amount of manual +skill or deftness. Not much training is needed and it can be given +quickly and effectively in the factories. + +About one-ninth of the girls in the school will enter paid domestic or +personal service of some kind. The household arts courses probably +meet the needs of girls who may be employed in such occupations as far +as they can be met under present conditions. The woman domestic +servant occupies about the same social level as the male common +laborer, and a course which openly sets out to train girls to be +servants is not likely to prosper. The load of social stigma such work +carries is too heavy. At some time in the future it may be possible to +ignore the traditional and universal attitude of our public toward the +so-called menial occupations sufficiently to consider training +servants. At present such a possibility seems remote. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE + + +Very few of the army of young people who become wage earners each year +take up the occupations in which they engage as the result of any +conscious selection of their own or of their parents. They drift into +some job aimlessly and ignorantly, following the line of least +resistance, driven or led by the accidents and exigencies of gaining a +livelihood. They possess no accurate or comprehensive knowledge of the +advantages and disadvantages of different types of wage earning +occupations, and frequently take up work for which they are entirely +unfitted or which holds little future beyond a bare livelihood. + + +THE WORK OF THE VOCATIONAL COUNSELOR + +The plan now followed in the technical high schools of the city, by +which one teacher in the school specially qualified for such work is +charged with the duty of advising pupils who leave school and aiding +them in securing desirable employment, could be adapted to the junior +high school, where the need for service of this kind is even greater +than in the technical high schools. Such work requires men who have +had some contact with industrial conditions, and who possess sound +judgment, common sense, and a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the +local industries. If the curriculum embraces the course in "Industrial +Information" suggested in a previous chapter, the teacher of this +subject might well be designated as vocational counselor for the boys +in the school. A course similar in nature should be provided for the +girls and a woman teacher selected to advise them when they leave +school. Considerable difficulty probably will be experienced in +securing women teachers competent to assume this task, but any +wide-awake teacher who will devote some attention to published studies +of industrial conditions and get in touch with the local organizations +engaged in the investigation of wage earning employments, such as the +Consumers' League and the Girls' Vocation Bureau, can soon acquire a +fund of information that will enable her to offer valuable suggestions +and advice to girls who expect to become wage earners. + +The vocational counselor must guard against conventional thinking and +the mass of "inspirational" nonsense which forms the main contribution +to the vocational guidance of youth provided in the average +schoolroom. The ideals of success usually held up before school +children seem to have been drawn from a mixture of Sunday school +literature and the prospectuses of efficiency bureaus. Boiled down the +rules prescribed for their attainment are two: first, "Be good;" and +second, "Get ahead." The pupils are told about well-known men who +became famous or rich, usually rich, by practicing these rules. +Occasionally there is some prattle about the "dignity of labor," as a +rule meaningless in the light of our current ideas of success. We do +not think of a well-paid artisan as "successful." His success begins +when he is promoted to office work, or becomes a foreman. + +The inherent difficulty with ideals of success which demand that the +worker become a boss of somebody else is that the world of industry +needs only a relatively small number of bosses. Theoretically it is +possible for any individual to reach the eminence of boss-ship. In +real life less than one-tenth of the boys who enter industrial +employment can rise above the level of the journeyman artisan, at +least before later middle age, because only about that proportion of +bosses are needed. + +The task of the vocational counselor will consist in putting the +pupil's feet on the first steps of the ladder rather than showing him +rosy pictures of the top of it. For the great majority the top means +no more than decent wages. This, after all, is a worthy ambition, +frequently requiring the worker's best efforts for its realization. + + +THE GIRLS' VOCATION BUREAU + +The Girls' Vocation Bureau, for the placement of girls and women in +wage-earning employment, has been in operation about six years. At +present it is under the general charge of the state and municipal +employment bureau, although part of the funds for the support of the +bureau is raised through private subscription. From July, 1914, to +July, 1915, the Bureau secured positions for nearly 11,000 girls and +women. Of these approximately 12 per cent were girls under 21. In many +instances only temporary employment is secured, although efforts are +made to place the girls in permanent positions. More girls are placed +in office positions than in any other line of work, but a considerable +proportion take employment in factories, domestic service, +restaurants, and stores. + +A careful record is kept of each applicant's qualifications, home +conditions, the names of employers, etc. The Bureau endeavors to keep +in touch with the girls after they are placed through follow-up +reports and visits by members of the office staff or by volunteer +investigators. + +This spring every school in the city was visited by representatives of +the Bureau in the endeavor to interest principals in the work of +placement, and arrangements were made for sending to the Bureau lists +of the girls who were expected to leave school permanently. This +effort met with slight success, as only about 100 girls were reported +from all the schools in the city, although the number of girls leaving +school each year from the elementary grades alone is over 2,000. In +all cases the girls were visited by a representative of the Bureau and +urged to return to school, or if they were determined to seek +employment the advantages of registering in the Bureau were brought to +their attention. + +It is to be hoped that more effective coöperation between the Bureau +and the schools can be established and that plans for a placement +bureau for boys similar in method and aim to the Girls' Bureau may be +realized. The matter of placement is the most difficult part of the +vocational counselor's duties, and an arrangement whereby the +vocational guidance departments of the various schools might serve as +feeders to a central placement bureau would probably in the long run +give the best results. Both guidance and placement are new things in +the public schools and efficient methods of administration can be +worked out only through trial and experiment. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS + + +1. The future occupations of the children in school will correspond +very closely to those of the native-born adult population. The +occupational distribution of the city's working population therefore +constitutes the best guide as to the kinds of industrial training +which can be undertaken profitably by the school system. + +2. Industrial training in school has to do chiefly with preparation +for work in the skilled trades. Training for semi-skilled occupations +can be given more effectively and cheaply in the factories than in the +schools. + +3. As a rule, industrial training is not practicable in elementary +schools, for the reason that the number of boys in the average +elementary school who are likely to enter the skilled trades and who +are also old enough to profit by industrial training is too small to +permit the organization of classes. + +4. The most important contribution to vocational education the +elementary schools can make consists in getting the children through +the course fast enough so that two or three years before the end of +the compulsory attendance period they will enter an intermediate or +vocational school where some kind of industrial training is possible. + +5. The survey recommends the establishment of a general industrial +course in the junior high school, made up chiefly of instruction in +the applications of mathematics, drawing, physics, and chemistry to +the commoner industrial processes. The course should also include the +study of economic and working conditions in the principal industrial +occupations. + +6. One or two vocational schools equipped to offer specialized trade +training for boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are needed. +At present a gap of from one to two years exists between the end of +the compulsory attendance period and the entrance age in practically +all the skilled trades, which could well be employed in direct +preparation for trade work. Such schools would relieve the first and +second year classes of the technical high schools of many pupils these +schools do not want and cannot adequately provide for. General as well +as special courses should be offered, although pupils should be +encouraged to select a particular occupation and devote at least one +year to intensive preparation for it. + +7. The survey favors the extension of the compulsory attendance period +for boys to the age of 16. The industries of Cleveland have little or +nothing worth while to offer boys below this age. + +8. The best form of trade-extension training is that provided in a few +establishments which maintain apprentice schools in their plants. This +plan is feasible only in large establishments. It will never take +care of more than a small proportion of the young workers who need +supplementary technical training. + +9. Plans for trade-extension training of apprentices depending on the +coöperation of employers have met with slight success. The principle +difficulty is that the sacrifices they involve are borne by a +relatively small number of employers while the benefits are reaped by +the industry in general. Either the industry as a whole or the +community should bear the cost of such training. + +10. The vocational interests of young workers and the social interests +of the community demand the establishment of a system of continuation +training for all young people in employment, up to the age of 18 +years. The classes should be held during working hours and attendance +should be compulsory. + +11. The enrollment in the trade classes of the night schools is far +below what it should be in a city as large as Cleveland. The +relatively small result now obtained is not the fault of the schools, +but is due mainly to the fact that the field of vocational evening +instruction is treated by the school system as a mere side line of the +technical high schools. + +12. The survey recommends the organization of all forms of +continuation, night vocational, and day vocational training under +centralized full-time leadership. Only in this way can there be +secured a type of organization and administration sufficiently elastic +and adaptable to meet the widely varying needs of the working classes. + +13. Industrial training for girls will consist in the main of +preparation for the sewing trades. Practically no other industrial +occupations in which large numbers of women are employed possess +sufficient technical content to warrant the establishment of training +courses in the schools. The survey recommends a practical course of +needle instruction in the junior high school and the introduction in +the vocational schools of specialized courses in dressmaking, power +machine operating, and trade millinery for the older girls who wish to +enter these trades. + +14. The present experiment in vocational guidance and placement should +be extended as rapidly as possible. Courses in vocational information +should be offered in the junior high school and vocational counsellors +appointed to advise pupils in the selection of their future vocations +and aid them in securing desirable employment when they leave school. +The full measure of success in this work demands better coöperation +with outside agencies on the part of teachers and principals than has +been secured up to the present time. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON BOYS AND GIRLS IN COMMERCIAL WORK + + +Particular attention is given throughout this report to the +differences which exist between boys and girls in commercial +employment with respect to the conditions which govern success and +advancement. The majority of boys begin as messengers or office boys +and subsequently become clerks or do bookkeeping work. As men they +remain in these latter positions or, in at least an equal number of +cases, pass on into the productive or administrative end of business. +The majority of girls are stenographers, or to a less extent, +assistants in bookkeeping or clerical work. Boys' work may be expected +to take on the characteristics of the business that employs them; +girls' work remains in essentials unchanged even in totally changed +surroundings. Boys' work within limits is progressive; girls' work in +its general type--with individual exceptions--is static. Boys as a +rule cannot stay at the same kind of work and advance; girls as a rule +stay at the same kind of work whether or not they advance. Boys in any +position are expected to be qualifying themselves for "the job ahead," +but for girls that is not the case. Boys may expect to make a +readjustment with every step in advancement. Each new position brings +them to a new situation and into a new relation to the business. Girls +receive salary advancement for increasingly responsible work, but any +change in work is likely to be so gradual as to be almost +imperceptible if they remain in the same place of employment. If they +change to another place, those who are stenographers have a slight +readjustment to make in getting accustomed to new terms and to the +peculiarities of the new persons who dictate to them. Bookkeeping +assistants may encounter different systems, but their part of the work +will be so directed and planned that it cannot be said to necessitate +difficult adaptation on their part. The work of clerical assistants is +so simple and so nearly mechanical that the question of adjustment +does not enter. These girl workers do not find that the change of +position or firm brings them necessarily into a new relation to the +business. + +Even moderate success is denied to a boy if he has not adaptability +and the capacity to grasp business ideas and methods; but a +comparatively high degree of success could be attained by a girl who +possessed neither of these qualifications. A boy, however, who has no +specific training which he can apply directly and definitely at work +would be far more likely to obtain a good opening and promotion than a +girl without it would be. + +The range of a boy's possible future occupations is as wide as the +field of business. He cannot at first be trained specifically as a +girl can be because he does not know what business will do with him +or what he wants to do with business. The girl's choice is limited by +custom. She can prepare herself definitely for stenography, +bookkeeping, and machine operating and be sure that she is preparing +for just the opportunity--and the whole opportunity--that business +offers to her. Her very limitation of opportunity makes preliminary +choice and training a definitely possible thing. + +[Illustration: Diagram 1.--Boys and girls under 18 years of age in +office work in Cleveland. Data from report of Ohio Industrial +Commission, 1915] + +The difference between boys and girls begins at the beginning. Boys +are given a larger share of the positions which the youngest worker +can fill. Diagram 1 illustrates this and the figures of the United +States Census for 1910 clearly corroborate it. Boys are taken for such +work and taken younger than girls, not merely because the law permits +them to go to work at an earlier age, but also because business +itself intends to round their training. Girls, on the contrary, are +expected to enter completely trained for definite positions. This fact +alone would in most cases compel them to be older. Furthermore, +because boys in first positions are looked upon as potential clerks, +miscellaneous jobs about the office have for them a two-fold value. +They give the employer a chance to weed out unpromising material; and +they give boys an opportunity to find themselves and to gather ideas +about the business and methods which they may be able to make use of +in later adjustments. + +[Illustration: Diagram 2.--Men and women 18 years of age and over in +clerical and administrative work in offices in Cleveland. U.S. Census, +1910] + +Diagram 2 shows that girls' training, if it is to meet the present +situation, must prepare for a future in specialized clerical work; +boys' future must apparently be thought of as in mostly the clerical +and administrative fields. The term "clerical" as here used, covers +bookkeepers, cashiers and accountants, stenographers and typists, +clerks and a miscellaneous group of younger workers such as +messengers, office boys, etc. "Administrative" covers proprietors, +officials, managers, supervisors, and agents, but it does not include +salespeople. + +The usual commercial course gives impartially to boys and girls two +traditional "subjects" which they are to apply in wage earning +whatever part of the wage earning field they may enter. These are +stenography and bookkeeping. The evidence collected during the survey +shows that these are rarely found in combination except in small +offices. Of the men employed who are stenographers, the majority are +of two kinds: (1) those who use stenography incidentally with their +other and more important work as clerks, and (2) those for whom +stenography is but a stepping-stone to another kind of position. The +only firms which make a practice of offering ordinary stenographic +positions for boys are those which restrict themselves to male +employees for every kind of work. + +Independent stenographic work of various kinds is of course open to +the sexes alike. In Cleveland there are a few women in court +stenography. The 10 public stenographers' offices were found upon +inquiry to include two men and 10 women. No figures regarding +convention reporters were obtainable. In the positions of the +bookkeeping group also there was some sex difference. The accountants, +bookkeepers, cashiers, pay-masters and other persons of responsibility +are, in large offices where both sexes work together, much more +likely to be men than women; the assistants who work with these may be +of either sex, but girls and women are likely to make up the greater +portion. Of the small office this is less generally true. Boys who do +machine operating are usually clerks whose machine work, as in the +case of stenography, is merely an adjunct to other work; with girls +machine operating is either the whole of the position or the most +important part of it. + +The essential difference between the clerkship which boys for the most +part hold and the general clerical work which girls do is that the +boys' work is unified and is a definite, separate responsible part of +the business, usually in line for promotion to some other clerkship; +the girls' is a miscellany of more or less unrelated jobs and is not a +preparation for specific promotion. + + +A GENERAL VIEW OF COMMERCIAL WORK + +All commercial occupations may be roughly divided into two classes: +those which have to do with administrative, merchandising, or +productive work, and those which carry on the clerical routine which +the others necessitate. The first class of occupations may be +designated by the term "administrative work" and the second by +"clerical work." A varying relation exists between the two which +depends chiefly upon the kind of business represented. In some kinds +clerical work is the stepping stone by which administrative work is +reached; in others employment in clerical work side-tracks away from +the administrative work. + +There is, of course, a future of promotion within the limits of +clerical work without reference to its relation to administrative +work. The practical aspect of it is, in most kinds of business, that +the subordinate clerical positions far outnumber the chief ones. +Promotion of any sort depends largely upon individual capacity; but +this general distinction may be made between promotion in clerical +work and in administrative work; in the clerical field it tends to be +automatic but limited; in administrative work it comes more often +through a worker's initiative or individuality than through automatic +progression and it has no arbitrary limits. + +Obviously one kind of person will be adapted to an administrative +career; another to a clerical one. Even a beginner in wage earning +might be able to classify himself on a basis like this; yet it is not +essential, for in many cases it is possible that his first positions +recognize this choice. He needs fundamental experience in business +methods whatever he is going to do; and for most administrative +positions he needs maturity. He can achieve both by serving an +apprenticeship in some form of clerical work. The important things for +him in the early part of his career are to understand the distinction +between the two classes of occupations; to sense the relation he holds +to the business as a whole; and to act intelligently in the matter of +making a change. + + +BOOKKEEPING + +The bookkeeping which modern business, except in the small +establishment, demands of young workers is certainly not the journal +and ledger bookkeeping of the commercial schools. A modern office +organization may have in its bookkeeping department of 20 persons only +one "bookkeeper." This person is responsible for the system and he +supervises the keeping of records and the preparation of statements. A +minority of his assistants will need to be able to distinguish debits +from credits; the rest will be occupied in making simple entries or in +posting, in verifying and checking, or in finding totals with the aid +of machines. The bookkeeping systems employed show wide variation, not +only in different kinds of business, but in different establishments +in the same kinds of business. Many firms are using a loose-leaf +system; some use ledgers; and others have a system of record keeping +which calls for neither of these devices. Bookkeeping work, especially +in the positions held by girls, is frequently combined with +comptometer or adding machine work, with typing, billing, filing, or +statistical work; but rarely, except in the small office, are +bookkeeping and stenography--the Siamese Twins of traditional and +commercial training--found linked together. + + +STENOGRAPHY + +Stenography is used throughout business chiefly in correspondence; to +a less extent for report and statement work, for legal work, and for +printer's copy. The stenographer in any business office, more than +other clerical workers, is supposed to look after a variety of +unorganized details including the use of office appliances, the filing +of letters, and sometimes dealing with patrons or visitors in the +absence of the employer. She is more important to the employer in his +personal business relations than any other employee, except in the +case of those few employers who have private secretaries. + + +CLERKS' POSITIONS + +In the case of large corporations, which are by far the largest +employers of clerks, this work has been standardized to a marked +degree. The organization of the office work of the telegraph, +telephone, and express companies, the railroads, and the occasional +large wholesale company in Cleveland is a nearly exact duplication of +that of other district or division offices controlled by these +companies in other cities. The same is true of the Civil Service. +Whatever effects standardization may have upon opportunity, it +obviously makes for definiteness in regard to training requirements. +All the positions are graded on the basis of experience and +responsibility and a logical line of promotion from one to another has +been worked out. + +The report contains detailed studies of different kinds of clerical +work in the offices of transportation and public utility corporations, +retail and wholesale stores, manufacturing establishments, banks, the +civil service, and small offices employing relatively few people. In +each of these such matters as character of the work, opportunities for +advancement, kind of training needed and special qualifications are +taken up. + + +WAGES AND REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT + +Stated briefly the conclusions of the report with respect to wages and +regularity of employment in office positions are as follows: + +The wage opportunities for clerical workers, especially men, lie in +business positions outside the limits of clerical work. Men clerical +workers average about the same pay as salesmen and more pay than +industrial workers. Women clerical workers receive more than either +saleswomen or industrial workers. Employment is much more regular in +clerical work than it is in salesmanship or industrial work. For men +clerical workers the wage opportunity is better in manufacturing and +trade than in some kinds of transportation business. For women it is +better in manufacturing and transportation than it is in trade. Men's +wages tend to be higher than women's in all branches of clerical work. + +Among the clerical positions, bookkeeping shows the highest wage +average for men; clerks' positions show the lowest. Stenography shows +the highest for women; machine work the lowest. Men bookkeepers show +their best wage average in the wholesale business, clerks in +transportation, and stenographers in manufacturing. The small office +gives better wage opportunity to women bookkeepers and men +stenographers; the large office favors women stenographers and men +clerks. + +For boys, there is some indication that advanced education and +commercial training, in their present status, are less closely related +to high wages than are personal qualities and experience. For girls, +the combination of high school education and business training is the +best preparation for wage advancement. A general high school education +and usually, business training, are essential to the assurance of even +a living wage. Business training based upon less than high school +education is almost futile. + + +THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING + +Six chapters of the report are devoted to a consideration of the needs +and possibilities of training. The work now being done in the public +schools of the city is discussed in detail, with suggestions for a +better adaptation of the courses of study and methods and content of +instruction to the needs of boys and girls who wish to prepare +themselves to enter clerical occupations. The observations on training +for such work may be summarized as follows: + +Commercial training should be open to all students whom commercial +subjects and methods can serve best; but graduation should depend upon +a high standard of efficiency. + +Statistics show that commercial training is not to be looked upon, in +a wholesale way, as a successful means of taking care of backward +academic students. + +Commercial students' need for cultural and other supplementary +education may be even greater than that of academic students. + +The graduation rate of commercial students in public schools has been +increased since the organization of a separate commercial high school +and the number of students entering has been decreased. + +Commercial high schools receive a grade of children who are about +medium in scholarship and normal in age. + +Commercial and academic high school teachers are similar in scholastic +preparation and in the salaries they are paid. + +The Cleveland Normal School does not prepare definitely for the +teaching of commercial subjects. Commercial teachers are nominally +supervised by the district superintendents. + +Public schools receive 29 per cent of the city's day commercial +students. The private schools receive a few more than the sum of +public, parochial, and philanthropic schools. + +Public schools receive 22 per cent of the city's night commercial +students. The private schools receive more than twice as many as the +public and philanthropic schools. There are no night commercial +classes in parochial schools. + +The length of the day course in most private schools is eight months +or less; in public schools it is four years. + +The public school, if it believes in longer preparation for commercial +work than most private schools give, should demonstrate the reason to +parents and children. + +Training for boys and girls should be different in content and in +emphasis. + +The usual course of study in commercial schools is suitable for girls +and unsuitable for boys. + +A girl needs, chiefly, specific training in some one line of work. She +has a choice among stenography, bookkeeping, and machine operating. + +A boy needs, chiefly, general education putting emphasis on writing, +figuring, and spelling; general information; and the development of +certain qualities and standards. + +For students electing to go into commercial work, general education +may be taught more effectively through the medium of commercial +subjects than through academic ones. + +Boys' training looks forward to both clerical work and business +administration; but as clerical work is a preparation for business and +is likely to occupy the first few years of wage earning, training +should aim especially to meet the needs of clerical positions. + +Clerical positions for boys cover a variety of work which cannot be +definitely anticipated and cannot therefore be specifically trained +for. But certain fundamental needs are common to all. + +Most of the specialized training for boys should be given in night +continuation classes. + +Girl stenographers need a full high school course for its educational +value and for maturity. Girls going into other clerical positions can +qualify with a year or two less of education; but immaturity in any +case puts them at a disadvantage. + +Boys' training, for those who cannot remain in school, should be +compressed into fewer than four years. Immaturity in the case of boys +is not a great disadvantage. + +Bookkeeping has general value in the information it gives about +business methods and for its drill in accuracy. To some extent it may +aid in the development of reasoning. + +Much of the bookkeeping in actual use in business consists in making +entries of one kind only and in checking and verifying. Understanding +of debit and credit, posting, and trial balance, is the maximum +practical need of the younger workers. + +Penmanship demands compactness, legibility, neatness, and ease in +writing; also, the correct writing and placing of figures. + +The chief demand of business in arithmetic is for fundamental +operations--adding and multiplying--also for ability to make +calculations and to verify results mentally. + +Undergraduate experience in school or business offices may be a +valuable method of acquainting students with office practice and +routine and with business organization and business standards. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON DEPARTMENT STORE OCCUPATIONS + + +The field covered in this volume is limited to the business of retail +selling as carried on in the department stores and some other stores +of Cleveland. The retail stores considered can all be assigned to one +of the three following classes: (1) The department store of the first +rank which draws trade not only from the whole city and the suburbs +but also from the towns and smaller cities of a large surrounding +district; (2) the neighborhood store which does a smaller business +within narrower limits, drawing its trade, as the name indicates, from +the immediate neighborhood; (3) the five and ten cent store, well +known by syndicate names, where no merchandise which must be sold +above 10 cents is carried. + + +DEPARTMENT STORES + +The five largest department stores in Cleveland employ about 5,800 +people distributed among several mercantile departments, and in a +variety of occupations that find a place in the industry. Of these +5,800 people approximately seven-tenths are women and three-tenths +are men; 90 per cent are over 18 years of age and 10 per cent are +under 18. + +The entire force of a store is sometimes arbitrarily divided by the +management into "productive," and "non-productive" help. From 40 to 60 +per cent of the employees were reported as actually taking in money, +while the remainder, the "non-producers," were engaged in keeping the +business going and making it possible for the "producers" to sell +goods. + +The greatest number of opportunities either for employment or +promotion are in the selling force. This is often spoken as being "on +the floor." Both boys and girls may find employment here, though a +large majority of the sales force is made up of them. Speaking in +general terms, men are only employed to sell men's furnishings, +sporting goods, bulky merchandise, such as rugs, furniture, blankets, +etc., and yard goods which are difficult to handle, such as household +linens and dress goods. Positions as buyers and buyer's assistants are +not restricted by sex and boys and girls may both consider them as a +possible goal. + + +NEIGHBORHOOD STORES + +A neighborhood store is that type of department store which draws its +trade from a comparatively limited area of which the store is the +center. The kind of goods carried are practically the same as in the +large department store and the variety of merchandise may be nearly as +great; but the selection is more limited because of the small stock. + +Promotion to selling positions is more rapid in the neighborhood +stores than in regular department stores. One reason for this is that +a larger proportion of the force is "productive," _i.e._, selling. +This proportion may run as high as 80 or even 90 per cent, as compared +with the 40 to 60 per cent of "productive" help in large department +stores. + +Employment in these stores is looked upon as desirable preliminary +training for service in larger department stores. This is the general +opinion held by those who hire the employees in the larger stores. The +selling experience gained in neighborhood stores is looked upon as +general, in that it gives an acquaintance with a variety of +merchandise rather than an extensive knowledge of any line of stock. +This experience makes the employee adaptable and resourceful. Another +advantage of neighborhood training for sales people is the fact that +they are brought into closer human relations with the customer and +thus learn the value of personality as a factor in making sales. + + +FIVE AND TEN CENT STORES + +Cleveland had in the fall of 1915 six large stores where nothing +costing over 10 cents is sold. These belong to three syndicates or +chains. To show the extent to which this business has developed it may +be stated that the largest of these syndicates, which controls three +of the six Cleveland stores, has 747 branches in different parts of +the country. + +The number of saleswomen in a single store ranges from 12 to 70. The +total number in the six stores was approximately 226. The shift in +this branch of retail trade is large, as there are continual changes +in the selling force. One store reported the number of new employees +hired in six months as being about equal to the average selling force. + +The managers of the five and ten cent stores without exception stated +that they preferred to hire beginners who were without store +experience. The hours of work are longer and the conditions under +which the work is done are more trying than is usually the case in the +larger department stores. + +The girl who expects her application for employment in the five and +ten cent store to be accepted must be 18 years old in order that she +may legally work after six o'clock. It is better for her to be without +previous selling experience (unless in other five and ten cent +stores), as employers in these stores prefer to train help according +to their own methods. + + +WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT + +The wages paid beginners in the department stores are fair as compared +with other industries employing the same grade of help. Boys and girls +when they first enter employment receive from $3.50 to $7, depending +on the store where they get their first job. In addition to the salary +most department stores give bonuses or commissions through which the +members of the sales force may increase their compensation. The +Survey Staff worked out comparisons on the basis of data supplied by +the State Industrial Commission between the earnings of workers in +department store occupations and those in other industries. Diagram 3 +shows graphically a comparison of the wages of women workers in six +different industries. An interesting point brought out by this graphic +comparison is that retail trade constitutes a much better field for +women's employment as compared with the great majority of positions +open to them in other lines than is commonly assumed to be the case. +This is brought out even more clearly in Table 15, which compares, on +a percentage basis, those who earn $12 a week and over, in all of the +industries of the city employing as many as 500 women in 1914. + +[Illustration: Diagram 3.--Per cent of women earning each class of +weekly wages in each of six occupations] + + +TABLE 15.--PER CENT OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE EARNING +$12 A WEEK AND OVER + + + Office employees, in retail and wholesale stores 31.8 + Employees in women's clothing factories 22.5 + Saleswomen in retail and wholesale stores 21.0 + Employees in men's clothing factories 13.3 + Employees in hosiery and knit goods factories 7.9 + Employees in printing and publishing establishments 7.7 + Employees in telephone and telegraph offices 6.3 + Employees in laundries and dry cleaning establishments 4.4 + Employees in cigar and tobacco factories 3.9 + Employees in gas and electric fixtures concerns 3.2 + +If the data were for retail stores only and did not include wholesale +stores, then office work, which now stands at the head of the list, +would probably not make so good a showing, although the superiority +over the selling positions is, from the wage-earning standpoint, so +marked that there seems to be no escape from the conclusion that on +the whole women office workers are better paid than women in the sales +force. On the other hand the proportion of saleswomen earning $12 and +over is from nearly seven times as great to not far from twice as +great as it is in the factory industries, if we except the workers in +women's clothing factories, whose earnings per week are better than +those of the saleswomen. + +With respect to the men employed on the sales force of the department +stores a somewhat different situation exists. In Diagram 4 a +comparison is made of the wages paid in sales positions with the wages +paid in clerical positions. Here it will be noted that men who sell +goods in retail and wholesale stores earn more on the average than men +occupying clerical positions, such as bookkeepers, stenographers, and +office clerks. This comparison does not include traveling salesmen. A +further comparison of the earnings of the men in stores with the +earnings of male workers (omitting office clerks) in the different +industries of the city employing the largest number of men is given in +Diagram 5, which shows the per cent in each industry earning $18 a +week and over. + +[Illustration: Diagram 4.--Per cent of salesmen and of men clerical +workers in stores receiving each class of weekly wage] + +In comparing wages in stores with those in the manufacturing +industries it must be not forgotten that the working day and week in +the larger stores is shorter than in most of the factories. Hence a +comparison of earnings on the basis of wage per hour would show a +still greater advantage in favor of both sales persons and clerical +workers. + +[Illustration: Diagram 5.--Per cent of male workers in non-clerical +positions in six industries earning $18 per week and over] + + +REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT + +In department store work and in nearly all branches of retail selling +there is a marked fluctuation in the number employed during the year. +Sales work in the department stores is seasonal in the sense that a +large number of extra sales women are taken on during the Christmas +season for a period of temporary employment, usually lasting from one +to two months. The proportion of the total working force for the whole +year employed in such transient jobs is approximately one-fourth. How +selling positions in retail and wholesale stores compare with other +fields of employment in this respect is seen in Diagram 6. + +[Illustration: Diagram 6.--Per cent that the average number of women +employed during the year is of the highest number employed in each of +six industries] + + +OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT + +In regard to promotion in department stores it should be noted that as +a rule the executives are made in the business and are not, as in some +industries, brought in from the outside because they must have some +special training which the organization itself does not provide. Not +only in Cleveland but in other cities where studies of the same kind +have been made it has been found that practically all the people +holding important floor positions have come up from the ranks. The +various lines of promotion through the different departments are +analyzed in detail in the report. + + +THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING + +That vocational training for department store employees is both +desirable and possible is proved by the fact that most of the large +stores in Cleveland make some provision for the instruction of their +workers. Some of these classes are carefully organized and excellently +taught with every promise of increasing in usefulness. Others employ +methods of instruction which belong to the academic school of an +earlier decade and give evidence that the problem of vocational +training with which they are presumably concerned is not even +understood. + +From the standpoint of the school there are two well recognized kinds +of training possible for department store employees: trade preparatory +and trade extension training. Eventually it may prove practicable to +organize instruction of both kinds, but it is the opinion of the +author of the report that under present conditions the surest results +can be expected from trade extension training. In trade extension +instruction the members of the group to be dealt with have already +secured their foothold in the industry; and having mastered at least +the rudiments of their job they have acquired a basis of experience +which may be utilized for purposes of instruction. These people are +responsive to teaching organized with regard to their needs, for daily +experience is demonstrating to them their deficiencies. + +The success of the proposed training will largely depend upon the +employment of simple and direct methods that shall place this +knowledge in the hands and head of the person or group needing it. The +application of this instruction must be immediate and practical and +must not be dependent upon the working out of a complicated course or +schedule. + +The organization must be flexible enough to admit of bringing together +a group having a common need, although they may come from different +departments of the business. Since the unit of class organization is +not previous school experience or similar employment, it will be seen +that this class should be held only until the need is fully supplied +and should then give place to another organized on the same basis. + +As in all vocational teaching, the size of the class should be +limited. To make this work really effective, the instructor should +come in sufficiently close contact with all pupils to enable him to +obtain a personal knowledge of their needs and capabilities. A further +necessity for small classes and individual instruction is found in the +fact that there is a constant shift of employees in the industry as +well as frequent accessions from the outside. + +It readily can be seen that this is not a problem of the regular +school and that it cannot be met by ordinary classroom methods. Part +time or continuation classes, such as have already proved feasible for +other kinds of trade instruction, are the most practicable methods of +doing this work. + +Classes for the instruction of employees are already maintained in the +majority of large stores. The extension of this plan of separate +responsibility is one way of meeting the problem. But this method has +certain obvious faults. The unequal opportunity which it affords to +department store employees as a body is a conspicuous drawback. The +value of the instruction so given, moreover, will always depend to a +large extent on the comprehension of the problem by the firm +maintaining the classes. The method involves much duplication of +effort, which is particularly wasteful when the instruction of small +groups is involved. + +Another possible method would be for the several department stores to +get together and coöperate in providing instruction. There would seem +to be no reason why stores should not unite for this purpose as well +as for any other. The advantages of this method are economy of +maintenance and administration, the ability to command expert service, +and the possibility of securing and sharing the results of a great +variety of such experiences as does not consist of exclusive trade +secrets. + +The number of people whom it would be necessary to employ exclusively +for the purpose of conducting these classes would be small as +compared with the results accomplished. Collectively these stores now +have in their employ a body of highly paid experts in all lines of +merchandise. A large amount of the most accurate technical knowledge +covering the work of all departments is already available in the +several stores. These are valuable resources which should be utilized +by a coöperative school of this kind. + +For the head of such a school, it would be desirable to secure a man +or woman of more than usual ability and discernment who, above all +else, could sense the business and routine of each contributing store +from the standpoint of the employee and of store organization. It +would be the business of this person to become familiar with the +available sources of knowledge in the different stores and then +arrange for the presentation of this knowledge to the various classes. +By coöperation with the floor men, heads of sections and departments, +as well as with the employees themselves, he should come into close +contact with the requirements of the workers and should gather from +the different stores those who, because of their common need, can be +made into a "school unit." It would also be necessary to employ +assistants of practical experience who would attend to the details of +routine teaching, and act as interpreters for those experts who have +the knowledge but not the ability to impart it even to a small class. + +It is realized that a scheme of this kind would involve the overcoming +of many objections and difficulties of adjustment before it could be +put into actual operation. It would necessitate mutual concessions and +forbearance on the part of everybody concerned, but the results would +unquestionably justify the labor. + +A third method, already in operation in Boston, New York, and Buffalo, +calls for the coöperation of the stores and the schools. This +partnership, it is claimed, makes certain that the needs of the pupil +are considered before the demands of the business. It insures equal +opportunity for all employees so far as instruction is concerned and +it divides the expense of maintenance between the industry and the +school. It is to be regretted that this scheme frequently results in +the employment of teachers who, although certificated for regular +school work, have no other qualifications, instead of persons of +practical experience. The employment of such teachers too often leads +to the following of ordinary school practices and academic traditions +rather than the methods and practice of business. + +In some quarters it is maintained that this instruction should be +entirely taken over by the public schools, thus relieving the store of +any responsibility in the matter. It is probably not now advisable for +the school to assume full responsibility for such training. The heavy +expense involved and the physical limitations of the schools would +make it difficult, without the coöperation of the store, to reproduce +the trade atmosphere necessary for real vocational training. As a +result, the instruction would become abstract and theoretical, with +the major portion of the effort limited to a continuation of +elementary school subjects taught with reference to their application +to department store work. + + +CHARACTER OF THE INSTRUCTION + +The analysis of the industry shows that in each occupation or job +there is a definite amount of knowledge which must be acquired by the +efficient worker. A study of this analysis and of the examples of +technical knowledge needed by the worker at different points in the +industry will show that no such thing as a general course is possible. +In every case the character of the instruction should be such that it +will answer a definite need of the employee. What this instruction +should be in specific cases can be settled only, on the one hand, by a +thorough analysis of the occupation to determine what demands it makes +upon the workers, and on the other, by a careful study of the workers +themselves to ascertain how far they have been unable to meet these +demands without assistance. Lessons can then be organized dealing with +such subject matter as individuals or groups have failed to grasp, the +lack of which limits their efficiency or restricts their usefulness. +It can readily be seen that this instruction will cover a wide range +of subjects, from the use of fractions needed by checkers and +salesgirls in yard goods sections, to the special technical knowledge +of fine furs required by the salesperson who handles this +merchandise. + +The method by which this instruction can best be given is in a series +of short unit courses. In every case the length of the course is to be +determined by the subject matter. For instance, two one-half hour +lessons may be a "course," when this time is sufficient for the +necessary teaching. + +The group or class to which this instruction is given might be made up +of those who need the same technical knowledge, although they might +expect to make a different application of this instruction. For +instance, the unit course on silks might be given to a group composed +of salespeople from the silk section, the waists and gowns section, +and the section of men's neckwear. + +The report gives detailed examples of the kinds of technical knowledge +needed in the different departments of the store. It maintains that +such instruction cannot be successfully given by regular school +teachers. As in other industries the teacher needs actual experience +in the occupation for which training is given. Academic training and +teaching experience are desirable and valuable, but among the +qualifications demanded of a teacher of this kind they are of +secondary importance. + +The final chapter of the report contains valuable instructions for +young persons who desire to secure positions in retail trade. These +instructions cover such matters as work papers, methods of securing a +position, and requirements for employment in various kinds of +department store work. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON THE GARMENT TRADES + + +The clothing industry in Cleveland has grown very rapidly in recent +years. During the 10 year period from 1900-10 the number of persons +employed in the industry increased approximately 100 per cent. This +increase was much greater than the increase throughout the country as +a whole and was more than twice as large as the increase in the +population of the city. There is every indication that this rapid +growth is still continuing. It is estimated that approximately 10,000 +workers are employed in the industry at the present time. + +The distribution of men and women in the industry is most interesting. +The making of men's garments has been more fully standardized and is +subject to fewer changes than the making of women's garments. In this +standardized and systematized branch of the industry the women now +outnumber the men. In the manufacture of women's garments, where the +styles change more frequently and the work is of a more varied +character, more men than women are employed. + +The methods of work are of three general types: The old tailoring +system known as "team work," or a slight modification of it; piece +operating; and section work. Under the team system, used extensively +in the making of women's coats, a head tailor hires his own helpers +(operators and finishers), supervises them and pays them by the week +out of the lump sum he receives for the garments from the clothing +establishment. Under the piece operating system each operator sews up +all the seams on one "piece," or garment, and each finisher does all +the hand sewing on one garment. Each operator and each finisher is an +independent worker. The whole body of finishers keeps pace with the +whole body of operators. Piece operating is used almost entirely in +dress and skirt making, and to some extent in coat making. The section +system is based on the subdivision of processes into a number of minor +operations. The workers are divided into groups, each group making a +certain part of the garment. The various operations are divided into +as many minor operations as the number of workers and quantity and +kind of materials will warrant. Each of these minor operations is +performed by operators who do nothing else. This specialization has +been carried to a high degree in the manufacture of men's clothing, +and section work is increasingly used on women's coats. + + +CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORKING FORCE + +One of the objects of the study was to find how many positions there +are for men and women in each occupation in the industry. Through the +coöperation of employers data were obtained from the records of 50 +establishments employing a total of 8,337 garment workers, +approximately four-fifths of the total number in the city. The +distribution of workers by sex in the various occupations is shown in +Diagram 7. The apportioning of work to the two sexes seems to depend +partly upon the weight of materials and partly upon previous training. +The men are mostly foreign born tailors who have had the kind of +training necessary for the more complicated work. The women are +largely American born of foreign parentage, trained in American shops +and employed chiefly upon operations that may be learned in a +relatively short time. Cutting and pressing are practically +monopolized by men. Nearly all hand sewers are women, except for a few +basters on men's clothing. Most designers are men, although a few +women designers are found in dress and waist shops. + +In the largest trade,--machine operating,--about two-thirds of the +workers are women. In no trade in which both sexes are employed is the +difference in their work more apparent. The weight of materials +decides to some extent the division of operating between men and +women. Some employers are of the opinion that garments made of such +thick materials as plush, corduroys, and cheviots are too heavy to be +manipulated under needle machinery by women and consequently employ +only men operators. Where light weight materials are used, as in the +manufacture of dresses and waists, delicacy in handling is required, +and nearly all the operators are women. + +[Illustration: Diagram 7.--Distribution of 8,337 clothing workers by +sex in the principal occupations in the garment industry] + +Four-fifths of the men and two-fifths of the women employed in the +industry are of foreign birth and the majority of the native born +workers are of foreign parentage. There is an increasing demand for +workers who understand English, due to the fact that they are able to +follow directions more intelligently. + +There are relatively few workers under the age of 18. Many firms will +employ no one under this age because of various complications which +arise in connection with the age and schooling certification of girls +between the ages of 16 and 18. Of 25 women's clothing factories +visited during the Survey only nine had any workers under 18. +According to the report of the Industrial Commission of Ohio for 1914 +only eight per cent of the workers employed in making men's clothing, +and less than two per cent of the workers employed in making women's +clothing were under 18 years of age. + + +EARNINGS + +In general the wages paid in garment making compare favorably with +those of other manufacturing industries. This is particularly true +with respect to the earnings of women workers. A considerably larger +proportion of the women employed in the garment industry earn what may +be considered high wages for industrial workers than in any of the +larger factory industries of the city. This is clearly shown in +Diagram 8 which lists nine of the principal fields of industrial +employment for women. The proportions of women receiving under $8 a +week are lower in men's and women's clothing than in the other seven +industries. In the proportion of women receiving $12 and over, women's +clothing ranks first and men's clothing third. + +[Illustration: Diagram 8.--Percentage of women in men's and women's +clothing and seven other important women employing industries +receiving under $8, $8 to $12, and $12 and over per week.] + +The comparison of the wages paid men employees shown in Diagram 9 is +somewhat less favorable. Women's clothing ranks with printing and +publishing as to the proportion of male workers receiving the highest +specified earnings per week. Men's clothing ranks sixth among the +industries compared. + +The various kinds of work do not command fixed wage rates, as do many +other types of industrial employment. Quantity of output as well as +quality of workmanship is an important factor in the determination of +wages. Men generally turn out a greater output than women on the same +kind of work and piece workers usually earn more than those paid by +the week. The lowest, average, and highest wages for each of the +principal occupations in the two branches of the industry are shown in +Tables 16 and 17. + +One reason often given for the higher earnings received by workers on +women's garments is the greater irregularity of employment in this +branch of the industry. This, however, does not sufficiently account +for the difference. The most weighty reason is that a higher degree of +adaptability is required of workers than is the case in the +manufacture of men's clothing. + +[Illustration: Diagram 9.--Percentage of men in men's and women's +clothing and seven other manufacturing industries receiving under $18, +$18 to $25, and $25 and over per week] + + +TABLE 16.--WAGES FOR FULL-TIME WORKING WEEK, WOMEN'S CLOTHING, +CLEVELAND, 1915 + +---------------------------------------+--------+----------+---------+ +Workers | Lowest | Average | Highest | +---------------------------------------+--------+----------+---------+ +Assorters, women | $6.00 | $8.75 | $14.00 | +Hand sewers, women | 6.00 | 10.00 | 20.00 | +Trimming girls | 7.00 | 10.25 | 15.00 | +Operators,* women | 6.00 | 12.00 | 30.00 | +Sample makers, women | 10.00 | 12.75 | 15.00 | +Examiners, women | 8.00 | 13.50 | 18.00 | +Models, suit and cloak | 10.00 | 15.25 | 21.00 | +Forewomen | 9.00 | 16.25 | 25.00 | +Operators,* men | 7.00 | 17.75 | 50.00 | +Pressers, men | 9.00 | 18.25 | 35.00 | +Cutters,§ men | 8.00 | 19.25 | 30.00 | +Pattern graders, suit and cloak, men | 13.00 | 22.00 | 27.50 | +Sample makers, men | 13.00 | 22.50 | 25.00 | +Examiners, men | 16.00 | 25.00 | 45.00 | +Head tailors, men | 18.00 | 25.00 | ... | +Foremen | 14.00 | 30.00 | 75.00 | +---------------------------------------+--------+----------+---------+ +*: Includes piece and section operators and helpers to head tailors +§: Includes all cutters except foremen, apprentices, and pattern graders + + +TABLE 17.--AVERAGE WAGES FOR FULL-TIME WORKING WEEK FOR SIMILAR +WORKERS, MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CLOTHING, CLEVELAND, 1915 + +---------------------------------------+--------------+--------------+ +Workers | Men's | Women's | + | clothing | clothing | +---------------------------------------+--------------+--------------+ +Hand sewers, women | $9.50 | $10.00 | +Section operators, women | 9.25 | 11.25 | +Examiners, women | 7.00 | 13.50 | +Section operators, men | 16.50 | 15.25 | +Pressers, under | 12.00 | 15.75 | +Forewomen | 11.00 | 16.25 | +Pressers, upper | 18.50 | 19.50 | +Cutters, cloth | 18.75 | 20.00 | +Examiners, men | 17.75 | 25.00 | +Foremen | 29.25 | 30.00 | +---------------------------------------+--------------+--------------+ + + +REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT + +The making of women's clothing is seasonal, to meet a seasonal +purchasing demand. Most people purchase their summer clothes in April +and May, and their winter clothes in October and November. During the +months previous to these purchasing seasons a large number of workers +are needed, but after the height of the purchasing period employment +becomes less and less steady until the first demands of the new season +are felt. During the rush season a greater number of workers is +employed, or the output may be augmented by increasing the speed at +which the work is performed or the number of hours in the working day. +A combination of these methods is frequently used. During dull periods +the workers may be busy from a few hours a week to full working time; +while in rush periods they may work not only the regular working +hours, but in addition a good deal of over-time. + +Compared with other manufacturing industries as regards regularity of +employment men's clothing makes an excellent showing while women's +clothing ranks low. In Diagram 10 the average number of unemployed +among each 100 workers is shown for men's and women's clothing and for +15 other large manufacturing industries in the city. Men's clothing +leads the list, with an average unemployment of four among each 100 +workers, while women's clothing ranks 14th, with 15 among each 100. + + +TRAINING AND PROMOTION + +Designers learn their work through apprenticeships to custom tailors +and cutters and by taking supplementary courses in drafting and +grading of patterns in a designing school. Most designers in +Cleveland have had training in designing schools in New York or +Chicago. + +[Illustration: Diagram 10.--The black portions of the bars show the +average number of unemployed among each 100 workers in men's clothing, +women's clothing and 15 other specified industries] + +With but few exceptions organized training for machine operating is +found only in the largest establishments. There is general agreement +among employers that it takes a girl who has never operated a machine +before about four weeks to learn an easy operation well enough to be +taken on at regular piece rates. A much longer time is required to +become a first class worker on a single operation, and to acquire +skill in a group of operations takes from one to two years. + +Girls are not usually employed as hand sewers unless they know how to +do plain sewing. A girl who starts with this knowledge should be able +to learn factory sewing well enough to earn fair wages within from six +months to a year. + +In cutting, which has a so-called apprenticeship lasting from two to +six years, there is no formal system of instruction. Boys must pick up +the trade from observation and practice. Beginners start as errand +boys, cloth boys, bundlers, or helpers. + +Pressing is usually learned in cleaning and pressing shops. It takes +about eight weeks for a green hand to become a good seam presser. To +become a final presser on skirts and dresses requires from six months +to a year, and on jackets and cloaks from two to three years. + +Examiners have usually had considerable previous experience as machine +operators or finishers. The length of experience depends on the kinds +of garments and ranges from three to eight years. + +Trimmers and assorters learn their work as helpers to experienced +employees. A year or so of experience is required before they can be +entrusted with responsible work. + +Foremen are selected from the working force or, in a few cases, +trained especially for their positions. Although there are few +opportunities each year for advancement to foremanship, employers +declare they cannot get enough persons of ability to fill vacancies. A +study of the previous experience of foremen and forewomen made by the +survey shows that they come from nearly every department of the +factory. The length of previous experience among the cases studied +ranged from three months to nine years. + + +EDUCATIONAL NEEDS + +The quality which proprietors of garment making establishments value +above all others in their employees is adaptability. The reason for +this is that the manufacturing of clothing differs from almost all +other kinds of industrial work in the frequency with which changes +take place in the size and shape of the product and in the range of +materials which must be handled by the same workers. There is an +annual change in the weight of cloth used for the different seasons, +from light to heavy and from heavy to light. The size and shape of the +pieces which compose the finished garment are determined by changes in +style which vary from the minor modifications occurring yearly in +men's clothing to the radical changes in the style of women's +clothing. A wide variety of fabrics is employed, ranging from thick to +thin, smooth to rough, closely woven to loosely woven and from plain +weave to fancy weave. In one season a single establishment will make +garments from as many as 200 different fabrics, and each operator is +likely to work upon 60 or more different kinds of cloth. + +In view of the fact that many of the workers are foreigners or of +foreign parentage, and that the frequent changes in styles and +materials require the giving of detailed instructions by foremen, +instruction in English is of more importance in the garment trades +than in occupations where there is a larger proportion of native born +and where the products and processes are more uniformly standardized. + +All clothing workers should have a practical knowledge of the +fundamental operations of arithmetic. Where the piece and section +systems are in operation it is important for the worker to keep +account of what she has accomplished and to know enough arithmetic to +check her own record with the tally kept by the foreman or payroll +girl. Some of the occupations, such as cutting, involve a considerable +amount of arithmetical computation. + +As in other trades, all workers and prospective workers need a general +knowledge of industrial conditions. They would greatly benefit from a +better understanding of the supply of labor, factors affecting prices, +organization of workers, industrial legislation, the relative +importance of the field of employment in different industries, the +nature of important industrial processes, and the like. At the present +time there is little opportunity for gaining such information either +before entering any specific line of work or afterwards. + +For certain small groups within the clothing industry there are needs +in the way of technical training that are important and at present +unsupplied. Training in applied mathematics, drafting and design would +be of benefit to a considerable number of employees who are occupying +or working towards advanced positions. + +A large proportion of the women workers need skill in hand sewing. +Before girls enter the industry they should have careful and +systematic training in plain sewing stitches, sewing on buttons and +other fasteners, and button hole making. + +Machine operating is the most important occupation in the industry, +and employs more women than any other occupation in the city, except +perhaps dressmaking. After a careful study of the characteristics of +this occupation and the various conditions affecting it, the survey +reached the conclusion that there should be established by the school +system a trade course for prospective power machine operators. + + +SEWING COURSES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS + +In the elementary schools manual training sewing is given in the fifth +and sixth grades. It consists of one hour a week of hand sewing taught +by a regular grade teacher or sometimes by teachers of domestic +science or other special subjects. The aim is to give the girls a +knowledge of practical sewing which may be of use to them in the home. +In five of the elementary schools hand and machine sewing is taught by +special sewing teachers. About four per cent of all the seventh and +eighth grade girls in the elementary schools receive this instruction. +In the technical high schools the sewing course covers four years +work. During the first two years all girls are required to take plain +hand and machine sewing three and three-quarter hours a week. In the +third and fourth years they may elect either millinery or dressmaking, +and special courses in these subjects are provided for girls who wish +to prepare for trade work. The aim of the sewing course as stated in +the outline of the East Technical High School is "(1) Preparation for +efficiency in the selection of the materials used in sewing and the +construction of articles relating to the home and family sewing: (2) +laying the foundation for courses in college, normal school, or +business school." A two year elective course in sewing is provided in +the academic high school as a part of the home economic course. The +aim of this sewing, which is called domestic art, is stated thus: +"Problem--my personal appearance is one of my chief assets. What can I +do to improve it?" Dressmaking and millinery classes are conducted in +the night technical high schools to teach girls how to make their own +clothes and hats. + +The manual training sewing in the fifth and sixth grades cannot be +considered as furnishing any important contribution in the training of +those who will make their living in the sewing trades. Much the same +must be said of the work in the technical high schools. It is taught +not for the purpose of securing quick, accurate hand or machine +stitching, but to enable the girls to make a few garments for their +personal use. Due to the fact that very few of the girls who become +wage earners in these trades remain in school after the completion of +the elementary course it is doubtful whether the technical high school +offers a hopeful field for practical training. The work in the +elementary schools is so hampered by lack of equipment that the +results, from the standpoint of trade preparation, amount to very +little. + + +ELECTIVE SEWING COURSES IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL + +The reduction of retardation all through the grades is of fundamental +importance to any plan of vocational training. The age of 15 is the +final compulsory attendance age for girls, and those who enter at six +and seven and make regular progress should be in the first or second +high school year by the time they reach this age. Last year there +were, however, 1,170 fifteen-year-old girls in the Cleveland schools +who were from one to seven grades below normal. Instead of being in +the high school, they were scattered from the second grade to the +eighth, and they constituted more than half of all the girls of that +age in the school system. It is clear that unless the schools can +carry them through more nearly on schedule time there is no hope of +providing industrial training for a large proportion of them, because +they reach the end of the compulsory period before entering the grades +in which industrial training can be given effectively and +economically. + +The report recommends that during the junior high school period girls +who expect to enter the sewing trades should be given work in +mechanical drawing, elementary science, industrial conditions, +elementary mechanics and hand and machine sewing. The fundamentals of +sewing can be thoroughly taught in two years. The work during the +first year might well be limited to hand sewing. Machine sewing should +be taken up in the second year, and the girls given an opportunity +during the third year to specialize somewhat broadly in a trade school +on the kind of work in which they may wish to engage--power operating, +dressmaking, or millinery. + + +A ONE YEAR TRADE COURSE FOR GIRLS + +Specialized training must be conducted under conditions closely +resembling those found in the industry. This involves equipment +similar to that used in the factory, an ample supply of materials, and +a corps of teachers who have had practical experience. It might seem +that on the score of adequate equipment the factory itself would be +the place for such training. But the fact is that the main object of +the factory is to turn out as large a quantity as possible of +saleable product. In the school the main object should be to turn out +as large a quantity of saleable skill and knowledge as possible, with +the saleable product as a secondary, although necessary, feature. + +The junior high school is not the place for specialized trade +training, since it is reasonably certain that there would not be a +sufficient number of girls in each junior high school desiring to +enter a single trade to warrant the provision of special equipment and +special teachers. For this reason the report favors a trade course in +a separate school plant where girls who wish to specialize in any of +the sewing trades can be taught in fairly large classes. The work done +during the past few years in such institutions as the Boston Trade +School for Girls and the Manhattan Trade School for Girls in New York +City gives evidence of the practicability of this plan. + + +TRADE-EXTENSION TRAINING + +The only instruction offered by the public school system at the +present time which can be considered as trade-extension training for +the garment industries is that given in the sewing classes in the +technical night schools. The enrollment in these classes during the +second term of 1915-16 was 229. Only a small proportion of the girls +and women enrolled in the night sewing classes make their living by +sewing. The students employed by day in clothing factories or in any +of the sewing trades constitute somewhat less than 15 per cent of the +total number enrolled. Nearly half of the enrollment is made up of +workers in commercial, clerical or professional pursuits and +approximately one-third are not employed in any gainful occupation. + +In both technical night schools the emphasis is laid on training for +home sewing rather than on training for wage earning. The courses now +given are not planned for workers in the garment trades, but to help +women and girls who want to learn how to make, alter, and repair their +own garments. + +If a trade school of the kind described in the previous section were +established it would be possible to give at night short unit courses +in machine or hand sewing to those workers who wish to extend their +experience and prepare themselves for advancement, utilizing in the +night classes the equipment of the day school. It is probable also +that special day classes could be organized during the dull season to +give beginners the opportunity to learn new processes and extend their +knowledge of trade theory. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON DRESSMAKING AND MILLINERY + + +At the time of the last census the total number of women in Cleveland +employed as milliners or dressmakers was approximately 5,000, of whom +about seven-tenths were dressmakers and about three-tenths milliners. +For the most part they were of native birth. The proportion of young +girls engaged in these occupations was relatively small, the age +distribution showing that only about one-third of the milliners and +less than one-fifth of the dressmakers were under 21 years of age. + + +DRESSMAKING + +Four distinctive lines of work are done by those who are classified by +the census as dressmakers and seamstresses: dressmaking proper, +usually carried on in shops; alteration work in stores; general sewing +done by seamstresses at home or in the homes of customers; and the +work of the so-called dressmaking "school," in which the dressmaker +helps her customers do their general sewing. + +Shop dressmaking is in the main confined to the making of afternoon +and evening gowns and fancy blouses. Nearly uniform processes of work +are maintained and the workers in the different establishments need +about the same kinds of abilities and degrees of skill. There is a +strong and increasing tendency towards specialization of the work. + +Among each 100 workers in dressmaking shops about 13 are head girls, +55 are finishers or makers, 16 are helpers, eight are apprentices, and +the rest are lining makers, cutters, embroiderers, errand girls, +shoppers, and stock girls. + +Alteration work constitutes a separate sewing trade and consists of +the adjustment of ready-made garments to individual peculiarities. It +furnishes employment to several hundred workers in Cleveland. + +The weekly wages most commonly paid to each class of workers in +dressmaking shops may be roughly stated as follows: apprentices, $2 to +$4; helpers $6 to $9; finishers or makers $10 to $12; and drapers $18 +to $20. Lining making, done in most shops by apprentices or helpers, +pays from $4 to $6 a week. In one shop a specialist on linings +received $12. Women cutters, found in two shops, and doing supervisory +work similar to that done by drapers, earned from $15 to $25. +Hemstitchers earn $10 to $14 and a guimpe maker in one shop earned +$12. Errand girls were found at $3 and $6; stock girls at $8, $12, and +$13; and shoppers at from $3.50 to $10. + +Beginners in alteration departments are started at from $5 to $7. +Regular alteration hands earn from $7 to $18, the average being $9 or +$10. Fitters earn about the same as drapers in dressmaking shops, +averaging from $15 to $18, with a range of from $10 to $25. + +As a rule comparatively little time is lost through irregularity of +employment. Workers average from 10 to 11 months' work out of the +year. Establishments usually close during the month of August and for +one or two weeks in the spring. Workers in alteration department +average 11 months of work. Dress alteration work is steady, while suit +and coat alteration is irregular. + +Apprenticeship in dressmaking comprehends a trying-out period of from +six months to a year. Most shops take apprentices, the proportion in +the trade being one to every 12 workers; and an effort is made to keep +these new workers if they are at all satisfactory. There is no +standardized apprenticeship wage. Girls may serve without pay for six +months, or may start at from 50 cents to $4 a week. At the end of six +months they may be earning from $1.50 to $6. The lack of any wage +standard in apprenticeship probably accounts for the fact that it is +difficult to get girls to enter this trade. + + +MILLINERY + +Millinery requires the handling of small pieces of the most varied +sorts of material, most of it perishable. The materials must be +measured, cut, turned, twisted, and draped into innumerable designs +and color combinations, and sewed with various kinds of stitching. +The main processes are making, trimming, and designing. Making +consists in fashioning a specified shape from wire or buckram and +covering it with such materials as straw or velvet. The covering may +be put on plain, or may be shirred or draped. Trimming consists in +placing and sewing on all sorts of decorative materials. A combination +of the two processes of making and trimming, known as copying, +consists in making a hat from the beginning exactly like a specified +model. Designing is the creation of original models. + +The increase in the use of the factory-made hat has decreased the +number of workers in custom millinery, and has also had an effect in +diverting business from small retail shops to millinery departments in +stores. The number of millinery workers constantly fluctuates, not +only from season to season, but from year to year. According to a +close estimate not more than 2,000 workers were actually engaged in +millinery occupations during the busiest part of 1915. Between 1,200 +and 1,400 were in retail shops; about 300 were in millinery +departments in stores; and about 300 more were in wholesale houses. + +The data collected indicate that the wages of workers in retail shops +are lower in general than the wages of workers in millinery +departments in stores and in wholesale houses. Makers in retail shops +earn from $3 to $16 a week, the average being about $8. Trimmers earn +from $10 to $40, with an average of about $18. Out of 45 retail +shops, only 22 paid as high as $10 to any maker; 15 paid as high as +$12; six paid as high as $15; and only one paid over $15. + +In millinery departments in stores, trimmers, who are generally +designers, earn from $15 to $50 a week or more. The rate most commonly +received is $25. Makers are started at from $4 to $6 and may advance +to $15, with an average of about $10. + +In wholesale houses designers earn from $25 to $60, or more. Makers +start at about $5, and the usual range is from $10 to $15. Those +employed in straight copying may earn between $15 and $20. The 1914 +report of the Industrial Commission of Ohio presents data showing that +of the women 18 years of age and over employed in wholesale houses 37 +per cent receive under $8, about 22 per cent receive between $8 and +$12, while 41 per cent receive $12 and over. The girls under 18 years +of age were, with one exception, receiving less than $4 per week. + +Employment in retail shops averages about 32 weeks during the year; in +the millinery departments of stores from 32 to 42 weeks; and in +wholesale houses about 40 weeks. The proportion of workers employed +the year round is very small. The majority of millinery workers are +faced with the problem of tiding themselves over two dull seasons, +aggregating from 12 to 28 weeks each year. + +The millinery apprenticeship period lasts for two seasons of 12 weeks +each. Almost all retail shops take apprentices in large numbers, there +being one apprentice to every three or four workers in the trade. Few +apprentices are found in stores and wholesale houses. The +apprenticeship wage is extremely low. The usual rate is $1 a week +during the first season and from $1.50 to $2 during the second. + + +THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING + +The needs of girls who are soon to leave school and go to work can +best be met by a modification of the junior high school course and by +the establishment of a one-year trade school for girls. Before a +re-organization of the junior high school work is made to meet the +needs of these girls an effort should be made to reduce retardation so +that more girls will reach the junior high school before the end of +the compulsory attendance period. The present courses should be +reorganized so as to give basic preparation for wage earning and +should be as concrete and real as a thorough understanding of the +requirements of the gainful occupations can make them. Thorough sewing +courses planned from the standpoint of the sewing trades should be +offered, extending over two years. The program suggested closely +resembles that recommended for the garment trades. + +It is also recommended that a one-year trade school be established for +preparing girls to enter employment in dressmaking and millinery. The +history of trade schools for girls, both private and public, indicates +that such a school, if properly conducted, would be highly successful +in Cleveland. + +The classes in sewing and millinery in the evening technical high +schools do not offer trade-extension training for workers and it is +not likely that they could be easily reorganized to furnish such +training. It is recommended that if a trade school is established in +Cleveland, short unit courses in sewing and related subjects, such as +design, be given in evening classes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON THE METAL TRADES + + +Approximately one-half of the total number of persons in Cleveland +engaged in manufacturing are found in the metal industries. When the +last federal census was taken nearly one-seventh of the entire male +population was employed in establishments engaged in the manufacture +of crude or finished metal products. Pittsburgh only, among the 10 +largest cities in the country, has a higher proportion of its +industrial population working in such establishments. In relation to +its total population, Cleveland has twice as many people working in +these industries as Chicago, three times as many as Philadelphia, and +four times as many as New York. It is estimated that at the present +time the number of wage earners in the city engaged in this kind of +work is between 70,000 and 80,000. + +The report deals with the three leading industries of the +city,--foundry and machine shop products, automobile manufacturing, +and steel works and rolling mills. The study of this last group also +includes several related industries, such as blast furnaces, wire +mills, nail mills, and bolt, nut, and rivet factories. About +three-fourths of the total number of wage earners in the city engaged +in the manufacture of metal products are found in these three +industries. + +The field investigations consisted of personal visits to the +manufacturing establishments for the purpose of securing first hand +data as to industrial conditions, and conferences with employers, +superintendents, foremen, and workmen as to the need and possibilities +of training for metal working occupations. In all, 60 establishments, +employing approximately 35,000 men, were visited. The conclusions as +to vocational training were based on an analysis of educational needs +in the various metal industries, together with an extended study of +the social and economic factors which condition the training of all +workers. Particular attention was given to the administrative problems +involved in such training in public schools. + + +FOUNDRY AND MACHINE SHOP PRODUCTS + +According to the United States Census, foundries and factories making +machine shop products gave employment in 1909 to nearly 18,000 +Cleveland wage-earners. This industrial group ranks first in the city, +employing more than twice as many workers as the next largest +industry,--automobile manufacturing,--and approximately two-fifths of +the total working force in all metal industries. Its growth during the +previous five years, from the standpoint of number of workers +employed, showed an increase of about 33 per cent, and it is +estimated that the total number of wage-earners in 1914 was +approximately 25,000. At the present time, due to the impetus given to +this branch of manufacturing by the European war, the working force is +undoubtedly in excess of this figure. + +The report gives extended consideration to the machinist's trade, +which constitutes by far the largest body of skilled workers in the +city. This trade has been affected more than any other by the progress +of invention and the modern tendency towards specialization. In many +establishments the all-round machinist, competent to do independent +work and operate the wide variety of machine tools now used in the +trade, had practically disappeared. In his place are found +"specialist" machine hands who have learned the operation of a single +machine tool, but have no general knowledge of the trade, and who if +called on to perform work requiring the use of a machine tool +different from the one on which they are employed are unable to do so. +There are hundreds of drill press hands who cannot operate a milling +machine, lathe hands who know nothing of planer work, and so on. The +subdivision of these occupations follows closely the advance in +invention, so that employers advertising for help frequently specify +not only the machine tool to be used but add the name of the firm +which manufactures that particular type of machine, with the result +that there are about as many kinds of machinists as there are +manufacturers of machine tools. Table 18 shows the estimated number +of men employed, with their distribution in the various branches of +the trade. + + +TABLE 18.--PROPORTIONS AND ESTIMATED NUMBERS EMPLOYED IN MACHINE TOOL +OCCUPATIONS, 1915 + +--------------------------------+------------+-------------+ + | | Estimated | +Workers | Per cent | number | +--------------------------------+------------+-------------+ +Lathe hands | 18.8 | 3,384 | +Drill press operators | 17.9 | 3,222 | +Bench hands | 13.4 | 2,412 | +Machinists | 12.7 | 2,286 | +Screw machine operators | 9.4 | 1,692 | +Milling machine operators | 8.6 | 1,548 | +Tool makers | 8.3 | 1,494 | +Grinding machine operators | 6.2 | 1,116 | +Planer hands | 2.2 | 396 | +Turret lathe operators | 1.8 | 324 | +Gear cutter operators | .7 | 126 | +--------------------------------+------------+-------------+ +Total | 100.0 | 18,000 | +--------------------------------+------------+-------------+ + +Specialization has operated to lower standards of skill and keep down +wages. The average wage of the "all-round" machinist is very nearly +the lowest found among the skilled trades. The union scale is but 14 +cents an hour above that paid unskilled labor, while the average +earnings of machine operators range from four to 12 cents above +laborers' wages. Only among the highly skilled tool makers do the +wages approach those received by skilled labor in most other +industries. Table 19 shows the average, highest, and lowest rates per +hour for all branches of the machine trades in the establishments from +which data were collected during the survey, with the per cent +employed on piece work and day work. + + +TABLE 19.--AVERAGE, HIGHEST, AND LOWEST EARNINGS, IN CENTS PER HOUR, +AND PER CENT EMPLOYED ON PIECE WORK AND DAY WORK, 1915 + +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+--------+ + | | | |Per cent|Per cent| + | | | |on piece| on day | + Workers |Lowest |Average|Highest| work | work | +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+--------+ +Tool makers | 25.0 | 39.0 | 50.0 | .. | 100 | +Machinists | 25.0 | 33.2 | 50.0 | .. | 100 | +Planer hands | 20.0 | 32.2 | 42.0 | .. | 100 | +Grinding machine operators | 20.0 | 32.0 | 50.0 | 70 | 30 | +Bench hands | 17.5 | 29.6 | 45.0 | 48 | 52 | +Screw machine operators | 17.5 | 29.5 | 63.8 | 79 | 21 | +Lathe hands | 19.0 | 29.1 | 40.0 | 40 | 60 | +Turret lathe operators | 25.0 | 29.0 | 47.5 | 80 | 20 | +Gear cutter operators | 20.0 | 26.7 | 40.0 | 96 | 4 | +Milling machine operators | 15.0 | 25.9 | 40.0 | 53 | 47 | +Drill press operators | 15.0 | 23.5 | 35.0 | 35 | 65 | +Machinists' helpers | 20.0 | 22.2 | 25.0 | .. | 100 | +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+--------+ + +On the basis of weekly or yearly earnings, the trade makes a better +showing. Work is steady throughout the year, and the time lost through +unemployment on account of seasonal changes is slight. Also, as the +usual working day is from nine to 10 hours, that is, from one to two +hours longer than in the higher paid building trades, the difference +in daily wages is really less marked than a comparison of hourly rates +would seem to indicate. + +Little attempt has been made to adapt the apprentice system to modern +conditions. The term of service and rates of pay have changed but +slightly over a long period of years. As a result only a small +proportion of the boys who begin as apprentices finish the +apprenticeship term of three or four years. Employers attribute this +to the relatively high wages paid for machine operating, and the +slight advantage, from a wage standpoint, of the "all-round" man over +the machine operator. After a year or two the apprentice finds that he +can double his pay by taking a job as operator, and the inducement for +learning the trade thoroughly is too small to hold him. The report +gives a comparison of the earnings of an apprentice and a machine +operator, both starting at the same age, the first becoming a +journeyman machinist at the end of three years and the second +specializing on a particular machine. Assuming that both boys go to +work at the age of 16 their total earnings up to the age of 25 years +will be approximately equal. The lack of thoroughly trained workmen is +beginning to be felt, but the efforts made by industrial +establishments to meet it have small prospects of success unless the +economic factors of the problem are given greater consideration. + +Inasmuch as no regular apprenticeship period is served for machine +operating, a special effort was made to secure data relating to the +time usually required for the worker to learn the operation of each +tool well enough to earn average wages. In this matter the individual +opinions of foremen and superintendents differed widely, but when the +reports from all the establishments visited were compared, a +sufficient degree of uniformity was found to serve as a basis for +estimating the amount of experience workers of average intelligence +would need, under normal shop conditions, in order to become fairly +proficient. + +There was practical unanimity in fixing the period at four years for +tool makers and three to four years for machinists. Higher estimates +were received from the superintendents of plants doing a jobbing +business or manufacturing high grade machine tools than from the +specialized shops making a single product. The superintendents of +automobile manufacturing plants, where the standard of quality in +production is necessarily high, gave the lowest estimates of all. +Table 20 shows the estimated time required to learn the various types +of machine work. + + +TABLE 20.--ESTIMATED TIME REQUIRED TO LEARN MACHINE TOOL WORK + +------------------------------------+----------------------+ + Workers | Time required | +------------------------------------+----------------------+ +Grinding machine operators | 12 to 15 months | +Lathe hands | 6 to 9 months | +Planer hands | 6 months | +Gear cutter operators | 6 months | +Turret lathe operators | 4 to 6 months | +Screw machine operators | 3 to 6 months | +Bench hands | 3 to 6 months | +Milling machine operators | 2 to 4 months | +Drilling machine operators | 2 weeks to 4 months | +------------------------------------+----------------------+ + +The weakness of specialization, with its constant tendency towards the +substitution of semi-skilled operatives for trained workmen, lies in +its failure to provide a body of workers from whom to recruit the +large directive force needed in any scheme of production based on +semi-skilled labor. This condition is regarded by many employers with +grave concern, and in a few plants apprentice schools designed +primarily to train future foremen have been established. + +Practically all the foremen in the shops visited had received an +all-round training as machinists, and there are few opportunities for +promotion open to men who have not a general knowledge of the trade. +On the other hand, such general knowledge is only one of the +requisites for advancement. Others are initiative, resourcefulness, +tact, self-control, ability to get along with men, and a disposition +to subordinate personal interests to the interests of the business. To +these should be added the quality of patience, for there must be +vacancies before there can be promotions, and vacancies among the +better positions are not frequent. Ten of the establishments visited, +employing a total working force of over 5,000 men, reported but eight +vacancies among foremen's positions over a period of one year. These +same establishments had in their employ a total of 618 all-round +machinists and tool makers. Assuming that only the machinists and tool +makers were eligible for promotion, the mathematical chance per man of +becoming a foreman during the year was about one in 77. + +Other occupations studied in detail were pattern making, molding, core +making, blacksmithing, and boiler making. Pattern making offers the +most interesting work and the highest wages among the metal trades, +but the total number of American born pattern makers in the city does +not exceed seven or eight hundred, so the field of employment is +relatively limited. Molding and core making, in which between 4,000 +and 5,000 men are engaged, have practically become foreign trades. +Less than 20 per cent of the molders in the city were born in this +country. These trades offer few opportunities for employment to boys +of native birth. Somewhat similar conditions exist in the +blacksmithing trade. Changed methods of production have largely done +away with the old-time blacksmith, who survives only in horse-shoeing +and repair shops. The proportion of native blacksmiths is steadily +declining, and it is unlikely that any considerable number of boys +from the public schools will enter the trade. The boiler making trade +employs relatively few men, the total number of native born boiler +makers at the time of the last census being less than 600. The trade +seems to be at a standstill. The increase during the previous decade +was less than five per cent against a total population increase of 46 +per cent. The average earnings per hour for these trades in the +establishments visited by members of the Survey Staff are shown in +Table 21. + + +TABLE 21.--AVERAGE EARNINGS PER HOUR IN PATTERN MAKING, MOLDING, CORE +MAKING, BLACKSMITHING, AND BOILER MAKING + + Average earnings + Workers Per Hour + + Pattern makers .44 + Skilled molders .39 + Semi-skilled molders .27 + Skilled core makers .39 + Semi-skilled core makers .27 + Blacksmiths .33 + Boiler makers .32 + +The findings and recommendations as to training emphasize the fact +that the vast majority of boys who become workers in the metal trades +leave school by the time they are 15 with at most a common school +education, so that any vocational training before they go to work must +be given between the ages of 12 and 15 and before the end of the +eighth grade. The report points out the impossibility of effective +vocational instruction in elementary schools on account of the +prohibitive cost per pupil for both equipment and teaching, and +endorses the recently adopted junior high school plan. This form of +organization has the great advantage of concentrating in large groups +the boys who are old enough to make a beginning in prevocational +training, and through the departmental system of teaching offers +facilities for differentiation of courses to meet their varying needs. + +Whatever their cultural value, the present manual training courses in +woodwork have little relation to the requirements of any metal working +trade, except pattern making, in which some of the same tools are +used. No manual training work in metal is offered in the elementary +and junior high schools. + +The course recommended for the junior high school lays especial +emphasis on applied mathematics, mechanical drawings, practice in +assembling and taking apart machines, and the utilization of the shop +as a laboratory for teaching industrial science. The report maintains +that the object of such a course should be the development of +industrial intelligence through the application of mathematical and +mechanical principles to the solution of concrete problems, rather +than the teaching of specific operations and skill in the use of +tools. In mechanical drawing the ability to understand and interpret +drawings should be given more importance than the ability to make +drawings. Few workmen are ever called on to draw, while the ability to +read plans and sketches is always in demand. It is also recommended +that boys who do not expect to take a full high school course or who +intend to leave at the end of the compulsory period should devote at +least a period each week to the study of economic and working +conditions in industrial and commercial occupations. + +With respect to the technical high schools the report holds that these +schools are primarily training schools for the higher positions of +industry. They undoubtedly offer the best instruction obtainable in +the city for the ambitious boy who wishes to prepare himself for +supervisory and managerial positions in industry or for a college +engineering course. + +The establishment of a separate two-year vocational school, equipped +for giving instruction in all the larger industrial trades, is +recommended. The number of boys in the public schools between the ages +of 14 and 16 who are likely to enter the metal trades is between 700 +and 800, of whom from 500 to 600 will become machinists or machine +tool operators. An enrollment of much less than this number is +sufficient to justify the installation of good shop equipment and the +employment of a corps of teachers who have had the special training +necessary for this kind of work. It should be possible to form a class +in pattern making and foundry work of from 80 to 100 boys, and one of +at least 30 in blacksmithing. Boiler making could be taught in +connection with sheet metal work. + +Various changes are recommended in the present evening school classes +for machinists, molders, and pattern makers now given by the technical +high schools. It is claimed that the courses as now organized are not +elastic enough to meet the varying needs of the journeymen, helpers, +machine operators, and apprentices employed in these trades. The great +need is for short unit courses in which the instruction is limited to +a particular machine or a special branch of the trade. The long course +tends to discourage the student, especially when it embraces an amount +of theory out of all proportion to his working needs. + + +AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURING + +Due to the large number and specialized character of the occupations +in this industry, they are taken up in a more general way than the +"foundries and machine shop" group. The productive departments of the +automobile factories utilize in the main the same equipment as other +machinery manufacturing plants, but specialization has been carried to +a degree found in few other metal industries. The "all-round" workman +is a rara avis. The machine shops are manned by machine "specialists" +most of whom know how to operate a single machine tool or perform a +single operation made up of relatively simple elements. From one-half +to two-thirds of the working force is recruited from immigrant labor +which is "broken in" under skilful foremen within a period varying +from a few days to a few weeks. In the simpler assembling operations +the jobs are so subdivided that any man who is not actually +feebleminded can learn the work in a few days. Production is on a +large scale, permitting the maintenance of high-grade engineering and +experimental departments, where all of the work is planned to the last +detail. As a result the automobile manufacturers are turning out one +of the most complicated and most efficient machines known to modern +industry with a working force composed chiefly of semi-skilled labor. + +For the machine shop workers the training suggested is similar to that +recommended for the same class of workmen in other machine shops. The +necessity of short unit courses adapted for teaching parts of the +trade rather than the whole trade is obvious, as most automobile +workers are employed on specialized operations. Short unit evening +courses for motor and transmission assemblers, and testers and +inspectors, are recommended. + + +STEEL WORKS, ROLLING MILLS, AND RELATED INDUSTRIES + +A somewhat similar treatment is followed with respect to the iron and +steel group of industries--blast furnaces, steel mills, rolling mills, +wire mills, nail mills, and bolt, nut, and rivet factories. These +industries are characterized by a high proportion of common and +semi-skilled labor in the working force. Between 75 and 90 per cent of +the workers are of foreign birth. In the operating department of one +mill only two Americans were found among a total of 600 employees. As +a rule the native born workers are mechanics employed in the power and +maintenance departments. + +With scarcely an exception the occupations are of a nature that +require the worker to learn through actual experience in the mills. +Theory and practice must be learned at the same time. Even the +supervisory and executive positions in which a technical education is +of considerable value require a long and arduous apprenticeship on the +job before the worker can compete with men who have started with the +scantiest educational equipment, but have picked up a knowledge of the +processes by experience and observation. Below these positions the +work rapidly grades off to various kinds of machine operating in which +not even the ability to read or understand English is required. + +No plan of vocational training is presented, because at present the +mills recruit almost exclusively from foreign labor, and only a very +small number of boys from the public schools are likely to seek +employment in them. The technical content of the work which might +conceivably be given in evening classes, except in the case of the few +directive and supervisory positions, is so small that continuation +instruction offers but meager hopes of success. Under present +conditions the long working day and the necessity of changing from +the day to the night shift, or vice-versa every two weeks, constitutes +an insuperable obstacle to the organization of night classes. + +The principal need of the rank and file is a speaking and reading +knowledge of the English language, so that the workers can be taught +to avoid and prevent accidents, and give themselves the necessary care +when they occur. Instruction in English with possibly courses in +accident prevention and personal hygiene represent about the only +training possible that can be said to have any real vocational +significance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON THE BUILDING TRADES + + +A careful estimate places the number of men engaged in building +construction in Cleveland at the present time at about 30,000, +comprising more than one-fifth of the total number employed in +manufacturing and mechanical occupations. About two-thirds of these +workmen are skilled artisans, distributed among some 20 different +trades. The estimated number in each trade is shown in Table 22. + + +SOURCES OF LABOR SUPPLY + +The building trades get their workers from four principal sources: +immigration, native journeymen from outside the city, helpers, and +apprentices. Immigration contributes the largest proportion in both +skilled and unskilled work, practically monopolizing the latter. Over +four-fifths of all cabinet makers, more than two-thirds of all brick +and stone masons, and nearly two-thirds of all carpenters are foreign +born. Plumbers and steam-fitters show the smallest proportion of +foreign labor. + + +TABLE 22.--ESTIMATED NUMBER OF MEN ENGAGED IN BUILDING TRADES, 1915 + +----------------------------------------+------------------+ + Workers in trade | Number employed | +----------------------------------------+------------------+ +Carpenters | 7,105 | +Painters, glaziers, varnishers | 2,746 | +Plumbers, gas- and steam-fitters | 2,014 | +Bricklayers | 1,800 | +Machine woodworkers | 1,198 | +Sheet metal workers or tinsmiths | 1,069 | +Cabinet-makers | 895 | +Inside wiremen and fixture hangers | 750 | +Plasterers | 638 | +Paperhangers | 379 | +Structural iron workers | 356 | +Roofers and slaters | 315 | +Stone-cutters | 292 | +Lathers | 275 | +Stone masons and marble setters | 250 | +Ornamental iron workers | 200 | +Cement finishers | 200 | +Hoisting engineers | 150 | +Elevator constructors | 100 | +Parquet floor layers | 100 | +Tile-layer | 100 | +Asbestos workers | 75 | +Wood carvers | 63 | +Helpers | 926 | +Apprentices | 306 | +----------------------------------------+------------------+ +Total | 22,302 | +----------------------------------------+------------------+ + + +APPRENTICESHIP + +The general decline of the apprenticeship system which began with the +invention of modern labor-saving machinery has affected the building +trades least of all. Here it survives in an active state and is +steadily gaining ground. It is in favor with many employers and with +all unions. The best apprenticeship systems are found in the strongly +organized trades. + +It is true that in some of the trades apprenticeship is little more +than a name, meaning simply that permission has been granted to learn +the trade. The apprentice is left free to pick up what experience he +can between the odd jobs that are given him. What meager instruction +he receives comes from a journeyman worker who is none too eager to +give up what he considers the secrets of his trade. + +The union regulations provide that boys shall not enter the trades as +apprentices or helpers below the age of 16. The limits set by the +various trades and the union regulations as to length of +apprenticeship are shown in Tables 23 and 24. + + +TABLE 23.--UNION REGULATIONS AS TO ENTERING AGE OF APPRENTICES + +----------------------------------------+------------------------+ +Asbestos workers | Enter at any age | +Bricklayers | Between 16 and 23 | +Carpenters | Between 17 and 22 | +Cement finishers | Must be full grown | +Elevator constructors | Must be full grown | +Lathers | Must be 18 years old | +Inside wiremen | Between 16 and 21 | +Painters and paperhangers | Before 21 years old | +Plumbers and gas-fitters | Must be 16 years old | +Sheet metal workers | Must be over 16 years | +Slate and tile roofers | Must enter before 25 | +Steam-fitters | Must be full grown | +Structural and ornamental iron workers | Between 18 and 25 | +----------------------------------------+------------------------+ + + +TABLE 24.--UNION REGULATIONS AS TO LENGTH OF APPRENTICESHIP PERIOD + +_Trades in which indentures are usually signed_ + Bricklayer 4 years + Plasterers 4 years + Sheet metal workers 4 years + +_Trades in which indentures are seldom signed_ + Steam-fitters 5 years + Carpenters 4 years + Inside wiremen 4 years + Plumbers and gas-fitter 4 years + Cement finishers 3 years + Asbestos workers 3 years + Painters and paperhangers 3 years + Slate and tile roofers 3 years + Lathers 2 years + Structural and ornamental iron workers 11/2 years + Elevator constructors varies + +All obtainable information points to the conclusion that the number of +apprentices employed in the city is far below the maximum permitted by +the unions. Many large contractors have no apprentices and say they +will not bother with them. Others state that they have been unable to +get or keep good apprentices and have therefore given up the plan. + + +UNION ORGANIZATION + +The building trades are among the most strongly organized in the city. +It is estimated that their unions at the present time include about 90 +per cent of all the men engaged in building work. Practically all the +large contracting firms employ only union labor. The few non-union +workers are employed by small contractors. + +Requirements for admission to the different unions vary to a marked +degree. If the union is strong and has a good control over the labor +supply, admission fees are higher and regulations as to apprentices +and helpers are more stringent than if the union is fighting to gain a +foothold. + + +EARNINGS + +No industrial workers in the city are paid better wages than those +employed in the building trades. More than one-half of the skilled +workers are in trades that pay an hourly wage of 50 cents or over. The +hourly rate in each occupation is shown in Table 25. + + +TABLE 25.--UNION SCALE OF WAGES IN CENTS PER HOUR MAY 1, 1915 + +_70 Cents_ + Bricklayers 70.00 + Hoisting engineers on boom derricks, etc. 70.00 + Stone masons 70.00 + Structural iron workers 70.00 + +_From 60 to 70 Cents_ + Marble setters 68.75 + Inside wiremen 68.75 + Plasterers 68.75 + Slate and tile roofers 67.50 + Parquet floor layers (carpenters) 62.50 + Lathers, first class 62.50 + Plumbers 62.50 + Steam-fitters 62.50 + Stone-cutters 62.50 + Hoisting engineers, brick hoists 60.00 + Elevator constructors 60.00 + +_From 50 to 60 Cents_ + Tile layers 59.38 + Lathers, second class 56.25 + Carpenters 55.00 + Cement workers, finishers 55.00 + Sheet metal workers 50.00 + Painters 50.00 + Paperhangers 50.00 + +_From 40 to 50 Cents_ + Asbestos workers 47.50 + Composition roofers 42.50 + +_Under 40 Cents_ + Cabinet-makers and bench hands 37.50 + Machine woodworkers 37.50 + Electrical fixture hangers 37.50 + Hod-carriers 35.00 + +Union organization is a more powerful factor in determining wages in +these trades than technical knowledge and skill. A high degree of +skill in a given trade brings little advantage in the matter of wages. +By establishing a minimum scale below which no journeyman shall work, +the union secures practically a flat rate of pay for most of the men +in the trade. When there is much building work and good men are +scarce, contractors sometimes pay higher wages to highly skilled +workmen in order to secure their services. As a rule, however, their +reward comes in the form of steadier employment. The less skilled man +is the first to be laid off when business is slack, while the +first-class workman, for the reason that he is so hard to replace, is +the last to be discharged. + +Many unions, among them those of the carpenters, bricklayers, and +painters, make no provision as to the wages of apprentices. Table 26 +shows the wages in three of the building trades that have established +a uniform scale for apprentices. Sheet metal apprentices are paid a +bonus of $1 extra for each week served. + + +TABLE 26.--USUAL WEEKLY WAGES OF APPRENTICES IN THREE BUILDING TRADES + +-------------+----------------+----------------+--------------+ + | | | Sheet metal | + Year | Inside wiremen | Plasterers | workers | +-------------+----------------+----------------+--------------+ +First year | $5.50 | $5.50 to $6.25 | $5.00 | +Second year | 13.20 | 8.25 to 11.02 | 5.50 to 6.00 | +Third year | 17.60 | 13.75 to 16.00 | 6.50 to 7.00 | +Fourth year | 22.00 | 19.25 | 8.00 to 9.00 | +-------------+----------------+----------------+--------------+ + + +HOURS + +The usual working day is eight hours. Many of the trades work only a +half day on Saturdays throughout the year; practically all have this +half holiday during the four summer months. For holiday or over-time +work the men receive either pay and a half or double pay. + + +REGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT + +Due to the seasonal character of building work, it is next to +impossible for a building contractor to keep a large force employed +all the year. One result of this situation is that the men change +employers more than any other workers in industry. Irregularity of +employment is greater in building construction than in any other of +the principal industries of the city. A comparison between the +different branches of building work as to regularity of employment is +presented in Diagram 11. The best showing is made by electrical +contracting, in which the average number employed is 93 per cent of +the maximum working force, and the poorest by plastering in which the +average is only 66 per cent of the maximum. + + +HEALTH CONDITIONS + +Nearly all of the building trades are open air occupations, much even +of the inside work being done before the buildings are closed in. For +the most part the materials used are not injurious to health if +reasonable precautions are taken and ordinary habits of cleanliness +observed. In general, health conditions are better than those found in +the factory industries. + +[Illustration: Diagram 11.--Sections in outline represent percentage +of men employed, and sections in black percentage of men unemployed in +each of nine building industries at the time when each industry showed +the largest percentage of unemployment] + + +OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT + +The building trades offer many opportunities for advancement. One +reason for this is the large number of supervisory positions made +necessary by the wide range of building activities. A foreman in +almost any of the trades must be able to read plans, as he must lay +out the work. It is not necessary for him to be the most skilled +mechanic in the force. Employers and superintendents say that in +selecting foremen they lay about equal weight on skill and on ability +to handle men. + +As a rule, foremanship carries with it higher wages, although in some +cases the pay is the same as that of the regular journeymen. The +reward for the added responsibility comes in the form of steadier +employment. It is not uncommon for a foreman to be hired on a salary +basis and carried on the payroll throughout the entire year. + +Small contracting offers another form of advancement. It requires but +little initial investment to make a modest beginning, because +individual workmen in the various building trades provide their own +tools and no expensive machines are required. Comparatively little +working capital is necessary, as provision is made in most contracts +for part payments as the work progresses. + + +THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING + +The recommendations of the report relating to training for the +building trades may be summarized under five headings: + +1. _Reduce retardation._ The first step in improving the educational +preparation of workers entering the building trades is to reduce +retardation or slow progress in the elementary grades. At present it +is approximately true of the men entering the building trades that +one-third drop out of school by the sixth grade, two-thirds by the +seventh grade, and three-thirds by the eighth grade. Now according to +law a boy cannot go to work until he is 16, and if he has made normal +progress he will have completed the eight grades of the elementary +course before he has reached that age. In point of fact, many of these +boys do not make normal progress through the grades and hence they +reach the age of 15 before completing the elementary course. As a +result they fall out of school without having had those portions of +the work in reading, drawing, mathematics, and elementary science +which would be of most direct use to them in their future work. + +2. _General industrial courses in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades._ +If retardation could be largely reduced in the elementary grades, +industrialized courses could be properly introduced in the seventh, +eighth, and ninth grades for boys intending to enter the building +trades. The specific changes recommended include as their most +important elements: + + a. Increased training in industrial arithmetic beginning in + the seventh grade. + + b. Courses in industrial drawing. + + c. Courses in elementary science relating to industry. + + d. Courses in industrial information. + + e. General courses in industrial shop work. + +These are general industrial courses and it is recommended that they +be introduced as prominent features of the work of the junior high +school. They are not intended to take the place of specialized courses +in the building trades, but they are proposed as courses valuable for +all future industrial workers and within which certain adaptations +should be made for those who are intending to enter the building +trades. + +3. _A two year industrial trade school._ In addition to the general +industrial courses in junior high schools that have been recommended +in the previous section, there should be established a two year +industrial trade school for boys. It should receive boys 14 to 16 +years of age who desire direct trade-preparatory training. There are +good reasons why the present elementary schools, the proposed junior +high schools, and the existing technical high schools cannot +satisfactorily take the place of a specialized two year course in +giving boys direct trade-preparatory education. Boys who go through +the technical high schools do not remain in the building trades as +artisans. This is shown by the fact that less than two per cent of the +graduates of these schools are working in the building trades. + +The elementary schools and the junior high schools cannot conduct +satisfactory trade-preparatory courses for the building industry for +the reason that they do not bring together at any one point a +sufficient number of these future workers to make it possible to teach +them economically. This is a consideration which conditions every +plan for the organization of industrial education. It is a question of +the community's capacity to absorb workmen trained for any given +occupation. In Cleveland about 4,000 boys leave the public elementary +schools each year. Approximately 2,400 of them drop out of the +elementary schools or leave after graduating from them, while the +remaining 1,600 go on to high school. The future workers in the +building trades will be largely recruited from the 2,400 boys who +leave the elementary schools each year. Most of them range in age from +14 to 16 and in school advancement from the fifth to the eighth +grades. They represent a cross-section of a large part of the city's +adult manhood of a few years hence. + +Now the census figures tell us that if present conditions maintain in +the future only about 100 of the 4,000 boys leaving school each year +will be carpenters. For the purposes of the present inquiry we may +assume that these 100 future carpenters are to be found among the +2,400 boys who do not go on to high school. But Cleveland has 108 +elementary schools and these 100 future carpenters are widely +scattered among them. Even if we knew which boys were destined to +become carpenters, and even if we knew when they would leave school, +and even if we should decide to give them all trade preparatory +education for the last two years of their school life, we should still +have an average class in carpentry of only two boys in each elementary +school. This is administratively and educationally impossible. For +similar reasons specialized trade preparatory classes in junior high +schools would prove exceedingly difficult to organize. + +The whole situation is changed, however, when we gather in a central +school all these future artisans who have decided that they wish to +prepare for specific trades. Under these conditions classes would be +sufficiently large so that specialized training could be given and +special equipment provided. This work would best be undertaken in a +school entirely devoted to the purpose, but such courses might be +organized in connection with the present technical high schools. This +arrangement would be less desirable and probably give inferior +results. The important point, however, is not so much the organization +or curriculum for these classes, it is the fundamental fact that trade +classes can be wisely organized only when a sufficiently large number +of pupils can be gathered in one place so as to make the work +efficient and economical. + +The effectiveness of the trade-preparatory training recommended would +be greatly increased if the upper limit of the compulsory attendance +period for boys should be placed at 16 years instead of at 15 as it is +now. + +4. _Trade-Extension Classes for Apprentices._ At the present time the +technical high schools offer evening classes for apprentices in the +building trades. About one-seventh of the apprentices of the city are +enrolled in these classes. In the main they are full grown men. In +general they do not want shop work related to their own trades, but +prefer instead to enroll in courses in drawing. + +The considerations already presented bear in minor degree on the +problem of providing evening instruction for trade apprentices. The +essential for efficient work is that a sufficient number of pupils be +brought together so as to make it possible to organize specialized +classes in different kinds of work that the pupils want and need. So +long as there are only 50 apprentices enrolled in the entire city, and +these represent a number of trades, many different stages of +advancement, and a variety of needs, truly efficient work will be +impossible. Better conditions can be brought about only through the +coöperation of the unions, the employers, and the school people. + +5. _Trade-Extension Work for Journeymen._ The evening technical +schools now maintain shop classes and drawing classes for workers in +the building trades. Less than one per cent of the workers in these +trades are enrolled in these classes. There is little differentiation +in the school work offered to helpers, apprentices, and journeymen. +The result is that the work is much less efficient than it might well +be. It cannot be rendered much more efficient than it is until the +classes are increased in size and as a result the work differentiated +and specialized. This type of improvement will result only from +putting the night school work in the hands of skilful and well paid +directors and teachers who bring to it a degree of energy, enterprise, +ingenuity, and adaptability that it is unreasonable to expect and +impossible to get from day school teachers who have already given the +best that is in them to their regular classes and are giving a +fatigued margin of work and attention to their night school pupils. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON RAILROAD AND STREET TRANSPORTATION + + +The report on railroad and street transportation takes up a class of +wage earning occupations that give employment in Cleveland to +approximately 15,000 men. A much larger proportion than is found in +most other industrial manual occupations are natives of the city. +Although some of the work is relatively unskilled, all of the +different occupations have one common characteristic--the necessity +for a knowledge of the English language and some acquaintance with +local customs and conditions. For this reason comparatively few +foreigners are employed. + +The report takes up separately three types of workers, those employed +in railroad train service, those engaged in wagon or automobile +transportation, and the car service employees of the street railroad. + + +RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION + +The study covered only those railroad occupations that are directly +concerned with the actual operation of trains, such as those of +engineers, firemen, conductors, and trainmen. These occupations have +many points in common and bring into play many similar mental and +physical characteristics. The requirements for entrance are strict and +examinations for the higher positions are obligatory. In all of them +the hazards are great. Each occupation is firmly intrenched in trade +unionism. Differences with employers relating to such matters as +promotion, hours of labor, wages, and overtime are settled by +collective bargaining or, in case of failure to agree, by arbitration +proceedings. + +The estimated number of men in Cleveland employed in these occupations +in 1915 is approximately 4,500. Of these about one-fourth are +switchmen and flagmen, one-fourth enginemen, one-fifth brakemen, +one-sixth conductors, and one-eighth firemen. + +The requirements for entrance call for a high degree of physical +fitness. The applicant for employment must pass a severe examination +as to vision and hearing, and in addition furnish certain data as to +his family history, as it relates to insanity, tuberculosis, and +certain other diseases. The high standard maintained insures a type of +employees which for physical fitness, mental alertness, and ability to +handle difficult situations is unsurpassed in any industry. + +Frequent examinations, which are compulsory, are the stepping stones +to the higher positions. In this way a brakeman qualifies for the +position of freight conductor, a freight conductor for that of +passenger conductor, and a fireman for a position as engineer. + +Each of the two services, passenger and freight, has its advantages. +In the passenger service the working day is short, with little +overtime. Freight service requires a longer working day and a +considerable amount of overtime. Promotions in both services and from +one to the other are made on the basis of seniority. + +Violation of the strict rules laid down for the operation of trains on +the part of employees may result in reprimand, suspension, or +dismissal, according to the gravity of the offense. The penalty of +suspension has practically superseded the others except in extreme +cases, such as drunkenness, theft, or other serious violations of the +rules, for which offenders are summarily dismissed. On some railroads, +a graded system of demerits is used. When an employee has received a +certain number of demerits he is dismissed from the service. + +The railroad unions are among the strongest and most aggressive in the +country. The total union membership among train operating employees +alone in the country is approximately 350,000. The unions are all +modeled upon the same general plan. They are quite independent of each +other, keep strictly to their agreements and oppose the sympathetic +strike. They all maintain some form of life insurance. Four +organizations have underwritten over $500,000,000 of insurance and one +of them in a single year paid claims amounting to $1,135,000. The +influence of these unions has been particularly effective in securing +the passage of protective state and national legislation such as full +crew laws, standardization of train equipment, employers' liability +laws, car limit laws, etc. + +The hazardous nature of the work is indicated by a statement made by a +prominent union official to the effect that the Trainmen's Brotherhood +paid a claim for death or disability every seven hours. A report to +the Interstate Commerce Commission states that there is one case of +injury in train or yard service every nine minutes. With the invention +of safety devices the risk of accident has been greatly lessened, but +railroading is still one of the most dangerous industrial occupations. + +There is little chance of employment for applicants under the age of +21 years. In fact, many roads refuse to employ men below this age. +Physical or sense defects which often accompany advancing years, and +which would not disqualify a man in other occupations do so in +railroad work. The average length of the working life is a little over +12 years. + +Railroad employees are among the best paid workers in the country. A +close estimate based on extensive wage investigations places the +annual earnings of engineers at from $1,200 to $2,400 a year, with an +average of $1,600. Conductors average about $1,350, firemen a little +over $900, and other trainmen about $950. The usual working day is 10 +hours, although this is often exceeded. Overtime is paid on a regular +scale agreed upon by the companies and the union. + +The educational requirements are not very exacting. A thorough +grounding in the "three R's" is usually all that is necessary. A large +amount of trade knowledge is obtained through contact and +participation after entering employment and can be gained in no other +way. The examinations for promotion are of a thorough-going character. +One of the roads in Cleveland requires an examination of its firemen +and trainmen six months after employment, as to vision, color-sense, +and hearing. They must also pass an oral examination on the +characteristics of their division and a written examination on certain +set questions furnished them in advance. Two years later they are +examined again, the fireman for engineman, and the brakeman for +conductor. The scope of these examinations covers the whole range of +train operating. Each of the five large railroads entering Cleveland +has air-brake cars equipped with various forms of air brakes, air +signals, pumps, valves, and injectors for the purpose of giving +instruction to trainmen. A competent instructor is put in charge of +these cars to explain the theory and practice of the apparatus and +also to give instruction in any new type of engine or train equipment. + +The conclusions of the report are in the main negative with respect to +specialized vocational training in the public schools. There is no +doubt that the general industrial course recommended for the junior +high school period in previous chapters would be of some value to boys +who may enter this line of work. Problems of railroad transportation +might well be included as part of the work in applied mathematics. +What workers in these occupations need most, however, is a thorough +elementary education. + + +MOTOR AND WAGON TRANSPORTATION + +This section of the report takes up such occupations as those of +teamsters, chauffeurs, and repairmen. There are no reliable data as to +the number of men in the city employed in these occupations, but it is +certain that it does not fall below 9,000. Notwithstanding the great +increase in the use of automobiles and auto trucks in recent years the +number of teamsters at the present time is in excess of 4,000 men. A +very large proportion of the men employed in these occupations are of +American birth. + +The general conditions of labor such as wages, hours of labor, and so +on, are the same for teamsters and chauffeurs. They earn about the +same wages, belong to the same union, and work about the same hours. +The wages range from 25 to 37 cents an hour. Earnings in the better +paid jobs compare favorably with those in several of the skilled +trades. Automobile repairmen earn from 30 to 45 cents an hour, and +work from nine to 10 hours a day. The working day for teamsters and +chauffeurs is somewhat longer, ranging from 10 to 12 hours. At the +present time these occupations are only partially organized in trade +unions. + +The report recommends the establishment of a course in automobile +construction and operation in the technical high schools. In view of +the constantly increasing use of automobiles such a course would be of +value to many boys besides those who enter employment as chauffeurs +and truck drivers. + + +STREET RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION + +There are employed in Cleveland at present approximately 2,500 +motormen and street car conductors. Almost all of them are of American +birth, and the majority are natives of the city. + +As in railroad work each applicant for employment must pass an +examination, although the requirements are less exacting than those +demanded in railroad work. The preliminary training occupies about 10 +days, during which the motorman is taught by actual car operation how +to operate the controller, how to apply and release the brakes, and +other duties connected with the careful running of the car through +crowded streets. The conductor is taught the names of the streets, how +and when to call them, where stops are to be made, when to turn lights +on and off, how to act in case of accidents, and the various duties +which deal with the sale, collection, and reporting of transfers and +tickets. + +No one is admitted into the service before the age of 21 or after 35. +Promotion usually comes in the form of better runs. The chances of +promotion to positions above the grade of conductor or motorman are +very slight. About 90 per cent of the men belong to the local union. +Union rates of pay for motormen and conductors are higher in Cleveland +than in most cities in the country, in spite of the fact that this is +the only large city in the country with a three cent street car fare. +The wages of both motormen and conductors are 29 cents an hour for the +first year and 32 in succeeding years. The hours of labor are very +irregular. The usual working day is from 10 to 12 hours. + +The author of the report is of the opinion that no special instruction +for this type of workers can be given by the public schools. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SUMMARY OF REPORT ON THE PRINTING TRADES + + +A smaller proportion of the industrial population in Cleveland is +engaged in printing than in most large cities. The number of persons +employed in printing occupations in 1915 is estimated at approximately +3,900, made up chiefly of skilled workmen. Little common labor is used +in any department of the industry. + +The business of printing is usually conducted in small establishments. +There are not more than six plants in the city which employ over 75 +wage earners. Data collected from 44 local printing shops, showed an +average working force of only 36 persons. Due largely to this +characteristic printing affords an unusual number of opportunities for +advancement to the skilled workers in the industry. The smaller the +establishments are the greater is the proportion of proprietors, +superintendents, managers and foremen to the total number of wage +earners. Ten per cent of the total working force in the printing +industry is employed in supervisory and directive positions. In many +of the large manufacturing industries of the city the proportion in +such work is less than three per cent. + +[Illustration: Diagram 12.--Number of men in each 100 in printing and +five other industries earning each class of weekly wage. Black +indicates less than $18, hatching, $18 to $25, and outline $25 and +over] + +No other manufacturing industry employs so large a proportion of +American born workers. In recent years many of the skilled industrial +trades have been recruited to a very large extent from foreign labor, +but in printing the American worker has so far held his own remarkably +well. This is due in part to the relatively high wages and desirable +working conditions and to the necessity in all branches of printing +for a working knowledge of English. + +Practically all of the trades are thoroughly organized. The unions are +united in a body called the Council of the Allied Printing Trades. +Although only about half of the shops in the city employ union labor +exclusively, the union regulations as to wages and hours of labor are +observed in both open and closed shops. + +Printing workers are among the best paid industrial wage earners in +the city. A comparison of the weekly earnings in the various +manufacturing industries is shown in Diagram 12. This comparison is +based upon the 1914 report of the Ohio Industrial Commission. + +The comparison of the earnings of women in various industries, shown +in Diagram 13, is less favorable to printing. On the basis of the +proportion of women that earn $12 and over per week this industry +takes third place. It should be noted, however, that nearly all the +women employed are engaged in semi-skilled work in binderies,--a lower +grade of work than that done by most women workers in clothing +factories, where wages are higher. Compared with other occupations +that require about the same amount of experience and training, in +textile, tobacco, and confectionery manufacturing establishments, the +wages of women employed in the printing industry are relatively high. + +Wage earners in printing establishments lose less time through +irregularity of employment than do those in most other factory +industries. The kind of work done by women is more seasonal than that +done by men, although less so than in other manufacturing industries +which employ large numbers of women. + +[Illustration: Diagram 13.--Number of women in each 100 in printing +and six other industries earning each class of weekly wage. Black +indicates less than $8, hatching $8 to $12, and outline $12 and over] + + +COMPOSING ROOM WORKERS + +Nearly all the workers in this department of the industry are hand or +machine compositors. Until about 30 years ago, before practical +type-setting machines were invented, all type was set by hand. Today +the hand compositor, except in very small shops, works only on jobs +requiring special type and special arrangement, such as +advertisements, title covers of books, letter heads, and so on. + +In the city there are about 1,200 people employed in composing room +occupations, or about 30 per cent of the total number of workers in +the industry. This number includes some 50 women employed as +proof-readers and copy-holders. Nine-tenths of the composing room +workers are members of the International Typographical Union, although +the number of shops that employ union men exclusively, called closed +shops, approximates only one-half of the total number in the city. The +remainder, while employing union labor, observing union hours, and +paying union wages, reserve the right to hire non-union workmen. + +Composing room workers are the best paid in the industry. A comparison +of average wages in newspaper and job establishments is shown in Table +27. + + +TABLE 27.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF JOB AND NEWSPAPER COMPOSING-ROOM +WORKERS, 1915 + +-------------------------+---------------+------------+ + | | Newspaper | +Workers in trade | Job offices | offices | +-------------------------+---------------+------------+ +Foremen | $5.19 | $6.65 | +Linotype machinists | 4.66 | 4.84 | +Proof-readers | 4.63 | 3.98 | +Monotype operators | 4.57 | .. | +Linotypers | 4.28 | 4.65 | +Monotype casters | 3.96 | 4.30 | +Stonemen | 3.94 | 4.89 | +Hand-compositors | 3.48 | 4.58 | +Copy-holders | 2.30 | 2.93 | +Apprentices | 1.64 | 1.30 | +-------------------------+---------------+------------+ + +Compositors suffer most from the diseases that are common to indoor +workers. The stooping position in which much of the work is done, +together with insufficient ventilation and the presence of gases from +the molten metal used in monotype and linotype machines, favors the +development of lung diseases. The number of deaths from consumption +among compositors is more than double that in most outdoor +occupations. + +The apprenticeship system has held its own in the compositor's trade +better than in most industrial occupations. In the establishments +visited by the Survey Staff there were approximately 15 apprentices to +each 100 hand and machine compositors. As a rule there is no real +system or method of instruction. The points principally insisted upon +by the union, which strongly favors the apprenticeship system, are +that the number of apprentices employed shall not exceed that +stipulated in the agreement between the employers and the union, and +that each apprentice shall be required to serve the full term of five +years. + +During the first and second years the apprentice is required to +perform general work in the composing room under the direction of the +foreman. In the third year he joins the union as an apprentice. The +apprenticeship agreement stipulates that during this year he must be +employed four hours each day at composition and distribution. In the +fourth and fifth years the number of hours per day on such work is +increased to six and seven respectively. During the last two years of +his term he must take the evening trade course given by the +International Typographical Union, the expense of tuition being met by +the local union. The agreement contains no stipulation as to wages for +the first and second years. The wage for the third year is $9 a week, +for the fourth year $12, and for the fifth, $15. Apprentices in +newspaper composing rooms are permitted to spend the last six months +of their period working on type-setting machines. + + +THE PRESSROOM + +The pressroom occupations include platen and cylinder pressmen, web or +newspaper pressmen, platen and cylinder pressfeeders, plate printers, +cutters, flyboys and apprentices. Approximately 15 per cent of the men +employed are cylinder pressmen, about 10 per cent platen pressmen, and +less than three per cent web pressmen. Pressfeeders comprise over 40 +per cent of the whole group. Nearly nine-tenths of all pressroom +workers are employed in job establishments. Five occupations--those of +cutters, floormen, flyboys, plate printers, and web pressmen--give +employment to fewer than 40 men each. + +The average daily earnings of pressroom workers in the establishments +from which wage data were collected during the survey are shown in +Table 28. + +The hourly rates of pay are high as compared with those in other +occupations requiring an equal or greater amount of skill and +knowledge. Cylinder pressmen earn more per hour than do tool and die +makers--the most highly skilled of the metal trades--and platen +pressmen in charge of five or more presses earn more than all-round +machinists and boiler makers. The rate for cylinder pressfeeders is +about three cents an hour higher than that received for specialized +machine work in the metal trades. + + +TABLE 28.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF PRESSROOM WORKERS, 1915 + +_Job pressroom workers_ + Foremen $4.78 + Cylinder pressmen 3.63 + Cutters 3.41 + Platen pressmen 2.97 + Floormen 2.91 + Cylinder pressfeeders, men 2.54 + Cylinder pressfeeders, women 1.77 + Platen pressfeeders, men 1.83 + Platen pressfeeders, women 1.70 + Flyboys 1.56 + +_Newspaper pressroom workers_ + Foremen 6.11 + Web pressmen 4.33 + Web pressmen's assistants 2.95 + +Formal apprenticeship is practically unknown. The boy begins as a +pressfeeder, usually on a platen press, and in the course of time gets +to be a platen pressman. A knowledge of platen presswork does not +qualify a man to run a cylinder press, and as a rule the platen +pressman who wants to change must serve some time as a cylinder +pressfeeder and cylinder pressman's assistant. There is no organized +system for training beginners. The boy who wants to become a pressman +must pick up the trade through experience and practice, the length of +time required depending chiefly on how frequently changes occur among +the force of pressmen employed in the shop. + + +THE BINDERY + +The bindery is the only department of the industry in which any +considerable number of women are employed. Some of the occupations, +such as gathering, sewing, and stitching, are practically monopolized +by women. They are also employed extensively in hand and machine +folding. About one-fifth are gatherers and one-fifth sewers and +stitchers. The other three-fifths are distributed among a number of +occupations usually classed as general bindery work. + +The occupations in which men predominate are forwarding, ruling, and +finishing, and cutting. The forwarders comprise more than one-fourth +of the total number of men engaged in bindery work. The other two +skilled trades--ruling and finishing--give employment to about 35 men +each. + +The average daily earnings in the various occupations, based on +returns from 44 establishments, were as shown in Table 29. + + +TABLE 29.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF BINDERY WORKERS, 1915 + +------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ +Workers in trade | Men | Women | +------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ +Foremen | $4.78 | $2.05 | +Rulers | 3.56 | .. | +Finishers | 3.51 | .. | +Forwarders | 3.23 | .. | +Cutters | 3.21 | .. | +Machine-folders | 2.81 | 1.49 | +Wire-stitchers | .. | 1.57 | +Apprentices | 1.53 | .. | +Gatherers | .. | 1.52 | +Sewers | .. | 1.52 | +Other bindery operatives | 1.40 | 1.51 | +------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ + +On account of the seasonal character of the work considerable time is +lost through unemployment, particularly in those occupations in which +women predominate. + +Beginners in these occupations in which the majority of the women are +employed, start on folding or pasting, and as opportunity presents, +gradually acquire practice in the higher grades of work, such as +gathering and machine operating. There are some traces of the +apprenticeship system in forwarding, ruling, and finishing, but these +trades are so small that all of them combined require only a very few +new workers each year. + + +OTHER OCCUPATIONS + +Other departments of the printing industry are photoengraving, +stereotyping, electrotyping, and lithographing. They give employment +to approximately 700 workers, distributed among more than 20 distinct +trades, requiring the most diverse sorts of skill, knowledge, and +training. There are about 100 men in the city engaged in the different +processes of photoengraving. Nearly all of the stereotypers, numbering +from 60 to 70, are employed in newspaper offices. There are about 125 +electrotypers and 400 lithographers. The labor conditions closely +approximate those found in other departments of the industry. Average +wages for the different occupations are shown in Table 30. + + +TABLE 30.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS IN PHOTOENGRAVING, STEREOTYPING, +ELECTROTYPING, AND LITHOGRAPHING OCCUPATIONS, 1915 + + Average +Workers in trade daily earnings + +Photoengraving + Artists $6.32 + Photographers 4.69 + Etchers 4.52 + Routers 4.25 + Finishers 4.21 + Proofers 3.69 + Strippers 3.61 + Blockers 2.36 + Apprentices 1.49 + Art apprentices 1.27 + +Stereotyping 4.00 + +Electrotyping + Molders 4.41 + Finishers 4.01 + Casters 3.18 + Routers 3.17 + Builders 3.13 + Blockers 2.05 + Batterymen 1.97 + Case fillers 1.59 + Apprentices 1.10 + +Lithographing + Lettermen 6.63 + Artists 6.41 + Pressroom foremen 5.80 + Grainers 4.73 + Engravers 4.35 + Pressmen 3.91 + Transferers and proofers 3.41 + Pressroom apprentices 2.80 + Tracers 2.63 + Stone polishers 2.53 + Pressfeeders 1.72 + Other apprentices 1.59 + Artist apprentices 1.23 + Flyboys 1.10 + +There is no well organized system for training apprentices in +photoengraving, stereotyping, and electrotyping, or in any of the +lithographic trades, except that of poster artist, in which an +efficient and strictly regulated system of apprenticeship is +maintained. + + +THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING + +The report maintains that up to the end of the compulsory attendance +period school training preparatory to entering the printing trades +must be of the most general sort, due to the fact that in the average +elementary school the number of boys who are likely to become printers +is too small to form special classes. For example, in an elementary +school of 1,000 pupils the number of boys 12 years old and over to +whom instruction in printing would be of value from the standpoint of +future vocational utility, would probably not exceed two. While +admitting the advantages of the junior high school for the purposes of +vocational training, the report points out that even in a school where +only pupils of the upper grades are admitted, the number who are +likely to become printers is still too small to warrant special +instruction. In a junior high school of 1,000 pupils not more than +nine boys are likely to become printers. + +The report recommends a general industrial course during the junior +high school period. What the boys need at this time is practice in the +application of mathematics, drawing, and elementary science to +industrial problems. Shop equipment should be selected with this +object in mind. It is doubtful whether it should include a printing +shop, for while such a shop would be useful to the few boys who will +become printers, it would be of little value in training for other +industries. The report suggests as subjects which should be included +in the general industrial course practice in handling and assembling +machinery, the study of color harmony, and the principles of design in +connection with the work in drawing, the use of printing shop problems +in applied mathematics, and thorough instruction in spelling, +punctuation, and the division of words. It also recommends the course +of industrial information referred to in previous chapters. + +The establishment of a two year printing course in a separate +vocational school is recommended to meet the need for specialized +instruction from the end of the compulsory period to the apprentice +entering age. The printing trades are relatively small and it is only +by concentrating in a single school plant all the boys who may wish to +enter them that specialized training can be made practicable. In this +way it would be possible to secure classes of from 60 to 100 boys each +for such trades as composition and presswork. The report emphasizes +the need for instruction in trade theory as against practice on +specific operations. It points out that the boys will have plenty of +opportunity after they go to work to acquire speed and manual skill, +while they have little chance, under modern shop conditions, to obtain +an understanding of the relation of drawing, physics, chemistry, +mathematics, and art to their work. + +The only trade extension training offered by the public schools at the +present time is that given in the technical night schools. During the +second term of 1915-16 there were 28 persons enrolled in the technical +night school printing class. Of these 28 persons three were journeymen +printers, five described themselves as "helpers," 11 were apprentices, +one was employed in the office of a printing establishment, and eight +were engaged in occupations unrelated to printing. No special +provision is made for the apprentices. The course, which includes hand +composition, a little press work, and lectures on trade subjects, is +planned "to help broaden the shop training of those working at the +trade." That it does so to any considerable extent is doubtful. Too +much of the time is devoted to hand work and practice on operations +which the boys can easily learn in the shops. It is believed that the +plan followed in the evening apprentice course prescribed by the +International Typographical Union, in which no shop equipment or +apparatus is used, is better adapted to the needs of boys employed in +the trade. The course consists of 46 lessons in English, lettering, +design, color harmony, job composition, and imposition for machine, +and hand folding. The classes are taught by journeymen teachers. In +February 1916 about 100 students were enrolled, of whom approximately +one-third were apprentices and two-thirds journeymen. + + +CLEVELAND EDUCATION SURVEY REPORTS + +These reports can be secured from the Survey Committee of the +Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. They will be sent postpaid for +25 cents per volume with the exception of "Measuring the Work of the +Public Schools" by Judd, "The Cleveland School Survey" by Ayres, and +"Wage Earning and Education" by Lutz. These three volumes will be sent +for 50 cents each. All of these reports may be secured at the same +rates from the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, +New York City. + + Child Accounting in the Public Schools--Ayres. + Educational Extension--Perry. + Education through Recreation--Johnson. + Financing the Public Schools--Clark. + Health Work in the Public Schools--Ayres. + Household Arts and School Lunches--Boughton. + Measuring the Work of the Public Schools--Judd. + Overcrowded Schools and the Platoon Plan--Hartwell. + School Buildings and Equipment--Ayres. + Schools and Classes for Exceptional Children--Mitchell. + School Organization and Administration--Ayres. + The Public Library and the Public Schools--Ayres and McKinnie. + The School and the Immigrant--Miller. + The Teaching Staff--Jessup. + What the Schools Teach and Might Teach--Bobbitt. + The Cleveland School Survey (Summary)--Ayres. + + * * * * * + + Boys and Girls in Commercial Work--Stevens. + Department Store Occupations--O'Leary. + Dressmaking and Millinery--Bryner. + Railroad and Street Transportation--Fleming. + The Building Trades--Shaw. + The Garment Trades--Bryner. + The Metal Trades--Lutz. + The Printing Trades--Shaw. + Wage Earning and Education (Summary)--Lutz. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Typos Corrected In Text: Table 15 on page 120: establishments for +estabments page 194: "car fare" for "car far" page 15: employee for +employe + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Wage Earning and Education, by R. 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