state or municipal aid, and it was known that the experiment must be
costly, for: (1) A trade school must be open all the year for day
classes, and for night work when needed (schools usually are open from
eight to ten months). (2) The work must be done on correct materials,
which are often expensive and perishable; but pupils are too poor to
provide them, therefore the school must plan to do so. (3) The
supervisors must be well educated, with a broad-minded view of industry,
capable of original thought, and having a practical knowledge of trade
requirement (women of such caliber can always command the best
salaries). The teachers and forewomen also must combine teaching ability
with competence in their workrooms; but as the market wishes a similar
class of service and gives excellent wages to obtain it, the school must
offer a like or even a larger amount. (4) Teachers of highly skilled
industries are expert, usually, in but the one occupation, such as straw
hat making by electric machine or jewelry box making; consequently, even
if the student body is small, the teaching force can seldom be reduced
without cutting off an entire department or a trade. A trade school
differs from the high school in this particular, for in the latter, when
necessary, two or more academic subjects can be taught by the same
instructor.

Another difficulty confronting the school at the beginning was, that
while numerous occupations in New York are open to women, there was
reason to think that some of these were not well adapted to them. Little
was known at that time of the trades offering opportunities for good
wages, steady rise to better positions, satisfactory sanitary
conditions, and moderate hours of labor; of the physical effect of many
of the popular occupations; of the specific requirements of each kind of
employment; of the effect of the working girls in their workrooms and in
their homes; of their health and how to improve it; of the needs and
wishes of the employers; of the relation of the Trade Union to trade
instruction, and of labor legislation already operative or which should
be furthered. Before deciding on courses of instruction in the Manhattan
Trade School some accurate knowledge of these facts had to be obtained.

Selection of Trades

The selection of definite trades was made after five months of
investigation in the factories, workrooms, and department stores of New
York City. In general, it can be said of the oc