HARDWOOD RECORD 



41 



Jiirisdictiou over the sleamsbip companies. He says that tbis is necessary 

 in order to prevent tlie latter from acting arbitrarily and witbout due 

 regard for the interests of shippers. There is a suggestion that the 

 Illinois Central Railroad Company and other east side lines will in the 

 near future refuse through bills of lading on all commodities with the 

 exception of cotton, while the announcement of the withdrawal of through 

 bills on all commodities, including cotton, has been announced by the 

 west side lines. eCfectivc some time in the future. The cotton and lumber 

 men have not been working together on tills through bill of lading contro- 

 versy heretofore for the reason that the carriers have favored cotton as 

 against lumber. If both interests are put on the same basis, however, it 

 is regarded as virtually certain that they will join hands in the flght made 

 to secure proper transportation accommodations. It Is the consensus of 

 opinion among both cotton and lumber men that it is impossible to con- 

 duct a profitable export business in either cotton or lumber without the 

 use of through bills of lading through which reimbursement is obtainable. 

 There is so much money involved that no firm is strong enough to finance 

 its business without such reimbursement. 



The question of annual. contracts for export shipments of lumber during 

 the ensuing year is also agitating lumber exporters to some extent. They 

 ha^-e never had difliculty in making their contracts heretofore, but it would 

 seem that the steamship companies do not care to renew present contracts 

 except at a considerably higher rate. Most of the contracts expire the first 

 of August or the last of that month. The time is running rather short 

 for the renewal of these contracts, and this subject will engage the atten- 

 tion of the individual lumbermen as well as the Southern Hardwood 

 Traffic Bureau and the National Lumber Exporters' Association during the 

 next few weeks. 



Timber Cruising Manual 

 A handy, compact, well planned and clearly written timber cruising 

 manual, by E. A. Chase, has just been published bj' the American Lumber- 

 man, Chicago, in pocket edition size. The author has evolved some new 

 ideas in the method of keeping record of timber cruises. In addition to 

 this, the book presents in condensed form much useful information for the 

 cruiser in ths woods. Doyle's and Scribner's rules are given in abridged 

 form, but all that is needed tinder ordinary circumstances. The price 

 of this useful book is ~o cents a copy or $7.50 a dozen. 



ProlJlems of Industrial Education 



.John H. Leete, dean of School of Applied Science, Carnegie Institute of 

 Technology, Pittsburgh. Pa., said in an address before the National 

 Association of JIanufacturers that shortly after the opening of the nine- 

 teenth century the industrial life of the country underwent a change. 

 Home industries gave way to factories. Commerce became secondary to 

 manufacture. Large cities developed and with them an extensive non- 

 taxpaying population. Labor organizations were born. From the working 

 people as a whole, but chiefly from the cities and labor organizations, arose 

 the demand ior free education. 



As a result of tbis agitation and notwithstanding opposition from cer- 

 tain classes, free schools were established during the first half of the 

 century throughout the eastern states, by state legislation. The training 

 was at first limited to the same three R's of the earlier system, and it 

 was not until the middle of the century that geography, history and 

 grammar found a place in the public schools. The arguments of the 

 advocates of public education in this period have been summarized as 

 follows : 



(1) Education increases production. 



(2) It diminishes crime. 



(3) It prevents poverty. 



141 Education is a natural right of all men. 



(5) Universal education is necessary to preserve free republican 

 ii'.Mitutions. 



i(il Free sehools prevent class differentiation. 



In this period it is to be noted that the conception of the function of 

 education has considerably broadened : it now includes the natural rights 

 and temporal welfare of the individual and the political and economic 

 interests of the state. The economic value of education, however, was 

 still regarded as a by-product which resulted purely from the increased 

 intellectual capacity developed in the individual. There was still no 

 effort made to train directly for industrial etficiency. 



There arc some respects in which our education of today demands 

 radical reform : 



1. — The opiiorf unities offered for training iu the different fields should 

 be more closely proportioned to the demand for trained men in those fields. 



2. — Greater effort should be made to direct the individual toward the 

 W( Ik to which he is best adapted. 



3. — The elementary and secondary training of the scheme of public 

 education sl'ould be better adapted to the needs of the boy w'ho must leave 

 school at an early age to take his place in the occupations requiring 

 comparatively little training. 



4. — Greater opportunity should be offered the workman to obtain the 

 additional school training" necessary for advancement in his calling. 



Just how inadequately our educational system is supplying the present 

 need of industrial training in the United States may be shown conclusively 

 by a few statistics. Of the 35,000,000 persons in gainful occupation in 

 the United States, 10,000,000, 30 per cent of the total, are employed in 

 manufacture and mechanic arts. What is our system of education accom- 

 plishing for the training of the children and youth who are to take 

 places in this industrial army? 



Our grammar schools h,'xve made but a bare beginning of manual and 

 vocational training — a beginning even in its conceptions pitifully inade- 



quate. In our secondary schools only C per cent of the total number of 

 students are enrolled in technical or manual training courses. In our 

 higher institutions the proportion is more favorable since about 18 per 

 cent of the total enrollment are pursuing courses in general science or 

 engineering. 



When it is remembered, however, that the majority of our 18,000,000 

 school children leave school before completing the grammar grades, 

 having practically no industrial training — when it is remembered that in 

 one great industrial city 72 per cent of the children leave school by the 

 end of the sixth grade — the meagerness of the contribution of our educa- 

 tional system to the manufacturing activities of the nation is startling. 

 By the report of the n.ational commissioner of education it is shown that 

 there are 178,000 students in professional courses as against 123.000 in 

 engineering and the manual arts. 



When we reflect that only 4 per cent of our wage earners are to be 

 found in professional service, while 30 per cent are engaged in manu- 

 facturing and mechanical pursuits, the disparity of training material 

 available in the two fields is further emphasized. There is a growing 

 appreciation of^ the existence of a chasm between our schools and modern 

 industrial life, a chasm which industrial education should bridge. 



No formula can be prescribed which will prevent misfits — but more can 

 be done in this regard than has been done. Among other ways I would 

 suggest these three in which recruits for the army of industry might be 

 helped toward their proper place in the ranks. 



(a) The elementary school years should contain instruction in subjects 

 which would enable the pupil to determine whether his interests and 

 abilities lie in the making of things mechanical. 



(b) Vocational instructors should be provided, who should in informal 

 class talks acquaint the pupils with the labor conditions and with oppor- 

 tunities in the different fields, and by observation of the individual pupil 

 at his different tasks be enabled to advise him wisely as to his future 

 work. 



(c) The manufacturer has exceptional opportunity to form an estimate 

 of the kind and degree of ability possessed by the young men in his 

 employ. 



The pressing needs of industrial education today are : 



1. The provision of vocational training for the different fields of 

 activity approximately commensurate to the demand for trained men in 

 those fields. 



2. More effleient direction of the student toward the work to which 

 he is best adapted. 



3. Adaptation of the training of an adequate period of compulsory 

 education to the needs of the future skilled workman. 



4. Facilities for supplementary education for the workman and co-oper- 

 ation on the part of the industries to make such continuation schools 

 efficient. 



Woods Used for Making Shoes 



In Holland, Belgium, and many parts of France, especially in the 

 mountainous districts, the peasants wear in summer and winter wooden 

 shoes, or sabots, stuffed with straw and covered with the corduroy 

 gaiters. The manufacture of sabots is carried on chiefly by those who 

 are employed a part of the year in agriculture, and during the rest of 

 the year work at their trade. The Scotch pine (Pinus si/lvestris), so 

 extensively distributed over parts of northern Europe, has long fur- 

 nished the wood for making the shoes. Many thousands of peasants in 

 their leisure hours during the long winters work up pine wood into 

 shoes for their own use. Besides these peasants there are many who are 

 by profession sabotiers or shoemakers. A sabotier will make, on an av- 

 erage, six pairs of sabots per day, assorted sizes, for men, women and 

 children : this is the labor of an ordinary country workman. In the 

 towns and cities, where the labor saving machines and division of labor 

 have been introduced, greater efficiency has been attained. One work- 

 man will do the shaping of the wood, another attaches the leather, a 

 third finishes the work for sale, or bands the shoes over to others to 

 ornament, blacken or varnish. 



It is difficult to ascertain with any precision the number of persons 

 engaged in the manufacture of wooden shoes and the quantity and kinds 

 of wood used annually. The woods most commonly employed in this 

 industry are pine, birch, beech, walnut and alder. The wood of white 

 willow, which is light, tough, and resists a great deaf of wear and 

 tear, is highly esteemed for making wooden shoes. Ash, maple, cherry 

 and mulberry are used chiefly for making fancy and more expensive 

 grades of shoes. The European elm woods are used only to a limited 

 extent. 



French-Polishing in England 



A writer in the Illustrated Carpenter :iud Builder says that French- 

 polishing is the means whereby the greater portion of the household 

 furniture is given that bright, smooth, finished appearance, which re- 

 flects and shows up the figure of the woods used in its construction. 

 It is especially noticeable on the better-class goods that are faced with 

 choice veneers. 



One of the chief advantages of this method lies, not only in the ap- 

 parent ease of its application, hut in the fact that it is equally applicable 

 to the cheaper class of goods that are stained to represent the color of 

 a more expensive wood as for the finish of really costly woods. Hence 

 it comes about that even very cheap furniture as well as the most costly, 

 is generally described as French-polished. 



There are, of course, some exceptions to this general rule, such as 

 cak furniture, which we know has been wax-polished, but it does not 

 follow that an equal amount of labor in its application is bestowed on 

 cheap and costly furniture alike. Far from it. 



