VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. Work of Federal Board for Vocational Education, 1920-21. IN ITS June, 1922, news letter, the National Society for Vocational Education reviews the work of the Federal Board for Vocational Education since 1916. It is stated that prior to the passage of the Federal vocational education act, only seven States had enacted laws recognizing vocational education as a part of the public-school program. Before January 1, 1918, every State in the Union had accepted the provisions of the Federal act. In 1916, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were the only two States having compulsory part-time or continuation school laws. "As a result of the influence of the Federal act * ** 21 States now have compulsory part-time education for the working children from 14 to 16 or from 14 to 18 years of age." The following table shows the development of the vocational education work since 1917-18: NUMBER OF VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS FEDERALLY AIDED, AND ENROLLMENT, 1917-18 AND 1920-21. 4 This number is not the correct sum of the items but is as given in the report. The expenditure for these schools increased from $2,683,777 in 1917-18 to $10,649,852 in 1920-21. Of the amount spent in 1921, $2,380,354 was contributed by the Federal Government, $3,086,680 by the State governments, and $5,182,818 by the local authorities. For the past year and a half the Federal Board for Vocational Education has administered the act providing for the rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry or otherwise. Thirty-five States have now accepted the provisions of the act. "Vocational rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry, or otherwise, as an organized social movement has been established on a nation-wide basis. The States have taken up the service as a permanent work. Their organizations are expanding rapidly and consistently, and their services are being conducted on a sound practical basis. It is stated that on July 1, 1921, the States had a "live" roll of a little over 3,000 cases, but by November 15, 1921, the number had increased 265 per cent. Although no formal report has been received by the board since that time, reports by Federal agents indicate that at the present time there is a live roll of about 12,000 cases. The exact number of persons in need of retraining is not now known but compensation authorities estimate that there are 280,000 disabled persons from industry in the country at the present time, which number is being increased at the rate of 15,000 per year. In addition to this number incapacitated by the accidents in industry, there is perhaps an equal number disabled by street accidents, train accidents, accidents on the farms and in the homes. The rehabilitation of disabled soldiers of the World War is one of the tasks of the vocational education board. The report states that while this problem "was undoubtedly one of the most difficult ever faced by a board or bureau," up to August 15, 1921, a total of 116,298 disabled soldiers, sailors, and marines had accepted and entered upon courses of training under direction of the board. A Training of Apprentices in the Government Printing Office. PPRENTICESHIP courses for the training of printers, pressmen, plate makers, bookbinders, and machinists have been undertaken by the Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Admission is restricted to persons of from 16 to 20 years. On March 22, 1922, a special examination for the applicants was held by the Civil Service Commission, and the classes opened on July 23, with an enrollment of 23 students. It is announced that "every opportunity will be given the student to ground himself thoroughly in his chosen trade.' According to the printed outline of courses offered,' the printing course will cover four years, divided into 11 periods varying from one month to a year. During the first period the student will learn the types, rules, and slugs, and their uses, during the second period how to set and tie type, and during the third period how to take the proof and distribute the type. Bookwork, job work, making up, imposing, and tabular work are taught in the fourth to eighth periods. The ninth period is devoted to instruction in the operation of the linotype and monotype machines, the tenth to proofreading, and the eleventh to a review of all the previous subjects, during the course of which the student will acquire the "finishing touches necessary to the skilled artisan." During the first year the apprentices will be detailed, two at a time, first to the job press section where they will be taught to feed, oil, and clean a press, and then to the proof room, where they will act as copyholders. The pressman course covers four years of study, during which time the student will learn pressfeeding, press preparation, the makeready, qualities of ink and grades of paper, and the adjustments of the mechanism of platen and cylinder presses, and will learn to operate the web and Harris presses. 1 Government Printing Office. The training of apprentices in the Government Printing Office. Washington, 1922. The plate-making course is divided into three sections requiring four years each: Electrotype finishing, electrotype molding, and stereotyping. The remaining courses planned-bookbinding and the machinist course also require four years' study each. During the period of apprenticeship the apprentices will, it is announced by the Civil Service Commission, receive the following rates of pay: For the first year, one-third of the rate received by mechanics of the trade to which the apprentice is assigned; for the second and third years, one-half of the rate; and for the fourth year, two-thirds of the rate. Tests will be given from time to time and, upon completion of the course, the graduates will be eligible for employment as journeymen in their fields. The constant aim in the courses, it is stated, will be to "develop a craftsman who will be an honor to his Government and a credit to the trade." The rate now paid to journeymen printers, pressmen, and bookbinders is 75 cents an hour, and to electrotypers, stereotypers, and machinists, 80 cents an hour. Τ' HOUSING. Report on Conditions in the Building Industry in New York. HE Joint Legislative Committee on Housing of New York State, appointed in 1919, has published an intermediate report, bringing the account of its activities up to the early part of this year. The report briefly reviews the authorization and organization of the committee, summarizes its earlier recommendations as to rent laws, remission of taxation on new housing, and the like, gives data as to the actual shortage of housing in New York City, and then deals at length with some of the causes leading to this condition. The shortage of dwellings is held to be serious. In 1910 when the population of the city was 4,766,833 there were 844,599 apartments available in New York City. In 1917 when the population was 5,276,351 there were 981,843 apartments available, being an increase of 134,249 apartments to meet an increase of approximately 624,034 in population. The population in Greater New York as of July 1, 1921, is estimated at 5,734,613, and there were then only 982,771 apartments available, or an increase of only 923 apartments to meet an increase of 342,696 in population. * * * From 1910 to 1917 an average of 24,922 new apartments were built each year. From 1918 to July 1, 1921, the following construction in dwellings took place: This shows an average of 3,643 new apartments constructed in the postwar period, so that the gross construction fell behind 73,832 apartments. The gross construction in three and one-half years fell behind 4,034 more than the net construction which, as above stated, fell behind 69,797. All these calculations are based on official figures showing a shortage of nearly 70,000 houses on July 1, 1921. The greatest need in New York, it is found, is for tenements which can be rented at from $8 to $10 a month per room. Such tenements have not been built because at the prevailing cost of construction these rents would not give an economic return upon the investment. Unfair practices. THE committee undertook to see whether the prevailing cost was justified, and the present report deals with some of the wholly unjustifiable factors which they found at work to increase or maintain prices. Briefly, they discovered fraud and extortion and illegal practices on every hand, all tending to raise the cost to the builder or owner. They found fraud and extortion practiced by certain labor union officials; they found unfair practices and requirements on the part of labor unions; they found combinations of employers and contractors to manipulate bids and prevent competition; they found combinations of producers and dealers to restrict supply and keep up prices. In almost every branch of the many activities which enter into building construction we found these combinations rampant and unchecked and competition completely throttled. The result was accomplished by all manner of devices, from the flagrant matching of bids and illegal combinations between employers' and employees' associations, to the surreptitious agency of the apparently innocuous luncheon club under cover of which production was regulated, territory apportioned, and prices fixed between ostensible competitors. * * * We find that throughout the length and breadth of the country producers are combined with producers; manufacturers with manufacturers; dealers with dealers; workingmen with workingmen. Not only do these combinations extend horizontally between the members of the same class, but vertically from the members of one class to those of another. There are combinations between the manufacturers and the dealers: between producers and manufacturers; between dealers and unions of workingmen, so that the whole industrial and commercial system in the industries connected with building construction is riveted in an interwoven and interlocking crisscross of combination and obligatory arrangement. Competition in price and output of these essentials is held under the incubus of a pyramid of combinations extending from the workingman and the retailer and reaching its apex in the original producer. * * * The cost of construction of buildings in recent years has been grossly and unconscionably inflated to proportions largely in excess of what should be the real cost by reason of the widespread elimination of competition among manufacturers, jobbers, contractors, and retailers in every branch of the industry. The immediate and obvious purpose of the combinations is, of course, to raise or to maintain prices by eliminating competition, but they have also evolved a number of other devices for increasing costs to those outside and profits to those inside their organizations. One effective plan was the use of two wage schedules, one representing the wage rate agreed upon between the employers' association and the union, and the other the rate at which customers were to be charged for labor. Some instances of the difference in these two schedules is given in the case of one association. The schedule is a long one, but the following illustrates the extent of the extortion thus practiced: The association was to pay to union workers Foreman cutter and helper, $16; charge to the customer, $28. This particular form of extortion was practiced by a number of associations. Another effective device was to insist that builders or contractors must buy their labor and material from the same source. In other words, a builder could not employ a tile setter directly from the union. He had to get him through a contractor, and in order so to obtain him he had to give to that contractor the furnishing of materials connected with the setting of the tile, grate, or mantel. Another device was an agreement between members of an association that under certain conditions no member would handle any job which had been begun by another. Sometimes this took the form of a provision in the constitution providing that if a member notified the association that he had not received the full amount due him for work no other member might do any work on the job except with the written permission of the first. It is not necessary for a member to file a lien against the building, or that he should have a lawful claim. His mere contention that the owner or contractor owes him money, if he chooses to exert it through the association, compels the owner or con |