By their own personal efforts, in the pulpit and out of it, and through the instrumentality of their teachers in their Sunday schools, an ag gregate amount of good influence is brought to bear upon this part of our population, unequalled-I have no hesitation in saying it-in any part of the country. The relationship which is here established between the Sunday school scholar and her teacher-between the member of the church and her pastor-the attachments which spring up between them are rendered close and strong by the very cir cumstances in which these girls are placed. These relationships and these attachments take the place of the domestic ties and the home affections and they have something of the strength and fervency of these." Various associations for intellectual improvement by means of lectures, debates &c, have from time to time been formed. "The most remarkable institution is the Mechanic Association. Some intelligent mechanics formed a Society, and obtained an act of incorporation as early as 1825, before the town. was incorporated. Their object was to furnish means of improvement. Eight or ten years afterward the proprietors of Locks and Canals gave them a lot of land in the heart of the city, whereon the Association erected a costly brick edifice; to the completion of which all the manufacturing companies contributed with liberal hand. The Mechanics Hall occupies a central position, opposite the railroad depot; has a spacious hall for lectures, in which the association procures one or more courses annually. The association has a library, exceeding 2,000 volumes, an extensive News and Reading Room, supplied with the best newspapers from all parts of the country, and the most approved periodical publications. This room is always open, and subscription to it so cheap, that every one can afford to be a subscriber. In the same building, rooms are provided for chemical and other philosophical purposes, and a collection of 4,000 mineralogical specimens is placed in them." The public schools of Lowell are sustained on a broad and liberal scale, and will compare favorably with those of any large town or city in the country. The following statistics are taken from the annual Report of the School Committee for the year ending April 4th, 1842. Population in 1840 20,981 Number of persons over 4 and under 16, 4,000 Average number belonging to the schools, 3449 Amount paid for teachers' wages— High School $3,088 8 Grammar Schools 9,457 Writing Masters 1,677 24 Primary Schools 5,094 Fuel $19,316 1,686 2,553 $23,557 25,000 The school houses are all of them substanfial, convenient, and even elegant buildings. More than $60,000 were expended in 1839-40 in this way. The public schools are divided into three grades, viz: twenty four primary schools; eight grammar schools; and one high school, and all of them maintained by direct tax on the whole city. The primary schools are taught entirely by females, and receive children under seven years of age and until they are qualified for admission to the grammar schools-the average number to each school is sixty. The grammar schools receive those who can bring a certificate, or pass an examination in the common stops and abbreviations, and in easy reading and spelling. These schools are divided into two departments-one for boys, and the other for girls, and are taught by a male principal and assistant, two female assistants and a writing master. The number of scholars is about 200 in each department. The studies are the common branches of an English education. the The High School prepares young men for college, and carries forward the education of young of both sexes in the studies préviously pursued in the grammar schools, as well as in Algebra, Geometry, Rhetoric, Astrono. my, Practical Mathematics, Natural History, Moral Philosophy, Book-Keeping, Composi tion, and the evidences of Christianity. Pu pils are admitted, on examination, twice a year, in the studies of the grammar schools. There are two departments, one under a male and the other a female principal, assisted by two assistants, and a teacher of plain and or namental penmanship. The care and superintendence of the public schools are entrusted to a committee, not exceeding twelve, elected annually. The committee must choose a chairman, secretary, and a subcommittee for each school, with appro. priate duties. The general committee elect teachers, determine their salaries, remove those who are incompetent, and make all necessary regulations respecting the studies, books, and disipline of the schools. They must meet at least once a month. The sub-committee must visit and examine into the progress of each of his particular school or schools once a month, and report at the regular meeting of the board. No better education can be obtained in the English or in the preparatory classical studies, in any school, and the richest and best educated parents are glad to avail themselves of these public institutions. Owing to the number of Catholic families, Catholic teachers are provided in five primary and one grammar school, in parts of the city where that population predominates. This arrangement has secured the attendance of that class of children, and the hearty co-operation of their clergy. OR THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION ON THE QUALITY AND VALUE OF LABOR. EXTRACTS' From the Fifth Annual Report of the Secretary of During the past year I have opened a correspondence, and availed myself of all opportunities to hold personal interviews with many of the most practical, sagacious, and intelligent business men amongst us, who for many years have had large numbers of persons in their employment. My object has been to ascertain the difference in the productive ability, -where natural capacities have been equal,between the educated and the uneducated,between a man or woman whose mind has been awakened to thought and supplied with the rudiments of knowledge, by a good Common School education, and one whose faculties have never been developed, or aided in emerging from their original darkness and torpor by such a privilege. For this purpose I have conferred and corresponded with manufacturers of all kinds, with machinists, engineers, rail-road contractors, officers in the army, &c. These various classes of persons have means of determining the effects of education on individuals, equal in their natural abilities, which other classes do not possess. * * * Now many of the most intelligent and valuable men in our community, in compliance with my request, for which I tender them my public and grateful acknowledgments,-have examined their books for a series of years, and have ascertained both the quality and the amount of work performed by persons in their employment; and the result of the investigation is a most astonishing superiority in productive power, on the part of the educated over the uneducated laborer. The hand is found to be another hand, when guided by an intelligent mind. Processes are performed not only more rapidly, but better, when facultics which have been exercised in early life, furnish their assistance. Individuals who, with out the aid of knowledge, would have been condemned to perpetual inferiority of condition, and subjected to all the evils of want and poverty, rise to competence and independence, by the uplifting power of education. In great establishments, and among large bodies of laboring men, where all services are rated according to their pecuniary value, where there are no exstrinsic circumstances to bind a man down to a fixed position, after he has shown a capacity to rise above it;-where, indeed, men pass by each other, ascending or descending in their grades of labor, just as easily and certainly as particles of water of different degrees of temperature glide by each other,there it is found as almost an invariable fact, -other things being equal,-that those who have been blessed with a good Common School education, rise to a higher and higher point, in the kinds of labor performed, and also in the rate of wages paid, while the ignorant sink, like dregs, and are always found at the bottom. [The conclusions above expressed, are founded on the following evidence, furnished in reply to Mr. Mann's Circular Letter, from which we extract the interrogatories.] First, Have you had large numbers of persons in your employment or under your superintendence? If so, will you please to state how many? Within what period of time? In what department of business? Whether at different places? Whether natives or foreigners? Second,-Have you observed differences among the persons you have employed, growing out of dif ferences in their education, and independent of their natural abilities; that is, whether as a class, those who from early life, have been accustomed to exercise their minds by reading and studying, have greater docility and quickness in applying themselves to work; and, after the simplest details are måstered, have they greater aptitude, dexterity or ingenuity in comprehending ordinary processes, or in originating new ones? Do they more readily or frequently devise new modes by which the same amount of work can be better done, or by which more work can be done in the same time, or by which raw material or motive power can be economized? In short, do you obtain more work and better work with less waste, from those who have received what, in Massachusetts, we call a good Common School education, or from those who have grown up in neglect and ignorance? Is there any difference in the earnings of these two classes, and consequently in their wages? Third-What, within your knowledge, has been the effect of higher degrees of mental application and culture upon the domestic and social habits of persons in your employment? Is this class more cleanly in their persons, their dress and their households; and do they enjoy a greater immunity from those diseases which originate in a want of personal neatness and purity? Are they more exemplary in their deportment and conversation, devoting more time to intellectual pursuits or to the refining art of music, and spending their evenings and leisure hours more with their families, and less at places of resort for idle and dissipated men? Is a smaller portion of them addicted to imtemperance? Are their houses kept in a superior condition? Does a more economical and judicious mode of living purchase greater comforts at the same expense, or equal comforts with less means? Are their families better brought up, more respectably dressed, more regularly attendant upon the school and the church; and do their children when arrived at years of maturity, enter upon the active scenes of life with better pros pects of success? Fourth,-In regard to standing and respectability among co-laborers, neighbors, and fellow citizens generally, how do those who have enjoyed and improved the privilege of goo 1 Common Schools, compare with the neglected and the illiterate? Do the former exercise greater influence among their associates? Are they more often applied to for advice and counsel in cases of difficulty; or selected as umpires or arbitrators for the decision of minor controversies? Are higher and more intelligent circles for acquaintance open to them, from conversation and intercourse with which, their own minds can be constantly improved? Are they more likely to rise from grade to grade in the scale of labor, untilthey enter departments where greater skill, judgment, and responsibility are required, and which therefore command a larger remuneration? Are they more likely to rise from the condition of employees and to establish themselves in business on their own account? Fifth,-Have you observed any difference in the classes above named (I speak of them as classes, for there will of course.be individual exceptions,) in regard to punctuality and fidelity in the performance of duties? Which class is most regardful of the rights of others, and most intelligent and successful in securing their own? You will of course perceive that this question involves a more general one, viz., from which of the above described classes, have those who possess property, and who hope to transmit it to their children, most to fear from secret aggression, or from such public degeneracy as will loosen the bands of society, corrupt the testimony of witnesses, violate the sanctity of the juror's oath and substitu'e as a rule of right, the power of a numerical majority, for the unvarying principles of justice? Sixth,-Finally, in regard to those who possess the largest shares in the stock of worldly goods, could there, in your opinion, be any police so vigilant and effective, for the protection of all the rights of person, property and character, as such a sound and comprehensive education and training, as our system of Common Schools could be made to impart; and would not the payment of a sufficient tax to make such education and training universal, be the cheapest means of self-protection and insurance? And in regard to that class which, from the accident of birth and parentage, are subjected to the privations and the temptations of poverty, would not such an education open to them new resources in habits of industry and economy, in increased skill, and the awakening of inventive power, which would yield returns a thousand fold greater than can ever be hoped for, from the most successful clandestine depredations, or open invasion of the property of others? Letter from J. K. Mills, Esq., Boston. The house with which I am connected in business, has had for the last ten years, the principal direction of cotton mills, machine shops and calico printing works, in which are constantly employed about three thousand persons. The opinions I have formed of the effects of a Common School education upon our manufacturing population, are the result of personal observation and inquiries, and are confirmed by the testimony of the overseers and agents, who are brought into immediate contact with the operatives. They are as follows:- 1. That the rudiments of a Common School cducation are essential to the attainment of skill and expertness as laborers, or to consideration and respect in the civil and social relations of life. 2.-That very few, who have not enjoyed the advantages of a Common School education, ever rise above the lowest class of operatives; and that the labor of this class, when it is employed in manufacturing operations, which require even a very moderate degree of manual or mental dexterity, is unproductive. 3. That a large majority of the overseers, and others employed in situations which re quire a high degree of skill in particular branches; which, oftentimes require a good general knowledge of business, and, always, an unexceptionable moral.character, have made their way up from the condition of common laborers, with no other advantage over a large proportion of those they have left behind, than that derived from a better education. A statement made from the books of one of the manufacturing companies under our direction, will show the relative number of the two classes, and the earnings of each. This mill may be taken as a fair index of all the others. The average number of operatives annually employed for the last three years, is 1200. Of this number, there are 45 unable to write their names, or about 31 per cent. The average of women's wages, in the departments requiring the most skill, is $2,50 per week, exclusive of board. The average of wages in the lowest departments, is $1,25 per week. Of the 45 who are unable to write, 29, or about two thirds, are employed in the lowest department. The difference between the wages earned by the 45, and the average wages of an equal number of the better educated class, is about 27 per cent. in favor of the latter. The difference between the wages earned by 29 of the lowest class, and the same number in the higher, is 66 per cent. Of 17 persons filling the most responsible situations in the mills, 10 have grown up in the establishment from common laborers or apprentices. This statement does not include an importa tion of 63 persons from Manchester, in England, in 1839. Among these persons, there was scarcely one who could read or write, and although a part of them had been accustomed to work in cotton mills, yet, either from incapacity or idleness, they were unable to earn sufficient to pay for their subsistence, and at the expiration of a few weeks, not more than half a dozen remained in our employment. In some of the print works, a large proportion of the operatives are foreigners. Those who are employed in the branches which require a considerable degree of skill, are as well educated as our people, in similar situations. But the common laborers, as a class, are without any education, and their average earnings are about two-thirds only of those of our lowest classes, although the prices paid to each are the same, for the same amount of work. Among the men and boys employed in our machine shops, the want of education is quite rare; indeed, I do not know an instance of a person who is unable to read and write, and many have had a good Common School education. To this may be attributed the fact that a large proportion of persons who fill the higher and more responsible situations, came from this class of workmen. From these statements, you will be able to form some estimate, in dollars and cents, at least, of the advantages of a little education to the operative; and there is not the least doubt that the employer is equally benefited. He has the security for his property. that intelligence, good morals, and a just appreciation of the regulations of his establishment, always afford. His machinery and mills, which constitute a large part of his capital, are in the hands of persons, who, by their skill, are enabled to use them to their utmost capacity, and to prevent any unnecessary depreciation. Each operative in a cotton mill may be supposed to represent from one thousand to twelve hundred dollars of the capital invested in the mill and its machinery. It is only from the most diligent and economical use of this capital that the proprietor can expect a profit. A fraction less than one half of the cost of manufacturing common cotton goods, when a mill is in full operation, is made up of charges which are perinanent. If the product is reduced in the ratio of the capacity of the two classes of operatives mentioned in this statement, it will be seen that the cost will be increased in a compound ratio. My belief is, that the best cotton mill in New England, with such operatives only as the 45 mentioned above, who are unable to write their names, would never yield the proprietor a profit; that the machinery would soon be worn out, and he would be left, in a short time, with a population no better than that which is represented, as I suppose, very fairly, by the importation from England. cannot imagine any situation in life, where the want of a Common School education would be more severely felt, or be attended with worse consequences, than in our manufacturing villages; nor, on the other hand, is there any, where such advantages can be improved, with greater benefit to all parties. There is more excitement and activity in the minds of people living in masses, and if this expends itself in any of the thousand vicious indulgences with which they are sure to be tempted, the road to destruction is travelled over with a speed exactly corresponding to the power employed. Letter from H. Bartlett, Esq., Lowell. I have been engaged, for nearly ten years, in manufacturing, and have had the constant charge of from 400 to 900 persons, during that time. The greater part of them have been Americans; but there have always been more or less foreigners. During this time, I have had charge of two different establishments, in different parts of the State. In answering your second interrogatory, I can say, that I have come in contact with a very great variety of character and disposition, and have seen mind applied to production in the mechanic and manufacturing arts, possessing different degrees of intelligence, from gross ignorance to a high degree of cultivation; and I have no hesitation in affirining that I have found the best educated, to be the most profita ble help; even those females who merely tend machinery, give a result somewhat in propor tion to the advantages enjoyed in early life for education, those who have a good Common School education giving, as a class, invariably, a better production than those brought up in ignorance. The former make the best wages. If any one should doubt the fact, let him examine the pay-roll of any establishment in New England, and ascertain the character of the girls who get the most money, and he will be satisfied that I am correct. I am equally clear that, as a class, they do their work better. There are many reasons why it should be so. They have more order, and system; they not only keep their persons neater, but their machinery in better condition. But there are other advantages, besides mere knowledge growing out of a Common School education. Such an education is calculated to strengthen the whole system, intellecual, moral and physical. It educates the whole man or woman, and gives him or her more energy and greater capacity for production in all de partments of labor. Minds formed by such an education are superior in the combination and arrangement of what is already known, and more frequently devise new methods of operation. Your third inquiry relates to the effect of education upon the domestic and social habits of persons in my employ. I have never considered mere knowledge, valuable as it is in it self to the laborer, as the only advantage derived from a good Common School education. I have uniformly found the better educated, as a class, possessing a higher and better state of morals, more orderly and respectful in their deportment, and more ready to comply with the wholesome and necessary regulations of an establishment. And in times of agitation, on account of some change in regulations or wages, I have always looked to the most intelligent, best educated, and the most moral for support, and have seldom been disappointed. For, while they are the last to submit to imposition, they reason, and if your requirements are reasonable, they will generally acquiesce, and exert a salutary influence upon their associates. But the ignorant and uneducated I have generally found the most turbulent and troublesome, acting under the impulse of excited passion and jealousy. The former appear to have an interest in sustaining good order, while the latter seem more reckless of consequences. And, to my mind, all this is perfectly natural. The better educated have more, and stronger attachments binding them to the place where they are. They are generally neater, as I have before said, in their persons, dress and houses; surrounded with more comforts, with fewer of the ills which flesh is heir to." In short, I have found the educated, as a class, more cheerful and contented,-devoting a portion of their leisure time to reading and intellectual pursuits, more with their families and less in scenes of dissipation. The good effect of all this, is seen in the more orderly and comfortable appearance of the whole household, but no where more strikingly than in the children. A mother who has had a good Common School education will rarely suffer her children to grow up in igno rance. As I have said, this class of persons is more quiet, more orderly, and I may add, more regular in their attendance upon public worship, and more punctual in the performance of all their duties. Your fourth inquiry refers to the relative stand taken in society by those who have received an early education, and my answers to your inquiries under that head, might be inferred from what I have already said. My remarks before have referred quite as much to females as to males, but what I shall say under this, will refer particularly to the latter. I have generally observed individuals exerting an influence among their co-laborers and citizens, somewhat in proportion to their education. And in cases of difficulty and arbitration, the most ignorant have paid an involuntary respect to the value of education, by the selection of those who have enjoyed its benefits, for the settlement of their controversies. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, for a young man, who had not an education equal to a good Common School education, to rise from grade to grade, until he should obtain the birth of an overseer; and in making promotions, as a general thing, it would be unnecessary to make inquiry as to the education of the young men from whom you would select; for their mental cultivation would be sufficiently indicated by their general appearance and standing among their fellows; and, if you had reference to merit and qualifications, very seldom indeed would an uneducated young man rise to "a better place and better pay." Young men who expect to resort to manufacturing establishments for employment cannot prize too highly a good education. It will give them standing among their associates, and be the means of promotion from their employers. Your fifth interrogatory refers to difference of moral character in the two classes, and the dangers which society or men of property have to apprehend from the one or the other. I do not know that I can better answer your inquiries under this head than to give you my views of the value, in a pecuniary point of view, of education and morality to the stockholders of our manufacturing establishments. If they have no danger to apprehend from a general diffusion of knowledge among those in their employ, if it is a fact that that class of help which has enjoyed a good Common School education, are the most tractable, yielding most readily to reasonable requirements, exerting a salutary and conservative influence in times of excitement, while the most ignorant are the most refractory; then, it appears to me that the public at large ought to be satisfied that they have more danger to apprchend from the ignorant than from the well educated. I am aware that there is a feeling to a certain, but I hope limited extent, that knowledge among the great mass is dangerous; that it creates discontent, and tends to insubordination. But I believe the fear to be groundless, and that our danger will come from an opposite source. In my view, there is a connection between education and morals, and I believe that our Common Schools have been nurseries not only of learning, but of sound morality, and I trust they will always be surrounded by such influences as will strengthen and confirm the moral principles of our youth, and I am confident that so long as that shall be the case, society is safe. From my observation and experience, I am perfectly satisfied that the owners of manufacturing property have a deep pecuniary interest in the education and morals of their help; and I believe the time is not distant when the truth of this will appear more and more clear. And ás competition becomes more close, and sinall circumstances of more importance in turning the scale in favor of one establishment over another, I believe it will be seen that the establishment, other things being equal, which has the best educated and the most moral help, will give the greatest production at the least cost per pound. So confident am I that production is affected by the intellectual and moral character of help, that whenever a mill or a room should fail to give the proper amount of work, my first inquiry, after that respecting the condition of the machinery, would be, as to the character of the help, and if the deficiency remained any great length of time, I am sure I should. find many who had made their marks upon the pay-roll, being unable to write their names; and I should be greatly disappointed if I did not, upon inquiry, find a portion of them of irregular habits and suspicious character. My mind has been drawn to this subject for a long time. I have watched its operation, and seen its result, and am satisfied that the pecuniary interest of the owners is promoted by the general diffusion of knowledge and morality among those in their employ. Lowell is a striking illustration of the truth of my remarks on this subject. Probably no other place has done as much for the education and morality of those engaged in manufacturing. She has 23 public schools, 15 churches, and numerous associations for intellectual improvement;-and the result is seen, not only in the orderly and temperate character of the people, but in the great productiveness of the mills. And where, I would ask, is manufactu ring stock of more value? If any one doubts the connection between these institutions and |