22 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



B men ought not to be wondered at; it is 

 but the natural offspring of our loose 



^ apprentice 63'stem. A boy gets a year 

 or two's experience at a trade or profes- 

 sion and then he is off. There is no more 

 for him to learn. He knows all about 

 it; or, if he does not, he trusts to his 

 "cheek" to help his ignorance over the 

 rough places. No wonder that such 

 men become "tramps." The imposition 

 is too transparent to serve them long in 

 one place, and they must go in quest of 

 other victims. The printing trade fur- 

 nish a good illustration of this evil. We 

 are frequently visited by specimens of the 

 genus "typo" — our cities swarm with 

 them — who are out of employment. The 

 difficulty in their case is that they spent 

 a few months, perhaps a year, in some 

 office, then conceived the desire for more 

 wages and started. The consequence is 

 they know nothing of their trade, ana 

 must travel from place to place. No one 

 wants him the second time. His mem- 

 ory is like the flies in the apothecary's 

 ointment. 



The establishment of schools of me- 

 chanical arts would remedy this evil to a 

 great extent, if the management of such 

 institutions could be kept from the hands 

 of ambitious and designing men. As 

 this is almost impossible, and the Con- 

 stitution of the United States will not 

 permit us to adopt the system of ajipren- 

 ticeship followed in other countries, but 

 one way is left to solve this difficulty and 

 secure skillful workmanship. Let em- 

 ployers pay their men wages in projjor- 

 tion to their merits, so that the impostor 

 and the apprentice may understand that 

 skill and proficiency are appreciated and 

 remunerated, while a low grade of work- 

 manship is a barrier to any and all suc- 

 cess. Let the quality, and not the 

 quantity of work done, be the basis of 

 remuneration. Encourage the appren- 

 tice to make himself master of his pro- 

 fession. Show him that it is to his in- 

 terest to be competent. We cannot 

 compel boys to remain under our in- 

 structions. We must appeal to their in- 

 telligence and interests. In this way we 

 think a vast amount of good might be 

 accomplished, while, if we continue in 

 the way our present course is tending, 

 competent tradesmen will soon be a thing 

 of the past. 



One word to the boys and young men 

 who are anxious to be tradesmen. Thei'e 

 is plenty of room yet in any trade for 

 you. But you must be able to stand in 

 the front ranks. It is crowded below, 

 but there is room enough for you above. 

 Good workmen are in demand, and al- 

 ways will be, but anything less is already 

 two plenty. The market is deluged with 

 counterfeits and ordinaries. Keep to 

 your place as a learner until you are a 

 regular graduate. Strive to excel in 

 whatever you undertake. Let none 

 stand before you. If you are at the 

 plow, be among the best plowmen; if you 

 area mechanic, be among the first; if a 

 lawyer, a doctor, a minister or a teacher, 

 be one of the tallest. Stand where you 

 will command. Never allow yoiirself to 

 be satisfied until you are thorough — until 

 you are master of every detail. No will- 

 ing and competent man need long be un- 

 eni])loyed, whatever his calling is. The 

 world needs and demands the highest 

 and fidlest development of your talents 

 I and capacities, and is- ready U> pay for it. 

 \ Vuu need havi! no fears of a proper ap- 

 f preciatiou and r<tward for g(-'nuine merit; 

 but you have no right to expect a market 

 J, for any degree of inferiority. Deception 

 \ may servo you for a time, but eventually 

 I J it will leave you bowild(!rod and lost. 

 I lave in you the elements of worth, and 

 you will be secure. P. F. P. 



REFORM NEEDED IN SCHOOL 

 MATTERS. 



If there is one single question of po- 

 litical economy that comes right home 

 to the people, it is the matter of public 

 schools, and the support and manage- 

 ment of the same. We are encouraged, 

 by the report of the special committee of 

 the State Senate on retrenchment, to be- 

 lieve that the present Legislature of Cal- 

 ifornia will be persuaded to do something 

 towards reforming some of the abuses 

 that have been barnacled ui:>on the sys- 

 tem. At any rate, it is by exposing evils 

 that people are to become prepared to 

 contest them. We quote parts of the 

 report upon the use of the school fund: 

 " Your committee believe that here, as 

 in other divisions of the State economy, 

 reform is practicable, and th.at discon- 

 tinuance of State aid to the pubHcation 

 of the Teacher, and of the application of 

 the school fund to the maintenance of 

 state and county institutes would relieve 

 the people annually from taxes to the 

 amount of forty thousand dollars; and 

 so far as the institutes are concerned, by 

 preventing the demoralization necessarily 

 attendant on the interruption of school 

 exercises, leave them in a more healthy 

 and efficient condition." 



Only think of it, $-10,000, which 

 should go towards educating our youth, 

 spent to streughten the ring that sup- 

 ports a lot of still more exi^eusive figure- 

 heads. A ring that debars the people 

 from choosing their own teachers, at 

 such reasonable prices as fair competition 

 would be sure to allow. The Teacher 

 publication is of no real advantage in an 

 educational point of view; but few out- 

 side of the ring ever see it, or care to see 

 it. As to the teachers' institute arrange- 

 ment, it could be dispensed with without 

 injury to the cause of education, even if 

 to supi^ort it cost nothing. 



The Senate committee on retrench- 

 ment next pitches into the County Su- 

 perintendents' office as something su- 

 perfiuous ; 



"Other subjects of questionable utility 

 connected with the administration 'of the 

 schools have not escaped observation, 

 and it may be a matter of economic con- 

 sideration to determine whether County 

 Superintendents form any necessary part 

 of the system; whether the duties per- 

 formed by them are not more ornamental 

 and expensive than useful, and whether 

 the same services, almost without ex- 

 pense, ought not to be imposed on some 

 other officer. These offices cost the peo- 

 ple annually $-13,G2'2. Should it prove, 

 on examinotion, that the offiee is to a 

 sinecure, its abolition would gi-eatly 

 strengthen the fund that should be sac- 

 redly dedicated to the education of the 

 gi'o wing youth . " 



That is sensible talk. too. Over f 40,- 

 000 more of the people's taxes spent for 

 the privilege of having schools graded to 

 suit high-priced teachers who are often 

 given places from motives of favoritism. 

 We would like to see this matter of 

 choosing teachers and the amount of 

 their salaries left entirely with the 

 school districts — brought home as closely 

 to the people themselves, who pay the 

 taxes and have children to educati% as 

 possible. Then the outside school dis- 

 tricts that get now only fnmi three to six 

 months schooling in a year, could get at 

 least ten months, and better schools at 

 that. But the way scdiool matters are at 

 present managed the taxpay<!rs and pa- 

 rents of children are nobodies. 'I'lie 

 whole thing is maniijulated for them by 

 high-salaried " consequeutials," who 

 care more about sustaining their own pay 

 and dignity, together with that of their 



favorites, than for the education of chil- 

 dred who need educating. 



We regret that the State Superintend- 

 ent of Public Instruction was not includ- 

 ed in the list of figure-heads. In our 

 opinion, if there is an offiee in the State 

 that is of no earthly use, it is the State 

 Superintendent • of Public Instruction. 

 The whole business necessary to be done 

 could be better accomplished by the 

 Governor without extra expense to the 

 peoijle. This gkand figure-head upon 

 the school monojjoly ring costs, in annual 

 salary, §3,000 of the school money; and 

 the last report of this official cost only 

 :5>10, 800 more of the money raised to 

 teach the children. To send this ponder- 

 ous burden through the mails over the 

 State cost about $3,000 more, and nobody 

 benefitted but the aforesaid ring. 



Our retrenchment committee next 

 touches upon the system of granting 

 teachers certificates: 



' ' Keeping always in remembrance the 

 vast sum that is now needed, and the 

 much greater sum that will soon be re- 

 quired to keep in successful operation 

 this grand institution [public schools], 

 and remembering that the greatest econ- 

 omy should be observed, and that waste 

 here is no more defensible than elsewhere 

 when dealing with public funds, your 

 committee are persuaded that unless rad- 

 ical changes are inaugurated in the sys- 

 tem of granting teachers' certificates, it 

 will prove too burdensome for the public 

 purse. The standard for admission to 

 teach in the primary schools is too high. 

 The nature, quality and character of the 

 examination is often unreasonable, if 

 not absurd, and requires a scale of pro- 

 ficiency wholly inapplicable to element- 

 ary ins"truotion. The eft'eet is to exclude 

 from teaching a great many persons of 

 experience and capacity, and to prevent 

 competition for places; creates a monop- 

 oly of the school house,; maintains a high 

 salary for the favored teachers; makes 

 the system unnecessarily expensive, and 

 rewards one class of industry, by unequal 

 distribution, beyond all others. The 

 spirit of selfishness which surrounds 

 with difficulties any attempt to obtain a 

 teacher's certificate, finds a counterpart 

 in the exclusive privilege accorded the 

 school house to count a lunar a calendar 

 month." 



Complaints have frequently been made 

 ,0 us, by competent persons, that the 

 granting" of certificates is often a matter 

 of favoritism; also, that it is next to im- 

 possible to get aposition to teach, except- 

 ing through the influence of friends. 

 The matter of teachers' salaries is fixed 

 by the ring of functionaries, as is almost 

 everything connected with schools. The 

 grading business is another link to the 

 chain that needs breaking. Honest com- 

 petition among teachers is shut out. The 

 trustees of school districts are responsible 

 for nothing, and might as well be wooden 

 men for all the power they have as to 

 who shall teach, or .at what salaries, or 

 how many mouths of school in a year 

 the school money apportioned to their 

 districts shall support, etc. 



It is the people's privilege to pay taxes, 

 and grumble if they want to, and that is 

 about all. Those who consuuie the 

 money with high salaries, in preserving 

 the dignities of their important positions, 

 are set up as educators, and the children 

 can get along with what little is left for 

 high-priced, patronizing teachers. 



Until the tax payer and the parent de- 

 mand that these" abuses be renuHiied, 

 il will not be thorougldy done. So long 

 as there is power and pay open to olUce- 

 sieki'i-s, there will be found an abund- 

 ance of men ready to seek such offices, 

 and to defend tliem. We believe that 

 there is intelligence and principle enough 



among the people to comprehend the im- 

 portance of this question, and to at once 

 demand a complete reform. We hope 

 every club, literary society, and Grange 

 will canvas this subject with reference to 

 bringing about a more economical, just 

 and beneficial condition of educational 

 affairs, for the sake of right and the good 

 of the rising generation. 



gouoeliold Reading, 



UP-COUNTRY LETTERS—NO. 2. 



BY EACHEL A. ELY. 



%0 the mountains! Yes, so the doc- 

 tor orders; and in languid enthusi- 

 asm I assent, feeling that anything 

 would be better than this continued 

 sameness. The very wall-paper is 

 tiresome to me, and the never ending 

 noise and confusion of the crowds in 

 the streets coming and going weary me, 

 while the everlasting eagerness and en- 

 ergy of buyers and sellers puzzle me. 

 What a wonderful enigma is life! and 

 what a work we make of it, too! Why 

 not take it a little bit easier, go slower 

 and enjoy more, instead of rushing it 

 through, as they mostly do, making a 

 labor of enjoyment, even? Why, half 

 my lady friends are literally stores to so- 

 ciety and fashion, and the men are slaves 

 to business and money making, while 

 the children are slaves to book-learning; 

 and none but we invalids seem to take a 

 thought of to-morrow and the soul's 

 needs. 



Ah, well, I do believe I shall enjoy the 

 fresh mountain air, the blue sky, away 

 from fogs, and smoke, and breath of 

 crowds. Green grass and growing crops, 

 daisies and buttercups (when I am able 

 to gather them), and the kind, motherly 

 housewives, in simple calico, who sing 

 as they churn the yellow cream; the 

 golden-haired children, dressed for com- 

 fort, playing under the trees and simply 

 happy, because healthy; the g ntle low 

 of the cows, nipping the green grass; 

 the whistle of the menfolks at work in 

 the fields —all this flo:its over my vision. 

 And folding my thin hands, I close my 

 eyes and wonder if indeed I shall grow 

 strong in those new scenes, and ever 

 take my place again among the busy 

 throngs, and do anything to help the 

 world along. No cue misses me now 

 save the few who attend my daily wants. 

 But would it be the same if I were well 

 •and strong once more, active and full of 

 life, helping the poor and needy and en- 

 couraging the failing, giving words of 

 counsel to the weak and sickly, who, 

 like myself, are battling against disease 

 and perhaps death for our portion of 

 health and strength? How I wonder if I 

 ever sludl fill so large a field of useful- 

 ness, and know I should be missed if not 

 there to fill it! Fearing that I never shall 

 has urged me to do my feeble best now, 

 and this is my excuse, dear readers of 

 the Aaiiicui.TUKisT, for writing these 

 Up-Country Letters. 



GRANDFATHER'S 

 NO. 6, 



LETTERS- 



EVENTS OF THE LAST CEKTTJEY — INOLE- 

 WOOd's EEPLY. 



Thank you, dear Aunt Mary, for ycnir 

 very candid answer to the questions 

 about which I was so solicitous, and tlic^ 

 encouragement you give for the continu- 

 ance of the conespondcnce. You must 

 even be of my way of thinking in this 

 matter, viz: that serious subjects can \h- 

 discussed more coolly and dispassionately 



