Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1909 — TRAINING OF YOUNG MEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRAINING OF YOUNG MEN

Trade Schools Are Being Organized to Help Young Men Help Themselves to Better Living.

Training the hand to obey the mind, fitting young men to help do the world’s work in industrial lines where skilled workmen are required, is doubtless receiving more attention ' than any other phase of the newer education in this country. Andrew Carnegie has with many millions endowed an institute for training young men In the trades, and schools of this character, both large and small, are being founded in many states. The whole effort Is to the general end of providing more skilled workmen among the masses of young men, to help them to higher earning power and a better level of living, and through this development their employers will have a larger and better output with which to meet the ever growing demand for their products. To insure his future, to place himself beyond the poverty which besets the day laborer is the incentive which induces the young man to enter one of these trade schools. To get better workmen and more of them, without having to do the training in his own shops, is the incentive which has prompted the employer to help establish these schools. It is doubtful if any of these schools In the United States is exciting the attention of organizations and men most

interested in this sort of training, or Is receiving encouragement from young men in the way of enrolled students, that is being bestowed upon one of these institutions In Indiana—Winona Technical Institute, at Indianapolis. It was not the first technical school founded in this country, it is true, but it is one of the pioneers, and is regarded as a “trail blazer” in this sort of education by embarking in it on a most extensive scale, in the magnitude of its equipment, in the number of students and graduates, in helping young men to help themselves, and in following out numerous lines of industrial training never before attempted. The Winona Institute has the only successful school for training iron moulders in the world, the only school of lithography in North America, and it has one of two schools for tile-setters in the United States. It will before many months have the only school in the world for the training of hotel stewards and chefs. If its other departments are not the newest, they are among the largest and most successful to be found in the United States.

Winona Technical Institute is to large degree a public enterprise, although it does not depend upon tlf state government for an appropriate on. Neither is it an institution which pays profits to stockholders and individuals, nor fancy salaries to those in immediate charge. The means with'which it began its career in 1904 came in the form of public subscriptions amounting to a total of 1154,000, which went for the purchase of the splendid tract of ground and buildings now occupied, not far from the heart of Indianapolis. To equal degree, too, it is a national institution, for since its beginning gifts in the form of money, equipment and general support have poured in upon it from all over the United States. The institute is also International, for its student body has been made up of young men from all over the world, and every clime of North America ana •very state in the union have been represented by students in the workshops. Profiting from experiences in the Civil War, the United States government in 1865 began the construction of arsenal, or storage, properties in different sections of the country. One of the most extensive was established at Indianapolis. The site was then on the eastern edge of the city, but now the city has grown entirely around it. A heavily wooded tract of seventy-six acres was chosen for the arsenal, and on it the government built five massive buildings, two large residences and two or three smaller structures, all of stone and brick, with elate roofs, and costing about >750,000. In 1903 the government began abandoning its arsenals, throwing the real estate on the market. THe idea of converting the property at Indianapolis into a great trade school originated with the public spirited men who had promoted the religious assembly and schools at Winona lake. The suggestion was promptly taken up by the moving spirits and newspapers of Indianapolis. Appraisers were named to place a valuation on the arsenal grounds and buildings, •nd the low figure of >154,000 was

Winona Technical Institute, a Philanthropic School at Indianapolis, Exciting Interest by Its Methods.

named. The people of Indiana raised the money among individuals who gave from a few pennies to many thousands of dollars. In the fall of 1904, the organizers of Wlncna Technical Institute began the training of young men in the industries of peace In a place where the government had made and housed Its accoutrements and Implements of war. With comparatively little changes the buildings are splendidly adapted to trade school uses. Since the property came into the hands of the Technical Institute more than $350,000 worth of improvements have been added, all of this money coming from organizations and men of the United States who have unbounded faith in the idea that if young men in these strenuous commercial times are to be taught trades it must be done in trade schools, and not under the old apprenticeship methods. Some of the equipment fund has gone into heating and water systems which are buried beneath the surface of the institute’s grounds, in an electric power and lighting system, the old government powerhouse being outfitted with equipment which makes it one of the most complete stations of its kind in Indianapolis, supplying all of the buildings

on the grounds. The largest building put up by the government was used for storage and the manufacture of soldiers’ clothing and other equipment. It is one of the largest and best made buildings in Indiana. It is now the Graphic Arts' building, with three enormous rooms, .one on each floor, and each 56x160 feet. The first floor is used by the School of Printing, the second by the School of Lithography, and the third is used as a chapel and library. The old barracks, where the arsenals forces slept and ate, is now the Institute’s School of Pharmacy, the seventh largest of its kind in the United States In point of numbers. The government's barn, a fine old building with a picturesque setting of trees and spacious grounds, has been remodeled for the School of Tile-Setters, where young men are taught the laying of tile floors, the building of fireplaces and ornate mantles. The building where in arsenal days grim old cannon was kept is being turned into great Schools for Building Trades and Machinists. Adjoining It is a large building of brick and steel which the National Founders’ Association built at a cost and which houses the School for Iron Moulders. The old commissary is now the paint shop. There is an orchard on the grounds, a vineyard, many flower beds, lines of cement walks and drives which in long, graceful curves connect the buildings, all of them put in by the government, and the property has immense possibilities for future development. A large portion of the equipment fund has gone into machinery, implements and raw material for the use of the boys in the workshops. The School of Printing contains >60,000 worth of equipment. It cost >125,000 to fit up the School for Iron Moulders; >28.000 has gone into the working plant of the School of Lithography, and other departments are fitted up on a similar scale. It Costs about >60,000 a year to operate the institute. All of this money has come from associations and Individuals who have become convinced that the skilled workmen of tomorrow must come from such an Institution, that such a system of trade schools cannot hope to become self-supporting, for they only serve their purpose by beeping young men without means to acquire practical trades. For all that it now has in the way permanent buildings and equipment, which outrank without exception any trade school in the United States, the institute occupies but little of its grounds. All of the buildings are on the south half of the seventy-six acres, I with ample room for as many more, | The north half of the tract is undeI veloped, and on its broad acres are commanding sites for a score of great buildings. Measured by its development in its first five years, the institute has only made a beginning. Its present workshop capacity is 1,000 stwdepts, and its future promises to develop the foremost system of trade schools to be found in the union. It has had over 1,500 students, graduating over 600. Its latest student has | Just entered the foundry department j from Honolulu, Hawaii.

Corner of Pressroom, Winona Technical Institute.