174 
Correspondence. 
[March, 
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 
To the Editor of The Journal of Science. 
Sir, — The writer of the admirable article on “ Industrial Train- 
ing,” in your January number, is evidently unacquainted with the 
peculiarities of the trade with which I am connected— the boot 
and shoe trade, as carried on by hand without the aid of ma- 
chinery. The boys who go to this trade are generally sons of 
poor men who are unable to pay any premium at all, and there- 
fore the boys are bound for six or seven years, chiefly with a 
view of compensating the master, as very few boys are worth 
much the first year or two. Every practical shoemaker would 
laugh at the idea of taking a boy for three months, or even twelve 
months, to learn his trade ; but I should say that any boy who 
could learn the trade at all could certainly learn it in three years, 
and very few indeed in less time than that. And this brings me 
to what I have for years considered the greatest difficulty con- 
nected with this subject, and which the writer of the article in 
question but barely alludes to — the capacities of the boy for the 
trade he is about to learn. I have not the least hesitation in 
saying, and I speak with the authority of knowledge, that not 
one boy in ten of those who have been put to my trade have 
become good craftsmen. After trying for seven or more years, 
spoiling a great deal of leather, exhausting the patience of a 
number of instructors, and disappointing parents and master, 
they might in a short time become clever gardeners, engine- 
drivers, painters, lecturers, or even preachers, but never could 
learn to make a shoe. A large proportion of those who have 
been put to this trade forsake it in disgust when “ out of their 
time,” and therefore I think the great desideratum is a method 
of ascertaining the boy’s capabilities for the trade before he is 
finally “ bound to it.” 
I know not whether the same difficulty applies to other trades, 
but, if so, what is the remedy? Probably the writer of the 
article in your excellent journal may be able to suggest one. 
Would it be practicable to institute preparatory industrial 
schools or colleges, or to conned! departments of that kind with 
some of the present schools ? 
If you think this letter worth publishing you are at liberty to 
do so, or to si*fc>mit it to the writer of the article in question. — I 
am, &c., 
John Bell. 
