INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND RAILWAY SERVICE. 235 



in the same markets. In order to counterbalance the advantages 

 which some manufacturers engaged in a given industry enjoyed 

 through the possession of cheaper raw material, labor, prestige, or 

 favorable situation, their competitors of foreign and even of the 

 same nationality were compelled to look to improved methods of 

 manufacture or production in order to hold their ground, and were 

 thus brought to realize that educated labor and technical skill were 

 the soundest elements with which to defend themselves in trade 

 competition, in that they promote excellence of execution, inventive- 

 ness, enterprise, and all the qualities required to successfully con- 

 duct progressive industries. Under this pressure producers and 

 manufacturers, through their guilds and other associations, were 

 soon able to exert an influence upon their governments which has 

 resulted in every European nation's making greater or less provision 

 for public industrial education ; until at this time not only England, 

 France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, and Italy, but all the 

 minor Continental states, have their governmental schools for both 

 elementary and higher technical instruction." Russia also has estab- 

 lished Imperial Technical Institutes at St. Petersburg and Moscow, 

 which are classed as among the finest in Europe, and the action of the 

 Government has been supplemented by schools established by the lead- 

 ing railroads at their principal works. "While the technical schools 

 and departments in France are excellent of their kind, it is in Germany 

 and Switzerland that the movement for industrial education has at- 

 tained its highest development. In the latter country, the British 

 Royal Commissioners found the value of its technical schools distinctly 

 illustrated in the marked improvement of manufactures ; in the eleva- 

 tion of the producing classes ; in the diminution of crime ; in the 

 popularization of education ; and, generally, exercising a most impor- 

 tant influence upon the nation's industries and welfare. In summariz- 

 ing the results of their investigations in Germany, they remark that 

 the conviction is universal among the German people that they can 

 only meet the competition of their rivals in other countries by training 

 their workmen in taste and skill, and that the prosperity of their indus- 

 tries will increase only in proportion as they keep up the efficiency of 

 their schools and spread their influence among the workers themselves. 

 The direct and indirect effects of technological schools upon the 

 industries of their respective countries were, immediately upon their es- 

 tablishment, felt to be beneficial in the highest degree. Their graduates 

 were eagerly sought out to fill important and responsible positions in 

 manufacturing and commercial establishments, many of which had sus- 

 tained serious losses through the ignorance and consequent bad manage- 

 ment of administrative officers ; and this inquiry soon far exceeded the 

 supply. As the result of this appreciation of, and demand for, skilled 

 laborers and supervisors, many enterprising corporations, and even 

 private firms, engaged in manufacturing and other industries depend- 



