Colle$e Training for the Millwork Business

BlY EMANUEL FRITZ, Asst. Prof. of Forestry, IJniversity of California

The deep interest shown by your Millwork Industry.in colleg-etrained men is evidence that you believe a college training to be sood for a man. It means that you believe in training the mind as ilell as the hand. Modern competition has thrown rule-of-thumb methods and many cherished but wornout traditions into the discard and in their plaie has called for methods that are precise, well planned and bised also on a knowledge of matters outside one nariow sphere. University training is designed to train a man to think. io analvze and driw his own conclusions. It has a disciplinary efiect on habits of thought and broadens one's viewpoints. The effect of the training of dourse varies with the individual, and wfrile most men are impioved by it, there are some upon-whom the,efiort is probablv wasted. Business men, employing college-trained men oftin expect too much,'forgetting that the college can at best only sive a man a start with a knowleilge of certain fundamental informat-ion and how to use his brain. Just how the graduate will use this training will depend upon his inborn initiative, -ability, judgment, and aribition. The college graduate still has his most important trainine to get after he has lEft the college halls, but if he has the risht s1ufi in him he should acquire this further training in the orlctical application of his college learning much more rapidly and io greater advantage to himself and his employer than the man who was denied college training.

Your interest in obtaining college-trained men is based I believe, not with a view of filling the ranks of your machine operators but with a view to drawing from colleges the men whom you can develop into executives. The training of such men as draftsmen, estimaiors, and machine operators is the function of the vocational schools, arid you should not expect colleges or universities to engage in this field.

Brieflv. now. what should a millwork man know if he hopes to srow int'o an 'executive position? First of all, he should have a dommand of good English. Most of our successful men, those who shape the destinies of a company or a public body, are masters of theil own language. The man who can talk and write well, also thinks well. 11 is gratifying to note that you agree to this in your tentative outline foi a course. He should also have a good fundamental knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and economics. If he has a leaning toward the mechanical side of the business he should go stronger on courses in mechanics, the strength of materials, steam and electrical machinery and should have an opportunity to take certain shop courses where he can learn the use of tools wiih his own hands. If he is of a business turn of mind his program should be strong on courses in business methods, business idm*inistration, industrial relations, accounting, commercial law, marketing, and similar courses. No matter which side he favors he shoul-d not adopt an unbalanced program of study but should take enough work in either field to give him a working knowledge of it. As a millwork man whose raw material is to be lumber, he should make a particular study of wood; how it grows; how the trees are -loseed ahd milled; the structure or make-up of wood; the effect of m6lsture and various defects on its propeities; how it should be handled in the drying, working, and storing; how it can be protected against decay, etc.

There are many sons of millwork men in our universities, but very few of them plan their programs of studies in such a way as to make their entire course most helpful to them when they have entered their father's business. A large university gives a great variety of courses on the most diverse subjects. Too often the entering ,student has no idea of what profession or business he will follow upon graduation; such a man naturally selects courses that interest him most, his program may thus include courses that are of great cultural value but have no particular bearing on a specific business or profession. Such a man has unquestionably gained a great deal from his course, his mind is trained to think and study and he is or ought to be quite adaptable or able easily to adjust himself into a large variety of very different fields when he seeks a job. You might be disappointed in him however because he had had no courses in engineering, or wood technology, or lumbering. This should not be held against him. Retatively few men are able to decide their future work while they are in college, except perhaps in a very generat way. There witl always be a large number of such men and undoubtedly there will be some who witl find their way into the millwork business. They may be handicapped at the start, but a good man should make it up quickly.

The man -who enters coltege with the definite intention of entering a specifc business, say the millwork business, finds it possibte in a large university to mould a program that will include su.ch courses is wilt be directly and immediately helpful to him upbn graduation. Nearly every university gives excellent courses in the fundamental subjects-mathematics, p.hvsics-, chemistry, mechanics, economics, commerce, etc., but in only a few can the prospective millwork 'student obtain instruction in the properties and uses of wood. In those universities where there are departments of forestry. there are offered courses in lumbering, wood technology, kiln drvine. etc. The student can therefore at once select or build up a orosriin definitelv desiened to his needs in the millwork businesv He"has only to inake his intentions or desires known to his class advisor. whir in turn will assist him in arranging the most helpful Drosram. The university must of course set certain limitations to ihe-student's freedom to elect what courses he pleases, to protect him aeainst an unbalanced program or one that may be weak in fundarientals. As far as I kno*, no university is at present giving soecial courses dealine onlv with millwork equipment and its operation, but I believe most of them having forestry departments cover olanins mill equipment and give the student an opportunity to study iaree 6lanins mills and millwork establishments. Too much specializaiion in the university is not desirable.

The University of California has for several years printed in a booklet entitled nAnnouncement of the Division of Forestry" a program of study which should meet very well the needs of students ivho desire togo into the millwork business. In this program there are included such fundamental courses as chemistry, physics, mathematics, surveying, and mechanics; in addition there are courses in oower'engineeriii, materials of construction, strength of materials, "hoo wor[ in wood and iron, electrical machinery, etc. The courses deaiine directlv with forest products are wood technology, logging' lumbeiing, eleinents of forestry, forest protection, and others. Th. orosram-is so arranged as to allow considerable choice in selection indlstill assure a well rounded schedule. The individual student can therefore follow certain preferences and may add or elect with certain limitations courses in business administration, economics, accounting, marketing, and many others.

It is hEhlv desira6ie that a millwork student spend his summer vacations -in -a planing mill or in a millwork engineering office to obtain first hand pra-tical information in this field. Students are ursed to spend their summers in this way by their advisors.

You wilf see from this that there are already available the courses that will be most helpful to the men entering your industry. It remains for the industry and the students to take adva-ntage of them. The millwork industry has indicated the need for trained men and has sone on record as favoring college-trained men' This action in turn -places certain obligations on the industry' First, you as emoloveri must take a more tolerant attitude toward college-trained meir: you must be fair to them and give them at the start an opportunitv- to acquire from vou that practical training and experience whiilr can ndt be obtained at the university and without which the trainine of the university can not yield the fullest returns. You will find thit relatively few college graduates feel that the world owes them good jobs because of t-he Jour years spent--at college. - Yot! college" eraduates are sincere, earnest -fellows, willing to work hard and Eive at least a dollar's worth of service for a dollar's worth of oav. -asking onlv that vou give them a chance to acquire the practiiaf knowl,i?ge io mak6 the-ir university training--more effectiv-e, and expecting onlly reasonable recognition of their efforts. They-have a br6ad oitlooli and high aspirations, and are satisfied to make prosress a steD at a time.

- Since yoirr industry is so deeply interested in obtaining better tralned rien, let me 6ffer for youl consideration the idea,of -taking colleee men into your emploi as trainees on some such plan as used'bv the Otis Eievator eo.,- General Electric Co', and many other larse iompanies under which they take in college men and develop their own- executives. The prinCipal thing you need to do is to ofier the new man an opportunity to work through each of your departments over a period bf say two years so that he can obtain an aciuaintance with eich phase 6f vour business and your problems, whether they be administrative, selling, industrial or other. You will tho. dislover his special aptitudes and can then fit him into a department in which he should prove a very valuable man to you' You can assist also during the iummer vacations by offering work to such men as show a liling for the millwork business. You will see that I am trying to show that on your industry itself rests a part of the obligaiion of training men prbperly' The university can give him a good- running start but it- is up to you to see that he can develop furt-her when he has entered your- emp-loy.

To ium up my remarks, let me repeat that if you want to develop mitlwork executives from college men, you must from the start take ' a more tolerant attitude towarii cotlege training, and dispose of the idea that collese men expect important and weltpaying jobs at the verv outset: vo-u should see in them ambitious, hard working fellows wh6 are witiinc to start at the bottom; you should give them a chance to "sho* their stufi" and you should be reasonable toward them in the wav of remuneration *hen they have made good. Five of the western universities already offer the courses you recommend; it is only a question of your makin-g-your- industry so attractive to college men as to warrant their training themselves speclally tor lt'