3 o6 HOWARD J. ROGERS 



process, but he will be a better and a safer one when he does 

 begin. 



In the educational exhibits at the Paris exposition of 1900 

 the feature which overshadowed all others in prominence, and 

 which, by its dominance in every exhibit, characterized itself 

 as the foremost educational thought in every foreign country, 

 was industrial education. Whether it came from England, 

 where it appeared in tentative, individual, and irregular forms ; 

 or France, where it has reached, under government statutes 

 and municipal control, its highest development; or Hungary 

 and Belgium, where the French dictum is law and the French 

 influence paramount ; or Japan, where it is directed rigidly to- 

 ward those industries which make the wealth and trade of the 

 nation, the object is to train the children of the masses for the 

 trades and crafts which they will pursue through life, and to 

 minimize the time within which they can become wage 

 earners and producers of wealth. 



Let us take the example of France, which with proverbial 

 keenness descried many years ago the necessity of improved 

 industrial methods to meet the demands of the times. In a 

 circular issued by the minister of commerce and industries in 

 1893 the situation was summed up as follows: 



"The keenness of international competition has revolu- 

 tionized the conditions of trade. The wholesale use of ma- 

 chinery and minute subdivision of labor have practically ex- 

 tinguished apprenticeship in the workshops. Yet, in view 

 of the constant changes to which machinery is subject, it is 

 evident that there never was a time when it was so requisite 

 that workmen should possess scientific knowledge, and should 

 be thoroughly versed in all the requirements of the workshop. 

 It is the special aim of the ecole pratique to fill the void which 

 now exists both in commerce and industry." 



It was at this time that the practice schools of commerce 

 and industries (ecoles pratiques de commerce et d'industrie) 

 were established throughout France in order to make " special 

 provision for the requirements of industry and commerce." 

 They aim to furnish clerks and workmen ready to take their 

 places in the counting room or workshops ; and much of the 

 work turned out by these pupils of fifteen to eighteen years 



