What Chambers of Commerce
Can Do for
Vocational Education

ALVIN E. DODD
Member Committee on Education, Vice-President "Under Forty" Governing Board, Boston
Chamber of Commerce, Director North Bennet Street Industrial School, Boston

WITH T H E COLLABORATION OF

C. A. PROSSER
Secretary

National

Society for the

ISSUED

Promotion

OCTOBER,

of Industrial

Education

1913

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
105

E.

22ND S T R E E T ,

N E W YORK CITY

FOREWORD.

This Report describing the ways in which chambers of commerce in this country can help th.2 cause of effective vocational
education has been prepared at the suggestion of the National
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, for the purpose
of interesting chambers of commerce everywhere in the great
movement for the practical training of our wage-earners, to indicate
the things that have been done by leading chambers of commerce,
and to point out the things which it is possible for any chamber
of commerce to do for the work. Mr. Alvin E. Dodd, the author,
has been especially equipped by his long experience with vocational work and his intimate association with the Boston
Chamber of Commerce to prepare this material and he has
brought to the task painstaking attention and enthusiastic
interest in the idea of what chambers of commerce can accomplish. This has resulted in this monograph which merits careful
reading, and which should lead to prompt action by Committees
on Education of local chambers of commerce and the general
membership of these chambers as well.
C. A. PROSSER.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Why the Aid of Business Men is Needed
What Can Be Done to Further Local Effort in Promoting
Vocational Education?

5
8

What Can Be Done to Further State Effort in Promoting
Vocational Education?
21
What Can Be Done to Further Federal Effort in Promoting
Vocational Education?
: . . . . 30
What Chambers of Commerce Have Done and Are Doing for
Vocational Education in Various Parts of the United
States

32

Aims, Purposes and Results of the Work of the National
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education

51

H & ^w

WHY THE AID OF BUSINESS MEN IS N E E D E D FOR
SUCCESSFULLY PROMOTING VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION.
Within two lifetimes the United States has grown to its
present greatness. This growth, probably unparalleled in history,
has been due in large part to the matchless resources stored by
nature in the American continent and awaiting the power of
man for their transformation into results. We cannot claim
that the results so far secured in the expansion of business have
been due in complete measure to scientific or thorough use of
resources and opportunities. The American business man has
no superior, but in the stress of modern competition he is face
to face with new demands not only upon his personal efficiency,
but upon that of his workers. The Twentieth Century has
brought us face to face with the fact that many of our resources
are in danger of exhaustion, and therefore the thought of to-day
is strongly directed not merely toward efficiency in securing raw
resources from the soil, but also increased efficiency in manufacturing and in marketing both at home and abroad. It is this
effort towards efficiency that accounts for the rapid manufacturing development of the last few years and the increasing
export trade.
But the continued maintenance of such efficiency is to be
secured only by recruiting from the younger people, those who
are prepared for the life work. Although the American workman is the most intelligent workman on the face of the globe,
under the changing conditions of our day he needs more guidance
to realize his possibilities. In other words the conservation of
our human resources will be a conservation of the greatest of
all our natural resources. This gives the reason for the present
widespread and persistent agitation in favor of Vocational Education. We can no longer depend upon the mere accident of
5

immigration or of resources easily utilized. The leadership
which the United States should expect to take among the nations
of the earth, because of its natural advantages, is to depend not
upon accident but upon intention. The aim of Education must be
to prepare each child for self-support and thus make every school
of the nation a place for life preparation. This is the underlying
idea of every vocational attempt that is being made throughout
the country.
Realizing this need, the thoughtful attention of business
men is being increasingly given to problems of education and the
life work preparation of young people. The furtherance of practical education and vocational guidance is a matter of paramount
importance.
It is doubtful if there can be found a more effective aid for
a bettering of educational facilities of a community than that
which may come from the interest and cooperation of the business
men as expressed through the local commercial organizations.
Almost every town and city in the United States to-day has its
Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade, or Commercial Club,
in which the business men of the community are brought together
to work for the benefit of the community as a whole. The value
of this type of broad-minded patriotic effort has been demonstrated so clearly that within the last year the demand for
broader cooperation and united action on the part of these local
and sectional units has crystallized in the formation of a countrywide Federation, namely: The Chamber of Commerce of the
United States. This Association is composed of more than 300
organizations from 43 States in the Union, representing more
than 160,000 individuals and business firms.
At the first annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce
of the United States, held in Washington, D. C, January 20 to
22, 1913, there was passed the following, relative to Vocational
Education:
"It is necessary that the youth of the land be educated
to intelligent lives of service and efficiency in chosen occupations.
"Half of all our children now leave school by the end
of the sixth grade with only the rudiments of education,
6

which, in large part, they speedily forget, and with no
preparation or guidance for lifework.
" T h e statistics are startling, and in sad contrast to the
better practice of most of the nations of Northern Europe.
"Therefore, Resolved, T h a t the establishment of vocational schools of manufacture, commerce, agriculture, and
home economies through the land is imperative, and to
the end that action may everywhere be stimulated and wisely
directed, Federal aid and encouragement is essential."*
W i t h the increasing interest in Vocational Education on the
part of business men and the impetus given the movement by
the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in its endorsement of the Page-Wilson Bill, u r g i n g Federal support for Vocational Education, there have come upon the National Society
for the Promotion of Industrial Education many requests for
definite suggestions on what Chambers of Commerce can do to
aid in the furtherance of the movement.
T h e following suggestions are grouped in three p a r t s :
W H A T C A N B E D O N E T O F U R T H E R FEDERAL E F F O R T I N
PROMOTING
W H A T CAN

BE DONE TO

PROMOTING
WHAT

CAN

VOCATIONAL

PROMOTING

F U R T H E R LOCAL E F F O R T I N

VOCATIONAL

BE DONE TO

EDUCATION?

EDUCATION?

FURTHER

VOCATIONAL

STATE EFFORT IN

EDUCATION?

*Resolutions on Page-Wilson Bill (Senate No. 3) passed January, 1913, providing
Federal Aid for Vocational Education.

7

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FURTHER LOCAL
EFFORT IN PROMOTING VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION?
1. BY E S T A B L I S H I N G A C O M M I T T E E ON VOCATIONAL E D U C A T I O N
OF A C H A M B E R OF C O M M E R C E .

This may be either a committee by itself or a sub-committee
of the Committee on Education.
Since the field of education is one of great breadth, an E d u cation Committee of a Chamber of Commerce should limit its
activities to educational questions which bear more particularly
upon industry and commerce.
It seems likely that the most effective work which such a
committee can perform will be in cooperating with existing
agencies, whose purposes are directly educational rather than
to often initiate education programs entirely of its own.
T h e membership of such a committee should, of course,
include some men directly connected with educational work, or
those intimately associated with such activities in the community.
In cases where educators are not found in the Chamber's
membership, they may be asked to serve as members of such a
committee, regardless of membership, or listed as serving in an
advisory capacity.
2 . A R R A N G I N G M E E I N G S T O S T I R U P LOCAD I N T E R S T I N V O C A TIONAL E D U C A T I O N .

By ( a ) Holding of Conferences.
( b ) Holding of Exhibitions on school work related to
commerce and industry either from the local
schools or from places outside.
a.

Holding of Conferences.
8

An Education Committee of a Chamber of Commerce is in
a position of peculiar advantage for cooperating with school
authorities in arranging conferences, which will interest business
men in the work which the schools of the community are doing
or should do along lines related to industry and commerce.
School authorities are generally very appreciative of such interest
in the schools on the part of business men, and in fact are frequently heard to comment upon the need for the encouragement
and support which comes from such display of interest. The
stimulus to pupils, especially of the young men of the schools, is
sure to be large where they see an interest displayed in the kind
of training they are receiving and the results they are showing
in their preparation for life work.
In cases where conditions are not all they should be in local
schools the Chamber of Commerce, because of its relatively disinterested position, can serve as a powerful stimulus for bringing
about a correction or improvement of those conditions.
Such conferences may be in the form of dinner meetings, at
which men prominent in the fields under discussion may be
invited to speak, or conferences of greater length, at which
specific questions may be taken up and discussed, or meetings
where persons may tell of visits of observation made to places
where some notable work has been done.
The following example is taken from the 1910 Report,
Boston Chamber of Commerce:
"A conference was held by the Committee on Education and other members with the boards of educational institutions in Massachusetts, for the purpose of discussing the
interdependence of the educational, commercial and industrial interests. Two definite subjects were considered. The
first of these was the possibility of establishing in Boston a
commercial museum, showing the products of New England
and of the countries and cities with which she does business,
combined with an information bureau and to aid in extending New England's' foreign and domestic trade. The other
was university extensions, a great work which is surely
developing, and in which the Chamber will inevitably have
great part, both as to responsibility and as to benefits."
9

Encouraging educational associations to hold their meetings
in your city and cooperating in making the meeting a success
will prove well worth while. The Cleveland, Buffalo and Boston
Chambers of Commerce have done especially notable work in
the past in furthering educational meetings dealing with vocational and commercial problems.
b.

Holding of Exhibitions.

Conferences may often be combined with the holding of
exhibitions of school work done either locally or abroad, altho
this combining of the two is not essential.
Care should be taken that any such exhibitions given should
be made with due regard to satisfactory display and in a form
of presentation which will attract and hold the interest of the
business men.
These exhibitions need not be large, but should be given
in places easy of access to business men or in places where they
are likely to congregate, such as at Luncheon Clubs.
At an industrial and commercial exposition held under the
auspices of the Boston Chamber of Commerce the Education
Committee of that Chamber secured the cooperation of public
and private school authorities in planning and carrying out an
unusual educational section to that Exposition.
In the idea of its presentation and the scope of the work
shown, the exhibit was unique, not only in being a fairly comprehensive showing of the opportunities for industrial education
in Massachusetts, but especially in its presentation of these opportunities by types instead of by individual schools, the separate
institutions subordinating themselves for the sake of giving to
the public a clear impression of the chief methods of meeting
this important problem.
In connection with this same exhibit there was issued a joint
circular presenting, in a brief form, the opportunities for vocational education available in Boston and vicinity, and as a further
valuable result, there was brought about a joint movement among
those in charge of such education to prevent unnecessary duplication and to secure the benefits which come from cooperation.
10

3. BY PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION OF STATEMENTS SHOWING IN DETAIL THE FACILITIES FOR INDUSTRIAL AND
COMMERCIAL EDUCATION IN THE LOCALITY.

The idea of such a publication should be not only to give
accurate information in convenient form to those seeking such
education, but also by listing the various opportunities to differentiate between those institutions which are worthy from those
which are unworthy of patronage and support.
Such information presented in a form that may be given
out in manufacturing and commercial establishments with pay
envelopes or mailed to lists of parents will be found of greatest
help and command much interest.
Practically all Chambers publish for distribution various
pieces of literature telling of other industrial and commercial
advantages of their particular city.
4. BY INITIATING AND SUPPORTING INVESTIGATIONS AS TO THE
NEED FOR VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS.

The first step in starting a vocational school after the public interest and sentiment has been aroused should be a preliminary investigation to definitely find out the extent of the need
for such a school and just what kind of a school should be
created.
This investigation may be carried on by the Chamber of
Commerce through the Committee on Vocational Education
serving as a special commission on the problem, or in cooperation
with other representative bodies, as the City Government, the
Board of Education, or the Central Labor Union, or by securing
the appointment of a special commission for the purpose.
It is important that such a commission consist of employers
and employees from representative industries in the community;
women of experience in social and industrial activities, or representatives of local civic and social organizations and of course
members of the Board of Education or public school officials.
Massachusetts has conducted many investigations similar to
those proposed above and from the experience gathered in that
11

State the following are quoted as among the problems to be
solved:
1. What is the need for industrial or commercial education
in that community ?
2. What are the dominant industries to be served by the
proposed school?
3. Which of these industries offer opportunity for skilled
employment?
4. Which provide educational opportunities in themselves
and zvhich do not?
5. In a given industry is there lack of opportunity to secure
mechanical skill, technical knowledge, or both?
6. Are there schools or other agencies in the community
zvhich do or could establish an opportunity to secure one
or both of these?
7. What becomes of boys and girls who leave school at 14
years of age?
8. What are they doing three years after leaving? Five
years after leaving?
9. Which groups are to be reached by different forms of
industrial, commercial, household arts, or agricultural
education?
10. What part is the "all day" school to play? The "part
time" school? The "evening school"?
While the above questions apply more particularly to inquiries made in cities, the same questions with slight modification can be applied to investigations made in communities with
agricultural or other industrial interests.
Valuable help on such investigations as the above mentioned is that which can be given by the National Society
for the Promotion of Industrial Education which is dealing
intimately with the problems involved; in finding out both
which is the need of practical education in different cities
and communities, and how this need can best be met.
The
National Society has already been called upon by school committees and Chambers of Commerce in such cities as New York,
Rochester, Buffalo, Decatur, 111.; Cleveland, Ohio; Hammond,
12

Indiana; New Orleans, Springfield, 111.; San Francisco, as well
as several of the states.
In the larger communities where it is reasonably certain
that there will be a demand for certain types of vocational education, the Chamber of Commerce could well take a firm stand
on the selecting in advance of a properly qualified director for
such work who, in addition to other duties, could materially
assist any commission in this investigation.
5. BY AIDING

IN

ESTABLISHING

ADVISORY

COMMITTEES

OF

BUSINESS M E N .

The Advisory Committee idea is rapidly coming to the front
in this country as one of the most valuable and effective forms
for cooperation between the business men and the schools that
has yet been discovered. Particularly has this been true in the
promotion of vocational training.
The business man and the school master have been too far
apart. The school master who has to do with the preparation
of young people for life work and the business man who receives
the product ought to have close relations, and a position of natural
aloofness is untenable. Obviously here is to be found an opportunity for the Chamber of Commerce to be of incalculable aid
in bettering local educational facilities.
The aloofness of the business man and educator in this
country is in marked contrast with the practice in several European countries and of Germany in particular. Commercial education in Germany was the conception of the business man. The
Chamber of Commerce of the German city is the "God Father"
of the vocational schools. It is the business man and tradesman
who is looked to for sponsorship and advice in the conduct of
such schools. In Milan the Director of the commercial school is
at the same time Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. The
Massachusetts state law provides that each industrial school
receiving state aid shall have an advisory committee of employers and employees. Five states have already copied this law
in their regulations for vocational education and others are preparing to follow.
13

In selecting an advisory board for a vocational school the
Chamber of Commerce should play a most important part in
standing squarely for a board which has practical knowledge of
the vocations taught.
These advisory boards should be made up
of persons who have had actual successful experience in the occupations for which the school prepares.
T h e efficiency of vocational schools must be measured largely by the ability of their
pupils to meet the demands of the trades, industries and occupations for which these schools give preparation.
W h e t h e r the
schools give instruction in agriculture, home economics or industrial subjects, the vocational work must be such as to prepare
the pupil for wage-earning by participation in actual projects and
processes of a very real character.
This requires an intimate
and practical knowledge of actual conditions and practices in
the work as it is carried on outside the school.
Only those
experienced as employers or employees can furnish this information.
T h e task of establishing and maintaining these schools
on a practical basis is so important and so difficult that the instructors in the school, who must themselves have had such
experience, need also the advice and assistance of those having
this practical knowledge of the industry or occupation and the
conditions peculiar to it in the locality.
6. BY A I D I N G IN PROVIDING S C H O L A R S H I P S
FURTHER

INDUSTRIAL

OR

OR

COMMERCIAL

REWARDS
WORK

AND

FOR
EX-

PERIENCE O U T S I D E O F T H E SCHOOL.

Such an effort has its largest value as a stimulus to the
young men of the community and the interest and attention which
it draws on part of business men to the work young men are
doing in the schools.
Such scholarships may be given in the form of visits to
and studies of commercial and industrial enterprises, or to countries abroad, attendance at schools of higher technical training
or in the making of special industrial studies and reports on such
visits and studies.
An instance of the possible success of such a plan is shown
in the cooperation of the business men's committee of the H i g h
School of Commerce of Boston.
14

T w o young men, members of the graduating class of the
H i g h School of Commerce, have been sent annually to South
America to study trade conditions there.
They have been well
received wherever they have gone, and upon their return have
given several talks before the Business Men's Committee and
the School in which they told enthusiastically of their experience.
In the summer of 1910 traveling scholarships were offered
to two young men who spent one month in the Kolonial Institut
of H a m b u r g , an institution designed to train young Germans
for service in German Colonial possessions. Another month was
spent with a party of German students from the Berlin Commercial University, who were studying t h e textile a n d iron industries in the Rhine-Westphalian district and in Belgium.
The
enterprise was in no sense a pleasure excursion, but an opportunity for hard work for which the young men 'were held strictly
responsible. T h e reports of the business men's committee indicate that Boston regards these traveling scholarships as of great
value.

7. BY

ESTABLISHING A

PLACEMENT

BUREAU

FOR

VOCATIONAL

S C H O O L BOYS.

Mutual efforts of the vocational school and business men
to place boys in positions either temporary or permanent is one
of the most worth while examples of encouragement to the local
young people that a Chamber of Commerce can give.
Vocational education a n d t h e investigations of industrial opportunities
are throwing out splendid girders toward one another, but the
meeting of the two at the central arch will never be consummated until placement is a part of the masonry.
T h e logical
goal of all vocational education, of teachers, of parents, and of
pupils, the establishment of industrial schools, the compilation
and distribution of charts and handbooks, the investigation of
industrial opportunities should be the fitting of the child not
only for but into his life work.
T h e first step in establishing such a Bureau should be to
obtain the promise of business men to appeal to the Placement
15

Bureau when needing assistance both of a permanent nature and
for temporary periods during seasons when extra help is needed
in shops or stores in which the school boys might perform the
service required.
Arrangements with the school authorities
might well be made for excusing boys from class for such opportunities for more practical experience and to allow credit for
the same to the pupils in their courses. In order that such
cooperation be made the greatest possible incentive to the boys,
no boy should be permitted to do this who does not keep well
up in his school work. When a boy is ready to be permanently
placed, every effort should be made to see that he is placed right.
To that end the person in charge of the Bureau should serve
in the capacity of a vocational advisor. If a boy has worked
with success during the temporary seasons mentioned above, it
is likely that a place will already be available for him.
For placing young men and boys who are starting out for
the first time, the business of such a Bureau would not be that
of job getting, but should lay emphasis rather on the finding of
persons to fit the job. Such a course means at first the listing
of opportunities rather than listing of applicants.
Unless this method is followed, the Bureau will likely be
overrun with applicants for whom it can probably do little that
is worth while.
It is further felt that the Bureau should show success from
the start and it is therefore necessary to find first of all a market
before stocking up heavily with goods.
The effectiveness of this plan of wrork will, to a larger
degree than is usually considered, depend upon the qualities of
the man who is selected to be manager in charge.
Such a position is one requiring a high order of initiative,
adaptability and judgment.
The manager must be a good judge of ability and have a
knowledge of business conditions.
He must come to know business firms.
What opportunities there are in those firms.
What openings in those opportunities.
The sort of a fellow that would be accepted.
16

He must be able to interest an employer and advise young
men intelligently.
He must be able to interview applicants thoroughly and be
able to sort them out.
While it is considered best to leave details of the working
of such a B u r e a u to t h e person placed in charge, there is great
importance in t h e follow-up work which t h e B u r e a u should do,
and reports should be obtained from t h e employer on each applicant placed. This will aid in indicating to t h e employer b o t h
the interest and earnestness of t h e Bureau.
Reports should also be obtained from both employer and
employee whenever a connection is severed. Any such plan as is
suggested above should take account of the need for both advice
and "follow-up" with placement. Examples of t h e formation
and working out of a Placement Bureau somewhat as described
can be obtained from the Boston Vocation Bureau, which is the
pioneer in the Vocational Guidance movement.

8.

BY INTERESTING Y O U N G PEOPLE IN VOCATIONAL E F F I C I E N C Y
THROUGH

F O R M A T I O N OF A Y O U N G E R D I V I S I O N OF T H E

C H A M B E R OF COMMERCE.

Such an organization might be called the Juvenile Club of
the Chamber of Commerce and restricted to membership of boys
between the ages of 14 and 18 years.
Various requirements for admission might be made, but the
idea of whatever requirements are made should be the encouragement of those qualities of character and efficiency which will
make for success as a worker and as a citizen.
Meetings of the Boys' Division should be largely devoted to
such subject matter as has direct bearing on the boys' preparation
for entering the industrial and commercial world.
Dinner meetings of the adult members of the Chamber of
Commerce with the boys once or twice a year with plenty of
music and a good time program should be prominent features
of such an effort to interest young people.
At such a dinner
given to sons of members by the Boston Chamber of Commerce,
the speakers with their subjects were as follows:
17

1. Aim of the Chamber of Commerce,
President Bernard J. Rothwell.
2. Value of a Good Name,
Hon. John D. Long.
3. Safe-guarding New England's interests,
Dean LeBaron R. Briggs, of Harvard University.
4. Spirit of New Boston,
Hon. John A. Sullivan, Chairman Boston Finance
Commission.
5. Loyalty,
Joseph Lee.
The dinner was a very lively, happy affair, with the singing
of songs especially written for the occasion and the frequent
appearance of various surprises, which both interested and delighted not only the young fellows, but all the fellows present.
A juvenile organization of a Chamber of Commerce to help
the interest of boys must also be an active one. Real work must
be given them to do. Two cities, Grand Rapids, Mich., and
Winston-Salem, N. C, are reported as having shown most successful accomplishment with a Juvenile Division.
To become a member of the Winston-Salem Juvenile Club
each boy is required to memorize the Athenian oath.
After a boy has appeared before the secretary of the Board
of Trade and recited his oath he is presented with a certificate
of membership, which states that the holder, having memorized
and subscribed to the oath of the patriotic youth of ancient
Athens, has been enrolled as a member of the Juvenile Club of
the Chamber of Commerce and is entitled to all the privileges
thereof so long as he shall prove true to his obligations.
A feature of the inquiries to be made by the Chamber of
Commerce includes an inquiry concerning the trade opportunities
open to boys and girls in the industrial establishments. The
aim of this inquiry is to ascertain just what training should be
given in the public schools in order that the boys and girls may
be able to make a living in the city after graduation from the
city schools, and also to furnish a trained labor supply for home
industries. Heretofore the object of the schools primarily has
been to teach the student how to live. It is far more important
18

that in the future more attention be given to teaching the students how to make a living.
The industrial schedule which has been prepared for use in
this work has been carefully arranged, and contains only inquiries
that are absolutely necessary in the compilation of a full and
intelligent statistical report of the industries of the city. This
investigation of the industries can well be made by the boys
themselves under the direction of the local Chamber of Commerce Secretary.
Following is given the schedule used by the Junior Members
of the Winston-Salem Board of Trade:
Industrial Schedule A—Statistical Report for the Calendar
Year 1912:
1. Name of establishment (a), names and titles of executive
officers.
2. Character of articles manufactured.
3. Name and position of person furnishing information.
Inquiry 4—Capital.
(a) Total capital December 31, 1911.
(b) Total capital December 31, 1912.
(c) Total amount of capital invested in company.
Inquiry 5—Salaried Employee and Wage-earners.
(a) Number of salaried employees—total. Number of males.
Number of females.
(b) Average monthly number of wage-earners employed during
the year 1912. Number of males. Number of females.
Number of skilled workmen. Number of unskilled workmen.
(c) Average monthly number of traveling salesmen employed
during the year 1912.
Inquiry 6—Days in Operation and Hours Worked.
(a) Total number of days in year 1912. Establishment in actual
operation.
(b) Number of shifts worked per day. Hours per shift.
(c) Number of hours normally worked by wage-earners—per
day; per week.
19

Inquiry 7—Salaries and Wage Payments.
(a) Total salaries paid during the year 1912.
(b) Total wages paid during the same year. Average wages
paid skilled workmen; unskilled workmen.

20

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO F U R T H E R STATE E F F O R T
IN PROMOTING VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.
1. BY KEEPING TRACK OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION.

A Chamber of Commerce can be a most important influence
in keeping track of proposed legislation bearing on industrial and
commercial education not only to help in promoting good measures, but in defeating bad ones. A Chamber of Commerce committee can act as the concentrating force in a legislative publicity campaign, by preventing a scattering of interest on many
different bills and consequently missing fire on all. Some such
central agency is needed to send out the call for letters to senators and assemblymen; to keep the newspapers supplied with
copy; use facts from other cities and states; get up public meetings, and arrange to have delegates at the state capital. Such a
body, well known, non-partisan, with a fact foundation for arguments, can be the magnet for much wavering interest among
individual citizens.
At the meetings of a Committee on Education, all proposed
legislation could be carefully gone over by the members to see
if the bills in question square with the best principles, policies
and methods to be used in promoting such work. It is fair to
assume that there is a best method so far as principles and policies in legislation affecting vocational education are concerned.
The best results will be secured only when details are worked
out in states and localities in perfect freedom, but under wellorganized general themes and principles.
An example of the possible effectiveness of a Chamber's efforts after a stand has been taken on principles and policies is
illustrated in the following quotation from a report of the Boston
Chamber of Commerce:
21

"Early in the year it became evident that the donnict of
authority and duplication of effort by the State Board of
Education and the Commission on Industrial Education
would lead to an immediate movement for a better plan.
Realizing that it would be harmful to befog the issue by
the consideration of half a dozen or more different bills
which were contemplated by as many different parties, they
succeeded in keeping these bills out of the Legislature, and
in bringing the various parties to agreement on the bill which
it drafted providing for a single State Board, with a Commissioner and two deputies, one at the head of industrial
education, the other in charge of cultural education. The
New York Commissioner of Education and an eminent
leader in industrial education in Ohio were brought to Boston to discuss the issues before a meeting of members. The
bill was passed and the system is now in operation with
excellent results already secured."
2. BY CONFERRING WITH VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND BODIES
W H O MAY OR SHOULD BE INTERESTED IN VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION.

Whatever safe-guards the resources of the state or adds to
the wealth of the state as a whole, likewise benefits every individual in the state.
As a "get together" agency the Education Committee of a
State Chamber of Commerce or the Education Committees of
several local Chambers working together can find perhaps their
largest opportunity for service in furthering the cause of Vocational Education. Conferences for considering what steps should
be taken in the state for furthering vocational education should
be arranged with such bodies as the State Bankers' Association,
State Federation of Labor, State Teachers' Association, State
Grange, and other representative organizations.
At such conferences it would be well to have public men
tell of what has been done in other states and hozv it has been
done and what are the results.
Such questions as the following might well be made the
basis of a program for such conferences:
22

I. Does the state need education of a vocational character,
and if so what forms are most needed? Industrial,
agricultural, commercial or household, or all?
II. How can state interest in vocational education be best
stimulated ?
III. How can the work be best carried on?
IV. What legislation is needed to bring about a proper state
system of vocational education?
3. BY OBTAINING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMISSION TO
STUDY PROBLEMS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AS APPLIED
TO A PARTICULAR STATE.

One way to inaugurate the movement in a state is to get a
commission appointed for making a survey and a report including
proposed legislation. Massachusetts had such a survey in 1906,
Wisconsin in 1911, Indiana in 1912, and other states have started
or are about to start surveys as this is being written.
Here the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial
Education can be of service in suggesting how such a survey
may be best carried on.
4. BY GETTING LAWS PASSED MAKING POSSIBLE A STATE SYSTEM
OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

Such laws should be drafted only after a conference of interests in which the Chambers of Commerce might well be the
leaders.
At such conferences certain definite principles and
policies should be adopted which should underlie any laws to be
later framed. This is of greatest importance, and after such
principles and policies are agreed upon by the cooperating interests, every effort should be made to obtain wide publicity of such
principles when bringing them before legislators and the committees of the legislature, and further, earnest watchfulness
should be exercised to see that the ensuing laws follow the spirit
and purpose of the principles and policies laid down.
All that has before been said about the need of expert service
for local communities in dealing with problems of vocational
23

schools is just as" true for the state in dealing with problems of
legislation.
In the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial
Education any Chamber of Commerce will find the expert and
reliable aid so necessary in efforts to promote state legislation
furthering vocational education.
Already the National Society is in the field with prestige,
having set up the principles and policies to be followed in state
legislation that have been adopted by Indiana, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, and which will undoubtedly be soon followed by other states.
Because of their great importance in their bearing on legislation for furthering vocational education, it seems well to here
present the principles and policies above mentioned which were
adopted by the society and which have already served as a basis
for legislation in the several states mentioned:
PRINCIPLES

AND

POLICIES

THAT

SHOULD

UNDERLIE

STATE

LEGISLATION FOR A STATE SYSTEM OF VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION.

Definition of Terms.
1. State aid is necessary to stimulate and encourage communities to carry on work in vocational education. At the same
time legislation should provide that local communities should be
permitted to initiate and maintain vocational training, if desired,
entirely apart from state support and supervision.
2. Vocational education includes all forms of specialized
education, the controlling purposes of which are to fit for useful
occupations.
3. The fields of vocational education considered here are
industrial education, agricultural education, commercial education, and household arts education.
4. Industrial education denotes the field of vocational education designed to meet the needs of the manual wage-worker
in the trades and industries and the household.
5. Agricultural education is that form of vocational education which fits for the occupations connected with the tillage
24

of the soil, the care of domestic animals, forestry, and other useful work on the farm.
6. Commercial education denotes the field of vocational
education designed to meet the needs of the wage-earner employed in such business and commercial pursuits as bookkeeping,
stenography, typewriting, clerical work, salesmanship.
7. Household arts education is that form of vocational
education which fits for non-wage-earning occupations connected
with the household.
Cooperation.
8. Vocational schools as referred to in this document, include all agricultural, industrial, commercial and household arts
schools, the controlling purpose of which is to fit for useful occupations, and which deal with pupils above fourteen years of age
and below college grade, as indicated below.
9. An all-day vocational school is a school giving training
to young persons over fourteen years of age who can give one
or more years to such preparation before entering employment.
10. A part-time vocational school is a school for persons
engaged in useful employment which affords instruction during
a portion of the working time of the pupils that is supplementary
to such employment.
11. Evening schools or classes in industry are schools or
classes attended by persons over sixteen years of age, already
engaged in useful employment, which provide instruction directly
related to such employment.
12. Evening schools or classes in household arts are schools
or classes giving instruction in home-making to pupils over sixteen years of age, however employed during the day.
Financial

Support.

13. The proper expenditure of state moneys for vocational
schools should be fully safeguarded, while, at the same time, the
initiative in adapting measures to local conditions should be left
to the local authorities. The relation of the state to the community in the matter of industrial education should be that of
partners, in which the non-resident partner has the right of
25

inspection and approval in return for partial support of the educational venture.
14. State aid should be sufficient to induce localities to take
up the work and to justify reasonable participation on the part
of the state in control and administration; but on the other hand,
state aid should not be so large as to sacrifice local initiative and
support. Experience seems to show that the best results are
secured when the local community is required to furnish the plant
and equipment and pay approximately one-half of the operating
expenses.
15. Payments to local communities by the state should not
be made automatically, but only with the approval and recommendation of the state board of control for work actually accomplished. In passing upon the school, the state board should have
the power to approve every feature of its work, including all
such items as locations, equipment, course of study, methods of
instruction, qualifications of teachers, and expenditure of money.
16. Legislation should be so drawn for this purpose that a
large amount of discretion is left to the state boards of control
in the definition of principles and standards for the inspection,
supervision, approval, and reimbursement of the work.
17. Attendance should be free upon a state-aided vocational
school for all persons in the state otherwise eligible, whether they
are or are not residents of the community in which the school is
maintained. In order to meet j:he case of pupils non-resident
in the community, provision should be made for meeting the
tuition costs of such pupils by the joint contribution of the community in which the child resides and the state.
Administrative

and

Executive

Functions.

18. Administrative and executive functions. For the purpose of this statement of principles, it is necessary to distinguish
sharply between the functions of the administrative authority
and those of the executive or expert employed by the administrative authorities.
19. Administrative control is that exercised by a board
such as a State Board of Education or a State Commission on
26

vocational education, or a local education authority, as to rules
and regulations concerning such matters as expenditure of moneys, courses of study, employment of teachers, etc., which in general might be described as legislative as contrasted with executive
functions.
20. Executive functions are those exercised by a superintendent of schools, commissioner of education, or the director
of an industrial school, in carrying out the decisions of the board
of control and other necessary executive work.
21. Effective administrative control, on the part of the state,
of both vocational and general education, requires the existence
of a State Board possessing sufficient powers effectively to supervise all forms of education receiving financial aid from the state.
Should such a board not exist, in any state, or should it be found
that an existing board is unprepared to deal effectively with the
establishment and promotion of vocational education, then it is
expedient and desirable that a special administrative Board of
Control for Vocational Education shall be established until such
time as a state board properly qualified to deal with all forms
of state-aided education shall exist.
22. Effective administrative control on the part of the local
community of both vocational and general education requires
the existence of a local school board or committee possessed of
ample power to establish and maintain, under proper state supervision, general and vocational schools. When the existing local
administrative authority for general education does not provide
for the establishment and promotion of adequate vocational education, legislative provision should exist, enabling industrial and
other occupational interest, under proper restrictions, to procure
the creation of a special Board of Control for Vocational Education.
23. To secure effective administrative control of vocational
education, wherever practicable, representation of employing
and employed interests should be provided in administrative
boards. In cases where vocational education is carried on by
the regular school board or committee, it is strongly urged that
the local authorities give adequate representation on such boards
or committees to the employing and employed interests.
27

Elements of Effective Control.
Effective executive or expert control.—The following features should be recognized: (1) The creation by law of a separate department for vocational education, whether under the
regular State Board of Education or otherwise; (2) The placing
at the head of this department of a competent deputy commissioner, superintendent, director, or supervisor, who shall be an
expert in vocational education and shall be familiar with industrial conditions; (3) A salary sufficient to attract and hold a
competent man, and such conditions of tenure of office as would
remove him from the ranks of political employees; (4) The delegation to this official of large powers and responsibilities for
superintending the work.
25. These same principles should be recognized and applied
to the local administration of vocational education.
26. Efficiency in vocational education requires different
methods of school administration, different courses of study, different qualifications of teachers, different equipment, different
ways of meeting the needs of pupils, and a much greater flexibility in adapting means to ends than is possible of development
under the ordinary routine of the public school system.
27. Separation of vocational and general education.—For
these reasons, whether administered by regular public school
authorities or a separate board of control, and whether conducted
in a separate building or under the same roof as the regular
school, the work in vocational education should be carried on
separately and independently from that of general education, so
that it may be left free to realize the dominant aim of fitting for
useful employment. This requires a separate organization, under a separate head or a distinctive management, and separate
equipment, course of study, pupils, and teachers who shall have
had extended practical experience in the industries or occupations
they are employed to teach.
28. Separate schools best.—Experience seems to prove that
where conditions admit, this work can be best prosecuted in
separate schools, whether under the control of the regular board
of education or otherwise.
29. Cities of more than 25,000 inhabitants should probafrly
28

be required to meet the need of vocational education by separate
schools rather than in departments of regular schools.
30. Separateness and dominance of vocational aim.—Should
the state desire to give aid to vocational departments in the regular schools, such a department should be defme'd in the law as
a department having a separate head or director, who should
be treated as an expert in dealing with the problem of vocational
education, and having separate organization of classes, teachers,
and courses of study, and separate facilities for carrying on
shopwork. The academic work should be such as meets the
needs of the pupils of this department, and be subject to the
approval of the state board of control as a condition of state aid.
31. State and local autonomy.—In developing measures for
industrial education for the different states, it is essential in order
to secure the best results that each state shall, subject to the
foregoing principles, adopt the plan for the administration of
this new form of education which is best adapted to its own
needs and which will provide the best results under its particular
social, economic, industrial, educational, and administrative conditions.

29

W H A T CAN BE DONE TO F U R T H E R FEDERAL
EFFORT FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.
1. BY SUPPORTING LEGISLATION FAVORING FEDERAL GRANTS FOR
EDUCATION.

It can be said that the idea of vocational education is spreading through the United States with extraordinary rapidity. Social
workers, economists, statesmen, employers and employees, and
educators all see in the movement for vocational education a
means of decreasing the number of children who grow up into
ineffective life. They also see in the movement a means of giving
equal opportunity to all children to make the best of their lives.
In this sense the movement is regarded as truly democratic and
national.
As has been previously mentioned there are in various states
commissions studying the question, and both in state and nation
plans are being worked out for the training of teachers for the
vocational education of children.
As supplementing this general agitation in the states there
has been a steadily increasing conviction that national aid could
fittingly be extended to the states in transforming and improving
their educational systems. Precedents for such aid are found
in the history of the Morrill and Hatch acts, which led to the
establishment throughout the country of agricultural and mechanical colleges.
This proposed legislation became widely known first as the
Dolliver-Davis Bill. Then the work was taken up by Senator
Page of Vermont and the bill, somewhat changed, became known
as the Page-Wilson bill—Wm. B. Wilson, at present Secretary
of Labor, having introduced the bill in the House during the
Sixty-second Congress. The principles of the Page bill have been
30

endorsed by nearly twenty-five national organizations, both of
organized labor, of organized manufacturers and of business men,
including the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.
The result of all this has been to make almost certain the
coming of Federal aid for vocational education as soon as the
best plans may be worked out.
A method for harmonizing a number of varying opinions on
national aid to vocational education is now being worked on.
It is in the working out of these plans that Chambers of
Commerce Committees working with the National Society and
through the Chamber of the United States can be of inestimable
help.
It now seems almost certain that a Federal Commission on
Vocational Education will be appointed and that the labors of
this Commission will result in legislative measures.
The Vocational Educational Committee of the Chamber of
Commerce of the United States, working with the National Society, will need the cooperation of local Chambers everywhere
in securing united effort for safe and sound national legislation.
When a bill has been finally drafted which meets the approval of
the various Chambers of the country, an active campaign should
then be carried on by committees of local Chambers in getting
their members to use personal influence by letter, telegram or
interview with members of Congress to bring about the passage
of the act.
Education Committees of Chambers of Commerce should
follow very closely the developments and let it be known that
they are watching closely and interestedly to see that no money
for vocational education shall be given out for spending by states
as a pure gratuity or bonus, or under such conditions as will
cause it to be wasted.
By insisting that Federal legislation shall square with the
best principles and policies already adopted in so many of the
states, the Chambers of Commerce may be largely the determining factor in making certain that Federal money is honestly and
wisely expended in effective vocational schools.

31

WHAT CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE HAVE DONE AND
ARE NOW DOING FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
IN D I F F E R E N T PARTS OF T H E UNITED STATES.
These examples are not an attempt to record all work done
by. Chambers of Commerce in furthering practical education, but
rather to present such efforts and records of accomplishment as
may give encouragement in attempts to carry out the suggestions
presented in previous sections of this pamphlet.
These illustrations show two types of organization. One is
the continuous committee of business men, either working toward
a definite point or constantly in touch, making suggestions and
offering help to the school authorities on all questions. The
other is the club which does not keep up its interest throughout
the year, but is willing to help at a crisis. Of course, the supposed reason that a business man or organization is at all interested in schools is that the product of them must be used in
business, and a certain familiarity is desirable with the mechanism which turns out the product—equipment, conditions of work,
and course of study. Pleasant, cordial relations with superintendents, principals and teachers, especially those in business and
trade courses, are most readily maintained through a committee
or an individual delegated to keep in touch.
1. LEGISLATION.

Many of the commercial organizations have already taken
part in legislative efforts when the desire was to secure changes
in school laws that would permit a more efficient administration
of present schools and the undertaking of further lines of educational effort.
Many of the following reports are given through the courtesy of the NATION'S BUSINESS, published by the Chamber
of Commerce of the United States.
32

In the Boston Chamber of Commerce, national legislation
under which public education in agriculture, industry and the
household arts, is to receive, under proper restrictions, generous
Federal aid, is a matter upon which the Committee on Education
has devoted much time and thought. Such legislation is embodied in the Page-Wilson bill, and the directors have passed a
vote approving the general purposes of the bill. While the Federal aid available for each state under the provisions of this bill
would be considerable, the most important effect would be the
far-reaching stimulus which it would give to the promotion of
industrial education in every section of the country.
The Chicago Association of Commerce reports that-their
Committee on Legislation has given consideration to the proposed
bill for establishing a system of vocational schools for Illinois, said
bill having been already endorsed by the Educational Committees
of the Commercial Club of Chicago, The Association of Commerce, the Hamilton Club and the Civic Federation of Chicago.
The following resolution was passed by unanimous vote of
the Committee at its meeting, held in February, 1913:
Resolved, That your Committee beg leave to recommend
for your approval the proposed bill on vocational education,
which is based on the following statements of principles:
"Definition: Vocational education includes all forms of
specialized education, the controlling purposes of which are
to fit for useful occupations, whether in agriculture, commerce, industry or the household arts.
" 1 . State aid is necessary to stimulate and encourage
communities to carry on work in vocational education, but
local communities should be permitted to initiate and should
partly maintain such courses or schools.
"2. The vocational schools should not compete or interfere with the present public school system, but should supplement it by providing practical instruction on vocational
lines for youth between fourteen and eighteen who have left
the present schools.
" 3 . The proper expenditure of state moneys for vocational schools should be fully safeguarded, while at the same
time the initiative in adapting measures to local conditions
33

should be left with the local authorities. To secure these
ends the general management and approval of these courses
and schools should be left to a state commission, while the
local initiative and direct control should be exercised by a
local board composed of employers, skilled employees and
educators.
"4. An efficient system of vocational education requires
different methods of administration, different courses of
study, different qualifications of teachers, different equipment, different ways of meeting the needs of pupils and
much greater flexibility in adapting means to ends than is
possible under the ordinary system of public school administration. For these reasons these schools should be under
a separate board of control, whether carried on in a separate
building or under the same roof with a general school, so
that they may be free to realize their dominant purpose of
fitting for useful employment."
Your Committee wishes to say further, and more or less in
repetition of the above, that this bill does not contemplate the
establishment of schools that shall rival or in any way come in
competition with the present public school system. The bill
rather contemplates the furnishing of another or further opportunity to such boys and girls as the public schools have failed
to reach or have failed to hold; such schools to be established
on demand of the local community as the necessity shall arise;
the number attending these proposed schools will be comparatively small.
The Business Men's Association of Putnam, Connecticut,
recently secured favorable action in the state legislature permitting the establishment of a trade school in Putnam.
The Chamber of Commerce of South Bend, Indiana, was
occupied through its Educational Committee during the past year,
in drafting and presenting to the legislature a bill for the government of local school affairs.
The Committee studied the
school laws of twelve or fifteen states for the purpose of evolving a bill which should remove the affairs of the schools from
political influences. The bill provides for a school board to
34

serve without pay, to be named by petition, and to be elected by
non-partisan ballot. This board was to be a legislative one,
with the executive functions and responsibilities delegated to
experts appointed by an official responsible to the board.
The Cleveland, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce has always
urged that adequate funds should be provided for educational
progress and has repeatedly cooperated with the school authorities in securing additional tax levies to be used not only for the
construction and proper equipment of enough public school buildings to provide for ever-increasing attendance, but also for adequate instruction in all branches, including vocational training,
the grade schools and technical and commercial high schools.
Some years ago when the state legislature was framing a
code for the uniform government of schools throughout the
state, the committee on education of the Chamber of Commerce
devoted a large amount of time and conspicuous ability of its
members to the study of the best educational systems, and with
great care drafted a code which was submitted to the legislature.
A determined fight was made for the enactment of this code,
and while the effort was not wholly successful, the code as enacted preserved the essential features of the Cleveland code,
namely, the option to elect at large a small board, the definite
separation of the executive and legislative functions of school
government, and the independence of the superintendent of
instruction in the performance of his duties.
The Commercial Club of Wheaton, Minnesota, cooperated
with the Board of Education of that city in securing the benefits
of the Putnam act for special aid from the state for industrial
and agricultural departments and these are now added benefits
which can be secured through the high school of that city. All
educational matters in the city interest the Commercial Club.
The Chamber, of Commerce of Columbus, Ohio, interested
itself in the educational problem of the whole state and secured
an amendment to the state laws permitting the establishment of
technical and trade schools. As a result, there are now in the
State of Ohio forty or fifty schools of this character.
In Nebraska, the Commercial Club of McCook, which regards "the middle West as the bread box of the country," agri35

cultural training in high schools is regarded as the most important educational question before the people. The club in question
is doing all that it can with the State Legislature to bring about
the application of such training to the needs of the community.
2. RAISING FUNDS.

A very impressive feature of the work undertaken by commercial organizations is that which has involved in many communities the raising of large amounts of money either for
endowment, for a gift of land, or for suitable buildings. This
particular form of organized work as affecting education has
elements in it that cannot always be duplicated by others. The
inclusion of this information in the general survey of educational
activities is to show what organized effort can do in such
directions.
Gifts of $10,000 have been made by business men in Columbus, Georgia, for primary and secondary industrial schools, "to
fit boys and girls to earn their own living/' and an advisory committee was formed for these schools.
The Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburg, Kansas, has devoted itself to securing appropriations for buildings and maintenance to be used by the State Manual Training Normal School,
located in Pittsburg.
The Commercial Club of Ashland, Oregon, supported the
Ashland Polytechnic and Business School by securing a sufficient number of scholarships to warrant its opening of the
school.
The Commercial Club of Bloomington, 111., assisted in securing a bond issue for $250,000 in the interest of vocational education and manual training.
Bond issues were voted at Warsaw, N. Y., for $60,000
through the efforts of the Board of Trade, in order to improve
the entire public school system; the Commercial Club of Grove
City, Pa., backed a bond issue of $75,000 for general educational
improvement; and for this same purpose the Chamber of Commerce of Goldsboro, N. C, helped to secure a bond issue of
$40,000 in that city.
Active participation in securing bond issues for educational
36

improvement has been carried on by trade organizations too
numerous to mention.
The Boston Chamber of Commerce was instrumental in
securing funds for traveling scholarships for sending members
of the High School of Commerce to South America.
Buffalo Chamber of Commerce raised $10,000 for establishing a Vocation Bureau to act in cooperation with the schools
of that city.
Through the active campaigning of the Chamber of Commerce of Santa Ana, California, a bond issue of $200,000 was
secured for the erection of a Polytechnic High School.
The Commercial Club of Albuquerque has expressed its deep
interest in manual training and domestic science by backing a
bond issue of $100,000 to be used in teaching these branches.
3. EDUCATIONAL SURVEYS.

An effort has been made by a number of commercial organizations to ascertain just exactly the present educational conditions of the locality each serves and to define more clearly for
the organization and for the public just what needs have to be
met. This is a form of campaign that can with advantage be
undertaken in any community, since only by watchfulness and
close scrutiny can the educational facilities of a city be made to
keep step with the educational needs of a city. The following
brief quotations may prove suggestive:
The Chamber of Commerce of Dayton, Ohio, in cooperation
with the Bureau of Municipal Research, joined in an educational
survey of the city schools just prior to the end of the last school
year. Reports are not yet ready for announcement, but the type
of research was so thorough that extended mention of it will
doubtless prove of value to other organizations.
The educational survey of Dayton was divided into six parts,
each under the direction of one or more selected men.
Community

Conditions.

The duties under Number 1, "Community conditions," were
to make a complete survey of the opportunities for employment
37

of the product of the Dayton schools. This involved a statement of the number of industries, the trades represented, the
number of men represented in each trade, the number of apprentices in Dayton and in each trade, how these apprentices are
taught, their age, employment opportunities outside of school
hours, employment opportunities outside of regular trades, the
employment of illiterates, and a special study of the colored population and its opportunities for employment.
What We Are Doing.
Under Number 2, "What we are doing," the duties were to
make a complete school survey which involved, of course, without going into details, all the facts as to permanent and annual
cost of schools, teachers and their training, school population,
average attendance, medical inspection, school mortality, private
schools and business colleges and all other facts that would shed
any light upon the educational conditions in Dayton.
What Others Are Doing.
Under Number 3, "What others are doing," the duties were
to make a survey of educational conditions outside of Dayton.
Research was made relative to industrial education, trade schools,
extension schools, the Wisconsin law of 1911, the Wisconsin
experiment and the results of school surveys in other cities.
Our Future Needs.
Under Number 4, "Our future needs," the duties were to
classify and correlate the data accumulated under Number 1, 2,
and 3, and to furnish a vision of future needs. The main points
of these duties might be summed up in four chief lines: (a)
more bread and butter education; (b) uniform text books; (c)
federal and state aid; (d) more school gardens.
How to Apply Our Findings.
Under Number 5, "How to apply our findings," the duties
were to outline methods of procedure looking to the findings of
38

the committee. The research is expected to answer these questions : Can we have better trained teachers ? Can we have better
paid teachers ? How shall a closer cooperation be established
between teachers and industries ? How may the schools aid in
community welfare work? What are the necessary laws, municipal, state and federal ?
In the fall of 1911 the New York Chamber of Commerce
appointed a committee to study commercial training and schools
of commerce in London and other cities, with a view to suggesting changes in the teaching of commercial subjects in New York.
The preliminary findings of this committee justified not only the
appointment of a permanent committee to study the same questions, but also a special meeting of the Chamber for discussing
the findings. Specific recommendations were made, among them
that a system of commercial examinations be conducted in cooperation with the school authorities. Under this plan successful
candidates will receive from the Chamber a certificate for a
certain grade of proficiency. It is expected that this will inspire
students to an extra effort in order to pass the examinations.
Arrangements will also be made by which holders of these certificates will be preferred for employment by merchants. Special
courses in Spanish, a free employment bureau for certificate holders, a scholarship fund for students wishing to take advanced
courses in commerce and foreign language, are other plans outlined by the Chamber's committee.
In Denver the system of manual training, ending in the big,
new trade school, was due to the enthusiasm of a business man,
then a member of the board, who made a special trip to visit all
the Eastern schools which gave any sort of handwork.
In Harrisburg, Pa., "two years ago the need for another
high school building became urgent. The people were divided
on the question of separating the sexes and on the question of
installing some of the newer equipment, which seemed to be a
part of the modern high school plant. In order that the people,
before voting on the proposed bond issue, might have the benefit
of the soundest advice on the question that it was possible to
secure, the Board of Trade, at a cost of several hundred dollars,
employed a well known school expert, to make a survey of
39

Harrisburg with different recommendations as to the proper
location for a new school building and the necessary equipment
and paraphernalia for special work."
The Detroit Board of Commerce has just issued an eightypage recreational survey of the city of Detroit. This report not
only covers the needs of school children, but is primarily made
to show the needs and requirements of children and young men
and women engaged in factory life. The Board of Commerce
has always taken a keen interest in educational matters. The
Committee was in cooperation with the Board of Education during the period of equipping the Cass Technical High School.
The Board has also been in active touch with manufacturers
relative to permitting their young men to attend the Cass High
School three half-days weekly with pay in order to improve their
value to themselves and to their employers. Some of the larger
firms are sending fivt or six of their young men to school under
this arrangement.
4. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

At a gathering of representative business men held in Boston in the autumn of 1906 the new high school of commerce was
the subject of an interesting discussion. The consensus of opinion was that a successful school should be developed by cooperation between the city and the business men. The chairman of
the Boston School Board suggested that a committee of business
men be formed. Representatives of the Merchants' Association,
the Associated Board of Trade, and the Chamber of Commerce
were chosen to formulate a plan which was adopted by the
Board of Education. From twenty-five representatives of various business activities five were selected as an executive body
to meet monthly. A year later the business men's committee
proposed a series of recommendations which, as thev hoped,
have proved of vital assistance in the development of the school.
Schoolmen and business leaders alike are enthusiastic.
The Boston Chamber of Commerce has, besides its educational committee and its advisory board to the High School of
Commerce, an advisory board to the Trade School for Girls, to
the Mechanical Arts High School, and the Vocational Bureau.
40

The Chamber of Commerce of Quincy, Illinois, has a standing committee a part of the duty of which is to visit the public
schools twice a year and report on the needs. As long
ago as 1906, at the instance of the Chamber of Commerce,
the Quincy Board of Education added the Spanish language to
the list of regular studies in the Quincy High School, in which
that study has been taught ever since. Quincy being such an
important manufacturing city, with a substantial and increasing
export trade, with the Latin-Americas, the Chamber of Commerce thought that the teaching of Spanish would have a favorable commercial influence.
A most interesting statement has been received from the
Business Men's Association of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, relative to
the problems presented by the continuation and industrial schools.
Because of their suggestive value to other cities that may be
promoted to take up continuation work, the essentials of the
problem are included here.
The Sheboygan Continuation and Industrial School was
started September 3, 1912, under the Wisconsin Industrial School
Law, passed by the Legislature of 1911.
The first step in this direction was the appointment of an
Industrial Board by the regular Board of Education.
Immediately after the organization the Board began to plan,
and soon realized that it was dealing with an entirely new problem in education and that new interests had to be awakened. It
also realized that without the support of the business interests
the school would not succeed. It therefore immediately turned
to the local business organizations; chief among these, the Business Men's Association and the Manufacturers' Association.
These two were very cooperative and immediately appointed committees to confer with the Board of Industrial Education in regard to this school. The conferences with the committee of
these organizations were of distinct value in the establishment
of the school and gave stability and support to the movement,
which cannot be overestimated. These organizations have also
been back of the Industrial School during the entire first year
and the success of the school is, no doubt, in a large degree to
be attributed to the backing of the Sheboygan business men. The
41

business men of Sheboygan have come forward patriotically to
support an institution that will in due time be a great credit to
the city as well as a benefit to the industrial interests, both from
the standpoint of the employer as well as the employee.
5. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND PLACEMENT.

The effort made by the Commercial Club of Pueblo, Colo
rado, in finding positions for boys during vacations is worthy of
general consideration.
"A list of the employers of the city was prepared and in
addition to a general letter signed by the chairman of the Committee, each member of the committee took a certain number of
the employers who were personal friends of his and wrote them
letters on his own stationery, urging the employers to make a
special effort to employ the school boys during the summer vacation. The students applying for positions were registered as
carefully as possible. In this way, boys were introduced to
positions that might be along the line of their future life work.
It further has assisted the school authorities in preparing a curriculum that will prepare their boys for positions in their home
city. It has been found that there is a tendency to teach young
men in school a vocation that will necessitate the going away
from home for a livelihood. It is the purpose of the Commercial Club to use its influence toward keeping the boys in Pueblo
and in Colorado/'
Systematic

Continuation

Work.

The Junior Association of Commerce of Grand Rapids,
Michigan, is acting as a clearing house for the youths of the
public schools who must work and the employers who need
workers; trying to find the right kind of boy for the right kind
of a position in an effort to prevent misfits. Grand Rapids believes it should have a system of placement whereby the best
results may be obtained from the ability of boys who have been
trained in the public schools.
Similar work is being done by the Board of Trade of Washington, D. C, where steps are being taken to establish a vocational bureau.
42

T h e idea of the bureau is to find by a close observance and
study of the individual boy the work for which he is most fitted.
Then the boy will be recommended to the firms in the city who
are in that business.
" W h e n the boy is placed, it is incumbent upon the firm to
report every three months about the success of the boy, and if
it is found that he is unsuited he will be placed in work which
may be more fitted to him.
In this way the bureau helps the
boy, the employer helps the boy, and the boy helps himself, so
that the employer will gain a good employee, and the boy will
not ^ r aste several years trying to find out haphazardly the work
which he should make his life work.
"Beyond this, if the employer reports that the boy is not
doing well, the social part of the bureau will investigate his
home surroundings, and if they are not satisfactory, efforts will
be made to correct them."
Perhaps one of the most unusual efforts towards educating
city boys in country affairs is that which has been made by the
Business Men's Association of Auburn, N. Y. It conducts a
F a r m Labor Bureau, and this summer has sent out fifty men and
boys to those who apply for help.
This method is undertaken
because it educates the high school and college boys, and those
in the shops who have their summer vacations, in harvest work
and farm work, and is expected to have a tendency to send some
of the city men back to the farms permanently.
T h e Committee on Education of the Chamber of Commerce
of Syracuse, N. Y., is studying a plan for directing the boys and
girls of the city to the vocations for which they may be best
suited.
6 . T A K I N G SCHOOLS

TO

THE

VOCATIONS

AND

BRINGING

THE

V O C A T I O N S TO T H E SCHOOLS.

" T h e Hamilton, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce has devoted
considerable attention to the question of industrial education in
this community.
Hamliton is essentially a manufacturing city,
having upwards of 130 industrial institutions and producing annually more than $25,000,000 of manufactured product.
Heretofore we have taken little pains to train our young men in tech43

nical vocations. Our public schools maintain a very well developed manual training and domestic science department, but it was
the opinion of the Chamber of Commerce that this did not meet
the industrial requirements of our young men. A large proportion of the boys of Hamilton were leaving school before entering
high school and many of them embarked upon a casual career
of self-support without definite plans or special training.
"To offset this condition and to provide a more certain supply of skilled labor from local sources, this organization took
up the question of industrial education by the cooperative or parttime method. We secured the agreement of the Board of Education to engage a practical instructor and arrange with the principal factories to permit their apprentices to attend school onehalf day each week on the company's time. This arrangement
has been fully worked out, and will be carried into effect as soon
as the Board of Education is able to secure a competent instructor. We believe that the field of industrial and vocational training through the public schools should engage the attention of
every commercial organization in the industrial centers of the
United States."
In Springfield, Mass., also, industrial education has been
fostered by the Education and Arbitration Committee of the
Springfield Board of Trade. The plan worked out by the assistance of this committee is one that adapts itself to the needs of
the pupil. In some cases the pupil is allowed to work a day in
the shop and a day in the school, or a half in the school and a
half day in the shop. If neither of these variations is possible,
night work is carried on in the school, so that the pupil having
to work in the shop all day, is able to attend the school in the
evening.
The Commercial Club of Richmond, Indiana, entertained the
Education Commission of the state, which was investigating the
needs for vocational training, and assisted in the campaign over
the whole state for vocational training in the public schools. ' In
keeping with the Indiana campaign, the Commercial Club of Indiana Harbor and East Chicago is now endeavoring to rearrange
manual training work to make it more distinctly industrial and
thus comply with the industrial education law of the state. Man44

ufacturers and other business men in the Commercial Club are
giving their cooperation and sympathy in the work undertaken
by the Vocational Guidance Committee of the club, which consists
of the industrial teachers and principals of the city.
The Board of Trade of Fitchburg, Mass., has an Educational Committee composed largely of active educators, and this
committee has supported the plans of the School Board of Fitchburg in developing what is called the Fitchburg Plan of Cooperative Industrial Education.
One well equipped industrial school is now to be found in
Bayonne, N. J., and others will follow. This first school is
largely due to the efforts of the Civic Association of Bayonne.
In Burlington, Iowa, the interests of the Commercial Exchange in the manual training department of the public schools
is kept up by the frequent report of progress in manual trainingwork. This report comes from the Director of the department.
Public sentiment back of the manual training work can be traced
to the efforts of the Commercial Exchange.
"We have made quite an extensive advancement on industrial education. We have succeeded in having the Board of
Education of Erie during the past year establish two separate
schools on manual training and a continuation school,, thus providing for the advancement of the industrial features of education
and accommodating about 600 more pupils. The schools are
now at work, and soon a"s money is available, the School Board
will carry out local ideas in establishing two more.
"Night schools have actively interested business men in thirtyone cities. In one of these, Montgomery, Ala., an educational
committee of a business men's organization, with the State Superintendent as chairman, started night schools in the factory district. This work is now part of the school system.
"In Topeka the Commercial Club has arranged for addresses
on trade schools, and* made an effort to establish an industrial
school through which the Board of Education may cooperate with
manufacturing establishments.
"The New Haven Chamber of Commerce, through two committees has done much work in betterment of the city's public
schools.
45

"Older of the two is the Trades School Committee, which
has been at work for three years to educate the city to the need
of a trades school for boys and girls. We have already an
admirable manual training school, but the new school, to open
in September, will be per se a trades school. It was opposed,
and the movement therefore delayed, by organized labor men
until recently, when they seemed to become better satisfied.
"The school was planned for 100 boys and girls as a starter.
But more than 400 applications are already in hand and the
department will have to be enlarged at once.
"Another, but more recently started committee, is that giving
its attention to the Commercial High School department. It is
at work to make the course of study there more modern, more
efficient in office practice, and more thorough.
"In the Southwest, the Commercial Club of Stamford, Texas,
worked to secure a department of practical agriculture added
to the high school course. The school owns and operates a
fifty-acre demonstration farm. By means of this tract the
students are gaining knowledge of agriculture not only by books
but by actual performance of the work. In addition to the
remarkable fact mentioned above, the Stamford Commercial
Club is encouraging the teaching of elementary agriculture in
the rural schools. A quotation will indicate the breadth of purpose actuating this organization.
7. PUBLICITY.

"The Board of Trade in Kearney, Ind., has a publicity committee which gives to the papers a weekly story on special school
topics. By this method press leadership on school questions is
stimulated. For example, when the superintendent's last report
was published, the Board of Trade wrote a newspaper story
about the most important phases of school administration to be
watched next year.
"In New Haven, Conn., Trade School agitation has been
much helped by the example of manufactured products of the
city shown in their Manufacturers' Exhibit, started by that
Chamber a year and a half ago, and now participated in by more
than seventy-five of their leading manufactories. It occupies
46

an entire building with more than 10,000 square feet of floor
space, is open every day in the year, and free to the public."
8. TALKS TO PUPILS.

There is perhaps no simpler way for the average business
man to cooperate with public schools than to tell groups of
school boys about business, and what is necessary to achieve
success in business. There are many things that a boy needs to
know, things which will have more effect coming from one who
is in the field than from a teacher.
Members of school boards or local boards can arrange to
have friends talk in high and upper grammar schools, to have
meetings in the evening which discuss business opportunities,
and to connect these talks with the need of vocational guidance
as felt in each school.
Weekly lectures by business men are given in the high school
in Greenville, Ore., and in Portland, Ore., representative business
men are occasionally asked on patriotic days to make addresses
to children. Here also the Commercial Club once a year calls
for volunteers to speak in schools for fifteen minutes on matters
pertaining to business careers. "There have always been enough
speakers." Children are also asked to help the Commercial Club
"boom" the town by writing letters to Eastern friends describing
the advantages of Oregon.
The three qualities necessary for business success.
Recognizing an opportunity.
The boy who makes extra effort.
How the new office boy is likely to fail.
What the average employer wants.
The opportunities waiting for boys in business.
In Schenectady, N. Y., the Agricultural Club, which is an
auxiliary of the Board of Trade, holds monthly meetings, to
which the school children are regularly invited to learn about
growing gardens and raijsing poultry. The agricultural side of
education has received tfie earnest support of the Commercial
Club of Delevan, Wis.; jthe Commercial Club of Scotts Bluff,
Neb., and the Business glen's Association of Rutland, Vt.; the
Commercial Club of Sioiix Falls, S. D.; the Commercial Union
47

of Gulfport, Miss.; the Commercial Club of Mankato, Minn.,
and the Chamber of Commerce of Alpena, Mich.
The Commercial Club of Provo, Utah, through its Committee
on Education, has regularly obtained speakers on agricultural
subjects. It has worked with the extension department of the
Agricultural College of Utah and on one occasion handled an
entire week of meetings. During this week experts held three
sessions daily in the Commercial Club Rooms and brought to
more than two hundred farmers of the vicinity the latest information on soil fertility, animal husbandry, irrigation, domestic
science, and the domestic arts.
Only a few commercial organizations have recognized the
value to the community of using the schools and their assemblies
as a means of imparting to the pupils intimate knowledge of the
resources of the community in which they live.
This is practical work that also guarantees the life of the
commercial organization; for if the children of the community
once learn the viewpoint of their elders and the meaning of the
possibilities of the community in which they exist, they will rise
to better citizenship than if their studies are through book knowledge largely directed towards faraway things.
On this point the Jackson, Miss., Board of Trade says:
"The Board of Trade believes that boys and girls should
enjoy a closer comradeship with the grown people, and
should be formed into 'Juvenile Auxiliaries' and given wholesome talks and lectures at stated times by leading men and
women in the various communities, and, by that means, be
led to see the broader and higher purpose of life."
The Chamber of Commerce of Weatherford, Tex., states that:
"Through lectures delivered by some of the influential
members of the Chamber of Commerce to the High School
faculty and pupils, greater interest is being manifested in
local educational conditions than we have heretofore had."
The Chamber of Commerce of Oakland, Cal., makes the following comments:
"The pupils of the public schools are invited to our
rooms and upon occasion the Secretary lectures upon the
48

resources, agricultural and industrial, of Oakland and the
east bay shore cities, and of Alameda County. We hope to
greatly enlarge this department of our work. We have also
requested the Superintendent of Schools of Alameda County,
of Oakland, of Berkeley and of the City of Alameda to require each term a composition from every pupil in the public
* schools, upon the resources of the country and upon the
advantages of the city in which he or she resides. Each
pupil is also requested to send a letter to some friend embodying the facts accumulated for this composition."
Educational

Conferences.

Some of the most wide-awake organizations make special
efforts for educational conventions. The Chamber of Commerce
of Atlanta, Ga., in 1908, entertained the National Association for
the Advancement of Technical Education. This year its Committee on Education has recently held an elaborate convention
in celebration of the Twenty^fifth Anniversary of the Georgia
School of Technology. This was undertaken for the purpose of
emphasizing the work done by an institution which is one of the
finest polytechnic schools in the South. The Commercial Club
of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has given time and effort to promoting the attendance of teachers at the annual meeting of the
New Mexico Educational Association. In one year the attendance increased from one thousand to fifteen hundred.
The Chamber of Commerce of Oakland, Cal., promotes publicity for the summer school of the University of California. In
Corvallis, Ore., the Commercial Club cooperates with the railroads in getting as many young men as possible to attend the
Annual Military Inspection and thereby drawing them into touch
wdth the higher educational advantages of Corvallis.
The Committee, and through it the Boston Chamber of Commerce, as a whole, has cooperated in carrying out very successful
meetings of the National Education Association and of the National Conference on Vocational Guidance and the National
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. The Conference on Vocational Guidance was the first to be held in the
country; and that on industrial education was the most successful
49

in point of members and in the value of the discussions of any
of the four which have been held. In connection with this last
conference the Chamber took charge, jointly with the officers of
the National Society, in holding their annual dinner.

50

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR T H E PROMOTION OF
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.
105 E. 22ND STREET, N E W YORK CITY.
A I M S OF THE SOCIETY.

As a promoting agency, bringing to public attention the
importance of industrial education as a factor in the industrial
and educational development of the United States.
As a forum of discussion, affording opportunities for the
frank, thorough-going study and discussion of the many and
varied phases of the problem of providing effective practical education for this country.
As a cooperating agency securing a meeting of minds and
effective team-play between national, state and local organizations
and the friends of practical training, getting good laws and good
schools everywhere.
As a clearing house of information, making available and
workable the results of experience in the field of practical education, both in this country and others.
As a constructive agency standing for sound principles and
policies, which experience has justified, and aiding state and local
authorities everywhere to put them into effect.
RESULTS SECURED DURING YEAR OF 1913.

1. Led the fight for NATIONAL AID for VOCATIONAL EDUCATION at Washington. Fight won, only question now is as to best way of carrying out pledges of party platforms.
2. Wrote or instigated the writing of practically all the
favorable declarations of the platforms of great National parties.
3. Set up a bureau for the REGISTRATION of TEACH51

ERS of industrial and household arts education, which has
already placed a great many persons, most of whom were members of the Society, in desirable positions, as principals and
supervisons or instructors, in all parts of the country. These
calls have reached as far as the Philippines and the Hawaiian
Islands.
4. ESTABLISHED close and helpful working relations
with many different NATIONAL organizations—National Metal
Trades Association, American Federation of Labor, National
Association of Manufacturers, American Home Economics Association, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, International Committee, Y. M. C. A., American Bankers' Association,
National Conservation Congress, National Education Association,
American Institute of Engineering, State Teachers' Association—
Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Missouri. State
Boards of Education: Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Indiana; Russell Sage Foundation, Association
for Improving the Condition of the Poor, Public Education Association of New York, Permanent Census Board; educational
authorities in many such cities as Rochester, Richmond, New
Orleans and Springfield, 111.
5. Set up declaration of PRINCIPLES and POLICIES to be
followed in State legislation, which has already been followed
by Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.
Acting in cooperation with the BUREAU OF EDUCATION at
Washington in the publication of material on vocational education, most of which is being suggested out of this office. Acted
in consulting capacity in the study of part-time and continuation
schools for Massachusetts.
COOPERATED with the INDIANA COMMISSION in their report
on the subject.
COOPERATED with the State authorities of New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Indiana in the preparation of the
bulletins giving the rules, regulations and suggestions by the
State Department of Education in each State in carrying out this
new legislation.
Wrote or assisted in the writing of the following legislation,
52

which has passed with more than 2,000 legislative votes in its
favor and only 7 votes against it in the four states:
INDIANA—A law creating a system of state-aided vocational
education.
A law establishing the Ohio plan of local option in passing
on the question of compulsory part-time education.
A law requiring children leaving school after 14 to meet a
fifth grade test.
A law requiring all children over 14 either to go to work or
to school.
NEW YORK—A law increasing the amount of state aid and extending it to cover part-time and continuation schools.
A law establishing the Ohio plan of local option, authorizing
the local school authorities to establish compulsory part-time
and continuation schools.
PENNSYLVANIA—A law creating a system of state-aided vocational education.
N E W JERSEY—A law creating a system of state-aided vocational
education.
CONNECTICUT—Law amended so as to authorize towns and cities
to operate industrial and trade schools, which, when approved
by the State Board, got one-half the cost of operating expenses from the State.
Held a two days' conference of the state educational
authorities of New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Indiana, to consider the best ways of carrying
out the legislation in these states, all of which is based squarely
on our declaration of principles and policies as drawn up at
Philadelphia last December, and practically all of which has common provision and problems.
STUDIES and INVESTIGATIONS—The National Society office
is dealing intimately with the problems involved in finding out
both what is the need of practical education in different states
and communities and how this need can best be met. This
requires cooperation with state boards of education in such states
53

as Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana,
Louisiana and California. With school committees and chambers
of commerce in such cities as New York, Rochester, Buffalo,
Philadelphia, Cleveland, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Springfield,
111.; and with many private organizations and foundations.

54

PRESS OF CLARENCE S. NATHAN, 9 AND 11 FRANKLIN STREET, N. Y.

till