20 Industrial Training. [January, 
trade. But no one feels personally responsible for his 
thorough training. Managers, foremen, experienced work- 
men, even if willing , have not time to give him the necessary 
instructions. And too often they are not even willing. If 
they are in possession of any especial trade-secret they will 
not communicate it. It generally happens that in every 
branch of trade there are certain departments easier than 
the rest. The apprentice, instead of acquiring a complete 
knowledge of the whole business, is kept almost exclusively 
to these easy branches. I have known cases where young 
men have thus been completely mistrained, and on reaching 
the end of their term have found that they had their work 
to begin again. 
The moral supervision of the old times has also disap- 
peared no less completely than the industrial guidance, and 
has given place to systematic initiation in wrong-doing. 
Among the earliest tasks imposed upon an apprentice in 
many establishments are to fetch beer or spirits into the work- 
shops contrary to orders, or to watch lest the men are sur- 
prised by the manager, when engaged in some piece of 
peculation, or doing work on their own account with the 
master’s materials. A lesson never omitted in certain trades 
is to instil into the novice the necessity of wasting the 
greatest possible amount of time over every job. If a youth 
finds these and similar pieces of dishonesty repugnant to 
his principles he is made to feel his serfdom in a variety of 
manners. 
Another feature of old apprenticeship which has been 
blotted out is the final test of skill and proficiency. All 
persons who have regularly “ served their time ” are — in the 
spirit of British Trades-Unionism — considered equal, and 
any master who should “ call a spade a spade ” to the 
extent of pronouncing an idler or a dolt incompetent would 
have to bear the consequences. Thus it may be said that 
modern apprenticeship utterly fails to do what it professes. 
To say the best of it, it is an initiatory farce which every 
youth must undergo before he can be allowed to learn a 
trade in earnest, at the grievous sacrifice of time, money, 
and moral principle. 
I may now ask, who are the parties injured by the ap- 
prenticeship system as it now exists ? The list is long and 
formidable. The bond fide manufacturer (in contradistinction 
to a class whom I may treat of below) is the first sufferer. 
He wants skilful, competent workmen, who feel some little 
pride in their work, and are not always trying how idle, 
careless, and wasteful they may be without the risk of 
