will be shown later, the number of Negroes who take advantage of its courses is comparatively small. The work of the day school is so planned as to follow the grammarschool course in English, mathematics, and drawing. The school is in session five days each week between September 15 and June 30, from 9:00 to 3:30. Its courses are open to grammar-school graduates, and to any other persons who are over 15 years of age and are judged able to do the work. According to the catalogue, instruction is offered in carpentry, electrical construction, architectural draftsmanship, mechanical draftsmanship, printing, and pattern making. All the courses of study cover three years. The work is so arranged that half the time is spent in shop work and the other half in academic work. The night school is open five nights each week between October 1 and April 1, from 7:30 to 9:30. The schedule for the night school is as follows: Monday, Wednesday Friday Tuesday Thursday Bricklaying, carpentry, architectural drawing, mechanical drawing, mathematics, sign painting, pattern making, plastering, plumbing, printing, sheet-metal work. Carpentry, architectural drawing, mechanical drawing, mathematics, plumbing, printing, sheet-metal work. Classes in which there are two sections are offered five times a week. Section A meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday one week and Tuesday and Thursday the following week, alternating each week with Section B. Students taking these classes are thus given five periods of instruction every two weeks. Students attending classes which are not divided into two sections receive three periods of instruction a week. The officers and teachers of the Philadelphia Trade School number 26, of whom 10 are in the day school and 16 in the night school. The average enrollment for 1909-1910 was 544, and the average attendance 405, of which 169 was the daily average, and 236 the nightly average. Most popular were the courses in electricity, architectural draftsmanship, mechanical draftsmanship, and plumbing. The enrollment of Negroes in the Philadelphia Trade School during the year 1909-1910 is shown at the top of the opposite page. The average attendance was about two-thirds of the enrollment. 3 The figures in this and the succeeding paragraphs are based on the enrollment and attendance during the month of February 1910. Three Negro students were graduated in the spring of 1910, two in carpentry and one in electrical work. A branch of the Philadelphia Trade School is shortly to be opened at Seventeenth and Pine Sts., and a new school on Girard Ave., near Second St. These will hold night sessions only, open to all citizens of Philadelphia. In addition to the courses in the two Philadelphia schools just described, some courses are offered to Negroes in other institutions in the city. Table II presents a brief statement of all industrial courses open to Negroes in Philadelphia, relating both to the Berean School and the Philadelphia Trade School and to five schools not mentioned heretofore. TABLE II INDUSTRIAL COURSES OPEN TO NEGROES IN PHILADELPHIA It will be noticed that no courses are offered in blacksmithing, paper hanging, shoemaking, tinsmithing, or roofing. Entrance requirements, which vary for the different courses but are usually far from difficult, are required at Temple University, Wanamaker Institute, and Drexel Institute. In the Wm. Penn High School each course must be taken as a part of the regular high-school curriculum. At Temple University there are about 50 colored students; at the McDowell about 50; at the William Penn High School about 75; at Wanamaker and Drexel Institutes a small number. THE EFFICIENCY PART II AND SUCCESS OF SKILLED NEGROES IN PHILADELPHIA The investigation conducted by the Committee was designed to secure the most complete information possible regarding the skilled Negro workers of Philadelphia, whether their training was obtained in one of the schools described in Part I, or whether their skill was acquired through a period of apprenticeship.' It was found, however, that only three schools could be studied as regards the success of their graduates or former students. These were the I. C. Y. (Institute for Colored Youth), the Berean School, and Hampton Institute. No investigation could be made of the work of graduates of the Philadelphia Trade School, because that institution has been in existence only since 1906 and no colored students were graduated until June, 1910. As for the other schools described or mentioned, it was found either that the resident Negro graduates were too few to warrant their consideration, or that the courses presented by those schools were largely courses for women. As only two students were listed from Tuskegee, three from Cheyney, and three from Downingtown, it was not considered best to include them in the tables given below. Of the Tuskegee graduates one is an electrician, while the other, a carpenter, is continuing his trade at Drexel Institute. One of the three graduates of Downingtown is a dressmaker and one in domestic service, while the third is studying at Lincoln University. Of the graduates of Cheyney, which is distinctly a normal school, one graduated in elementary electricity and two in domestic science. Table III gives the number of graduates and former students of the I. C. Y., Berean School, and Hampton who were listed and the number and per cent who were interviewed. 4 By apprenticeship is here meant any period of training in a shop or factory, whether actually bound out or not. Table III throws light on the relationship existing between the respective schools and their former students. It will be noted that of the I. C. Y. students only 36 per cent were found. This low percentage is perhaps explained by the fact that the I. C. Y. has been out of existence as a Philadelphia trade school for several years, and there can be little organized effort on the part of the school to keep in touch with its students. The high percentage shown for Hampton Institute is noteworthy, not only because a number of her students have been away from the school for many years, but also because the school is situated at a considerable distance from Philadelphia. The percentage for the Berean School seems rather low, inasmuch as the school is of recent development and is situated in the city. The next table shows how many of the school-taught Negroes interviewed were trained in a definite trade, how many of these were actually engaged in the trade for which they had been trained, and the proportion so engaged. Of those who were trained in a trade, as indicated in Table IV, it will be seen that 73 per cent of the I. C. Y. students, 74 per cent of the Berean students, and 69 per cent of the Hampton students were following their trades. The record of the three schools in this respect is praiseworthy. Inasmuch as the I. C. Y. and Hampton have been in existence many years and their students have had time to drift into new lines of work, it is remarkable that they have so large a percentage following their trades. It is of interest to know what proportion of the persons who are continuing at the trades for which they were trained are men. Out of the 24 I. C. Y. students who were following their trades, 14 are men, and of 11 Hampton students, 7. The proportion for the I. C. Y. and Hampton is about three-fifths, and for the Berean School slightly over one-third (10 out of 28). The small proportion of men among Berean graduates is perhaps to be expected, since the enrollment of women in the courses offered by that school is nearly double that of men. Thus, of the 327 students who attended the school from 1904 to 1907, 204, or nearly two-thirds, were women. The table on page 425, giving enrollment and attendance figures for the year 19091910, tells a similar story, in that it shows considerably more than half the enrollment to have been in the cooking, dressmaking, and millinery courses, attended only by women. Opportunities for the industrial education of Negro men in Philadelphia appear small in contrast with similar opportunities for the training of Negro women. Especially does this become clear when we consider such institutions as the McDowell Dressmaking School, Temple University, and Drexel Institute. This contrast between the opportunities for men and women is emphasized when the abundant opportunities open to women as domestic servants is compared with the keen competition to which colored men are subjected in all kinds of skilled labor. In interviewing the skilled Negroes of Philadelphia, the Committee endeavored to ascertain and appraise their success in life. Success is of course a relative term, to be used with caution in any scientific study. It was felt, however, that by using sufficient care and judgment an appraisal could be presented that would be fair to all parties concerned to the individuals themselves, as well as the schools which trained them. In this appraisal, success has been considered to depend partly on skill and partly on opportunity. Opportunity has been determined by a comparison with white mechanics of a similar degree of skill, and also by the testimony of the colored worker himself as to his chances in the industrial world. The skill of a man was ascertained from a study of his school record, from interviews with his employer, or from talks with fellow workmen. If steadily employed at current non-union wages a man was considered to have been successful. It is doubtful if a higher wage standard for Negroes can be adopted until the number of colored mechanics is sufficiently large and sufficiently skilled and dependable to command pay for their work equal to the union rate of their white colleagues. The sources of information which were utilized in judging of a man's efficiency and success were chiefly his own state |