he problem can therefore be studied and various courses of
instruction consulted. This investigation covered three interesting
fields. First, the organization of the schools, including the equipment;
the teachers and their training; the budget; the order work; the
relation of the school to employers; the placing of the girls in
positions; the wages; the schemes for financial aid, and the work of the
alumnae associations. Second, the trades taught and the courses of
instruction; the general education required at entrance and that given
as an integral part of trade; the trade-art courses; the housekeeping
and training of servants; the development of ideas of better living and
the training for responsibility in home and trade life. Third, the
visiting of workrooms employing women; the obtaining information on the
effect of trade schools; the students' usefulness and ability to
advance, and a survey of the crafts conducted in the homes of the
people.

Trade Order Administration

A trade school must do its skilled handwork in the fashion of the day
and on correct materials, yet the students are too poor to work for
themselves. A school budget cannot supply such large quantities of
valuable materials unless it can get some return for them. The school
shop in each department, where orders both private and custom are taken,
has proved advantageous, but involves great problems of administration:
(1) the actual business methods and management connected with the
invoices, sales, and delivery of goods; (2) the obtaining of orders
needed and of the quantity desirable; (3) the taking of custom orders,
fitting the customer, and delivery of orders on time; (4) a satisfactory
apportionment of the order work so that the students may profit by it
and not be expected to continue it after they have had sufficient
experience of one kind, or if they are not yet able to do the elaborate
work involved; (5) the finding of operatives who will do what the
students cannot or should not do; (6) the expense involved in employing
workers at trade prices and for shorter hours; (7) the cost of articles,
and other details which are involved in entering into competition with
trade. It may be stated that no trade school should underbid the market,
but should charge the full prices and expect to give equivalent returns.
A trade school cannot afford to be an amateur supported by a
philanthropic public, but must have a recognized business standard.

Pl