In all the ordinary manufacturing arts, the common practice is to
learn by apprenticeships; that is to say, the young who are put to
any craft are left to pick up information over a course of several
years by imitating the operations of the journeymen among whom they
are placed. No teacher sets himself specially to tell them how things
are to be done, or how they may be improved upon by an ingenious
consideration of results. The craft, whatever it is, takes its
chance. In some instances, from generation to generation, it pursues
a jog-trot routine; in others it makes advances through the peculiar
thoughtfulness of individuals. In numerous cases, the keenness of
competition forces on improvements. Manufacturers try to outdo each
other. But even in these cases, the actual operatives are only
mechanically concerned. They obey orders, but do not originate.
Thoughtful persons have latterly been of opinion that this state of
affairs is not satisfactory. They think that instead of the chance
and mechanical instruction through apprenticeship, there ought to be
a course of systematic teaching by experts in the several crafts,
at least those in which great ingenuity and the cultivation of
original ideas are required, with a view to national advantages.
Hence, schools of practical science and technical instruction, to
which public attention has been occasionally drawn. Much has been
done in this respect by certain continental countries, in the hope of
outrivalling British manufactures; and we may be said to have come
to this, that the old chance method of acquiring skill in certain
lines of industry will not do any longer. With these preliminary
remarks, we proceed to mention that in Belgium and Germany, schools
of practical trade-instruction have existed for years in almost every
corporate town, under the auspices of the municipality. Now, however,
the growing rivalry of these countries with our own in more than one
staple industry, has at length impressed British manufacturers with
the need of taking similar means to withstand the pressure of such
competition. Sharing these views, the promoters of the Yorkshire
College some time ago suggested to the Ancient and Honourable Company
of Cloth-workers how effectively the wants of the case might be met
in the northern counties by providing, as a special department of the
college, means for instruction in the manufacture of textile fabrics
and designs. The suggestion was accepted in a generous spirit, all
the more readily as those who initiated the scheme had personally
pledged their own faith in it by subscriptions ranging from fifty to
two thousand pounds. Among the munificent contributors of the larger
amount were the Duke of Devonshire, Sir A. Fairbairn, and various
local firms. Encouraged by the appreciative attitude of those most
familiar with the requirements of the woollen trade, the Company at
once entered upon this new sphere of active usefulness, granting in
the first place an endowment of five hundred and twenty pounds per
annum. Subsequently they offered a further contribution of no less than
ten thousand pounds, to provide adequate buildings and appliances for
the Textile Industries Department. This extension of their original
purpose was mainly due to the immediate and decided success of the
experiment. In some measure, however, it was also the fruit of an
interesting and valuable Report presented to the Company by Mr John
Beaumont, the instructor of the department, after having made, at their
instance, a journey of inspection among the weaving-schools of the
continent. Accompanied by Mr Walter S. B. M'Laren, M.A., Mr Beaumont
made a six weeks' tour, during which he visited, chiefly in Germany,
twenty-four weaving and seven polytechnic schools. Some of these are
exclusively for instruction in weaving, while others are departments
of larger technical colleges, as is the case in Leeds. The Report has
been printed simply for private circulation, but we are permitted to
glean its leading facts and suggestions, before describing briefly how
far these are being applied to the new enterprise in the capital of the
West Riding.
Among the best schools of the kind in Belgium are those of Ghent and
Verviers, in both of which the instruction is free. The only conditions
imposed upon students, who must be more than twelve years of age, are
that they shall be able to write correctly and know the four simple
rules of arithmetic. There are also in Belgium apprentice schools or
workshops for apprentices, managed principally by the manufacturers of
the different towns, who send work to be done in them. Throughout the
whole of France there is likewise a movement in favour of technical
education, and among the subjects which it is generally agreed must be
taught, theoretically and practically, weaving takes a front place.
At such towns as Rheims, Rouen, Lille, Lyons, Elbeuf, and Amiens,
weaving-schools have been opened with success, and enjoy the benefit
of government aid. In the first two named, what are known as the
'Industrial Societies' have provided, for the use of the manufacturers
generally and also of the weaving students, large collections of
patterns of cloth of all materials, arranged systematically in books.
At Rheims the collection dates back to the year 1800, and is both
interesting and useful, as shewing the various patterns and materials
in use during this century. In Germany technical education is much more
fully developed than in either France or Belgium, every town having its
_Gewerbe_ or trade-school, giving practical instruction.
At Chemnitz a new Gewerbe school is nearly completed, which puts all
others into the shade. Its cost will be more than eighty thousand
pounds, and it will accommodate between six and seven hundred students,
presided over by a staff of nearly forty professors. It possesses a
library of nine thousand volumes, upon which is spent three hundred
pounds a year, out of an annual grant of seven thousand pounds from
the government. In noticing the polytechnic schools, or technical
universities which exist in nearly every important town in Germany,
the commissioners incidentally mention having seen in the one at
Aix-la-Chapelle a number of packing-cases, which they were told
contained models of English patent machines, sent as a present by the
English government, at the request of the Prince Imperial of Germany.
This of course gives rise to a suggestion that the government might
regard home claims with equal favour. The best polytechnic in Austria
is undoubtedly that of Vienna, which has no fewer than one thousand
two hundred students. The Textile Industries Department of its museum
is very complete, comprising specimens of almost every manufactured
article in its various stages from the raw material up to the finished
piece of goods. In a similar museum at Berlin there are models of
almost every machine used in either the cotton or woollen trade. Not
only are there models of machines now in use, but also of those which
have been long since superseded. The obvious advantage of this variety
is that the students see what have been the improvements gradually made
in machinery, and it enables them to study the principle upon which the
different machines have been worked. The best schools, Chemnitz and
Reutlingen for example, have a great assortment of hand-looms, such
as treadles, machines, and jacquards--in order to produce patterns,
simple and figured, in every material. None of the schools confine
their teaching to the manufacture of one class of goods only. Although
each devotes most attention to the material and style of cloth chiefly
manufactured in the district in which it is situated, yet all teach
other branches of weaving; which is thought a material advantage.
To give the students some insight into the practical management of
factories, they are in many cases allowed by the manufacturers of the
town to visit their mills on stated days. This is unquestionably a
great advantage to the students, shewing them on a large scale and from
a business point of view those things which they are themselves doing
on a small scale. In many of the schools the instruction is free. In
those where charges are made, it is found that wherever the fees are
low enough, the working men take advantage of the schools, and are
thus made into skilful workmen and overlookers. The low fees do not
drive away the sons of manufacturers; and the schools which are within
the reach of all are therefore much more popular and useful than those
which, from the larger fees charged, are more exclusive.
In our own country the object of weaving-schools is much misunderstood,
many people having an idea that they are simply meant to teach workmen
the management of a loom. To correct such a mistaken impression, it
may be worth while to quote the prospectus of the Mülheim School,
which describes that institution (a model one) as devoting itself to
the task of 'educating overseers and manufacturers in all branches of
weaving, and furnishing young men who wish to become buyers or sellers
of manufactured goods with an exact knowledge of manufacturing, and
therefore with a correct judgment of goods.' By the training which
employers themselves receive in these schools, they are able to look
after their businesses more thoroughly, and to supervise work for which
they would not otherwise be qualified.
With a view to securing these and kindred benefits in the largest
possible measure, various suggestions were made by the commissioners
for the improvement of weaving-schools opened in this country. Means
are not lacking to realise these advantages; but further time is
required for the full development of the scheme. Meantime it is
sufficiently proved at Leeds that technical education is by no means a
myth, but may have an appreciable influence upon manufactures. Both at
the day and evening classes there is a large, sometimes an overflowing
attendance of students, chiefly young men of the middle class, who
either are or expect to be engaged in textile industries. In order to
facilitate the more adequate and efficient fulfilment of its purposes,
the college will shortly enter upon the possession of Beechgrove, a
suburban estate which the executive council have purchased for their
new suite of buildings. At present it occupies temporary but well
adapted premises, which, pending the erection of the new college, have
had to be once more enlarged, in order that the Textile Industries
Department may have the accommodation requisite for sixteen looms.
The pupils are assisted to arrange and design new patterns, or to
classify and mingle colours with taste and judgment. They also
receive instruction as to the mixing, working, and blending of the
raw material; how to estimate the quality of water for manufacturing
purposes; the proper use of the best ingredients for dyeing; the
processes of carding, spinning, and fulling; the operations of weaving,
and the mechanism of the loom, &c. In addition to the manipulative
work, lectures are given on wool, mungo, shoddy, alpaca, and silk; also
on the applications of chemistry to the manufacture and colouring of
textile fabrics. The endowment provided by the Clothworkers' Company
includes eight scholarships--four of thirty pounds, and four of
twenty-five pounds per annum--for which there is a good competition. In
other respects also, the appreciative interest and intelligence shewn
by the students give encouraging hope of great practical benefit.
The success of the Yorkshire College has stimulated the movement
in other parts of the kingdom in favour of this phase of technical
education. The School of Chemistry lately founded at Bristol by the
same guild of Clothworkers, in connection with the dyeing industries of
the neighbourhood, is now in working order, and a textile instructor
has been appointed for the Stroud school. Weaving-schools are also
being established at Huddersfield and Glasgow, with the prospect of
more to follow in other industrial centres. Such measures indicate a
widening recognition of the truth, that our craftsmen must be taught to
work upon the basis of scientific knowledge, rather than rely so much
as heretofore on mere rule of thumb, if our country is to maintain its
manufacturing supremacy.