26g'] APPRENTICESHIP AND THE HELPER SYSTEM 1 3/ 



sheet mills, forty per cent. These rates are understood to 

 be a minimum price. The helper may receive more than 

 this if he can secure it from his emplo3'er. Very often, 

 particularly in the boiling department, the journeyman and 

 his helper work " level-handed," and divide the earnings 

 equally. The constitution provides that " no member shall 

 be permitted to discharge a helper, except for just cause," 

 nor " reduce the visages of a helper during the scale year." 

 A minor question in the recruiting of the trade that has 

 caused considerable discussion in the conventions of the 

 union has been — in the vernacular of the workmen — " the 

 practice of learning green hands." The objections to this 

 practice were: (i) more men were drawn into the trade 

 than the trade could absorb, and (2) an incentive was thus 

 given to employers to reduce wages. The convention of 

 1878 passed a law forbidding memtvers to give instruc- 

 tions to "green hands ";^® but a mechanic was permitted 

 " to learn his sons and brothers." By a " green hand " was 

 meant any person who had not worked at any of the trades 

 under the jurisdiction of the union, and consequently was 

 not eligible to membership. This rule, however, did not 

 put an end to all disputes in this regard. 



28 Proceedings, 1878, p. 133; 1879, p. 230. 



