INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND RAILWAY SERVICE. 237 



interest in scientific subjects on the part of employes, thus developed, 

 in turn reacts to the pecuniary advantage of their employers, because 

 mechanics who have been trained in the scientific principles that un- 

 derlie their handicrafts are thereby enabled to understand the techni- 

 cal publications affecting their trades, and to utilize new inventions 

 and improved methods of work ; while men uneducated in the rudi- 

 ments of science ignore such sources of knowledge, and, quite natu- 

 rally, oppose all improvements as innovations calculated to work injury 

 to the laboring-classes. Cultivate a laboring-man's intelligence to a 

 point where it recognizes improvements and comprehends their nature ; 

 his opposition ceases, and he will himself likely invent improved pro- 

 cesses, which will inure to his employer's benefit. Technical educa- 

 tion has been the means of attracting capital not only to specific locali- 

 ties, but to countries. Indisputable evidence of this is found in 

 Switzerland, and notably in Zurich, where for years a technical school 

 has been conducted at government expense. When, recently, the 

 Federal Council was disposed to lessen the usual grant for its support, 

 the manufacturers showed, by undeniable evidence, that this single 

 institution had in a few years been the means of bringing capital to 

 the country to the extent of millions of pounds sterling." 



The British Royal Commissioners testify that a few years ago the 

 question of technical education in England would have been a debata- 

 ble one, but that now no argument is needed to convince English em- 

 ployers of its importance ; that it has been tried, and has given the 

 highest satisfaction ; that in nearly all the great industrial centers 

 schools of science and art, of various grades, together with numerous 

 art and science classes, are to be found in successful operation, and 

 that their influence may be traced in the improved productions of the 

 localities in which they are placed ; in the decreased consumption of 

 crude material, and in saving of time required for the performance of 

 labor. Through the agency of technical schools, wherever they have 

 been established, originality has taken the place of servile imitation ; 

 decaying industries have been revived, and new ones promoted ; while 

 they have exerted a most marked influence in developing the intelli- 

 gence and skill, and consequently in securing the permaneut prosperity 

 of the industrial classes generally, by enabling them to develop the 

 sources of wealth peculiar to each country. 



A noteworthy example of the collective advantages which technical 

 education can confer is afforded by Switzerland, a country which is 

 without navigable rivers, canals, mines, fertility, and the other natural 

 gifts which are the usual foundation of the prosperity of civilized 

 states, but where industrial education is highly developed. From it 

 are yearly exported industrial products exceeding in value all the im- 

 portations of the cantons, and also more than sufficient to cover the 

 cost of internal administration. 



If the results of an educational svstem can be ascertained fi - om a 



