The Sunday Oregonian., July 21, 1912, SECTION SIX, Page 4, Image 64

THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND, JULY 21, 1912.
4
to Cure
i
The Government Vill
&rwl
The Initiative
System of Vocational Training in Public
Schools Will Be Established and Girls
Will Be Taught Art of Home-making
Boys Will in Turn, Be Given Thorough
Training in Trades and Mechanical Arts
Outline of New Idea.
BT TTILMAM L. ALTDORFER.
THE wrecking of homes and the
grind of the divorce court In
America, sociologists say, has
reached the point of a National calam
ity. As In most cases of 'the kind, the
blame is laid on the Government. Be
cause there does not seem to be any
other way to correct the growing evil,
Uncle Sam Intends to assume the posi
tion of schoolmaster and teach his peo
ple the correct way of living through
the youth of the country. A system of
vocational or industrial training in ev
ery school throughout the United States
will be inaugurated, so that all the
bo's may be trained In some useful
occupation, and -every girl be taughl
the art of home-making.
Mt has been the custom for many
years for girls to leave school at the
age of 14 or 13 years and enter the
commercial world as department store
clerks, cash girls, and factory workers,
with the result that when they reach
the marrying age they know nothing
of the art of home-making.
This Is the statement of a man who
has been a close student of social con
ditions in this country for many years.
"It Is the mistaken notion of many par
ents that a child should be taught first
of all how to make a living. The di
rect result of this idea has been an
Increasing number of deserted homes,
with a corresponding increase in the
output of the divorce courts. All of
thi3 may be traced directly to the fact
that our girls are not fitted to become
wives and know little about the care
of a home and the many things that
go to make home life the happiest ex
istence on earth."
This same authority says that "thou
sands of boys leave school when they
reach the sixth or seventh grades.
With the elementary education they en
ter the eternal struggle for existence
handicapped by lack of training. In
many cases, under recent conditions,
they may be forced to do this because
the father is not able to earn suffi
cient to support the family and the
mite contributed by the child helps pay
the rent. But the father Is laying up
future trouble for his child.
When the boy reaches manhood, he
must compete with skilled artisans in
every branch of trade and if not trained
he must accept a laborer's job. He
must spend his life working for a pit
ifully small wage, all because he did
not receive proper training In his boy
hood." A plan has been evolved by the of
ficials at Washington that will aid ev
ery school In the country to inaugurate
a comprehensive system of vocational
or industrial training. It includes pri
marily the teaching of the art of home
making in the high schools and col
leges all over the United States, with a
thorough course In cooking, dressmak
ing and the thousand and one things
that enter into home life. The boys of
the intermediate grades extending up
to the high school, and the colleges
will be given a course in Industrial
training the mechanical arts, such as
carpentry, blacksmithlng. the building
trades, etc.. the Idea being to stimulate
every child In the land to become a
useful member of the community and
to teach them how this may be done.
Senator Carroll S. Page, of Vermont,
Tr. P. P. Claxton. United States Com
missioner of Education, and Willet H.
Hayes. Assistant Secretary of Agricul
ture, and the three men who have
worked hardest to bring about action
bv the Federal Government- Senator
Page proposes to have the Federal
Government spend $12,000,000 each
yen-, with the states contributing an
rqual amount, for the working out of
the pla-.i and he is confident that Con
gress will furnish the funds necessary
to help the youth of America.
"I believe the country is fast awak
ening to the fact that more than 50
per cnt of all divorces could have
bei avoided had the girls been good
cooks good home-makers and good
mothers. We must give our girls a
trail Ing different from that they are
receiving now, for If we do not and
race suicide and divorce continue to
increase in the future as in the past,
25 years from now our social condi
tions will become unbearable." This
was the startling statement made by
Senator Page when asked to give his
views on the subject.
It Is unquestionably true," con
tinued the Senator, "that too many of
cur American girls are not good house
keerers and are lamentably ignorant
i.f the duties of motherhood. Thou
sands ef homes are wrecked, tens of
tuourcnds of Uvea ruined and hun
dreds of thousands are made unhappy
because the homekeepers of our coun
try have no training In that greatest
of professions, the profession, of home
matin? and motherhood.
"Fifty- years ago every girl believed
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her proper calling in life vtbs to be
come a good home-maker, wife and
mother. Today she looks forward to
a position In tome trade or industry
or perhaps to office work, aa sten
ographer, typewriter or telephone girl,
and when, as is usually the. case, they
And themselves brought face to face
with ir.arried life and the home, they
fail to brinsc to the discharge of the
wifely and mctherly duties that expe
rience, skill and knowledge so abso
lutely ersentl.U to a good home-maker.
"Any plan which involves the bet
terment and uplift of the sons and
daughters cf the men of our Xation
who tU can ro more be stopped than
wo can dam the waters of the Niagara.
In order that the great wrong to the
chief asset of this country the Amer
ican boy and girl may be righted and
the American people started upward on
a rroper tr.d better educational high
way, it is recessary that Congress
blaxo the way of an educational trail
along the l.nes of the industries, agri
culture and home economics, and this
trail. 1 believe, will be followed oy
crerr stato ii. the Union, very saorUx.
after active steps are taken by the
Federal Government.
"There Is xso more serious problem
before the American people today than
that of maintaining the equilibrium of
population between rural and urban
life, involving as it does that other
twin problem, food production and food
consumption. Take for Instance the
case of boys and girls who are leav
ing the farms and going to the cities.
Last June the authorities made a can
vas of the lodging-houses in Chicago
an-l found about 20.000 young men un
der the age of 25 who were sleeping
lu basements where the water would
O'jise-up through the floors and where
they would lie down to sleep with
nothing but a newspaper between
them and the floor. These young men
were from the farms, looking for Jobs
in the city. Twenty years ago it
used to be the practice for one or two
girls from a large family to go to the
city. Now the farmer sells his farm
and the whole family moves there
very often he is the best farmer In the
corrimunity. '
"The science of all curative processes
la to first start with. & diagnosis, IX
you have anything the matter with you,
you want your physician first to make
a proper diagnosis. Down near Egypt
in the southern part of Illinois where
the land is poor the Agriculture De
partment started a demonstration
farm. A Doctor Hopkins was In charge
and he made an analysis of the soil
which showed it was lacking in phos
phate and other things.
"An old gray hairea man came up to
the Doctor and said with tears In his
eyesj 'Doctor, I want to thank you
for what I have seen today, but God
help me! if I only knew that thing
40 years ago. I have six boys In my
family and I have labored night and
day to keep the family together, but
what have I got on my farm? Fifteen
to sixteen bushels of corn to the acre
is all I could make. I wanted to give
my children an education, but I could
not raise crops enough on that piece
of land so I have worked hard all my
life and have barely enough to support
my family. If a man had only come
to me when I was a young man and
told me the things you have told me
today I could have sen my children t4
the high school, but' bs said with
now at the end with nothing in the
future for either myself or family.'
"The untrained man is not necessar
ily a day laborer. He is such a man,
however, when thrown off his present
employment and upon his own resources
he becomes a menace to society and to
himself. Something must be done for
this man and for men like him. -There
are many young men wasting their
lives along more or less profitable
lines of endeavor who would be valu
able members of society if they could
have had the advantage of a special
training. Vocational education helps
the boy to find himself, so to speak.
especially if we link his vocational
education with the seventh and eighth
grades before compulsory education
ceases. My idea would be the modern
application of education to practical
life which contemplates not only assis
tance to the boy to find himself, but
also aids him in finding a place where
he can get employment afterwards.
"Raymond Robins, who Is known as
a 'social expert' in what is called the
'men and religion movement,' gives ex
pression to the following thought,
which it would be well for all thinking
people to let sink deep into theU
minds. He says 'the old vertical lines
of social division by income, profes
slon and family are gone. The new
line is horizontal. Above it are all
those who live by dividends and below
all those who live by labor.
" 'But It is more than a line. It is a
crack, a cleavage. And I tell you that
unless that cleavage is bridged in the
next ten years it never will be bridged
in our time.' In this thought Raymond
Robins has given expression to no
threat and he may be wrong in regard
to the future of the American people,
but it does behoove all thinking peo
ple to take cognizance of the claims
of a man like Raymond Robins. If
we can lift some of those below the
horizontal line and give them a por
tion of those above the line we should
do it.
"Home economics or the science of
homemaklng is a much more compre
hensive term than one would believe
who has not given the matter . some
thought. Broadly speaking it refers
to the Improvement of conditions of
home life. Primarily it includes cook
ing, sewing, making articles of house
hold use, vegetable gardening, home
nursing, care of children, etc. These
are only the elementary studies for the
girl who would fit herself to be a true
home maker, who understands, among
other things, for Instance, the value of
foods that enter into daily consump
tion and how -to buy them so as to
prevent waste. She should understand
ventilation, hygiene, the prevention of
diseases, serving of dinners, laundry
work, house planning, millinery, mak
ing her own clothing, art needle work,
household decoration, household book
keeping, indeed her studies should
cover that broad field which will fit
the girl to economically manage house
hold -affairs when she becomes a wife
and mother and to have such an under
standing as will enable her to prevent
waste and plan intelligently as one
must do who provides for and presides
over the household and has to do large
ly with the family living expenses."
"The difference between the girl who
leaves school on the completion of the
seventh or elgth grade without any
knowledge of these practical affairs of
life, and the one whose school life has
been prolonged for an added year or
two in the study of home economics. Is
very often the difference between sue
cess and failure as a wife and mother.
A good, well-kept home, presided over
by an intelligent woman educated along
general and practical lines means
health, happiness and prosperity, with
healthy children- and all those essen
tlals which make life worth living.
"Take for instance the great waste
In home management. More than ten
billion dollars are expended annually
in the United States for food, clothing
and shelter, when with greater knowl
edge and efficiency better satisfaction
could be obtained and more than a bil
lion dollars saved for higher things.
One-half million lives are cut short and
five million people are made 111 by pre
ventable diseases every year. With
universal knowledge of hygiene and
sanitation, nearly all deaths and Illness
from such causes could be prevented.
Six hundred thousand Infants under
2 years of age end their little span
of life yeariy, while millions of chll
dren fail to reach their best physical
development because their fathers and
mothers do not understand how to care
for them. With more knowledge at
least one-half these babies could be
saved.
"A group of philanthropists in New
York found upon' investigation, that
the wages of the unskilled female la
borer were declining, while those of the
skilled laborer were advancing and
that the supply of the skilled laborer
was inadequate to - meet the demand.
Now It is not expected that Immature
girls of 14 and 15 years of age would
immediately upon entering the labor
market make large salaries, but the
purpose is to educate these girls for
situations for which their qualifica
tions best fit them, better wages and a
better life. To illustrate my point. In
dressmaking the unskilled girl in New
York starts at J3 a week, but after
training in an industrial school they
earn 15 to $12. In millinery the girls
Btart at i3, but after training receive
$12 per week. In operating machines,
unskilled girls received J4. After train
ing they are paid something like $20
to $25 per week. This all goes to prove
what I said in the first place, that the
trained workers are far more valuable
to themselves as well as to the com
munity than the untrained worker.
'Then .we coma, to the boys side oi I
CXnce? Sam 3?
the question. As it is today, he looks
from the elementary school to the first
year of the high school, and there he
discovers Latin, French, geometry, al
gebra. He goes to his father and
mother and lays his trouble before
them. He says to them, T don't want
to learn French, I don't want to learn
Latin, I don't want to study algebra.
They will never do me any good." Five
times out of ten the fatner Believes
with the child, and opportunities are
too often given him by parents to avoid
school life, even during the last oi
. eighth year of compulsory attendance.
ana as soon as ne lias compieiea wio
eighth grade, he takes his final leave
of school.
"The father then says to his son:
John, you must this year earn enough
to pay for your own clothing, and pro
vide your own spending money, and
you must pay your mother a dollar or
two a week towards your board.' With
this injunction the boy starts out, and,
following the lines of least resistance,
he Is fortunate Indeed If he does not
find himself In that class in which sta
tistics tell us that more than 40 per
cent of the American boys In our large
cities land, viz., In the class of errand
boys, bootblacks and newspaper vend-,
ors.
"What is the result? Evil associates
surround and control the boy during
the two or more years of the more lm
presslonable period of his life. On ar
rival at the age when he Is permitted
to enter upon an apprenticeship or take
up some employment he finds that his
environment has been such as to weak
en every higher moral quality. Instead
of there being a growth for the better
from the 14th to the 17th year, he has
actually been allowed to degenerate,
whereas had these years been
spent In college or some voca
tional school where he was learning
the fundamentals of that trade or call
ing which he elected to pursue, he
would not have found himself where
he must on entering the workshop take
his place alongside the cheapest, lowest
Illiterate from some foreign land.
"Slen like to do that which they can
do well. Place a boy in a position
where he must work in the lowest
grade of the establishment and work
to him is drudgery. Give him such
work as a year or two of education
along vocational lines would have per
mitted him to do and all is changed.
He sees not only a higher wage, but
he sees promotion, preferment and hon
ors. The boy who has been drifting
downward from the 14th to the 17th
year soon comes to know that he has
not had a square deal in the race of
life and he joins the order of malcon
tents and anarchists.
I do not believe I am mistaken In
regard to the duty of the country with
reference to the better education of
our boys and girls along agricultural
and industrial lines. I know there is
Intense interest in the movement
throughout every section of the coun
try East and West, North and South. It
is hot confined to any one section nor
to any class of people, but has taken
deep hold upon the entire agricultural,
commercial and manufacturing popu
lation. There Is not an important or
ganization in the country which has
for Its object the uplift and better
ment of our people, that has not ap
proved the plan. And all educational
organizations of the country have ap
proved it enthusiastically."
Willet M. Hayes, Assistant Secre
tary of Agriculture, has been identified
with the agricultural school movement
for many years. It is practically the
same as that outlined by Senator Page
and includes the training of the youth
of both sexes, but it is confined prin
cipally to the farming or rural popula
tion, and takes in all the phases of
life peculiar to agriculture. Mr. Hays
Is an enthusiastic supporter of the plan
and the idea of the Government offi
cials Is to combine the two plans to
extend aid to city and country schools
In vocational training or all kinds. He
assisted in the establishment of the
first agricultural high school In the
United States, which was organized
by the University of Minnesota In 1883.
From a very small beginning this
school has now about 1000 students,
while the state recently established two
other agricultural high schools. The
movement has extended to many othar
states and there are altogether 25 agri
cultural schools scattered throughout
the country.
(Copyright, 1912, by William JU Alt-
.orier.. ...