(also from the May 1903 issue of The Carriage Monthly) …

Technical Training

“The carriage builders of the United States are doing more, directly and indirectly, for the development of technical education in their craft than perhaps is being done by any other. Strong pleas are being advanced by leading manufacturers in many industries for the development of technical education in all lines. Prominent among the advocates of such education is Theo. C. Search, the predeccessor of D. M. Parry as president of the National Association of Manufacturers. Mr. Search, in his advocacy of this idea, calls attention to the remarkable development of technical education in Germany. He tells us there are hundreds of manual training schools in Germany supported by city and state governments, by corporations, religious associations and by private individuals, where all manner of technical education is imparted. Among other things, Mr. Search says that American manufacturers have been exceedingly successful in reducing the cost of production to a minimum by the invention of machinery capable of the maximum output with the minimum labor. Machines have been invented by thousands, appliances without number devised, and all sorts of economic plans employed to increase the output and to minimize the number of hands employed. The time has come when we can see the limit of economies in these directions. So far they have enabled us to meet foreign competition by cheapening the product below the foreign price, but the day of reckoning will arrive when the foreigner will have all our economic appliances, all our push and drive, and something else which we have not, namely, trained skill. In running a manufacturing plant the race is the same as in baseball: team work will win against a combination of “stars” who may be brilliant in some directions, but who cannot win a game.” — from the May 1903 Carriage Monthly, courtesy of the CMA Library & Archives