14 



MANUAL LABOK. 



There is a great difference of opinion and usage in respect to the desirability of 

 requiring manual labor from young men who are attendant upon the national 

 [schools of science. At New Haven it has not been thought practicable to exact any 

 .such duty from young men whose time was fully occupied with their scholastic work ; 

 but in many other places the opposite opinion has prevailed. With the exception of a 

 small uumber of colleges, I should think the tendency was away from rather than 

 toward an increase of manual labor. When it is prescribed, the opinions differ as to 

 the end which should be kept in view some thinking chiefly, of the health which 

 physical exercise promotes, others of the economy which labor secures, and others still 

 of the dexterity and skill which proceed from the constant use of implements. 



As illustrations of the state of the question, the following statements are condensed 

 from recent reports : 



Delaware. All students in the agricultural department who are not excused on ac- 

 count of physical inability are required to labor on the farm, under the direction of the 

 professor of agriculture, from one to two hours each day, except Saturday and Sunday. 

 This labor is designed to be educational ; to exhibit the practical application of the 

 theories taught in the text-books and lecture-room ; to preserve habits of industry when 

 they have been formed, and to form them where they do not exist ; to give facility and 

 precision in the use of implements, and skill in the application of labor, and to secure 

 more valuable physical culture than can be furnished by any system of gymnastics. 

 In addition to the time thus devoted to educational labor, all students have the oppor- 

 tunity of working on Saturday, and such other times as will not interfere with a thorough 

 preparation for the recitation-room, when there is any work to be performed ; for such 

 work they receive from 8 to 12 cents per hour, depending upon the ability and fidelity 

 of the laborer. 



Iowa. The law requires that manual labor, an average of two hours and a half per 

 day, should be as regular on the part of the student as the daily recitation. The fol- 

 lowing are the rates of payihent for the year 1871, as established by the trustees : 



1. Students working on the farm or .doing other heavy work which is not instructive 

 shall be paid at the rate of from 3 to 9 cents per hour. 



2. Students laboring in the garden, orchard, or ornamental grounds, shall be paid 

 from 3 to 7 cents per hour. 



3. Students laboring in the work-shop shall be furnished with tools and all needed 

 instruction, but shall receive no compensation until their labor is of value to the 

 college, when they shall be paid the same rates as those laboring on the farm, deduct- 

 ing a moderate sum for the use of the tools. 



4. Young ladies laboring in the dining-room, kitchen, laundry, or bakery, shall be 

 paid the rates received by young men laboring on the farm. 



The president in his report says : "All labor of the garden, orchard, nursery, vine- 

 yards, ornamental grounds, and nearly all the labor of the farm, has been done by the 

 young men ; and the youug women have, with an equal zeal and energy, done almost 

 the entire work of the dining-room, kitchen, and bakery. Still, the workers are so 

 numerous, and the labor so various, that it is very difficult to manage this department 

 so as to make it remunerative to the college." 



Maine. Students are required to labor not more than three hours of each day for the 

 five days in the week, the nature of the work engaged in at any time being such as to 

 correspond with the science studied at the same time, as far as possible. 



Massachusetts. Under direction of Professor Stockbridge, the students have done a 

 great amount of labor during the past year, much of it of the least interesting and 

 most disagreeable kind, such as ditching, stump-pulling, and digging up old orchards. 

 All students of the regular classes, unless physically incapacitated, are obliged to work 

 upon the farm without compensation six hours each week, whenever called upon to 

 do so. The intention of the system of compulsory manual labor is altogether educa- 

 tional. 



Kentucky. All students of the agricultural and mechanical college are required to 

 spend a portion of their time in active labor, either in the agricultural, horticultural, 

 or mechanical department. They are distributed into these several departments 

 according to their respective qualifications, and as far as practicable in harmony with 

 their wishes and purposes in life. Students who wish to defray a portion of their ex- 

 penses while acquiring their education are required to labor four hours a day, six days 

 in the week. The rates of compensation vary from 5 to 10 cents per hour during the 

 first year, and from 10 to 20 cents per hour during the second and third years, accord- 

 ing to industry and proficiency. All other students are required to work two hours 

 per day, three days in the week, in the horticultural department, without compensa- 

 tion. All students applying for admission are free to select either the compensated or 

 uncompensated labor. 



