_THE CONDITIONS OF APPRENTICESHIP._
Were it not that moral influences in learning mechanics, as in all
other kinds of education, lie at the bottom of the whole matter,
the subject of this chapter would not have been introduced. But
it is the purpose, so far as possible, to notice everything that
concerns an apprentice and learner, and especially what he has
to deal with at the outset; hence some remarks upon the nature
of apprentice engagements will not be out of place. To acquire
information or knowledge of any kind successfully and permanently,
it must be a work of free volition, as well as from a sense of duty
or expediency; and whatever tends to create love and respect for a
pursuit or calling, becomes one of the strongest incentives for
its acquirement, and the interest taken by an apprentice in his
business is for this reason greatly influenced by the opinions that
he may hold concerning the nature of his engagement.
The subject of apprentice engagements seems in the abstract to
be only a commercial one, partaking of the nature of ordinary
contracts, and, no doubt, can be so construed so far as being an
exchange of "considerations," but no farther. Its intricacy is
established by the fact that all countries where skilled labour
exists have attempted legislation to regulate apprenticeship, and
to define the terms and conditions between master and apprentice;
but, aside from preventing the abuse of powers delegated to
masters, and in some cases forcing a nominal fulfilment of
conditions defined in contracts, such legislation, like that
intended to control commerce and trade, or the opinions of men, has
failed to attain the objects for which it was intended.
This failure of laws to regulate apprenticeship, which facts
fully warrant us in assuming, is due in a large degree to the
impossibility of applying general rules to special cases; it may be
attributed to the same reasons which make it useless to fix values
or the conditions of exchange by legislation. What is required is
that the master, the apprentice, and the public should understand
the true relations between them--the value of what is given and
what is received on both sides. When this is understood, the whole
matter will regulate itself without any interference on the part of
the law.
The subject is an intricate one, and has been so much affected
by the influence of machine improvement, and a corresponding
decrease in what may be called special knowledge, that rules and
propositions which would fifty years ago apply to the conditions
of apprenticeship, will at the present day be wrong and unjust.
Viewed in a commercial sense, as an exchange of considerations or
values, apprenticeship can be regarded like other engagements;
yet, what an apprentice gives as well as what he receives are
alike too conditional and indefinite to be estimated by ordinary
standards. An apprentice exchanges unskilled or inferior labour for
technical knowledge, or for the privilege and means of acquiring
such knowledge. The master is presumed to impart a kind of special
knowledge, collected by him at great expense and pains, in return
for the gain derived from the unskilled labour of the learner.
This special knowledge given by the master may be imparted in a
longer or shorter time; it may be thorough and valuable, or not
thorough, and almost useless. The privileges of a shop may be such
as to offset a large amount of valuable labour on the part of the
apprentice, or these privileges may be of such a character as to be
of but little value, and teach inferior plans of performing work.
On the other hand, the amount that an apprentice may earn by his
labour is governed by his natural capacity, and by the interest
he may feel in advancing; also from the view he may take of the
equity of his engagement, and the estimate that he places upon
the privileges and instruction that he receives. In many branches
of business, where the nature of the operations carried on are
measurably uniform, and have not for a long time been much affected
by changes and improvements, the conditions of apprenticeship are
more easy to define; but mechanical engineering is the reverse
of this, it lacks uniformity both as to practice and what is
produced. To estimate the actual value of apprentice labour in
an engineering-work is not only a very difficult matter, but to
some extent impracticable even by those of long experience and
skilled in such investigations; and it is not to be expected that
a beginner will under such circumstances be able to understand the
value of such labour: he is generally led to the conclusion that he
is unfairly treated, that his services are not sufficiently paid
for, and that he is not advanced rapidly enough.
With these conclusions in his mind, but little progress will be
made, and hence the reason for introducing the subject here.
The commercial value of professional or technical knowledge is
generally as the amount of time, effort, and unpaid labour that has
been devoted to its acquirement. This value is sometimes modified
by the exclusiveness of some branch that has been made the object
of special study. Exclusiveness is, however, becoming exceptional,
as the secrets of manufacture and special knowledge are supplanted
by the application of general principles; it is a kind of
artificial protection thrown around certain branches of industry,
and must soon disappear, as unjust to the public and unnecessary to
success.
In business arrangements, technical knowledge and professional
experience become capital, and offset money or property, not under
any general rule, nor even as a consideration of which the law can
define the value or prescribe conditions for. The estimate placed
upon technical knowledge when rated as capital in the organisation
of business firms, and wherever it becomes necessary to give such
knowledge a commercial value, furnishes the best and almost the
only source from which an apprentice can form an opinion of the
money value of what he is to acquire during his apprenticeship.
An apprentice at first generally forms an exaggerated estimate of
what he has to learn; it presents to his mind not only a great
undertaking, but a kind of mystery, which he fears that he may
not be able to master. The next stage is when he has made some
progress, and begins to underrate the task before him, and imagine
that the main difficulties are past, that he has already mastered
all the leading principles of mechanics, which is, after all,
but a "small matter." In a third stage an apprentice experiences
a return of his first impressions as to the difficulties of his
undertaking; he begins to see his calling as one that must involve
endless detail, comprehending things which can only be studied in
connection with personal experience; he sees "the horizon widen as
it recedes," that he has hardly begun the task, instead of having
completed it--even despairs of its final accomplishment.
In the workshop, mechanical knowledge of some kind is continually
and often insensibly acquired by a learner, who observes the
operations that are going on around him; he is continually availing
himself of the experience of those more advanced, and learns by
association the rules and customs of the shop, of the business,
and of discipline and management. He gathers the technical terms
of the fitting-shop, the forge and foundry; notes the operations
of planing, turning, drilling, and boring, with the names and
application of the machines directed to these operations. He sees
the various plans of lifting and moving material, the arrangement
and relation of the several departments to facilitate the course
of the work in process; he also learns where the product of the
works is sold, discusses the merits and adaptation of what is
constructed, which leads to considering the wants that create a
demand for this product, and the extent and nature of the market in
which it is sold.
All these things constitute technical knowledge, and the privilege
of their acquirement is an element of value. The common view taken
of the matter, however, is that it costs nothing for a master to
afford these privileges--the work must at any rate be carried on,
and is not retarded by being watched and learned by apprentices.
Viewed from any point, the privileges of engineering establishments
have to be considered as an element of value, to be bought at a
price, just as a ton of iron or a certain amount of labour is; and
in a commercial sense, as an exchangeable equivalent for labour,
material, or money. In return a master receives the unskilled
labour or service of the learner; this service is presumed to be
given at a reduced rate, or sometimes without compensation, for the
privileges of the works and the instruction received.
In forming an estimate of the value of his services, an apprentice
sees what his hands have performed, compares it with what a skilled
man will do, and estimates accordingly, assuming that his earnings
are in proportion to what has been done; but this is a mistake, and
a very different standard must be assumed to arrive at the true
value of such unskilled labour.
Apprentice labour, as distinguished from skilled labour, has to
be charged with the extra attention in management, the loss that
is always occasioned by a forced classification of the work, the
influence in lowering both the quality and the amount of work
performed by skilled men, the risk of detention by failure or
accident, and loss of material; besides, apprentices must be
charged with the same, if not a greater expense than skilled
workmen, for light, room, oil, tools, and office service.
Attempts have been made in some of the best-regulated engineering
establishments to fix some constant estimate upon apprentice
labour, but, so far as known, without definite results in any case.
If not combined with skilled labour, it would be comparatively easy
to determine the value of apprentice labour; but when it comes up
as an item in the aggregate of labour charged to a machine or some
special work constructed, it is difficult, if not impossible, to
separate skilled from unskilled service.
Another condition of apprenticeship that is equally as difficult to
define as the commercial value of mechanical knowledge, or that of
apprentice labour, is the extent and nature of the facilities that
different establishments afford for learners.
In speaking of the mechanical knowledge to be gained, and of the
privileges afforded for learners in engineering-works in a general
way, it must, of course, be assumed that such works afford full
facilities for learning some branch of work by the best practice
and in the most thorough manner. Such establishments are, however,
graded from the highest class, on the best branches of work, where
a premium would be equitable, down to the lowest class, performing
only inferior branches of work, where there can be little if any
advantage gained by serving an apprenticeship.
Besides this want or difference of facilities which establishments
may afford, there is the farther distinction to be made between
an engineering establishment and one that is directed to the
manufacture of staple articles. This distinction between
engineering-works and manufacturing is quite plain to engineers
themselves, but in many cases is not so to those who are to enter
as apprentices, nor to their friends who advise them. In every case
where engagements are made there should be the fullest possible
investigation as to the character of the works, not only to protect
the learner, but to guard regular engineering establishments in
the advantages to be gained by apprentice labour. A machinist or
a manufacturer who employs only the muscular strength and the
ordinary faculties of workmen in his operations, can afford to pay
an apprentice from the beginning a fair share of his earnings;
but an engineering-work that projects original plans, generates
designs, and assumes risks based upon skill and special knowledge,
is very different from a manufactory. To manufacture is to carry
on regular processes for converting material; such processes being
constantly the same, or approximately so, and such as do not demand
much mechanical knowledge on the part of workmen.
The name of having been an apprentice to a famous firm may sometimes
have an influence in enabling an engineer to form advantageous
commercial connections, but generally an apprenticeship is of value
only as it has furnished substantial knowledge and skill; for every
one must sooner or later come down to the solid basis of their
actual abilities and acquirements. The engineering interest is by
far too practical to recognise a shadow instead of true substance,
and there is but little chance of deception in a calling which deals
mainly with facts, figures, and positive demonstration.
It is best, when an apprentice thinks of entering an engineering
establishment, to inquire of its character from disinterested
persons who are qualified to judge of the facilities it affords.
As a rule, every machine-shop proprietor imagines his own
establishment to combine all the elements of an engineering
business--and the fewer the facilities for learners, usually the
more extravagant this estimate; so that opinions in the matter, to
be relied upon, should come from disinterested sources.
In regard to premiums, it is a matter to be determined by the
facilities that a work may afford for teaching apprentices. To
include experience in all the departments of an engineering
establishment, within a reasonable term, none but those of unusual
ability can make their services of sufficient value to offset what
they receive; and there is no doubt but that premium engagements,
when the amount of the premium is based upon the facilities
afforded for learning, are fair and equitable.
There is, however, this to be remembered, that the considerations
which more especially balance premiums--such as a term at
draughting, designing, and office service--may be mainly acquired
by self-effort, while the practical knowledge of moulding, forging,
and fitting cannot; and an apprentice who has good natural
capacity, may, if industrious, by the aid of books and such
opportunities as usually exist, qualify himself very well without
including the premium departments in his course.
Finally, it must constantly be borne in mind that what will be
learned is no less a question of faculties than effort, and that
the means of succeeding are closed to none who at the beginning
form proper plans, and follow them persistently.
(1.) Why cannot the conditions of apprentice engagements be
determined by law?--(2.) In what manner does machine improvements
affect the conditions of apprenticeship?--(3.) What are the
considerations which pass from a master to an apprentice?--(4.)
What from an apprentice to a master?--(5.) Why is a particular
service of less value when performed by an apprentice than by a
skilled workman?--(6.) In what manner can technical knowledge
be made to balance or become capital?--(7.) Name two of the
principal distinctions between technical knowledge and property
as constituting capital.--(8.) What is the difference between
what is called engineering and regular manufactures?