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diff --git a/24688.txt b/24688.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbf2d34 --- /dev/null +++ b/24688.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3453 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Making of a Trade School, by Mary Schenck Woolman + +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: The Making of a Trade School + +Author: Mary Schenck Woolman + +Release Date: February 26, 2008 [EBook #24688] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAKING OF A TRADE SCHOOL *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE MAKING + OF A TRADE SCHOOL + + + _By_ MARY SCHENCK WOOLMAN + + _Director of Manhattan Trade School for Girls + Professor of Domestic Art, Teachers College, Columbia University_ + + + [Device] + + + WHITCOMB & BARROWS + 1910 + BOSTON + + + + + Copyright 1909 + By Teachers College + + + Thomas Todd Co., Printers + 14 Beacon Street + Boston + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PART PAGE + + I. ORGANIZATION AND WORK 1 + + II. REPRESENTATIVE PROBLEMS 38 + + III. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPORT 53 + + IV. OUTLINES AND DETAILED ACCOUNTS OF DEPARTMENT WORK 58 + + + + +THE MAKING OF A TRADE SCHOOL + + + + +PART I + +ORGANIZATION AND WORK + + +History + +The Manhattan Trade School for Girls began its work in November, 1902. +The building selected for the school was a large private house at 233 +West 14th Street, which was equipped like a factory and could +comfortably accommodate 100 pupils. Training was offered in a variety of +satisfactory trades which required the expert use of the needle, the +paste brush, and the foot and electric power sewing machines. + +Beginning with twenty pupils on its first day, it was but a few months +before the full 100 were on roll and others were applying. In +endeavoring to help all who desired instruction the building was soon +overcrowded. It thus became evident that, unless increased accommodation +was provided, the number already in attendance must be decreased and +others, anxious for the training, must be turned away. It was decided +that even though the enterprise was young the need was urgent, demanding +unusual exertion. It would therefore be wise to make every effort to +purchase more commodious quarters. In June, 1906, the school moved to a +fine business building at 209-213 East 23d Street, which could offer +daily instruction to about 500 girls. + +The movement owes its existence to the earnest study that a group of +women and men, interested in philanthropic, sociological, economic, and +educational work, gave to the condition of the working girl in New York +City. They were all intimately acquainted with the difficulties of the +situation. Early in the winter of 1902 this committee made a special +investigation of the workrooms of New York. They were but the more +convinced that (1) the wages of unskilled labor are declining; (2) while +there is a good opportunity for highly skilled labor, the supply is +inadequate; (3) the condition of the young, inexpert working girl must +be ameliorated by the speedy opening of a trade school for those who +have reached the age to obtain working papers; (4) if public instruction +could not immediately undertake the organization of such a school, then +private initiative must do it, even though it must depend for its +support upon voluntary contributions. The result was that an extreme +effort was put forth and the following November the first trade school +in America, for girls of fourteen years of age, was begun. + +The first Board of Administrators, composed largely of members of the +original committee of investigators, was as follows: + +President, Miss Virginia Potter; Vice-Presidents, Dr. Felix Adler, Mr. +John Graham Brooks, Mrs. Theodore Hellman, Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer, +Mrs. Henry Ollesheimer; Treasurer, Mr. J. G. Phelps Stokes; Secretary, +Mr. John L. Eliot; Assistant Secretary, Miss Louise B. Lockwood; +Director, Professor Mary Schenck Woolman. + + +Purpose and Scope + +The immediate purpose of the school was to train the youngest and +poorest wage-earners to be self-supporting as quickly as possible. It +was decided to help the industrial workers rather than the commercial +and professional, as the last two are already to some extent provided +for in education. The function of the school was, therefore, that of the +Short-Time Trade School, which would provide the girl who must go to +work the moment she can obtain her working papers (about fourteen years +of age) with an enlightened apprenticeship in some productive +occupation. Such training cannot be obtained satisfactorily in the +market. The immature workers are present there in such large numbers +that they complicate the industrial problem by their poverty and +inability, and thus tend to lower the wage. Jane Addams, of Hull House, +Chicago, says these untrained girls "enter industry at its most painful +point, where the trades are already so overcrowded and subdivided that +there remains in them very little education for the worker." The school +purposed to give its help at this very point. + +Trade, on its side, is eager to have skilled women directly fitted for +its workrooms, but finds them hard to obtain. The school's duty was to +discover the way to meet this wish of the employers of labor. It is true +that the utilitarian and industrial education offered by public and +private instruction has benefited the home and society, but such +training has not met the problem of adequately fitting for specific +employments the young worker who has but a few months to spare. The lack +in this instruction has been in specific trade application and +flexibility as to method, artistic needs, and mechanical devices. These +points are essential to place the girl in immediate touch with her +workroom. + +Therefore the Manhattan Trade School assumed the responsibility of +providing an economic instruction in the practical work of various +trades, thus supplying them with capable assistants. Hence its purpose +differed not only from the more general instruction of the usual +technical institution, but also from those schools which offered +specific training in one trade (such as dressmaking), in that it (1) +offered help to the youngest wage-earners, (2) gave the choice among +many trades, and (3) held the firm conviction that the adequate +preparation of successful workers requires more factors of instruction +than the training for skill alone. The ideals of the school were the +following: (1) to train a girl that she may become self-supporting; (2) +to furnish a training which shall enable the worker to shift from one +occupation to another allied occupation, _i. e._, elasticity; (3) to +train a girl to understand her relation to her employer, to her +fellow-worker, and to her product; (4) to train a girl to value health +and to know how to keep and improve it; (5) to train a girl to utilize +her former education in such necessary business processes as belong to +her workroom; (6) to develop a better woman while making a successful +worker; (7) to teach the community at large how best to accomplish such +training, _i. e._, to serve as a model whose advice and help would +facilitate the founding of the best kind of schools for the lowest rank +of women workers. + +In other words, the Manhattan Trade School aimed to find a way (1) to +improve the worker, physically, mentally, morally, and financially; (2) +to better the conditions of labor in the workroom; (3) to raise the +character of the industries and the conditions of the homes, and (4) to +show that such education could be practically undertaken by public +instruction. The four aims are really one, for the better workers should +improve the product, make higher wages, react advantageously on the +industrial situation and on the home, and the course of instruction +formulated to accomplish this end would help in the further introduction +of such training. + +It was not expected that immature girls of fourteen or fifteen years of +age would, immediately on entering the market, make large salaries or be +broad-minded citizens. The hope was to give them a foundation which +would enable them to adapt themselves to situations best fitted to their +abilities and to make possible a steady advance toward better +occupations, wages, and living. In order to do this, each girl on +entering the school must be regarded as having capacity for some special +occupation. This aptitude must be discovered that she may be placed +where she can attain her highest efficiency as rapidly as possible. She +must be treated individually, not as one of a class. Her own efforts +must be awakened, her handicaps, such as inadequate health and +unadaptable education, must be removed, and her training proceed in a +way to give her possession of her powers. + + +Conditions among the Workers + +The conditions of life among many of the wage-earners of New York City +are, briefly stated, as follows: Thousands of families are so poor that +the children must go to work the moment the compulsory school years are +over. In 1897, 14,900 boys and girls dropped from the fifth school +grade, most of them going to work from necessity more or less pressing. +To rise to important positions in factories, workrooms, or department +stores will require a practical combination of any needed craft with the +ability to utilize their school education in rapid deductions, business +letters, accounts, and trade transactions. The public school offers such +children a general education which will be completed in the eighth +grade, but the majority leave before that time. For varying reasons, +such as their foreign birth, irregular attendance, the impossibility of +much personal attention in the crowded classes of a great city, poor +conditions of health, and the desire of the pupils to escape the routine +of school as soon as the law will allow, the greater number of them, who +go early into trade, have not had a satisfactory education for helping +them in their working life. Year after year are they found wanting, and +yet young workers still come from the schools at fourteen with poor +health, little available hand skill, unprepared to write business +letters or to express themselves clearly either by tongue or pen, +uninterested in the daily news except in personal or tragic events, +unaware of municipal conditions affecting them, ignorant of the simple +terms of business life, and with their arithmetic unavailable for use, +even in the simple fundamental processes when complicated with details +of trade. The mechanical processes, therefore, which they do know are +now useless unless they can first think out the problem. + +These boys and girls have no regret at leaving the schools, and are, as +a rule, glad to get to work. The tragedy of life, however, begins when +they become wage-earners, for they are only fitted for unskilled and +poorly paid positions. A little fourteen-year-old girl finds it +difficult to obtain a satisfactory occupation in the teeming workrooms +of New York. She, or some member of her family, eagerly searches the +advertising sheet of one of the daily papers. Most of the "Wants" are +entirely beyond her crude powers to supply. An unskilled worker is +perhaps desired in some business house, but the applicant finds that +hundreds of other girls are flocking to obtain the same position, and +her chance is too remote for hope. Or perhaps, after weary days of +wandering about from place to place, she is recommended to the boss of +some shop, and finds herself in the midst of machines which rush forward +at 4,000 or more stitches a minute. She assists a busy worker on men's +shirts, her duty being to pin parts together, to finish off, or to run +errands. From early morning to late afternoon, with an interval for +lunch, she must be ready to lend a hand. She can get at best but $2.50 +or $3.00 per week. No rise is possible in this shop unless she can work +well on a machine. Her fellow-workers are too busy to teach her, for +each moment's pause means reduction in their little wage. Perhaps she +does persist and finally can control a machine. By learning to do one +thing rapidly she can obtain a better wage, but two or even more years +in trade often pass before she can earn five dollars a week. After +several seasons spent in doing the same process thousands of times, her +desire for new work becomes deadened, and she is afraid to attempt +anything different from her one set task. She usually refuses to try +more advanced work, even if offered a good salary while she is learning, +for she has lost her ability to push ahead. + +In general, it may be said that the untrained girl has to take the best +place she can find, without reference to her ability, her physical +condition, or her inclination. The most desirable trades are seldom open +to her, for they require workers of experience, or, at least, those who +have had recognized instruction. Even if a green girl enters a skilled +trade, she cannot rise easily in it, and is apt to be dropped out at the +first slack season. The sort of positions open to her have usually +little future, as they are isolated occupations that do not lead to more +advanced work. Illustrations of these employments are wrapping braid, +sorting silk, running errands, tying fringe, taking out and putting in +buttons in a laundry, dipping candy, assorting lamps, making cigarettes, +tending a machine, and tying up packages. These young, unskilled girls +wander from one of these occupations to another; their salaries, never +running high, rise and fall according to the need felt for the worker, +and not because her increasing ability is a factor in her trade life. +After several years spent in the market, she is little better off than +at her entrance. + + +Some Difficulties of Organization + +It was to relieve this serious situation that the Manhattan Trade School +was founded. It began its work in the face of great discouragements. +Employers were prejudiced against such instruction, for girls trained in +former technical schools had not given satisfaction in the workrooms. +The parents of the pupils felt that they could not sacrifice themselves +further than the end of the compulsory school years, but must then send +their children into wage-earning positions. It was impossible to obtain +state or municipal aid, and it was known that the experiment must be +costly, for: (1) A trade school must be open all the year for day +classes, and for night work when needed (schools usually are open from +eight to ten months). (2) The work must be done on correct materials, +which are often expensive and perishable; but pupils are too poor to +provide them, therefore the school must plan to do so. (3) The +supervisors must be well educated, with a broad-minded view of industry, +capable of original thought, and having a practical knowledge of trade +requirement (women of such caliber can always command the best +salaries). The teachers and forewomen also must combine teaching ability +with competence in their workrooms; but as the market wishes a similar +class of service and gives excellent wages to obtain it, the school must +offer a like or even a larger amount. (4) Teachers of highly skilled +industries are expert, usually, in but the one occupation, such as straw +hat making by electric machine or jewelry box making; consequently, even +if the student body is small, the teaching force can seldom be reduced +without cutting off an entire department or a trade. A trade school +differs from the high school in this particular, for in the latter, when +necessary, two or more academic subjects can be taught by the same +instructor. + +Another difficulty confronting the school at the beginning was, that +while numerous occupations in New York are open to women, there was +reason to think that some of these were not well adapted to them. Little +was known at that time of the trades offering opportunities for good +wages, steady rise to better positions, satisfactory sanitary +conditions, and moderate hours of labor; of the physical effect of many +of the popular occupations; of the specific requirements of each kind of +employment; of the effect of the working girls in their workrooms and in +their homes; of their health and how to improve it; of the needs and +wishes of the employers; of the relation of the Trade Union to trade +instruction, and of labor legislation already operative or which should +be furthered. Before deciding on courses of instruction in the Manhattan +Trade School some accurate knowledge of these facts had to be obtained. + + +Selection of Trades + +The selection of definite trades was made after five months of +investigation in the factories, workrooms, and department stores of New +York City. In general, it can be said of the occupations chosen that +they employ large numbers of women; require expert workers; training for +them is difficult to obtain; there is chance within them for rise to +better positions; the wages are good, and favorable conditions, both +physical and moral, prevail in the workrooms. Some trades employing +women were rejected, as they failed to meet necessary requirements, +while others were not chosen, as there was little chance in them to rise +on account of men's trades intervening. Slack seasons occurring in many +otherwise good employments were considered, and plans were made whereby +the worker could be enabled to shift to another allied trade when her +own was slack. If a girl gains complete control of her tool she can +adapt herself to other occupations in which it is used with less +difficulty than she can change to a trade requiring another tool. +Women's industries, to a great extent, center around the skilled use of +a few tools. These tools were selected as centers of the school +activities, and the connected trades were radiated from them. The most +skilled occupations were found to require the use of the sewing machine, +foot and electric power, the paint brush, the paste brush, and the +needle. Statistics show that teaching the use of this last tool will +affect over one-half of the women wage-earners of New York, of whom +there are at least 370,000. In addition to the general scheme of fitting +a worker so that she may take up another allied occupation in slack +seasons, specific training for this purpose is given to those students +who choose trades where the busy season is short and of frequent +recurrence. + + +Trade Courses + +The curriculum includes instruction in the following trades; the courses +are short and the teaching is in trade lines: + + I. Use of electric power sewing machines. + + 1. General Operating--(cheaper variety of work--seasonal; fair + wages. Better grade of work--year round, fair and good wages, + piece or week work): Shirtwaists, children's dresses (cloth and + cotton), boys' waists, infants' wear, children's clothing, + women's underwear, fancy petticoats, kimonos and dressing + sacques. + + 2. Special Machines--(seasonal to year round work, depending on kind + and demand, wages good): Lace stitch, hemstitching, buttonhole, + embroidery (hand and Bonnaz), and scalloping. + + 3. Dressmaking Operating--(year round, wages good): Lingerie, fancy + waists and suits. + + 4. Straw Sewing--(excellent wages for a short season, but the worker + can then return to good wages in general operating): Women's and + men's hats. + + II. Use of the needle and foot power sewing machines. + + 1. Dress and Garment Making--(seasons nine to eleven months, and + fair to good wages): Uniforms and aprons, white work and simple + white embroidery, gymnasium and swimming suits (wholesale and + custom), lingerie, dress embroidery, dressmaking (plain and + fancy). + + 2. Millinery--(short seasonal work, low wages, difficult for the + average young worker to rise): Trimmings and frame making. + + 3. Lampshade and Candleshade Making--(seasonal work, fair pay). This + trade supplements the Millinery. + + III. Use of paste and glue: 1. Sample mounting (virtually year work, + fair wages). 2. Sample book covers, labeling, tissue paper + novelties and decorations (seasonal and year round work, good + wages). 3. Novelty work (year round work, changed within workroom + to meet demand, wages good). 4. Jewelry and silverware case + making (year round work, wages good). + + IV. Use of brush and pencil (year round work, good wages): Special + elementary art trades, perforating and stamping, costume + sketching, photograph and slide retouching. + + _Note._ Year round work, in general, includes a holiday of longer or + shorter duration, usually without pay. + + +Entrance Plans + +The school is open throughout the year in order to train girls whenever +they come--the summer months being slack in most trades are especially +desirable for instruction. The tuition is free, and in cases of extreme +necessity a committee gives Students' Aid, in proportion to the need. +Entrance to day classes for girls who are from fourteen to seventeen +years of age and who can show their working papers or be able to produce +documentary evidence of age, if under sixteen, can occur any week. + +Each girl who enters, after selecting her trade, is given a typewritten +paper showing the possible steps of advance in her chosen course. She +takes this home in order that the family may know what is before her. +She can by special effort or by outside study lessen the length of her +training. The first month in the school is a test time. If the girl +shows the needed qualities she is allowed to continue. + +During the month of trial her instructors decide what she needs and if +her chosen trade is the best for her. The right is reserved to make a +complete change if her health will not stand the one she desires, if she +has no ability for it, or if she gives evidence of special talent in +another direction. + + +Industrial Intelligence + +Every student has, as a part of her trade education, such academic work, +art, and physical training as seems necessary; when she passes certain +standards she is then allowed to devote full time to her selected +occupation. It is not possible for a worker who has skill with the hand +and no education to back it up to rise far in her trade. There is many a +tragedy in the market of the woman whose poor early education prevented +her from getting ahead. Accurate expression, whether oral or written, +the use of arithmetic in simple trade transactions or detailed accounts, +the ability to grasp the important factors in any situation and then to +go to work without waste of time or motion, are required for positions +of trust and for supervision in any workroom. It was soon discovered +that the girls entering the school know arithmetic in an abstract way, +but are at sea when asked to meet the ordinary trade problems. They are +inaccurate in reading and copying; they cannot write a letter of +application, conduct correspondence, make out checks, or keep simple +accounts. They are ignorant of the laws already made which concern them +and of their own relation to future laws. They have no ideals in their +trade life. They need to see the relation of their chosen trade to the +country, of their work to their employer's success, the effect they may +have in bringing about a better feeling between the employer and the +wage-earner. A practical, immediately available business education is +absolutely essential to make workwomen of executive ability. Therefore +specific trade instruction in arithmetic, English, history, geography, +and civics was planned to supplement and enrich the trade courses. + +Steady progress has been made in determining the kind of cultural trade +instruction which will best assist such young wage-earners. A new field +in practical education had to be opened, and subject matter which could +be of service in the workrooms selected from it. The many trades of the +school had to be studied in order to know their needs. The work has +grown more valuable each year and has proved itself to be a truly +necessary part of the curriculum. A concrete evidence of its worth is +the fact that many of the girls in slack seasons have taken clerical +positions and have been complimented on their grasp of the subject, +their orderliness, their ability to think, and their reliability. +Naturally all departments unite to develop character in the students, +but the Academic Department feels this to be a special aim. Pleasure in +the subject of instruction, followed by mental and moral improvement, +has indicated clearly that the academic dullness which is shown at +entrance comes frequently from lack of motive in former studies. The +interest is all the more encouraging as there are many handicaps in the +teaching, for the students enter at any time, are graded by the trades +they select, and are placed in the market as quickly as possible; hence +the work cannot be uniform in its advance. Nor is the academic work a +help to the girls in their business life only, for such subjects as the +keeping of accounts, the consideration of the cost of living, and the +value and price of materials are of direct use also in home life. + + +Trade Art Instruction + +Courses in Trade Art were also organized as a fundamental part of the +instruction. Each trade has its own art, and the school has tried to +adapt the work in the studios to each different occupation. It +recognizes that the art applied in dressmaking differs from that in +millinery, and this again from that required for decorating jewelry +boxes and calendars. It consequently offers each student the kind of +elementary art training needed in her trade. The time is too short to +develop designers, but it does help a girl to be more exact, +resourceful, and useful in her workroom, and often enables her to make a +higher wage. A worker who can place trimming, adapt designs to new +purposes, stamp patterns, draw copies of garments, and combine color +attractively is especially desirable in her chosen employment. + + +Health + +The young wage-earner of New York is much handicapped by her poor +physical condition; heredity, poor habits of life, and unsanitary homes +show their effects upon her. The girls who come to the school are young +enough to remedy many of their defects. In a few months they will be in +positions demanding eight or more hours a day, in which they must +strain every nerve and bend all of their energies to meet the standard +brought about by trade competition. The Physical Department of the +school studies the health of each girl and trains her to care adequately +for it. The specific treatment needed by some of the students takes them +many hours a week from their department work. While this has its +disadvantages, it is felt to be more important to improve the physical +condition than to develop skill alone when the health is too poor to +stand the strain of exacting positions. It is often difficult at first +to persuade parents that such close attention to health is necessary. +The results, however, in the majority of cases have proved the wisdom of +this procedure. + +Immediately after entering the school and being assigned to a department +each girl must report to the school physician. Beginning with the family +history, a complete record of all the important events relating to her +physical life is taken. She is closely questioned as to all bodily +functions, and a careful record is kept of irregularities. Eyes, ears, +teeth, nose, throat, and feet are likewise examined, and measurements +are taken of height, weight, and the principal expansions. After the +examination, instruction as to treatment is given, if any is needed. + +The work in the gymnasium has three purposes: invigorative, reactive, +and corrective. Every girl who is not restricted on account of physical +defects takes the prescribed gymnastic work. Nor has this a physical +effect only, for through the active games such qualities as judgment and +accuracy, self-control, and the harmonious working with others are +developed. Slow, uncertain, vague movements denote lack of mental +quickness and strength. Motor activity, rightly directed, leads to poise +of mind as well as of body. These girls live mostly in crowded +localities of the city, where free exercise is unknown. The school aims, +as far as possible, to supply the lack of wholesome outdoor life and +give joyous active exercise. Talks on hygiene are a regular part of the +work and aim: (1) to give each girl a knowledge of her body and of its +functions which will enable her to care for her health in an intelligent +manner; (2) to show her the relation of food and its preparation to her +physical condition; (3) to establish in her mind ideals of correct +living which can be made practical in her surroundings; and (4), +recognizing the right and desire of every girl for amusement, to create +a love for wholesome and simple pleasures that will take the place of +the too strenuous and often unwise recreations which tend to undermine +the health of the girl who works. + + +The Lunchroom and the Cooking Classes + +From the opening of the school, hot soup, hot chocolate, or cold milk +had been served daily, at two cents a cup, to those wishing to +supplement the cold lunch which they had brought from their homes. The +teachers also had an opportunity of buying a simple, hot meal which was +prepared by one of their number, assisted by students who aided in the +preparation, serving, and clearing away. At first the average girl felt +she could not give much time to her trade training, consequently such +time had to be devoted to making her able to command a living wage. The +hope, however, that in the future the opportunity would come for +offering increased domestic training was never forgotten. The opening at +the school of a temporary workroom for unemployed women during the +financial stress of 1908 provided them with regular work and pay. It was +advisable also to serve nourishing lunches daily to these underfed +workers. There was already a simple lunchroom in the basement of the +school, containing such bare necessities as plain tables on horses, long +wooden benches, a gas stove with four burners, a few cooking utensils, +and a closet filled with inexpensive china. The complete cost of +equipment had been $300. + +The school was now, however, face to face with the need to feed daily +more than 500 people--teachers, workers, and students--and yet no +additional money could be spent for equipment. The necessity was so +great, however, that in addition to the usual lunches a hot, nourishing +meal was given daily to the hundred workers in the temporary workroom, +for which they paid one-half of the price of materials. + +With this inauguration of regular cooking it seemed especially desirable +to take the opportunity of training at least some of the students in the +selection, care, and preparation of food. The majority of these girls +will be the mothers of the next generation, and yet they know nothing of +food values or food preparation. This is evident from the daily lunches +they bring and from their discussions in the class on hygiene. On the +other hand, girls who can remain but a few months in the school have a +serious need to face, that of self-support, for the wage for unskilled +girls ($3.00) is not sufficient to live on with decency. The physical, +mental, and moral future of these young girls demands that they should +be able to make more than this pittance. In the few months during which +the majority are in attendance both a trade training and a knowledge of +cooking cannot be given, therefore the former must take the precedence. +The school has been able to prove, however, that girls educated there +can command a fair wage in trade, but that a longer time given to this +training will enable them to obtain better positions and salaries. Hence +an increasing number have been willing to remain longer, giving even a +year or more to preparation. It was with this latter class that the time +was ripe to offer some training in lunchroom cookery which could teach +them what could be procured at low prices and yet be nourishing; how to +prepare food at home, and how to use the hot table often found in an +up-to-date factory. For this purpose, therefore, some simple additional +equipment was installed and a daily menu was offered, comprising +inexpensive, attractive, wholesome dishes, at the lowest possible cost. +Many of the students care for so little variety in food that all of the +necessary elements for building strong, healthy bodies are not supplied, +hence they are under-nourished. They require encouragement to even try +the food which is essential for improving their physical condition. The +girls have taken great interest in their lunchroom cookery. They +appreciate the inexpensive menus and admire the simple table +decorations. Gradually they have given up spending their few pennies +for poor fruit, cake, or candy at some cheap shop, and now purchase +nourishing dishes cooked by the students at the school. + +The cooking course connects directly with the talks on hygiene. The plan +of work is the following: (1) Twenty girls are chosen at one time. These +work in two groups of ten each, and for six weeks have daily one-hour +lessons. This gives them thirty lessons, which is almost equivalent to +what the public school offers in a year, but, being concentrated into +daily work and practical use in the lunchroom, is of equal, if not +greater, efficacy. (2) The students set the tables, cook a definite part +of the lunch, dish the articles, prepare the counters, sell the various +dishes, keep and report sales, and clear the counters afterward. The +groups alternate in order that preparing food, watching its progress, +and taking it from the stove may be done by all with a minimum loss of +time from their trade instruction. (3) The selection of girls to take +the course is made from (_a_) those who can remain long enough in the +school to combine trade training with the simple cooking course, (_b_) +those who have such poor health that a knowledge of what to eat and how +to cook it is the first consideration, and (_c_) those who are already +little housekeepers in their homes, as their mothers are incapacitated +or dead. + +After several months of experience it was felt that the six weeks of +constant practice was well worth while. More elaborate courses of +cookery would demand a more thorough kitchen equipment, entailing much +expense, and would require students to remain a longer time in school. +With the present arrangement they learn the most important cooking +processes in a very practical way, and discuss the relation of food to +themselves and to their families. + + +Trade Orders + +The handwork in the various departments falls into three grades: 1. +Practice work, which not being up to the standard is ripped up and used +again. 2. Seconds; fair work, not quite up to the school standard for +trade work. This is sold at cost to the students or to needy +institutions. 3. Trade work; up to the standard. This is sold to the +trade or to private customers at regular market prices. This feature of +the school work, entailing, as it does, the taking of many varieties of +orders from the outside factories and workrooms, has proved itself to be +an important educational factor. After six years of experience in +utilizing orders from the outside workrooms, it can be said that this +part of the instruction serves the following purposes: (1) It provides +the students with adequate experience on classes of material used in the +best workrooms; these girls could not purchase such materials and the +school could not afford to buy them for practice. (2) The ordinary +conditions in both the wholesale and the custom trade are thus made a +fundamental part of the instruction. Reality of this kind helps the +supervisors to judge the product from its trade value (amateur work will +thus be rejected), and the teaching from the kind of workers turned out. +Through the business relation the students quickly feel the necessity +of good finish, rapid work, and responsibility to deliver on time. (3) +The orders bring in a money return and thus aid the school in the +expense for material. (4) The businesslike appearance of the shops at +work on the orders and the experience trade has had with the product +have increased the confidence of employers of labor in the ability of +the school to train practical workers for the trades. The school is +constantly urged by trade to increase its order work, but its +unfaltering policy is to take only the amount needed for educational +purposes. (5) The business organization and management required in the +adequate conduct of a large order department can itself be utilized for +educational purposes, and has its value for training students who show +promise of becoming good stock clerks. + +Trade workers are employed in the business shops connected with the +various departments. These assistants have proved their value in making +the best utilization of the order work. They facilitate the completion +of the work on time and help train the girls to feel responsible for +their share of it. As the students work slowly at first, and as their +hours in the shops are interrupted by other studies, the trade workers, +when necessary, continue with or complete the articles while the girls +are absent. They make possible the tradelike organization of the shops, +for each one has around her her own little groups of assistants, and she +teaches them while she also works. Constant repetition of the same +process ceases, after a time, to be valuable to a student, hence her +time must not be wasted by too simple work or by unnecessary details. +It often happens also that an article may require expert work in its +completion which the students cannot yet do; the trade workers select +for each girl the process which will be of value to her, and then do the +work the students cannot do or should not do. + +The following lists will show the class of orders which have been +demanded by trade and turned out by the school: + + _Operating Department Orders_: 1. Trade Work: Ribbon run on webbing + for suspenders, infants' dresses--eight different styles, + children's aprons--two different styles, hemstitching and + embroidery for yokes, ruffling--hem and hemstitched, faggoting. + + 2. Individual Custom Orders: Dressing sacques, aprons (kitchen, + gingham, and work), gymnasium suits, waists, children's dresses, + corset covers, drawers, skirts and chemise, sheets, pillowslips, + curtains, straw hats, fancy petticoats, kimonos, handkerchiefs, + fancy neckwear, infants' outfits, boys' waists, quilting, + hemstitching by yard, silk waists and dresses hemstitched, + tucking by yard, waists, collars, cuffs, and cloth embroidered, + initials on linen and monograms on saddle cloths, ruffling by + yard. + + 3. Order Work for Other Departments: Dressmaking: Machine work on + nightgowns, corset covers, drawers, combination suits, petticoats, + kimonos, gymnasium bloomers, swimming suits, buttonholes, + hemstitching on silk skirts, dresses, waists; Bonnaz embroidery on + dresses, waists. Millinery: Veils hemstitched. Art: Pencil and + brush cases. Office: Coats and overalls for janitors employed in + school. + + _Dressmaking Department Orders_: Aprons, petticoats, maids' dresses; + machine-made underwear; collars and neckwear; nurses' uniforms; + swimming, bathing, and gymnasium suits; children's and baby + clothes; fine handmade underwear; plain shirtwaists, fine waists, + afternoon gowns, street suits, evening gowns, cloth suits + tailored. + + _Pasting and Novelty Orders_: Mounting suspender webbing, mounting + corset samples, pasting suspender tabs and sockets, case making. + Desk sets, lampshades, and candleshades. + + _Art Department Orders_: 1. Trade Order Work: Stamping, perforating, + coloring fashion plates, stencil cutting. + + 2. Custom Work: Stenciling curtains, scarfs, table covers, sofa + pillows; designing patterns for embroidery for table covers, + doilies, bags, buttons, shirtwaists, skirts, parasols, and + chiffon scarfs. + + 3. Order Work for Other Departments: Decorating book covers, desk + sets, boxes, dress trimmings--panels, lapels, vests; collars and + cuffs, insertions for hand and machine; banding for hats, letters, + monograms: designs for doilies, scarfs, curtains, work-bags. + + +PLACEMENT BUREAU + +From the first the school made some provision for placing its pupils +satisfactorily in the trades for which they are trained. Originally the +heads of departments attended to it, each for her own students, but as +the school grew and the department work increased this method ceased to +be practical. An arrangement was made, therefore, with the Alliance +Employment Bureau to place the girls of the Manhattan Trade School when +they were ready to leave the school or whenever they applied for help +thereafter. This was a most helpful connection when the work was +beginning, but it was understood that when the school reached the point +in its development where the volume of business was great enough, and +other conditions warranted it, a Placement Bureau should be opened in +the school itself. This long-cherished idea went into operation in +October, 1908, when a Placement Secretary was engaged and the school +bureau was opened. This plan has already proved advantageous. In the +first place a bureau so situated can, by keeping in constant touch with +the departments, obtain intimate and detailed information about the +character, the work, the special aptitudes, and the physique of each +girl. Such data are extremely valuable in making wise placements, but +are difficult of access for an outside agency. In the second place such +a school bureau, open to graduates, tends to bring them occasionally to +it, and thus strengthens their interest in and loyalty to the school by +giving a practical reality to their connection with it. + + +Aims + +The aims and working plans of the Placement Bureau are the following: +(1) To secure suitable positions for girls leaving the school--those +forced out by poverty as well as those who have really completed their +courses. The problem is to get the square peg into the square hole, and +it is solved by having a very intimate knowledge of each peg, and by +knowing of as large a variety of holes as possible from which to choose. +(2) To be a means of connection and communication between the school and +the trades, on the one hand, and the school and its former pupils on the +other. (3) To gather data about trade conditions that shall be helpful +to the several departments, or in deciding school policies. (4) To build +up a series of records that shall be of general sociological value as +well as of immediate use for school purposes. + + +Kinds and Methods of Work + +In connection with the placement itself there are four lines of +activity: + +1. _Interviews_ in the office, when girls come in to apply for +positions, and when employers ask for workers. Much valuable data as to +the experiences of the girls who have been some time in the trade have +been gathered in this way. In the case of the employer, if he is not +already familiar with the school, an effort is made to induce him (or +her) to go through it. + +2. _Trade Visits_ of investigation. It is the policy of the Bureau not +to place a girl in any establishment until it has been visited, unless +it is one already well known to the school, in which case the visit may +follow instead of preceding the placement. These visits are often made +upon the request of employers or in response to advertisements, if, as +sometimes happens, a girl wishes to be placed and the employers already +known do not need additional help. + +3. "_Following up._" After the girls are placed it is necessary to keep +track of them. In order to do this satisfactorily, blanks have been +printed in two different forms, one for the employer and the other for +the worker. The former asks about the quality of the girl's work +(whether it is satisfactory, and if not, why not) and about her wages. +The latter asks the girl to report on her work, wages, and shop +conditions. By this system the Placement Secretary is able to keep in +close touch with the students who have been placed, and to hear and act +upon complaints from either employer or girl with a promptness that +often has the result of establishing the worker in a "good" place or, +occasionally, rescuing her from a poor one. Employers are almost +uniformly prompt and courteous in returning the reports, and all but a +very small percentage of the students are equally responsive. In cases +where a girl is not heard from, the Students' Aid Secretary makes a +personal visit to her home. + +4. _Keeping of Records._ Card catalogues are kept, giving the full data +obtainable in each case: (1) for girls applying for positions; (2) for +girls placed; (3) for employers visited; (4) for employers applying or +worth investigating, but not yet visited. All data from employers and +girls which have been obtained from the blanks before mentioned or from +other sources are recorded on the cards. + +The Placement Bureau, in addition to its specific work, performs certain +services for the general benefit of the school. Data are obtained as to +the conditions of work and wage in certain trades and the length of +training advisable in others. Advice from the trade is often needed in +one or another of the departments, and through the Bureau's acquaintance +with employers, managers, or foremen and forewomen, it is able to +ascertain and report their expert opinion. It is also possible to induce +some of these busy people to come and view the problem in the light of +conditions at the school as well as in their own business. + + +General Results + +Although the Placement Bureau is still in its infancy, some results may +be recorded. It is already in touch with some 700 employers, about 550 +having been personally visited. The table below gives the facts as to +placements in former years, and may be interesting for comparison. + +GIRLS PLACED AND REPORTED UPON + + --------------------+-------------+-------------+--------+ + | By Self or | By Alliance | | + | School. | Employment | Total. | + | | Bureau. | | + --------------------+-------------+-------------+--------+ + | | | | + 1902 | 0 | 0 | 0 | + | | | | + 1903 | 39 | 7 | 46 | + | | | | + 1904 | 52 | 36 | 88 | + | | | | + 1905 | 29 | 61 | 90 | + | | | | + 1906 | 22 | 81 | 103 | + | | | | + 1907 | 10 | 77 | 87 | + | | | | + 1908 | 119 | 39 | 158 | + | | | | + 1909 By school | 157 | 1 | 158 | + | | | | + +-------------+-------------+--------+ + | | | | + | 428 | 302 | 730 | + | | | | + --------------------+-------------+-------------+--------+ + +This refers merely to the original or first placement of a girl. The +total of _re_-placements for 1909 was an additional 230, including those +of many former pupils who had heretofore placed themselves or been +placed by the Alliance Employment Bureau. + +The crucial question of wages is one that is extremely difficult to deal +with in brief. The accompanying table gives a very general statement as +to the range of wages obtained by graduates and the future possibilities +in their trades, and read in the light of the comment below it is as +specifically accurate as any "summary" can be. + + ---------------+--------------------------+--------------+---------------- + Trade. | Wages When | After Two to | Future + | First Placed. | Five Years. | Possibilities. + ---------------+------------+-------------+--------------+---------------- + | 1903 | 1909 | | + | | | | + Dressmaking | $3 to $5 | $4 to $6 | $6 to $13 | $25 or own + | | | | establishment + | | | | + Millinery | 2.50 to 4 | 4 | 5 to 15 | 12 to 25 or own + | | | | establishment + | | | | + Operating | 3 to 6 | 4 to 11 | 6 to 25 | 15 to 40 + | | | | + Novelty | 4 to 5 | 4 to 9[A] | 6 to 11 | 18 to 25 + | | | | + ---------------+------------+-------------+--------------+---------------- + | | | | + Art since 1907 | 5 to 8 | 4 to 7 | 7 to 15 | 20 to 30 + | | | | + ---------------+------------+-------------+--------------+---------------- + +The column for 1909 shows that at last a minimum wage of $4.00 has been +established for all the trades named, even Millinery. There are +exceptions, but they are almost always due to some special disability on +the part of the girl, and do not fairly affect a statement regarding the +wage for girls of normal capacity, who have done satisfactory work +during their course. The small percentage of pupils who fall below $4.00 +for their initial wage are those who either did not complete the school +course, or who did poor work, or who are subnormal mentally or +handicapped physically, or can work only an eight-hour day because they +are under sixteen. It is true that when they are obliged to start on +piece-work instead of a week-wage their earnings may fall below our +minimum for a short time, but the first week or two is in that case not +usually a fair test of the girl's training or ability. Some little time +is necessary for the readjustment involved in the change from school to +workroom, and especially for attaining the "speed" necessary to earn a +fair wage on trade piece-rates. The compensating advantage is that when +she does begin to "make good" her improvement is usually registered in +her earnings more quickly and accurately than it would be by the safe +but slowly advancing "week-work." If after two weeks, however, the girl +is earning less than $4.00, and thinks she "never can make out there," +she is given an opportunity to change her place. But very often there is +a sudden jump in earnings after ten days or so, as the girl gains +confidence and speed. (One pupil earned $3.97 her first week on +buttonholes, and over $7.00 the second.) Another point to be considered +in connection with the wage is the length of the season and the duration +of any one place. The comparatively steady work and regular, if small, +advance in the dressmaking, for instance, will often counterbalance the +larger week-wage or piece-work earnings of the trades where the season +is short or the positions of uncertain duration. + +On the "rate of advance" in wage the Bureau is as yet too young to make +any general statements. + + +Students' Aid + +On account of the extreme poverty in the families of many of the +students, some system of aid has always been necessary. The manner of +giving it has changed, however, that it may be free from all tendency to +pauperize or to deprive the recipient of self-respecting effort. At +first it took the form of a scholarship, paid at the school every week, +in equal amounts, to each student. A few months' experience, however, +showed that it would be better to require a month's apprenticeship +without pay. If after that the girl was allowed to continue her course, +she was given a dollar a week during her second month. Each month +thereafter the amount was increased according to the skill and good +spirit which were evident in her work. The maximum amount a student +could receive in one year was $100. + +Early in the second year it became clear that a still more radical +change was advisable, and a plan was adopted whereby the need of the +girl's family became the only basis upon which money was given. A +committee was formed, whose membership was composed principally of +workers from the leading social settlements. Each applicant for aid was +referred to the member of the committee living nearest her home. An +investigation was made by the settlement worker, and aid was given in +proportion to the necessity, varying in amount from car fare to the +equivalent of a small wage. The girl went weekly to the settlement for +the money. In this way the aid was separated as far as possible from the +school atmosphere, and it was made clear to the girls and their +families that the money was in no sense pay for work. As indicative of +this change in viewpoint, the term "Scholarship" was replaced by that of +"Students' Aid." In addition to its other advantages, the new method +reduced the cost for aid to less than one-half of its original +proportion. + +Since this time the aim has been always the same--to aid the girl +handicapped by poverty so that she might prepare herself for efficient +wage-earning. A member of the school staff is secretary of the Students' +Aid Committee, and she knows personally every applicant wishing aid, and +makes the initial visits and investigations. This plan has proved +advantageous in making a closer connection between the school and the +home, and in securing a more uniform standard of relief. + +The Students' Aid Committee consists at present of representatives from +sixteen settlements, who meet twice a month to discuss and decide upon +the merit of each applicant. If aid is granted, the girl is assigned to +the settlement nearest her home and goes there weekly for her money. An +envelope showing the amount due the girl is sent from the school to the +settlement worker, and on this is indicated any absence or tardiness. It +is one of the duties of the member of the committee to inquire the +reasons for any irregularity in attendance, and, if necessary, to report +to the parent. In addition, each settlement worker renders valuable +service by giving friendly oversight to the girls and families in her +group, by doing as much for their welfare as time will allow, and by +reporting any unusual conditions to the Students' Aid Secretary. + +Students are at times sent to the school for instruction with a request +for aid from some charitable institution, church, hospital, school, or +settlement which knows and is interested in the family; but, in general, +a girl needing financial help comes without such recommendations, and +consequently a more thorough investigation of the case is necessary. +Inquiry is always made at first of the Charity Organization Society, in +order to learn whether her family has received or is receiving other +relief. The "trial month" without aid gives time for the gathering of +facts about the family, and for a test of the girl's ability and +character. Aid is never promised to a girl before her admission. + +A useful method has been worked out for determining the amount of aid +which may be given in any one case. The total amount of the family +income is obtained, and from it are deducted the fixed expenses for +rent, insurance, and car fare. From the remainder the per capita income +is found which must provide for all other expenses, that is, for each +person's share of food, clothing, light, fuel, medicine, and all +incidentals. It was estimated that a family could not maintain a decent +standard of living on a per capita income of less than $1.50 a week. +Although each case is considered on its merits, aid is almost always +given when the per capita income is less than $1.50; in some special +cases it is granted when the income exceeds this amount. The following +table shows the income of the seventy-eight families that were being +aided by the school on June 3, 1909. + + ------------------+-------------------- + Weekly per Capita | Number of Families. + Income. | + ------------------+-------------------- + | + $ .00 to $ .49 | 16 + | + .50 to .99 | 26 + | + 1.00 to 1.49 | 20 + | + 1.50 to 1.99 | 10 + | + 2.00 to 2.49 | 3 + | + 2.50 to 2.99 | 1 + | + 3.00 to 3.49 | 2 + | + ------------------+-------------------- + +Relief given by charitable institutions has not been included in this +income. + +Each girl receiving aid is told the reason for its bestowal in such a +way that she will neither look upon it as money earned nor feel +humiliated as a recipient of charity, but will understand that it should +mean for her an opportunity to obtain a good education. It therefore is +incumbent upon her to show a realization of its value by becoming a +responsible and earnest worker. Students receiving such assistance are +expected to attend regularly, unless for excellent reasons, and the +reports from their departments must be satisfactory in regard to their +work, attitude, and effort. If a girl varies from this standard and, +after talking with her or with one of her parents, no improvement +follows, the aid may be suspended or withdrawn. Improving circumstances +in a family occasionally make it possible to decrease or even to give up +the aid. On the other hand, it is often found necessary to ask +additional assistance from special philanthropic sources when the need +is very great. + + +Night Classes + +Night continuation classes are a part of the aim of the school. They +have offered training in expert parts of the Operating, Dressmaking, +Novelty, Millinery, and Art trades. The classes were well attended, the +work successful, and continued application for the renewal of the +instruction has been received. This class of education requires the most +skilled teachers and is consequently expensive. Lack of money to conduct +both the day and the night work adequately has made it necessary to +close the night classes temporarily. There is every reason to hope, +however, that they will be reopened in the near future, with still +greater facilities for teaching the advanced parts of the trades. + + +Student Government + +The Student Council concerns itself with the government of the school, +the aim being to place it as far as possible in the hands of the +students. It also assists in developing their sense of responsibility. +The Council is composed of representatives elected from each class, who +have been chosen for their executive ability and good character. They +meet once a week with one of the supervisors to discuss questions of +general school discipline and regulations. Each member is responsible +for maintaining order in her class when it is not under other +supervision, for settling disputes among the girls, and for reporting +disobedience to school laws. + + +Graduate and Department Clubs + +Some form of alumnae association has been in existence since the end of +the first school year. This important phase of the Trade School work is +now thoroughly organized, and gains for us the warm cooeperation of those +who have benefited by the instruction. The Graduate Association includes +those who have received the certificate of the school; the department +clubs, however, are more democratic, and admit to membership any girl +who has been in attendance. These associations work together for the +benefit of the school. They hold frequent business as well as social +meetings. They plan definite ways for getting in touch with Manhattan +Trade School girls who are just entering trade, in order to help them to +adjust themselves to their work and to increase in them loyalty and +responsibility to the school; for improving themselves and working girls +in general by discussing topics of interest concerning their trades, and +by giving entertainments which are of real interest and value. They have +carried out schemes for adding to the general finances of the school or +for obtaining money for special objects, such as shower baths for the +gymnasium. They have given several suppers to bring the faculty and +former students together, in order to discuss informally trade and +school matters. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] This maximum is not in paste or glue work, but in the silk lampshade +trade. + + + + +PART II + +REPRESENTATIVE PROBLEMS[B] + + +The organizing of a girls' trade school in any given locality +necessitates the meeting of many problems of a serious nature. Some of +these appear immediately and require consideration before a satisfactory +curriculum can be developed, but most of them are hydra-headed, and one +phase is no sooner settled than another arises. Attention must be given +to them whenever they come if any progress is to be made in solving the +question of the broadest and yet most practical education for the girl +who must earn her living in trade. These problems are so connected with +the keenest yet most obscure social and industrial questions of the day +on one hand, and, on the other, with the future of the race, that they +are often very puzzling. Some of them can never be entirely settled, +though they can be temporarily adjusted to immediate needs. The +following are selected as representative. + + +Direct Trade Training + +Many schools of a domestic or technical nature have been opened in the +United States, but the instruction in them is for the home or for +educational purposes rather than for business. The trades, if they are +represented at all in these schools, are general in character, covering +often many branches of an industry in a short series of lessons, and +not having the particular subdivisions and special equipment which are +found at present in the regular market. Employers of labor have not been +favorably impressed with the practical usefulness of the graduates in +their workrooms. As the sole reason for the existence of the Manhattan +Trade School is to meet this requirement of employers, and therefore to +develop a better class of wage-earners directly adapted to trade needs, +the instruction must be in accord with methods in the shops and +factories of New York City. Such specific trade education for +fourteen-year-old girls was new, and therefore the problem of +organization had to be faced for the first time in America. Careful +study of the workrooms and the industrial conditions of New York City +was essential before the aims or the curriculum could be decided upon +and the school could be opened for instruction. Furthermore, if the +training is to be kept up to date this study of trade conditions must +not cease, and readjustments of the curriculum must equal the changes +taking place in the outside workrooms. Consequently these problems must +be met repeatedly. + + +Need of Preliminary Training + +On beginning the trade courses at the school a difficulty was discovered +immediately which brought home the truth of the complaint made by trade +that young workers are utterly incompetent. The students coming to the +school were allowed by law to enter trade, as they had met all +requirements for obtaining their working papers, but they were not found +to have sufficient foundation to begin the first simple steps at the +school without some preliminary training. The defects which were +especially evident were: (1) lack of sufficient skill with the hand; (2) +inability to utilize their public school academic work in practical +trade problems; (3) dullness in taking orders and in thinking clearly of +the needs which arise; (4) absence of ideals; and (5) need of knowledge +of the laws of health and how to apply them. Preliminary, elementary +instruction in all of these subjects had, therefore, to be organized and +given to the entering students before they could begin upon their true +trade work. Such instruction is and will continue to be necessary unless +the public elementary school arranges to give, between the fifth and +eighth grades, a more satisfactory preparation to those who must earn +their living. The Manhattan Trade School has been obliged to give from +two to eight months to elementary branches of instruction alone. The +kind of work needed varies constantly with the condition of the +students. Every one requires some of it, but many must take months of +tutoring. Public instruction could readily give the practical academic +work which the school has organized. Such instruction would not only +directly help the pupils who must leave early to work, but would lay a +good foundation for the vocational education which is being planned for +the early years of the public secondary schools. + + +Vocational Training + +As the courses at the Manhattan Trade School developed, an intermediate +phase between the preparatory work and the direct trade training took +definite shape. This middle ground partakes in many ways of trade +processes and lays a good foundation for shop work. It utilizes the +early education, gives point to it, awakens in the student enthusiasm +for her chosen trade, and shows her that it is worth her while to work +hard if she would succeed. It takes from four to eight months, according +to the student's ability to meet the requirements. Public instruction +could also develop this intermediate field to advantage for those who, +not wishing to enter the regular high school course, would be glad to +avail themselves of further practical education. Such occupations for +women as cooking, sewing, garment and dressmaking, millinery, laundry +work, home nursing, household administration, care of children, novelty +work, electric power operating, salesmanship, and other interesting +activities can well be offered in Vocational Education. As the student +in her chosen field plans, considers expenses, and contrives to utilize +her material she gains skill, adaptability, judgment, and the true basis +of criticism. The world's work interests her as its meaning becomes +clear through her own experiences, and she begins to see ways to better +her condition and to be a factor in the improvement of her home. She +appreciates the value of her early education, and finds it worth while +to think clearly and to act wisely; she listens to instructions, asks +sensible directions, and goes to work without waste of time. The +elementary and intermediate training just described, which the school +found it must give preparatory to its real trade instruction, has proved +advantageous as an introduction, for the student can now quickly adapt +herself to the work in the school shops, as she possesses the foundation +qualities needed to make the best worker. She has to begin at the +simplest trade work, to be sure, but can rise as rapidly as she shows +ability. She has been carefully watched by her instructors and turned +gradually in the direction best fitted to her. + + +Trade Shops + +Offering courses in many varieties of trade work exactly as they are +found in a city like New York has many recurring difficulties, as has +been before stated. The constant and rapid adaptations to fashion, the +new mechanical devices introduced, and the labor situations are factors +to be considered. The management must be ready at a moment's notice to +change, increase, or drop work according to the demands of a fickle +market. It would seem, therefore, that at present the problems of the +school trade shops are of too serious and unsettled a character for +adequate solution by public instruction as at present organized, for (1) +it would be difficult to persuade the mass of taxpayers that added tax +rates are advisable for beginning a continually altering form of +education which has not yet commended itself to all employers or to all +wage-earners, and which must be more or less expensive; (2) the usual +public school committee man knows little of trade conditions, and would +probably be averse to allowing a school the freedom to change at will +its course of study and even the very trades it teaches; yet, on the +other hand, if the trade school must wait for board action before +altering its plans, it would prejudice the value of its instruction, +which must be flexible if it would train its students directly for the +market; (3) the impossibility of obtaining its teachers from the usual +"waiting list" and the difficulties attending the selection of a +satisfactory teaching force. + +The possibilities for offering highly specialized, skilled work are +great, but the poverty of the students limits their time at the day +school. To help all girls who work, and who wish to get ahead, night +classes have been organized from time to time, and during the day also +temporary instruction is offered to any one who has a slack time in her +trade. As the school is organized into trade shops, with the same +specialization as in the market, a student can enter or be placed from +almost any point. This increases its usefulness but complicates its +management. + + +Obtaining and Training Teachers + +As trade instruction is new in education, the normal schools have not +begun training teachers regularly for these positions, nor, indeed, are +they yet prepared to do so. The organizer of a trade school faces, +therefore, a serious difficulty in obtaining instructors who are +adequate to the task before them. + +The following trade teaching staff is needed: supervisors of the various +trades; forewomen to direct the school shops; trade instructors to teach +the various groups of students the specialized processes; assistants to +attend to minor matters in the workrooms; art teachers, who have had +experience in designing for the various trades represented; academic +instructors who know the working world practically and can give the +students a training which, while helping them in their trades, will +broaden their knowledge of and sympathy in the world's work. All of +these teachers must not only have had experience in trade, but must +continually keep in touch with the methods of the outside market. +Unsuccessful trade workers, who often wish to teach, or teachers who +know nothing of the needs of trade workrooms, cannot adequately prepare +students for specific trade positions. Trade knows what it wants, is a +severe critic and an unsparing judge. The trade school, therefore, +cannot afford to rely on instructors who would be themselves +unsuccessful in the market, for the result would be certain failure in +the students. Such specific training requires exceptional knowledge in +its teaching force. The usual teacher of manual training knows too +little of the ways of the workrooms and is too theoretical in her +instruction to be trusted to train workers who must satisfy trade +demands. On the other hand, the trade worker, good as she may be in her +specialty, seldom knows how to teach. She can drive her group of +workers, but she cannot train the green hands to do more than work +quickly at one thing. She can make them work, but she cannot make them +better workers. When she has orders to turn out, her lifelong training +makes her think of the rapid completion of the articles rather than the +careful development of the students who are making them. If she is not +watched she will choose the girl to do a piece of work who can do it +well and quickly (but who does not need this experience), rather than +the one who should do it in order to have practice in it. + +The problem is to find a way to unite the good teacher and the +successful worker. Such a combination appears at rare intervals. At the +present time the teacher who can adequately prepare young workers for +trade has to be taught while she is herself teaching. She may be chosen +from either the industrial or the educational field, if she has certain +qualities of mind and spirit, but she must now make up the points she +lacks, be it experience in trade or ability to teach. Supervisors need +special insight and capability, as they are called upon to investigate a +new and difficult field, to select from it the subjects needed, and +after that to organize education of a most practical kind. They combine +the duties of school principal, teacher, forewoman, factory +superintendent, and business manager. They must be willing to give +themselves to the cause, as they are responsible for the conduct of +their departments throughout the year, at night as well as during the +day, at least until they can train some one to whom they can delegate +some of their responsibility. They need a broad, cultural education and, +at the same time, interest and knowledge of the industrial problems of +the time, as well as experience in their particular trade. They must +have sympathy with the working people and their lives. It is evident +that such women are hard to find, and when found or when trained are in +demand by other institutions or in business life, in which places they +can command high salaries. All efficient trade teachers also are equally +in demand in workrooms, hence the school must compete with good business +salaries in place of the usual underpay of educational institutions. + +In addition to the trade teachers, practical instructors in healthful +living and special secretaries needing social knowledge of various kinds +are also essential in the modern trade school for girls. Their training +adds to the director's responsibilities, for no one at present has the +knowledge and experience necessary. + +The many problems connected with obtaining an adequate teaching staff +seem at present to have but one solution, _i. e._, the school has to be +its own training school for its faculty to a greater or less extent. One +source of assistant teachers has been found in students who have made +good in trade. Pupils of fair education who show skill and executive +ability in their department work and who later succeed in their trade +positions have already proved helpful when brought back to the school. +Such girls know the courses of instruction, their needs and +difficulties, and also the outside workroom demands. If they are given +some hints in methods of teaching, their success is greater. European +trade schools for girls have drawn many of the best teachers from the +student body and have organized teachers' training classes for them. A +course of regular training for trade pupil teachers should be given +later in American training schools to meet this situation. + + +Courses of Study + +As the changes about to occur in the market must be recognized and +inserted in the curriculum in time for the students to be prepared for +the new work when they are placed, set courses of study cannot be +followed without endangering the practical value of the teaching. +Furthermore, the pupils must be advanced as they show ability, and their +different characteristics should have consideration; hence the work must +be sufficiently flexible and adaptable to allow for increasing one kind +of training and decreasing another, in order to develop a girl's best +ability. It is not the trade courses only which should be fitted to the +need, but the trade-art, trade-academic, and physical education must +also shift and introduce needed material as quickly as would the market +grasp at new plans for the workrooms. Nor is it sufficient that the +curriculum should adapt itself merely to training girls for trade +positions. It is never to be forgotten that these students are to be +made into higher grade workers and citizens, and that the greater number +of them will marry. In general, it can be said that woman's entrance +into industry is more or less temporary in that it is apt to precede or +to follow marriage, and, as a rule, is not continuous. Good citizenship +for these young wage-earners should mean the better home as well as the +broader views of industrial life. The inserting into an already too +brief training the important factors for making the better home-keeper +requires study of the ethics and economics of home and social life in +addition to the study of the industrial situation, and places continuous +problems before the faculty. + + +Investigations + +In order to be in vital touch with the practical needs and changes of +the market, special investigations of trade have been and are +continually conducted by the faculty of the school. Effort is made by +them also to keep in close contact with industrial and social +organizations of workers in settlements, clubs, societies, and unions, +that all phases of the wage-earner's life, pleasures, aims, and needs, +may be appreciated. The pupils in attendance are studied to know their +conditions of health, their tendencies, their needs, their improvement. +After their entry into trade they are kept in touch with the school +through the Placement Bureau, clubs, graduate associations, and also by +visits from the school's investigator, in order to note the effect of +their training on their self-support, their workrooms, and their homes. +Groups of trained and untrained girls are compared, that differences and +benefits may be noted and the true situation may be clearly understood. + +That the essentials of this class of education might be grasped as far +as possible, the director of the school made a six months' investigation +of the professional schools for girls on the continent of Europe. This +study was made after the Manhattan Trade School had been organized and +was running successfully. The problems were then well in hand, and +advantage could be taken the better of differing standpoints. In some +European countries such practical instruction has been established for +half a century. Each country has organized the work according to its own +view of woman's position in industrial and domestic life. Many aspects +of the problem can therefore be studied and various courses of +instruction consulted. This investigation covered three interesting +fields. First, the organization of the schools, including the equipment; +the teachers and their training; the budget; the order work; the +relation of the school to employers; the placing of the girls in +positions; the wages; the schemes for financial aid, and the work of the +alumnae associations. Second, the trades taught and the courses of +instruction; the general education required at entrance and that given +as an integral part of trade; the trade-art courses; the housekeeping +and training of servants; the development of ideas of better living and +the training for responsibility in home and trade life. Third, the +visiting of workrooms employing women; the obtaining information on the +effect of trade schools; the students' usefulness and ability to +advance, and a survey of the crafts conducted in the homes of the +people. + + +Trade Order Administration + +A trade school must do its skilled handwork in the fashion of the day +and on correct materials, yet the students are too poor to work for +themselves. A school budget cannot supply such large quantities of +valuable materials unless it can get some return for them. The school +shop in each department, where orders both private and custom are taken, +has proved advantageous, but involves great problems of administration: +(1) the actual business methods and management connected with the +invoices, sales, and delivery of goods; (2) the obtaining of orders +needed and of the quantity desirable; (3) the taking of custom orders, +fitting the customer, and delivery of orders on time; (4) a satisfactory +apportionment of the order work so that the students may profit by it +and not be expected to continue it after they have had sufficient +experience of one kind, or if they are not yet able to do the elaborate +work involved; (5) the finding of operatives who will do what the +students cannot or should not do; (6) the expense involved in employing +workers at trade prices and for shorter hours; (7) the cost of articles, +and other details which are involved in entering into competition with +trade. It may be stated that no trade school should underbid the market, +but should charge the full prices and expect to give equivalent returns. +A trade school cannot afford to be an amateur supported by a +philanthropic public, but must have a recognized business standard. + + +Placement + +Problems of varied kinds meet the school in placing its students. Each +new enactment of child labor or industrial laws has its influence. Even +a good law will sometimes have a temporary serious effect in lowering +wages or turning capable girls out of satisfactory positions. Care must +be exercised that students are not placed where there is a possibility +of running counter to the best interests of labor. The desire to place +each pupil where she can develop to her highest condition requires +continual knowledge of the market needs and of the characteristics of +the many girls. Records of students entering, studying, and placed, the +kinds of positions open, and industrial and labor information must be +kept up to date, yet such data are often hard to secure. + + +Trade Union Attitude + +An important question that is always before a trade school is the effect +the instruction may have on the working people. It is difficult for one +not continually in the midst of the pressure of the actual trade to +know the many ways that thoughtless advance in trade teaching may react +to the disadvantage of the very ones that the school wishes to help. +Injury may be done by preparing too many for certain occupations, +filling places where a strike is on, replacing well-paid positions with +trade school girls at a less price, placing the girls at too small a +wage for their skill, doing order work at too low a price or when a +strike is on, considering too closely the fitting of a worker for the +employer's benefit rather than for the broadening of her own life, and +like thoughtless actions. The difficulties of the situation are great +and the solution frequently obscure, but a fair-minded school must be in +touch with the effort the working woman herself has inaugurated to +better her condition. The apparently unnecessary suspicion with which +the laboring class regards the organization of trade instruction would +have foundation if no thought were given to the trade conditions as the +working girl sees them. A trade school for fourteen-year-old girls need +not make a point of their immediate entrance into unions, but it should +consider the subject simply and wisely in all its bearings, that the +students may know the full aims and advantages of cooeperation as well as +the point of view and many difficulties of the employers. + + +Contact with Trade + +The faculty of a trade school needs the cooeperation and assistance of +the working people and the employers of labor. Only through intimate +interrelation with them can the best and most practical results be +obtained. Auxiliaries and committees of employers and of wage-earners; +visits of the staff of the school to trade, and of employers, forewomen, +and workers to the school; the carrying out of orders for workrooms and +assisting them at busy seasons, are some of the ways by which the +Manhattan Trade School has tried to gain the help of the busy industrial +world. + + +Problems of Financial Aid + +The aid given to enable the poorest students to attend the school has +brought its own questions, such as: the danger of pauperizing the +recipients; the methods of selecting the beneficiaries; the best way to +give the weekly aid; the development of a spirit of earnest work and +regular attendance in the girls thus aided; the stimulation of a desire +to return some equivalent in special helpfulness to the Manhattan Trade +School or to its students, and the eliminating of this philanthropic +effort from any apparent relation to school work. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] In order to explain these problems, it will be necessary to repeat +some of the data in Part I. + + + + +PART III + +EQUIPMENT AND SUPPORT + + +Housing and Equipment + +The first home of the Manhattan Trade School was a large four-story and +basement dwelling house, for which a rental of $2,100 per annum was +paid. The initial permanent equipment and first temporary stock provided +for one hundred students, and cost $9,500. This amount was utilized +principally for the furnishing of special rooms for electric power +operating; for sewing; for dressmaking; for millinery; for pasting; and +for the more general equipment of offices, academic and art rooms, a +kitchen, and a lunch room. The following lists show the range of +expenses for furnishing the main workrooms with necessary equipment: + +GARMENT OR DRESSMAKING WORKROOM + + Sewing machines, each $18.00 to $70.00 + Work, cutting, and ironing tables, each 6.00 to 20.00 upward + Electric irons, each 7.75 + Gas stove (necessary when electric irons are + not used), each 2.00 upward + Cheval glass, each 20.00 to 100.00 upward + Chairs, each .50 to 3.00 upward + Exhibition, stock closets, cabinets, and + chests of drawers, each 10.00 to 100.00 upward + Fitting stands, each 2.00 to 30.00 upward + Fitting room (a curtained alcove), each 10.00 upward + Fitting room (a furnished room), each 100.00 upward + Dress forms, per dozen 30.00 upward + Waist forms, per dozen 6.00 upward + Sleeve forms, pair 1.00 to 1.50 upward + Lockers, per running foot 3.00 to 8.00 upward + +A room for twenty workers may be plainly furnished at a cost of $300 to +$500. If a large number of expensive sewing machines are desired, the +estimates must be increased by several hundred dollars. The Manhattan +Trade School has forty foot-power machines of the kinds most in use in +the workrooms of New York. + +The equipping of a workroom for electric power operating, including +general and special machines, motor, cutting and work tables, cabinets +and chairs, will be considerably more expensive than the one for garment +making. In the latter, one sewing machine can be used by several +workers, but in electric operating each worker must have her own +machine. The electric motor adds also to the expense. The minimum cost +of equipping a shop for twenty workers would be $1,000 to $1,500. The +necessary equipment would be as follows: + +ELECTRIC OPERATING WORKROOM + + Plain sewing machines in rows, per head $22.50 upward + Troughs for work between the rows and tables for the + machines (per every two machines) 10.00 + Special machines (two needle, embroidery, lace stitch, + buttonhole, straw sewing, and the like), + each according to kind 35.00 to 125.00 + Motor, each 140.00 upward + Electric cutter, each 25.00 upward + Cabinets, tables, chairs, and irons, see above + +The Manhattan Trade School has fifty-five plain electric sewing machines +and thirty-two special machines, as follows: three buttonhole, one +two-needle, one binding, one zigzag, five hemstitching, five tucker, +four Bonnaz, one braider, one hand embroidery, one scalloping, nine +straw sewing. + +In workrooms conducting trades which use paste, gum, and glue, the +following special equipment is required: + + Glue pots, gas, each $7.50 upward + Glue pots, electric, each 21.75 upward + Hand cutter, each 50.00 upward + Cabinets, tables, chairs, see above + +The cost of equipping a shop would be from $200 to $400. + +Special machines for perforating designs or for pleating materials are +often needed in teaching the garment trades. Wholesale prices can +usually be obtained when the order is large. Dealers have also shown +themselves willing to sell their machines at low prices, to loan them, +and even to give them to a school which has proved its ability to train +good workers. + +When it was appreciated that the original quarters of the school were +too limited, the Board of Administrators went to work with great +enthusiasm and in a few months collected the requisite money and bought +a large business loft building at 209-213 East 23d Street, at an expense +of $175,000. To put it in order for work cost $5,000 in addition. The +former equipment was used and $5,000 more was spent for such needed +items as: machines, $3,200; motor, $352; perforating machine, $38; +additional master clocks, $233; chairs and tables, $850. The school is +furnished in a simple, businesslike manner, the equipment merely +reproducing good workroom requirements, _i. e._, essentials only. + +The budget for the first year, 1902-1903, was $22,094.16, of which the +salaries for teachers took about one-half and the rent and maintenance +covered the other half. During this year there were 113 students +admitted. In 1908-1909, after six years of rapid growth, the educational +budget is $49,000, or more than double the original, of which the +salaries are $38,806; the supplies, $1,710; printing and publishing, +$600; maintenance, $9,900. At the beginning of 1908 there were 254 +students in the school; 689 were registered during the year, making a +total of 943 girls, being almost nine times the number in attendance +during the first year. + + +The Support + +The Manhattan Trade School has depended for its support entirely upon +voluntary contributions. There have been few large donations and the +donors represent all classes of the community--patrons of and workers in +sociological, economic, philanthropic, and educational fields, employers +of labor, and auxiliaries of many kinds of workers organized for special +purposes. The most significant help, perhaps, and the largest in +proportion to its income, has been that of the wage-earners +themselves--not only the girl who has benefited by the instruction, but +the general mass of women workers. These women, knowing the difficulties +in their own struggle to rise, have shown themselves willing to set +apart weekly a small sum to help young girls to attain quickly +efficiency through systematic training. The auxiliaries of wage-earners +are a mainstay of the school on account of their helpful enthusiasm, +their practical suggestions, their interest in girls trained there, and +their regular subscriptions on which the Board of Administrators can +depend. + + + + +PART IV + +OUTLINES AND DETAILED ACCOUNTS OF DEPARTMENT WORK + + +The Faculty and Staff + +The original staff of the Manhattan Trade School, 1902-1903, consisted +of a Director, an Executive Secretary, 4 supervisors (Operating, +Dressmaking, Pasting, and Art), 5 instructors and forewomen, 4 or 5 +assistants and occasional workers, a janitor, and 2 cleaners. The +present staff, 1909-1910, consists of (1) _Office Administration_, 11: +Director, Executive Secretary, Assistant Secretary, 2 Stenographers +(office and placement), Placement Secretary, Investigator, Business +Clerk, Buyer, and 2 Assistants (records, telephone, etc.). (2) _Teaching +Force, Supervisors, and Assistant Supervisors_, 7: Dressmaking, +Dressmaking workroom, Electric Operating, Millinery, Novelty, Physical +Education, Art. _Instructors, Teachers, and Forewomen_, 11: Academic, 2; +Dressmaking, 3; Operating, 5; Art, 1. _Assistants_, 14: Dressmaking, 7; +Novelty, 3; Operating, 1; Physical Education, 2; Art, 1. (3) _Doctor._ +(4) _Care of Building_, 7: Engineer, Janitor, Machinist, Cleaners 2, +Elevator boy, and Night watchman. + + +ADMINISTRATION + +Admission Requirements + +I. Age: fourteen to seventeen years. The law requires a child to remain +in public school until fourteen. The Manhattan Trade School has found +that under fourteen a girl is too immature to specialize in trade work, +and that over seventeen most girls are too mature to fit into the work +planned for the majority of the class. + +II. Public School Grade: 5-A or above. The subject matter of 5-A grade +or its equivalent is required by the state before a child can leave to +work. If for illness or other good cause a girl has not made this grade, +she is admitted to the Trade School with special permission of principal +of last school attended, and, while studying her trade, the necessary +amount of schooling is made up to her by special classes and coaching. +The Board of Health recognizes this substitute. + +Grade of girls admitted since beginning is shown in following table: + +GRADE UPON LEAVING SCHOOL + + -----+-------+-------+-------+---------+--------+----------+------- + | Below | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Graduate | High + | Fifth | Grade | Grade | Grade | Grade | Per | School + | Grade | Per | Per | Per | Per | cent. | Per + | Per | cent. | cent. | cent. | cent. | | cent. + | cent. | | | | | | + -----+-------+-------+-------+---------+--------+----------+------- + | | | | | | | + 1902 | 8 | 19 | 35 | 26 | 2 | 10 | 0 + | | | | | | | + 1903 | 11 | 18 | 19 | 29 | 6 | 15 | 2 + | | | | | | | + 1904 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 25 | 16 | 25 | 2 + | | | | | | | + 1905 | 7 | 15 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 19 | 4 + | | | | | | | + 1906 | 8 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 17 | 13 | 3 + | | | | | | | + 1907 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 23 | 15 | 18 | 2 + | | | | | | | + 1908 | 4 | 15 | 26 | 20 | 13 | 16 | 6 + | | | | | | | + -----+-------+-------+-------+---------+--------+----------+------- + +During 1908, 143 older women were admitted to a special workroom opened +for the "unemployed." + +III. Filing of working papers is required of girls under sixteen. + +1. No girl under sixteen can work in New York unless she has an +Employment Certificate issued by the Board of Health, and then only from +8 A.M. to 5 P.M., or for eight hours daily. + +2. The public school last attended by the girl is responsible for her +until she is sixteen, or has her working papers, or is dismissed to +another school. If dismissed to Manhattan Trade School her attendance +there cannot be made compulsory, and she may attend a few days and then +leave and work illegally. Our facilities for following up such cases are +limited. With her working papers on file we know she is not evading the +law, and can dismiss her to work if she is not a success in trade lines +of training. + +3. Exceptions: Lack of proper birth record, on account of foreign birth +or failure to make record of it by officials, may prevent the obtaining +of an Employment Certificate. A special provision is made by the Board +of Health in such cases, and, pending adjustment, the girl is admitted +upon notice of date of future issuance. + +IV. Reference: Some reliable person's name is required of each applying +student, in order to have some one to communicate with in case of +difficulty of any kind. + +V. Application in person: Each girl fills out an application blank +giving name, address, and birthplace of self, father, and mother, public +school attendance, previous trade experience, if any, trade desired, +reference. This must be written at the school, for the manner in which +it is done is a large part of test for admission. + + +Times of Admission + +The school year begins in July, but a girl is admitted any Monday when +there is a vacancy in the department she wishes to enter. The following +table gives record of yearly admission: + + -------------------------+-------- + | + Nov. 2, 1902 (first day) | 20 + | + Rest of 1902 | 93 + | + 1903 | 139 + | + 1904 | 193 + | + 1905 | 239 + | + 1906 | 328 + | + 1907 | 433 + | + 1908 | 689 + | + 1909 | 517 + | + |-------- + | + Total | 2,651 + | + -------------------------+-------- + +Some of these students did not remain long enough to take a thorough +training, for home demands made even a small wage imperative, and the +girl had to join the ranks of earners ill prepared. Some were not +adapted to trade conditions, and soon fell out by the way. Many +persisted until they took more than the average twelve months' course, +and went into business at a proportionately higher wage. + + +Records + +I. Attendance: 1. Daily, Monday to Friday inclusive. The factory method +of time cards punched by a clock upon entrance and leaving has been +adopted as being most exact, businesslike, and time saving. It registers +the exact time when rung, and so indicates tardiness as well as absence. + +2. Weekly. A small filing card ruled for fifty-two weeks summarizes the +daily record of time cards and requires the marking attendance only once +a week. This file is subdivided into departments and again into classes, +so that the statistics of enrollment are easily gathered. + +II. Individual records: 1. Upon admission a record card is started for +each girl, no matter how long she may attend. This contains (1) the data +given upon the application blank copied in detail; (2) Student Aid, if +given, amount, date, and remarks. + +2. Upon leaving, entries are made on the same card of (1) date and cause +of leaving; (2) record in different departments--Art, Academic, Trade, +and Health; (3) certificate--kind, record, date. This is not granted +until the pupil has proved satisfactory in her trade both in the school +and in business; (4) Trade Record--upon the reverse side of the card is +the "record in trade after leaving school," with columns for date, +employer, kind of work, wages, remarks. This is kept up by the Placement +Secretary by frequent visits and letters, and gives the basis for many +valuable deductions as to the practical results of the training. + +III. Other records kept in departments are (1) Student Aid: application +and information; (2) Health: examinations upon entrance and future +reexaminations; (3) Department: records of each girl as she passes from +class to class, such as "attitude," speed, and skill. + + +Length of Year + +The school is in session forty-eight weeks each year, four weeks being +given up to one-week vacations at Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, and +Labor Day. The summer session is the beginning of the regular work, and +not a unit for summer training. No one is admitted for the summer only, +as the time is too short for real trade standards to be approached. + + +Tuition + +The tuition is absolutely free. The Manhattan Trade School aims to reach +the poorest girl who has little chance to advance rapidly unless some +one gives her a lift. In order to do this most effectively it is +sometimes necessary to assist her. (See the report of the Student Aid +Work.) + + +Choice of Trade + +A girl upon application can select the trade into which she wishes to +go. If after a month's trial she proves competent, she is allowed to +continue; if not, she is advised to change to another department or to +seek employment in work not taught at the Trade School. If a girl has no +choice of trade because of ignorance of possibilities, she is shown the +kinds taught and given a chance to make a selection. If then she is +undecided, she is advised to take what seems best adapted to the time +she can spend and the type of girl she appears to be. + + +Business Management + +However simple a school is, some bookkeeping is necessary, and when with +the running of the school is combined the management of trade order +supplies and receipts the problem becomes very complicated. (See Trade +Order Work.) + +I. General: A system of up-to-date bookkeeping of General Ledger, +Invoice Book, and Daily Exhibit, with details worked out in Petty Cash +and Maintenance Books, has been adopted. These few simple books so +distribute accounts of expense and receipts that one can soon see the +standing of the whole school or of a single department. All bookkeeping +is centralized in one office, except the taking of orders and the +details of filling them, which must be in the hands of the department +concerned. + +II. Departmental: 1. Requisition blanks for purchases made. 2. Order +blank and duplicate for order given by customer. 3. Time slips, wherever +possible, to get exact record of time value of work done. 4. Material +slips, to keep account of what has gone into any orders. 5. Final +billing, to give data for bills sent out from main office and duplicate +filed there for final records. + + +THE POWER MACHINE OPERATING DEPARTMENT + +Aim + +To train girls to work on sewing machines run by electric power and to +put a thinker behind every machine as its operator. The department hopes +by awakening intelligent interest in the tool, _i. e._, the machine, to +kindle ambition in the workers. It is only through the intelligent use +of the tool and consequent love of work which follows that we can look +forward to supplying the skilled machine workers of the future. This +training must be given while the girls are in the formative period, to +develop habits of thought and action which will counteract the bad +effects upon the worker that follow division and subdivision of work, +with consequent subdivision of ability, which takes place in all +factories today. When a pupil has been thoroughly trained in the +intelligent use of her tool, when she has learned to construct complete +garments, if she is then, through force of circumstances such as modern +production entails, compelled to carry out one process on the machine +indefinitely, or to make one part of a garment, she still holds the +balance of power in being prepared to do something else when opportunity +or necessity demands. + + +General Steps in Training + +I. A pupil must be given a short time to adjust herself to the workshop +environment, consequently she is put first at some simple work, such as +ripping or cutting up old garments. This gives her freedom while using +her hands to look about the workroom and to get accustomed to the sight +as well as to the sound of machines in action. + +II. The pupil is taught to control the power by which the machine is +run, and is then given an intelligent understanding of the mechanism of +the machine or machines she is to operate. + +III. The pupil then begins her regular course of work, and her feeling +of responsibility of the value of _time_ is awakened--that is, her +seconds, minutes, and hours, days, weeks, and months are now important +factors in her life, and they may be used for good or evil. In the +language of the department, time may be spent wisely or foolishly, and, +while studying at the Manhattan Trade School, seven hours out of every +day of the girl's life is given over to productive work and should be +accounted for. The department has developed its own plan of time +payments, which is much like the piece-work system employed in trade. +Through its rewards for time well spent it makes the fact real to the +pupils, as no form of punishment could do, that wasted time is gone +forever. + +The department is divided into five classes, three of which must be +taken to make an all-round operator, namely: Elementary, two months' +course; Intermediate, four months' course; Advanced, six months' course. +In trade, salaries for such positions range from $5 to $15. The other +two classes train specialists on the electric machines, special machines +of various kinds, straw-sewing machines. Special machine work requires +from three months to one year in addition to the full course of +all-round operating. Salaries range from $6 to $30. An expert trade +worker is in charge of each class. + + _Course of Work_ + + Regular Operating Course: + + 1. Control of power--learning names and uses of parts of machines. + Making bags, clothes, and operator's equipment. + + 2. Straight and bias stitching, equal distance apart. + + 3. Spaced bias stitching from given measurements. + + 4. Making and turning square corners, stitching heavy edge for + tension practice. + + 5. Machine table apron, using former principles. This is used to + protect operator from shafting and oil. + + 6. Seams: Plain seam, plain and band seam; French seam; bag seam on + warp; bag seam, one warp and one bias; bag seam, two biases. + + 7. Hemming: Different sized hems turned by hand for correct + measurements; hems run through hemmer to learn use of attachment and + give speed; seams through hemmer--bag seam, flat fell. + + 8. Quilting: Following designs made by pupils in Art Department. + Practice for control of power, starting and stopping machine at + given point. + + 9. Banding: Straight and bias bands placed by measurement from + design made in Art Department. Practice for edge stitching, turning + corners, accuracy of measurement. + + 10. Advanced seams on cloth and silk: Flannel seam, slot seam, + umbrella seam. + + 11. Yokes made and put on: Round yokes--petticoats; round front and + straight back--drawers and petticoats; bias yokes--waists; shaped + yokes--aprons; round yokes--children's dresses; miter corner + yoke--dresses. + + 12. Tucking: Free hand tucking for accuracy in measuring and use of + rule; special tucking on length and widths of different materials to + give speed and skill in handling different fabrics. + + General Construction: Trade Stock and Order Work (See Order Work): + Infants' slips, children's underwear; children's rompers; children's + dresses; women's underwear; shirtwaists; aprons; house dresses; + fancy negligees. + + Special Machine Work: + + Buttonholes; tucking; two-needle work; hemstitching; Bonnaz + (Corneli) embroidery; machine hand embroidery, scalloping. Students + of special ability only are fitted to take this course. One girl in + fifteen has usually the requisite application and self-control to + operate a special machine successfully. Each machine is specialized, + _i. e._, does its own particular work and no other. Patient + attention to little things is required on the part of the operator + in order that good results may be produced. Such machines are + supposed to need only a hand behind them to guide the work. Our + experience has proved to us that good results are produced only when + intelligence and patience are factors. In the factories, machinists + keep the special machines in order, but the school aims to train the + operator to keep her own machine in good condition, thus saving her + valuable time. + +Bonnaz (Corneli) embroidery work offers excellent opportunities for +correlation with the Art Department. Both Bonnaz (Corneli) and machine +hand embroidery must be felt in the muscles before they can be carried +out on the material, therefore the work with the pencil in making +designs which are to be carried out on the machine is of first +importance. Free-hand designs must be made first in large, free +movements on the machine until the arm muscles are thoroughly familiar +with the curve, sweep, and feeling to be executed. After mastery of +movement and sweep are acquired, the same designs may be reduced in size +ten or twenty times and the pupil will still work them out in perfect +rhythm. After the mastery of movement is acquired, the cording, +braiding, and three-thread attachment work are easily learned by a pupil +who has the necessary mechanical sense. The course of Bonnaz (Corneli) +work covers: chain stitch, lettering, applique work, cording, braiding, +three-thread work. + +Machine hand embroidery should be given as a supplementary course to +Bonnaz (Corneli) embroidery. It gives excellent training in design and +color work. + +Special trade machine straw sewing should also be taken up after the +regular course in operating. It gives splendid exercise for quick +handling of material, but makes a poor foundation of itself on which to +build a painstaking, expert, all-round operator. Speed is the first +requisite in getting a hat properly shaped, as the straw braid is flying +through the machine at the rate of four thousand stitches a minute; +hence the general operating is given first to the pupil to train her in +the requisite neatness. As straw-sewing has long slack seasons, the +operator can during such times return to the regular operating. + + +DRESSMAKING DEPARTMENT + +Aim + +The aim of the Dressmaking Department is to train girls in the elements +of the dressmaking trade, in order to enable them to immediately secure +employment as improvers and finishers or as assistants on skirts, +waists, and sleeves, and to give them a preparation which will help them +eventually to rise to positions of skill and responsibility. The +training eliminates the errand girl and apprenticeship stages, and makes +possible a living wage at the start. The result is accomplished in from +nine to seventeen months, the time depending entirely upon the +capability of the girl, her physical condition, her application to her +work, her regularity of attendance, and her previous training. + + +Classes + +The department is divided into three sections: (1) The Elementary, which +consists of two classes for the teaching of simple sewing and machine +work. This section is rendered necessary by the poor preparation of the +students at the entrance. It would be not only practical but desirable +for elementary public and industrial schools so to train their students +that they could omit this part of the Manhattan Trade School course. (2) +The Vocational. This section also includes two classes. The work is +tradelike in character, but much time has to be given to developing +right habits of work as well as to learning specific kinds of handwork. +The public secondary schools could offer this section to advantage, and +through it train pupils for a better knowledge of the home or for future +livelihood. (3) The Trade Section. This is a business shop, which +reproduces trade conditions as nearly as possible and is subdivided into +the same progressive divisions. Although the object is to work as trade +does, the educational aim is also prominent, and the course of training +has been planned with both ends in view. Order work plays an important +part in this section, for it makes possible the quantity and variety of +material necessary to supply the many repetitions of important phases of +dressmaking, the new views of old principles, and the elaborate costume +manufacturing which are needed in the training. It would be impossible +for a school to adequately deal with the many varieties of garments in +this trade without some equivalent for the order work. The use of models +or of practice material is not satisfactory on account of the great +difference between theoretical and practical knowledge in handling +valuable materials. A girl may learn to run fine tucks on cheesecloth, +but this will not enable her to do satisfactory hand-tucking on chiffon. +Neither is it a correct educational or economic principle to cut up +quantities of good material, which the students will look upon as +"rags," and then, after working on them, to throw them into a receptacle +for waste or sell them simply to get rid of them. To secure the best +results in any line of instruction there must be interest and +enthusiasm. The aim, therefore, must be definite and the results vital. +The work is planned to foster these higher qualities. The students +produce articles for a definite use; they are given a required time in +which the work should be completed; trade itself sets the standard of +judgment, and a definite relation exists between the work of all the +classes, so that old principles may be recognized when presented in new +forms. + + +Courses of Work + +I. Elementary Section. (1) Beginners' Class. First, a test is given each +girl when she enters which enables her instructor to judge of her +ability in sewing. It has been found necessary, in the majority of +cases, to teach all or the greater part of the following principles: the +use of sewing utensils, the making of the stitches, their application in +articles, and the running of the sewing machine. Hence the second step +has been a course of work covering the use of these needed principles, +each girl beginning at the point where she needs training. Third, the +final test. On the satisfactory completion of this very elementary +training a test is given to show a girl's ability to work, to think, and +to utilize ideas. If she is not yet fully prepared, further time is +spent in emphasizing the points she still requires. + +The work in the Beginners' Class is done upon articles which have a +trade value and which are sold to customers or to the students for about +the cost of the materials. The school furnishes the materials for all +elementary work, but the students must provide their own tools and keep +them in good condition. These include a thimble, needles, scissors, a +tape measure, an emery, and a white apron. + +Class instruction followed by individual criticism is the method of +teaching in the Elementary Section. Emphasis is placed upon the proper +use of the utensils, the position of the body, and the handling of the +work. Individual records are kept of the grade of work and of the time +taken to finish a problem. The course takes from two to three months to +complete, and the students are at work four and one-half hours per day. + + OUTLINE OF WORK IN BEGINNERS' CLASS + + 1. Stitches and special forms of sewing: Basting, running, + overhanding, overcasting, hemming, blind stitching, sewing on + buttons (two hole, four hole), buttonholes, featherstitching. + + 2. Seams: Plain; selvage and raw edges; French; felled; straight and + bias edges; overhanded. + + 3. Machine stitching: Straight seams and rows; hems; + facings--points; use of tucker. + + 4. Principles: Measuring, seams, hems, tucks, cutting by a thread; + matching stripes; turning and basting hems; making casing for + drawstrings; putting on band--by hand, by machine--one and two + pieces; setting strings into bands; finishing ends of hems; putting + on pockets--straight and shaped; plain placket; cutting bias strips; + piecing bias strips; facing curved and straight edges (armholes, + neck, waist, points); joining waist and skirt with bias facing; + making straight tucked ruffle; inserting ruffle under tuck on skirt; + ripping. + + 5. Articles used in the work (this list is changed at will and is + merely representative): Handwork--Pin cushion, bag, towel, white + apron with ruffle. Machine work--Belt, gingham apron oversleeves, + child's dress with waist, uniform apron. + + 6. Supplementary work: Shoe bags, silver cases, holders, bibs, silk + bags, darning bags, needle books, traveling cases, baby caps and + work of a similar character. + + 7. Materials used: Cotton, linen, silk. + +(2) Intermediate Class. The Beginners' Class gives most of its time to +hand sewing, the Intermediate Class emphasizes machine sewing. The work +is a repetition of the principles taught in the Beginners' Class, but is +presented in a different manner, with new applications. Orders are taken +from individuals or business houses for the garments which are made in +this course. The price is that of the trade. These orders furnish a +market for the entire output of the class. A certain amount of class +instruction is given, but the girls are expected to do independent work +under supervision. + + OUTLINE OF WORK IN INTERMEDIATE CLASS + + 1. Review of former principles on new garments: (1) French + seam--straight edges, baby slips and nightgowns. (2) Hems, (_a_) + straight, (_b_) turned by hand, on princess aprons, bloomers, + sleeves, etc., (_c_) turned by machine--hemmer on ruffles, for + drawers and petticoats. (3) Overcasting--seams of skirts. (4) + Buttonholes--all garments. (5) Plackets--plain hemmed, on skirts, + baby slips. (6) Bias bands--joining and applying to straight and + curved edges, on princess aprons, drawers, top of petticoat. (7) + Ruffle--joining, measuring, and applying under tuck, on skirt and + drawers. (8) Machine instruction--threading, setting needles, + winding bobbin, scale of thread, needle, and stitch. + + 2. New principles: (1) Flat fell--shaped and bias edges on princess + aprons and drawers. (2) French seam--shaped edges in petticoat + seams. (3) Loops--on petticoats and dressing sacques. (4) + Hems--shaped edges in gored skirts, princess aprons and nightgowns, + baby slips and children's dresses. (5) Overhanding--pieces on + nightgowns, piecing ruffles and lace on underwear. (6) + Plackets--faced in drawers, petticoats, bloomers, and dress skirts. + (7) Bias band--applying to top of ruffle in petticoats and drawers. + (8) Bias binding--corset cover and nightgown. (9) Ruffle--finishing + with bias bands on petticoat and drawers. (10) Cuffs--making and + applying to nightgowns, baby slips, rompers, and house dresses. (11) + Sleeves--gathering on wrong side and putting into baby slips, + nightgowns, dressing sacques, etc. (12) Pressing. (13) Sewing hooks + and eyes on petticoats. (14) Machine instruction in cleaning, + oiling, and attachments. + + 3. List of articles made for stock and order: Aprons--princess, + maids', fancy. Women's clothes--dressing sacques, nightgowns, + kimonos, lounging robes, house dresses, chemises, drawers, skirts + (washable, mohair, silk), collars, and corset covers. Children's + clothes--nightdresses, night drawers, drawers, skirts, rompers, + dresses, and aprons. + + 4. Materials used: Cotton, silk, woolen, and worsted. + +II. Vocational Section. The increasing demand for ready-made clothing +has opened a new field for girls obliged to enter the business world as +soon as the law will permit them to leave school. This requires hand +finishing on fancy waists and plain and fancy gowns, which are made by +the dozens on machines run by electric power. It is not necessary to +have a knowledge of actual dressmaking to be able to do this work. The +ability to do good handwork rapidly is the prerequisite. In some +establishments there are opportunities for girls of ability to rise from +finisher to draper, which latter position commands a high wage. + +The producing of fine, handmade underwear, waists, and dresses is +another opportunity for girls who can take but a short time in which to +prepare to earn their living. Work of this character is of a much higher +grade than that of the wholesale finishing, and demands the ability to +do extremely good hand and machine work. The worker must be able to +handle the finest kind of materials and to do the most intricate work, +such as hand tucking, setting in lace, and trimmings. + +Although the course in the Vocational Section trains for specific +branches, it is very necessary that all dressmaking students should have +experience in these lines in order to be better prepared for the actual +dressmaking. If, however, a girl has the ability to do the work of these +classes, she is allowed to skip either one or both of them. + +Course of work in the Shop for Gymnasium and Swimming Suits: The +students are drilled for one or two months in putting garments together, +stitching, and finishing. As but two kinds of garments are made, speed +is acquired and a certain amount of accuracy is gained through much +repetition. Definite arrangements have been made through wholesale +houses for the disposition of the product. The materials are furnished +by the school. The price is that of trade. + +(1) Articles: Swimming suits (patented), bathing suits, and gymnasium +suits. (2) Materials used: Cotton, wool, worsted. + +Course of work in White Work Class: The previous training having been a +general one for accuracy, speed, and the mastery over mind and hand, +attention is now given for two and one-half or three months to fine +detail work and the handling and keeping fresh and clean of the +daintiest of cotton goods. The materials are furnished by the school and +the work is sold to customers at trade prices. + +(1) Principles: Hand-tucking, rolling and whipping, mitering corners, +overhanding trimming, inserting lace and embroidery by hand and machine, +fine featherstitching, and white hand embroidery. (2) Garments for stock +and order; fine underwear, waists, and baby clothes. (3) Material used: +cotton. + +III. Trade Section--The Business Shop. Trade demands skilled workers, +and preference is given to those who have had practical training. The +trade section aims to add experience to skill by offering the students +the actual work and conditions demanded in the outside market. The +general scheme is the one in use in moderate-sized dressmaking +establishments. + +The workroom has its tables devoted to separate kinds of work, the +students obtain a definite amount of knowledge from each experience, and +pass from one to the other as rapidly as their ability to grasp the +principles will permit. Each division is in charge of an instructor with +practical trade experience, who prepares and supervises the work and +also does the skilled parts which the students, on account of their lack +of experience, are unable to do. + +The girls are not taught cutting, fitting, and draping, as trade would +not permit a sixteen-year-old girl to attempt this work on account of +her lack of judgment and experience; but they have the opportunity to +see and assist in the preparation of work. No girl in the trade shop +will make a complete garment, but she will have worked upon all parts +many times. + +Custom orders supply the shop with work. The customers are interviewed, +measurements are taken, estimates are given, and dates for fittings are +planned. The information obtained is recorded upon blanks prepared for +the purpose. The materials are purchased, the garments cut, and the +different parts (skirts, waists, sleeves) are delivered to the tables +where such work is done. Blanks are provided for the recording of all +materials used for customers' work, and from these the bills are made +out in the main office. Stock is obtained from the storerooms on signed +requisitions only. The stock clerk measures and delivers the materials +and notes the amount withdrawn on each package. + + Course in Dressmaking Shop: + + 1. Linings: Waist (practice materials): basting, stitching, + pressing, binding, boning (whalebone, featherbone); hooks and eyes; + facing; overcasting. + + 2. Shirtwaists and nurses' uniforms: Covering rings; making + shirtwaist cuff; making shirtwaist placket; putting on neckbands. + + 3. Skirts: Petticoats or drop skirts for; basting, stitching, + pressing; seams, bands, plackets; trimming, pinning, putting on + band. + + 4. Trimmed skirts: Slip stitching; milliner's and flat folds; + covering buttonholes; binding, shirring, cording, tucking, piping, + facing, braiding. + + 5. Trimmed waists: Application of principles; experience in making + and applying trimming and handling delicate or perishable materials. + + 6. Trimmed sleeves: Application in general knowledge and experience + in applying trimmings. + + 7. Garments made in the shop: Shirtwaists, fancy dressing sacques + and wrappers; nurses' and maids' uniforms; dancing dresses; + elaborate waists; street, afternoon, and evening gowns; tailored + suits. + + 8. Materials used: All varieties of cotton, linen, silk, woolen, and + worsted dress fabrics; chiffon, mousseline, and trimmings of all + kinds. + +IV. Results of training. A change in the general appearance of the girls +is soon apparent, for which ability to make their own clothes and the +refining influence of the doing of good work on good materials is +probably responsible. The elements of good order, obedience, +thoughtfulness, judgment, self-control, industry, and thrift are +fostered, and every effort is put forth to make intelligent workers. + +The fact that on entering trade the girls from the Trade School receive +nearly double the salary given untrained girls indicates that they are +fitted for the outside workrooms. + +V. Departmental relations. The emphasis which the Academic and Art +Departments have laid upon accuracy, careful work, appreciation of +measurements, distances, color, and form has been of great value to the +students in the Dressmaking Department. The Operating Department has +also been of service in training some of the students to work on special +machines, thus enabling them to make dress decoration. The use of the +electric power machine in custom dressmaking establishments is on the +increase. + +VI. Trade relation. The department is kept in close touch with trade +conditions through personal visits, through the houses which purchase +its output, and through those from whom the stock is bought. Many +opportunities to purchase materials at reduced rates have been secured +through the kindly interest of the trade. + +An advisory board, composed of business men and women, has been +appointed to pass judgment upon the scheme of work, the standard and +quality of work, and the cost and market value of the products. + + +MILLINERY DEPARTMENT + +Aim + +The aim of the Millinery Department is to train assistants, improvers, +frame makers, and preparers for wholesale and custom workrooms. + + +Short Course + +When this department was first opened the scope of the work for the day +classes was much more extended and included training for copyists, +designers, and milliners. The curtailing of the course to more +elementary preparation was brought about by a feeling of dissatisfaction +with this trade for the young, untrained, or partly skilled workers. +Close and continued contact with millinery shops showed that for young +wage-earners a small, initial wage and a not very rapid rise are usual; +that a short, irregular, seasonal engagement is almost inevitable; that +a long experience is needed before even the trained girl can rise to the +higher positions; that young workers become discouraged and are apt to +drop the trade altogether, even for lower wages, if they can obtain +steady work in another occupation. As it was the fourteen or +fifteen-year-old girl who came for the instruction, it was better for +her to be well trained as an assistant than to detain her at the school +for a more advanced position which she would probably not be allowed to +take on account of her youth and inexperience. Students in this +department need to be watched with especial care to determine whether +they are well adapted for their occupation, and the mediocre worker +would better enter some other field where the opportunities for her are +more encouraging. As the advance is slow the girl also whose poverty is +hurrying her into wage-earning would better not elect this work. + +The night classes which have been offered at the school gave training in +the more advanced lines of millinery. The day classes are also prepared +to do so whenever older workers feel they can give time for the +instruction. + + COURSE OF INSTRUCTION + + Length of course: Six months. + + 1. Practice: Shirring, tucking, cording, rolled hem, plain fold, + milliner's fold, and cutting and joining bias pieces. + + 2. Making and covering buckles and buttons; wiring ribbons and + laces; making hat linings and wiring hats. + + 3. Bandeaux: Wire, capenet, and buckram. + + 4. Wire frame construction from dimensions and models; making frames + of buckram, capenet, and stiff willow. + + 5. Covering frames with crinoline, capenet, mull, maline, and soft + willow. + + 6. Facings: Plain, shirred, and in folds. + + 7. Bindings: Stretch, puff, and rolled. + + 8. Plateaux: Plain and fancy. + + 9. Making hats of straw, silk, chiffon, maline, and velvet. + + 10. Sewing trimmings on hats and sewing linings in hats. + + 11. Renovating: Ribbon, velvet, lace, feathers, flowers. + + 12. Machine work: Plain stitching, tucking, shirring, bias strips + stitched on material. + +Orders are taken for a limited amount of trimmed hats in order to +provide the students with experience in preparing, sewing on the +trimming, and in finishing the hat. + +As millinery is a seasonal trade, students are advised to take, in +addition, lamp and candle shade making in the Novelty Department, or +straw sewing in the Operating Department. They are thus provided with +good trades during the months when their own trade is dull. + + +NOVELTY DEPARTMENT + +Aim + +(1) To teach the use of paste and glue in several good trades. (2) A +short course in lampshade and candleshade making for girls who have a +dull season in their regular trade during November, December, and +January. + + +Lines of Work + +Sample mounting, novelty work, jewelry and silverware case making, +lampshade and candleshade making. + + +Trades and Wages + +Sample mounting is pasting or gluing samples of all kinds of material on +cards or in books to be used by salesmen in selling goods. New York is a +center for this class of work. It gives year-round employment to many +girls, and offers wages from $5 to $15 a week. The simpler lines of +sample mounting can be learned by almost any girl. A bright student can +learn this trade in six months. + +Novelty work is the covering and lining of cases and boxes with +different materials. Girls can earn from $5 to $18 a week, and can learn +the trade in from eight months to a year. + +In jewelry and silverware case making the girls are taught both to cover +and line up the cases; they earn from $5 to $15 a week. It takes from +eight months to a year to learn this trade. + +Lampshade and candleshade making: A short course is offered to good +sewers who wish to learn a line of work that will give them employment +during November, December, and January, which is the busy season in this +occupation. Girls can earn from $1 to $2 a day. It is a very good course +for millinery workers, as the work is similar and therefore easily +learned, and the slack time in millinery is the busy time in this trade. + + +Course of Work + +All pupils entering the Novelty Department take a short course in sample +mounting to learn the use of paste and glue. Some are advanced soon to +the novelty work, while others continue in sample mounting, taking up a +greater variety of work along that line. Those entering for lamp and +candle shade making do not take the sample mounting, but come from the +millinery or sewing classes, where they have had some training with the +needle. + + +Interrelation with Academic and Art Work + +In the academic classes the girls are drilled in measurements and have +problems estimating the cost of materials and labor. Their discussions +pertain to actual processes and materials used in the classes of the +Novelty Department. + +In the art classes the girls are trained to draw straight lines and +square corners, to miter corners, to fold on a line, to make good +letters and figures, and to appreciate good proportions and balance. +This work enables the student to arrange her samples in straight lines +on the card, with proper margins, and to print neatly on the card the +name of the materials and stock numbers. The discussion of materials +helps her to cut and place her materials on the cases so that the design +will appear to the best advantage. The color work aids her in choosing +the best hues of ribbons or linings to use with the figured coverings. + + +Orders + +Where trade orders can be used without keeping the girls too long on the +one problem, they prove a great incentive and also help them to acquire +speed. Private orders give more variety in the work, and thus enable the +girls to adjust themselves more easily to each season's new styles. The +private orders, however, being smaller in number, do not help the +students to acquire the speed that the repetition does in the large +trade orders. Each kind of order work is used, as it can be of advantage +to the development of the student. + + +ART DEPARTMENT + +The courses of work in the Art Department are shaped according to the +needs of each trade department. Various phases of work in dressmaking, +electric power operating, novelty, and millinery are made "centers of +interest." Each girl thus finds her art aiding her to be more valuable +in her trade. Her enthusiasm is awakened and she is stimulated to +self-expression directly along the line of her chosen work. The entering +students lack in the technical skill which can be used in their trades. +The first step, therefore, is to give the elementary exercises needed in +their departments. This is followed by more difficult and more artistic +work as the student shows ability. + + +Aims + +To help the work of the trade departments, to improve the trade selected +by each student, to give ideals. + + +Conditions + +Time of average student in art, seven months, three hours per week. +Previous art training little or none. + + +Difficulties + +The students do not see or estimate correctly; they are not exact, and +they lack ideals. + + +Organization of Art Work + +I. _General_ course for _all_ students, connecting Art Department with +Trade Courses. Approximate time, three months, three times a week. + + 1. Principles of Proportion: Measurements by ruler and free-hand. + Related lines and sizes, as in hems and margins. + + 2. General Use of Principles: (1) Horizontal, vertical, oblique + lines for machine practice. (2) Related margins and spots as used in + the writing of letters, the orderly placing of subject on a page. + + 3. Specific Department Work: Departments express their needs to Art + Department. (1) Machine operating: (_a_) Lines--horizontal, + vertical, oblique, for machine practice. (_b_) Quilting, banding, + practice for curves and square corners. + + (2) Sewing: (_a_) Lines--horizontal, vertical, oblique, for machine + and hand practice and tailor basting. (_b_) Hems, tucks as + prescribed by department and proportioned to garment. (_c_) + Constructive drawing--giving different angles and figures with a + view toward an intelligent use of patterns for waists and skirts. + (_d_) Piecing bias and mitering corners. + + (3) Novelty: (_a_) Lines--horizontal, vertical, oblique, for sample + mounting. (_b_) Spacings for sample mounting. (_c_) Letterings and + figures for sample mounting. (_d_) Margins for pasting different + shaped labels and samples. (_e_) Paper folding, mitering corners. + + (4) Millinery: (_a_) Lines--horizontal, vertical, oblique, for hand + sewing practice. (_b_) Problems for proportions for the wire frames. + (_c_) Bias facings and mitered and square corners. (_d_) Color. + +Students unable to benefit further by the Art Work are dropped from +course and devote this time to their trade. + +II. _Supplementary_ course for students showing ability who have +finished the prescribed departmental course. Approximate time, seven to +nine months. + + 1. Machine Operating: (1) First step in designs, arrangement of + straight lines in borders, and orderly arrangement of spots in + borders. (2) Squared-off designs, stenciling same, for cooerdination. + (3) Sample curved line designs, continuous (limitation of machine + and for speed). (4) Patterns for practice work for the special + machine. (5) Special workers to practice the exercises for the + Bonnaz machine. (6) Color--three charts. (7) Exercises for + perforating. + + 2. Sewing: (1) Simple designs for shirtwaists and for braiding. (2) + Designs for revers, cuffs, vests, and yokes. (3) Proportions of + figure. (4) Copying from magazines for trade technicalities. (5) + Discussions on dress for trade workers. (6) Color harmony in dresses + and application. + + 3. Millinery: (1) Sketching different views of the hats. (2) + Sketching models. (3) Color harmonies and application. (4) + Discussions on how art principles can be applied to hats of the + present day. + + 4. Novelty: (1) Simple, squared-off designs stenciled for + cooerdination for hand and head, not gained in the trade work. (2) + Simple illumination of words and phrases. (3) The materials and + decoration to be used for pads, desk sets, and boxes discussed and + carried out. + +In this supplementary course emphasis is put on the thought, invention, +and appreciation of the student. + +III. _Special_ course for students who show unusual ability in art and +can utilize it in trade. + + 1. Costume sketching for making records in dressmaking workrooms. + + 2. Stamping and perforating: (_a_) Machine practice--pedaling, + guiding needle, threading machine, and learning to adjust the + different parts. (_b_) Stamping on different materials with the + different mediums; composition of the different mediums, liquid and + dry. (_c_) Copying patterns for perforating; nature study for + motifs; conventionalizing those to apply them to materials. + +(All designs are such as can be used in trade and are made according to +trade methods.) + + +ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT + +Aim + +I. Elementary: To supplement previous schooling. Girls who have left the +public school from low grades need special tutoring in the common +branches. Special instruction is also needed for newly arrived +foreigners. + +II. Trade: To quicken and enrich the mind, that the girl may become a +more efficient, intelligent, and enthusiastic trade worker. + +The work falls under the following subjects: Civics, Industries, +Arithmetic, English. + + +Civics + +This course is given as a means of enabling the pupil to recognize her +place in the family, the school, the community, and in the world's work. +For lack of a better term it is called Civics. It is dealt with under +two heads: (1) Community Life in General, (2) Community Life in New York +City. + +1. Under the first head the discussion of life in a given community is +followed by the simple facts that lie at the foundation of civic life. +These are approached through the interests or desires which the pupil +feels in common with all other people. Building still further on the +pupil's own experience, she is led to apply the ideas received to her +own community, which ever widening its scope is carried from the +neighborhood or the school to the city, the state, and on to the nation. + +Civics also gives to the pupils a knowledge of the existing laws under +which they will work, by whom these laws are made, and the possible +means for improving them. In the discussion of such subjects as Tenement +House Laws, Child Labor Laws, and Trade-Unions, there is opportunity for +the introduction of home and business economics which have been found to +be valuable. Economics is further taught by the detailed discussion of +the apportionment of an income of $6 a week for fifty working weeks, +considering car fare, lunches, savings, a portion toward family support, +and an allowance for clothes. The literature for this course is obtained +from the United States Department of Commerce and Labor, the State +Department of Factory Legislation, the Consumers' League, the National +and State Labor Committees, and current magazines. Mr. Arthur M. Dunn's, +"The Community and the Citizen," especially such chapters as those on +the "Making of Americans," "How the Government Aids the Citizen in His +Business Life," "Waste and Saving," "What the Community Does for Those +Who Cannot or Will Not Contribute to Its Progress," has given valuable +assistance in leading to discussions which have direct bearing upon +daily life and work. + +2. The following outline shows the treatment of the second division of +Civics: + + New York City: (1) City Government, (_a_) Officials, Mayor, + Commissioner, Borough President, Aldermen; (_b_) City Departments. + (2) Citizenship, (_a_) Who are citizens, (_b_) How to become a + citizen, (_c_) Duties and privileges of citizens, (_d_) Aliens. (3) + Child Labor Laws, (_a_) School attendance, (_b_) Working papers, how + obtained, (_c_) Hours for work. (4) Factory Laws for girls over + sixteen years old. (5) Sweatshop labor. (6) Tenement House Laws. (7) + Trade-Unions. (8) Commerce and Industries of New York. (9) + Philanthropies. + + +Industries + +Aim: To furnish the worker with a background for her trade and to help +her to see her place in the working world of today. 1. A generalized +view is taken of the main steps in the early progress of the race. 2. +Textile materials are discussed as to their values, their uses, their +cost, the processes of their manufacture, the comparison of foreign and +domestic goods, with reasons for the differences, and the connected +problems of arithmetic which the students will meet. These subjects help +the girl to "get next" to what she is working with every day and to +arouse interest in her personal connection with the subject. The English +girl whose father was once employed in a lace house in London brings +mounted specimens of that sort of handwork to the class; the Hungarian +brings hand-spun articles from her mother's bridal outfit; the Italian +presents a skein of raw silk taken from the family's treasure box, and +the girl from Roumania brings an embroidered bed cover. The student +whose mother does not believe cotton ever grew on bushes asks that she +may verify her own statement by taking home a real cotton ball. A Labor +Museum is being collected to give reality to the instruction, and +exhibits from it, which show the steps in the manufacturing of the +fabrics and of other familiar articles, are put up in the classroom when +needed. A bulletin board provides for the numerous clippings brought by +the students or teachers. + + +Arithmetic + +Aim: The fundamental aim of arithmetic is to give the pupils working +methods for the problems that occur in trade practice. To make the +correlation clear to the girls, workroom methods of presentation and +phraseology and the customary materials are used. Sewing and operating +students make hems, tucks, and ruffles to actual measurements; novelty +girls cut and arrange cards for samples in accordance with their +workroom demands; and millinery students work out the measurements for +hat frames as closely as varying styles permit. + +With the fundamentals of trade problems established, arithmetic is +further developed along special lines of trade to meet the demands of +the business world. The trained worker should not only be skilled in the +manipulation of tools and materials, but she should be able to compute +her own problems, such as estimates for garments, how to cut materials +economically, the cost of one garment or article as related to the cost +of many of the same kind, the prices, and similar trade questions. The +ability to deal with these subjects adds materially to the value of a +skilled worker. + +The central scheme of the course is to lead the pupil to prompt and +accurate mental calculation. This is stimulated by frequent oral drills +in trade problems and business problems involving short methods of +computation. The extent and progress of this work are regulated by the +ability of the class. + +The following outlines show the adaptation of arithmetic to the +different trades: + + _Operating_: (1) Cutting of gauges, (_a_) For hems, (_b_) For tucks. + (2) Tucking problems, (_a_) With gauges, (_b_) As formal arithmetic + problems. (3) Ruffling problems. (4) Time problems, Department time + schedules as basis for the work. (5) Factory problems. (6) Income, + expenditure, savings. (7) Bills and receipts. (8) Computation of + quantity of material required for garments, (_a_) By measuring + garments, (_b_) By use of patterns on cloth, (_c_) Economy of + material. (9) Problems based on above work. (10) Civic problems. + + _Sewing_: (1) Cutting of gauges, (_a_) For hems, (_b_) For tucks. + (2) Tucking problems. (3) Ruffling problems. (4) Computation of + quantity of material required for garments, (_a_) By measuring + garments, (_b_) By use of patterns on cloth, (_c_) Economy of + material. (5) Problems based on above work. (6) Store problems. (7) + Bills and receipts. (8) Income, expenditures, savings. (9) Textile + problems. (10) Civic problems. + + _Novelty_: (1) Sample mounting, (_a_) Cards are cut a given size and + are divided with the ruler into spaces for samples, with proper + margins, etc., according to trade demands, (_b_) Problems involving + the various sizes and shapes of cards and samples, using cards and + rulers for the work. (2) Sample cutting. (3) Cutting materials for + boxes, (_a_) Pulp board, (_b_) Covering plain, flowered, (_c_) + Economy of materials. (4) Problems based on above work. (5) Trade + problems, (_a_) In sample mounting, accuracy, speed, (_b_) Cost of + materials. (6) Bills and receipts. (7) Income, expenditure, savings. + (8) Civic problems. + + _Millinery_: (1) Measurement of frames. (2) Trade problems, (_a_) + Quantity of material, (_b_) Price of materials, (_c_) Economy of + material. (3) Orders, (_a_) By letter, (_b_) By order blanks. (4) + Bills and receipts. (5) Income, expenditure, savings. (6) Problems + on manufacture of silk. (7) Civic problems. + + +English + +Aim: 1. To facilitate oral and written expression. 2. To give practice +in business forms: _Spelling_: (1) Technical terms of each trade +department; (2) Textiles and other trade materials; (3) Ordinary +business terms. _Descriptions_: (1) Written work on materials used and +articles made in each department; (2) Outlining and defining of +department work. _Business Forms_: (1) Letters of application; (2) +Letters ordering goods; (3) Telegrams, postal cards, etc.; (4) Writing +of advertisements. + +In addition to practice in spelling and in the writing of business +forms, the work in English aims to be in close correlation with the +other subjects taught. As a rule, the latter part of each recitation +period is spent by the pupils in writing upon the subject in hand. The +purpose is to obtain from them freedom of expression after arousing +interest in a subject, rather than to get long compositions +necessitating home study and probably generating a dislike for written +work. Attention is called to paragraphing and emphasis is laid upon both +the form and the manner of writing, but form is made subservient to +thought. The interrelation of Art Department helps the student to +appreciate the need of good form in the appearance of a written page. + + +PHYSICAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT + +The young wage-earner who goes into trade untrained at fourteen years of +age is greatly handicapped by her physical condition. Either through +ignorance or neglect early symptoms of disease are disregarded, and it +is not until she finds herself out of employment as a result of physical +weakness that she realizes that good health is the capital of the +working girl. + +Many of the girls who enter the school are found to be suffering from +poor vision; enlarged glands caused by decayed teeth; poor nasal +breathing as a result of adenoid growths or enlarged tonsils; anaemia; +skin eruptions; slight asymmetries and poor posture. These defects +produce exaggerated nerve signs and poor nutrition. + + +Aim + +The work of the Physical Department is to correct as many of these +irregularities as possible and also to train the student to a knowledge +of her body and how to care for it, that she may be able to stand the +long hours of confining work and be able to show efficient results in +her trade. + +The following examination is required of each entering student: + +_Physical Examination_: Beginning with the family history, a complete +record of all important events relating to a student's physical life is +taken. She is carefully examined for asymmetry; curvature, incipient or +well defined; traces of tuberculosis; weakness of heart and lungs; +enlarged glands; skin diseases, or signs of nervous disorders. She is +closely questioned as to all bodily functions and a careful record is +kept of irregularities. Eyes, ears, teeth, nose, and throat are likewise +examined. Impressions of the feet are made in order to detect weakness +of the arch or flatfoot. Measurements of height, weight, and the +principal expansions are taken for comparison with later records and for +the purpose of comparing with normal standard. + + +Prescribed Treatment + +After the examination the girl is instructed as to treatment, if any is +needed. If perfectly normal she will report for gymnastics three times a +week. If any asymmetry, curvature of the spine, heart disease, or +nervous disorders are discovered, she must report for special corrective +exercises at the school. In some cases individual instruction is given +for supplementing the work at home. Cases demanding special apparatus +and individual attention have been treated in the Physical Education +Department of Teachers College, through the kindness of the director, +Dr. Thomas Denison Wood. The girls so affected have thus the advantage +of the latest methods known to science. If any of the numerous skin +diseases are present which demand frequent and regular attention, the +student is assigned to a group who go twice a week to a dispensary to +receive electrical or X-ray treatment. In cases of enlarged tonsils or +adenoids, the necessity for immediate operation is explained and every +effort made to gain the consent of the parents. When permission is +obtained the girl goes to a neighboring hospital on Sunday evening, is +operated upon on Monday, and returns home Tuesday. Each student must +have her eyes thoroughly examined by a doctor selected at the Ophthalmic +Dispensary. If glasses are needed they are procured at the expense of +the parent or donated by an optician who is interested in the school. +Dispensary treatment is also necessary in cases of catarrh of nose and +throat. Teeth are carefully examined and the girls directed to their own +dentists, or to the Dental Dispensary adjoining the school, where we are +fortunate enough to have a limited amount of work done free of charge. +Cases of asymmetry demanding braces, plaster jackets, and operations +have been treated at the Post-Graduate Hospital. Tuberculosis cases in +advanced stages have been placed on the special boats in New York Harbor +or are sent to Tubercular Camps in the country. + +In sending girls to the hospitals and dispensaries the aim is to place +them in touch with institutions to which they will have independent +access after they leave the Manhattan Trade School. + + +Statistics + +The statistics below show the condition of 278 girls when they +registered at the school. The charts are divided according to the +departments entered. From them can be seen the need of special care for +the health of the working girl. + + |Dressmaking. + | |Art. + | | |Millinery. + | | | |Novelty. + | | | | |Operating. + | | | | | |Total. + --------------------+-------------------+-----+---+----+----+----+------ + | | | | | | | + Nutrition | Good | 101 | 7 | 15 | 26 | 35 | 184 + | Fair | 39 | | 2 | 6 | 18 | 65 + | Poor | 7 | | 4 | 10 | 8 | 29 + | | | | | | | + Mentality | Good | 122 | 7 | 19 | 33 | 40 | 221 + | Fair | 21 | | 2 | 6 | 17 | 46 + | Poor | 4 | | | 3 | 4 | 11 + | | | | | | | + Nerve signs | Present | 39 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 16 | 77 + | Absent | 108 | 4 | 15 | 29 | 45 | 201 + | | | | | | | + Asymmetry, slight | Present | 53 | 4 | 12 | 23 | 29 | 121 + curvatures, high | Absent | 94 | 3 | 9 | 19 | 32 | 157 + hips or shoulders, | | | | | | | + etc. | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + Posture | Good | 93 | 4 | 8 | 29 | 31 | 165 + | Fair | 54 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 30 | 113 + | | | | | | | + Skin | Good condition | 95 | 5 | 13 | 32 | 44 | 189 + | Acne, comedones, | 52 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 89 + | etc. | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + Glands | Good condition | 66 | 3 | 10 | 19 | 20 | 118 + | Enlarged | 81 | 4 | 11 | 23 | 41 | 160 + | | | | | | | + Vision | Need glasses | 44 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 19 | 86 + | Good condition | 103 | 4 | 13 | 30 | 42 | 192 + | | | | | | | + Hearing | Defective | 6 | 1 | | 4 | 1 | 12 + | Good | 141 | 6 | 21 | 38 | 60 | 266 + | | | | | | | + Speech | Good | 170 | 7 | 20 | 37 | 56 | 260 + | Defective | 7 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 8 + | | | | | | | + Nasal breathing | Good | 32 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 13 | 60 + | Fair | 58 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 28 | 114 + | Poor | 57 | 2 | 6 | 19 | 20 | 104 + | | | | | | | + Tonsils | Good | 44 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 79 + | Slightly enlarged | 75 | 2 | 11 | 25 | 24 | 137 + | Much enlarged | 28 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 62 + | | | | | | | + Teeth | Good | 103 | 5 | 16 | 30 | 40 | 194 + | Poor | 44 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 21 | 84 + | Need attention | 108 | 4 | 12 | 31 | 40 | 195 + | | | | | | | + Hearts | Good | 122 | 4 | 21 | 23 | 44 | 214 + | Weak, irritable, | 24 | 2 | | 17 | 13 | 56 + | or with anaemic | | | | | | + | murmurs | | | | | | + | Organic trouble | 1 | 1 | | 2 | 4 | 8 + | | | | | | | + Lungs | Good | 138 | 5 | 20 | 36 | 58 | 257 + | Tuberculosis | 3 | | | 2 | | 5 + | Suspected | 6 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 + | tuberculosis | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + Feet | Good | 125 | 7 | 16 | 38 | 53 | 239 + | Weak arches | 10 | | 1 | | 4 | 15 + | Broken arches or | 12 | | 4 | 4 | 4 | 24 + | flatfoot | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + Enlarged thyroid | | 12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 23 + glands | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + Exophthalmic goiter | | 2 | | | | 2 | 4 + | | | | | | | + Chorea | | 2 | | | 2 | 1 | 5 + | | | | | | | + Needing corrective | | 5 | | 3 | 4 | 7 | 19 + exercises | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + --------------------+-------------------+-----+---+----+----+----+------- + +A second examination of the same girls six months later shows gain in +weight, height, and general health; 125 had their teeth put in order; +six were treated for defective hearing; twenty had attended the Skin +Clinic; all had their eyes examined; eighty-six were fitted with +glasses. In twenty-five cases where the adenoids and tonsils were +removed the result was increase in weight, better breathing and heart +action, alertness of mind, and a noticeable improvement in trade work. +Where the obstructions of nose and throat still remain there is loss in +weight and diminished chest expansion and a generally weakened +condition. The extraction of decayed teeth and the providing of +well-fitting glasses have diminished nervous irritability and the +frequency of headaches. Three cases of tuberculosis were sent to camps. +Seven cases of organic heart trouble were treated by specialists; +nineteen girls were given corrective exercises at Teachers College; two +were fitted with shoes and braces; two were put into plaster jackets, +one for lateral rotary curvature and one for neuritis; and one advanced +case of chorea has been placed in the hospital. Of the girls whose +records are given in the list it can be said that, with the exception of +the cripples and a few others needing simple operations, a year's care +shows that very few of them are in any way handicapped by the effects of +disease. + + +PHYSICAL EDUCATION COURSE + +I. Gymnastics: + + 1. Elementary: 3 thirty-minute periods a week. (1) Swedish floor + work for general posture; (2) Work in control of breathing; (3) + Marching tactics for form and accuracy; (4) Light apparatus work: + (_a_) Wands, (_b_) Dumb-bells, (_c_) Indian clubs; (5) Heavy + apparatus for cooerdination; (6) Simple dances and rhythm work for + grace and poise; (7) Simple plays and games. + + 2. Advanced: 2 forty-five-minute periods a week. (1) Gymnastic + dances containing more than three figures; (2) Swedish and Danish + weaving dances in correlation with study of textiles (Academic + Department); (3) Folk dances of Sweden and Russia for form; (4) + Modern athletic dances for grace and poise; (5) Athletic + Competition: (_a_) Running and jumping, (_b_) Relay and obstacle + races, (_c_) Hockey and basket ball. + + 3. Special corrective work for spinal trouble or poor position: (1) + General floor work for mobility; (2) Free-hand work: (_a_) Single + assistive and resistive exercises, (_b_) Hanging exercises with and + without assistance, (_c_) Work with iron dumb-bells. + +II. Hygiene: Talks on hygiene are a regular part of the work, and aim to +give each girl a knowledge of her body and of its functions that will +enable her to care for her health in an intelligent manner and to +establish in her mind ideals of correct living which can be made +practical in her surroundings. + + 1. _Personal Hygiene_: (1) Brief survey of the body as a whole; (2) + The use of the mouth, nose, larynx, trachea, and lungs in breathing; + (3) Care of nose and throat: (_a_) The nose as a source of + infection, (_b_) Dangers of enlarged tonsils and adenoids, (_c_) + Treatment of colds; (4) Structure and care of the teeth. (5) The + Digestive System: (_a_) Organs directly concerned, and (_b_) Their + care, (_c_) Disorders of the Digestive System; (6) The Nervous + System, Brain, and Spinal Cord; (7) The Skin, (_a_) Structure and + Use, (_b_) Hygiene of Skin; (8) Heart and Blood Vessels; (9) The + Hair; (10) The Ears; (11) The Eyes; (12) The Feet; (13) The Hygiene + of Clothes. + + 2. _Domestic Hygiene_: Construction and furnishing of Home: (_a_) + Internal arrangement, walls, and coverings, (_b_) Ventilation, (_c_) + Heating, (_d_) Lighting, (_e_) Water Supply, (_f_) Plumbing and + Drainage, (_g_) Toilet rooms, (_h_) Disposal of Garbage and Ashes, + (_i_) House Cleaning, sweeping, dusting, cleaning, and use of + disinfectants. + + 3. _Foods_: (1) Nutritive value of foods; (2) Purity of food + materials; (3) Cooking--Cooking utensils; (4) Planning of meals. + + 4. _Diseases_: (1) Causes and Transmission; (2) Contagious diseases, + care, prevention; (3) Hygiene of sick room; (4) Insects and vermin; + (5) Infectious diseases. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Making of a Trade School, by +Mary Schenck Woolman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAKING OF A TRADE SCHOOL *** + +***** This file should be named 24688.txt or 24688.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24688/ + +Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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