fears of even the overly suspicious, as a small per cent, of their graduates follow the printing business, so many being among the unfit. But why should the union follow our young man in his attack on technical schools of the former class? Unions are distinctly benefited by having capable men among their members, and technical education makes for increased efficiency. Competency at a given trade is not a fixed quantity, and every artisan who would keep abreast of the times must continue to improve. The need for improvement is indeed pressing in the case of men who, by reason of limited opportunities or otherwise, are slow or 'backward.' Ordinarily, the prudent deficient workman seeks knowledge as best he can through crude channels; the school furnishes what he wants in a more thorough and scientific manner, which is an unalloyed blessing to those who deem improvement worth striving for. It may be urged that the number attending these schools is small. Then the alleged harm possible is minified and is all the greater reason why the majority should not put obstacles in the path of the studious minority.

"The subject which is here brought to the fore involves the question of the progressiveness of the union in its settlement. In a highly specialized business like the printing industry, where, with few exceptions, apprentices serve their time' doing a limited range of work, a school which affords the ill-equipped journeyman an opportunity to become proficient in any or all branches of the art, fills a want. By way of illustration, it provides for the 'straight matter' compositor whose occupation is gone-an opportunity to become an operator, job man or make-up in the shortest possible time, thereby enabling him to continue at his chosen vocation. Should an organization professedly devoted to the moral and material uplifting of its members-fortunate or unfortunate, competent or incompetent -place an embargo on his doing so, or interfere with the instrument that makes it possible for him to do so? To answer in the affirmative would be injudicious, heartless and entirely incompatible with that spirit of fraternalism which has been such a bulwark of strength to trade unions. It is agreed that opposition to the introduction of machinery is asinine, but to maintain a hostile attitude toward modern methods, as exemplified by technical schools, would spell retrogression and should be impossible in an organization

alive to the needs of the craft and capable of reading the signs of the times.

"If technical schools are neither good nor needed, they will die aborning, and before they can work any harm to workman or union; if there is a field for them and their appearance is opportune, they will prove beneficial to all, irrespective of misguided temporary opposition. Surely there is no wisdom in interfering with such a self-regulating condition as this."

The city of Indianapolis, Ind., is soon to have in operation a large technical institute; therefore, the following, which is taken from the Indianapolis News, will be of interest:

"In these strenuous days, what the world is looking for is men who can 'do things,' whether with hand or brain. This demand is evidenced by the increase in the number of technical and trade schools. The purpose of these is to start men on their careers as nearly equipped as possible, so that they may begin their work at once without having to undergo a painful apprenticeship. That these schools do this in large measure is proved by the interest that employers take in them, and by the ease with which their graduates get positions. A few days ago Mr. James M. Dodge discussed this question before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He insisted that technical training has a direct money value. Of course this is true. The trained man is always better than the untrained one. And though men can and do train themselves, as a general rule those who are educated in the line of their work perform that work more satisfactorily to themselves and to their employers. Training means efficiency, and efficiency means better

wages.

"Mr. Dodge said that though all men working in the mechanic arts can not be technical graduates, it is well that most should be. When this is impossible, some men 'must follow the apprentice line, and others the trade school.' 'It is,' he said, 'from the graduates of the latter that leading shop men and foremen are largely selected.' These two classes, the products of the apprentice system and of the trade school, 'supplemented by the technical graduate, constitute the vast army of workers in the mechanic arts.' We all know that this country's supremacy in many industrial lines is due largely to the superior skill and intelligence of its workers. In one way or another they get their trade education. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to get this

The time has gone when sensible men sneer at the thought of learning a trade or a profession in school. Lawyers and physicians find it advisable to go to school, and they do well. Engineers thoroughly qualified to hold responsible positions are turned out each year from our

fact is, even today, realized by the few, but it is gratifying to know that the number is increasing. The technical training of an individual makes him valuable just in proportion as his ability is manifested by good judgment and perception. Trained common sense receives the highest com

pensation and reaps the greatest reward. Mental ability to receive ideas and impart them properly and wisely, rearranged and grouped, is typical of the most brilliant mentality; a dull intellect may be compared to a blotting paper, fit only to absorb and inter a heterogeneous mass of impressions.'

"So there is a direct money value in such education-a money value to the man that receives it and to the society as well. Skill is more of a necessity than it ever was before. Brains are going to play a more important part each year. Though education can not confer brains on a man, it can stimulate, develop and make effective the brains he has. We want not only skilled lawyers and physicians and engineers, but skilled mechanics and workmen as well. These such institutions as our own Technical Institute will help to give us."

How to Live on Fifteen Cents a Day.

Those who find it a hand to mouth struggle for existence in these times of trust prosperity and high prices, who pay out each month their last dollar for the bare necessities of life, yet seemingly pay twice as much as the articles are actually worth, should take comfort from the following article reproduced from The Press, and send at once for one of the circulars explaining how this may all be changed:

Major W. H. Bean, of the United States army, department of the Missouri, has made himself a target for the curiosity of womankind in every part of the United States. For years he has studied the food problem, always seeking in his own household greater simplicity in the character of meals and corresponding

economy.

solved the problem of "How to live on fifteen cents a day," to his own satisfaction, and that of a large number of husky workmen who are employed as day laborers by the department of the Missouri, and who have been made part of the experiment.

When the news spread and people were invited to go out to where these men were being fed every day and partake of the food themselves half the housekeepers of Omaha got excited and now there are hundreds of homes here where what has come to be known as the "Bean system”— not the bean of commerce, but the Bean of the army-is in active and successful operation.

The basic principle of this economic method of living is old and simple enough. It is built on the theory that the plainest fare scientifically cooked is more nourishing and a great deal more palatable than all the delicacies of the season crowded into the human stomach and only relished because they cost a lot of money.

Plain Food the Best.-Major Bean has become so weary of answering letters from women requesting complete information about the method he advocates that he has now taken refuge in printed circulars, which he is sending broadcast. These cir culars explain in detail exactly what people want to know. The major declares that the world nowadays is too fond of satisfying the eye with their food instead of the body. "We must have the first strawberries," he says, "that come from the South, new potatoes, the early garden produce, and the advance fruits. The secret of cheap living is to buy fruit, produce and vegetables when the season is on and the price is way down. Then, instead of the myriad kinds of breakfast foods that lack nourishment, the food popular with our forefathers ought to be util

Corn meal, for instance, costs a third of a cent a pound. The fancy breakfast foods average about 15 cents a pound. Yet there is no comparison in the respect of nutriment, and the corn meal properly cooked can be made as appetizing as the high-priced substitute."

The economy that can be brought about in the use of meats is another part of the subject that the author, or rather the reviver of this principle has proved feasible. He tells us to choose the substantial meats instead of wasting time on mixed concoctions that have no nourishment and do nothing but tickle the palate.

Experiments are Made.-Beef must be eaten for nutriment and bacon for fat

A return to the simpler tastes of a preceding generation is urged if the race is to retain its physical strength and its mental elasticity.

The most interesting features of Major Bean's movement are the earnest and

employed at the barracks, and after securing their permission to handle their food supplies for a stated term, began giving them their three meals a day.

All Cooked Perfectly.-Everything was strength giving and substantial. The fare served at various times during this period

consisted of roast beef, bacon, beans, potatoes, onions, corn meal, prunes, canned tomatoes, coffee, all the condiments, and all kinds of bread. The Major personally supervised the cooking, which was up to an extraordinary standard of perfection. Everything of the character of warmed over dishes and hash was barred. Before a week had passed the men expressed themselves as delighted with the change in the appearance and taste of their food, but wondered how much they would be called upon to pay for the added pleasures of the table.

The cost was figured up carefully, and it was found that the average of each meal per man, including the cooking and incidental service, was a little over 4 cents. In no one day did the cost of a meal exceed 5 cents.

When the story of this experiment was made known hundreds of people in Omaha asked to be allowed to try the ration that meant an outlay of 15 cents a day. The Major willingly accommodated them and, sitting down at the table with the workmen, proprietors of restaurants, professional men and business people of Omaha sampled the meals for themselves, and at once added their testimony to that of the others.

Major Bean has adopted this system rigidly in his own household. He has cast out all such insidious evils as "made

dishes" and buys all his food for the nutriment it contains regardless of its cost in the market.

Wages and Wage Reductions.

Mr. Carroll D. Wright appears to have overlooked one important fact, in speaking of the necessary fall of wages during a period of depression-necessary because wages of the prosperous period "enhance the cost of production to such a degree that goods can not be sold." He should ask himself what class of people, if not the wage earners, constitute the great bulk of consumers. If wages are reduced, does not that, of itself, force a reduction in the price of goods, or else force them to

remain unsold? He says that the only security for high wages is increased production, resulting from increased consumption. He should work from the other end, for increased consumption, always certain to follow a rise in wages, makes possible increased production, therefore the employers, if they were really wise, should leave the wage as the last, instead of the first, to be attacked when it be

comes necessary to curtail expenses. By reducing the wage they "kill the goose that lays the golden egg." In his closing sentence Mr. Wright exposes the real causes of industrial depressions-the disastrous undertakings, the plunging that daring ones afterward seek to make labor pay for in their reduced wage scales. The very fact that labor resists, with more or less effectiveness, attempted reduction of wages, is an ever-increasing safeguard against industrial depressions; and the fact, as predicted by Mr. Wright, that the coming period of depression will be less severe than were those of former years, is due, chiefly, to the intelligence and the effective work of organized labor in compelling an increase of wages, and thus increasing the capacity of our home market. -St. Louis (Mo.) Labor Compendium.

The Prevailing Evil is “Graft.”

scandal created by Samuel J. Parks, the The public press has been full of the Bridgemen's Union, Local No. 2, who was walking delegate of Housesmiths' and found guilty of extorting various sums of money from contractors under penalty of a strike, which sums he termed "initiation fees," and for which he was convicted and sentenced to a term in State prison. Organized labor has placed its stamp of disapproval on such actions, but has been made to suffer a large amount of censure for the doings of this man.

Under startling headlines various capitalistic organs have held him up to scorn, and have drawn morals and lessons for other labor leaders to follow. The true labor leader needs no such advice, for if he is true to the principles of his organization he will treat fairly and impartially with employers in all questions of wages or matters of difference, and will ask only that which is fair and just to

both sides.

That the system of "graft" has permeated other fields has long been known, but has been condoned as a "trick in trade," and as evidence of "good business capacity." The following interesting article by the president of a well-known manufacturing corporation, who "for obvious reasons" does not wish his name known,

portrays the methods pursued by many manufacturing and business concerns today, and is reproduced from The World 10-Day:

Ask the average man whether private or public business is more corrupt and he will at once decide that public business