In evening schools it is the custom to make the fees as low as possible, being a small percentage of the cost of instruction in such schools, as at Roubaix, Verviers, and other centers where there are no fees for the evening classes; but this is not a good practice, as the instruction to adults is not appreciated by them when free, as it is when a sum, however small, is paid. It is generally accepted by most of the European governments that the lower the fees can be made, and therefore the less self-supporting the school, the greater advantage the institution is to the community and the better it is for the industrial interests of the district. It is customary in German and Belgian schools, and the practice is now being adopted in England, to charge a higher fee for a foreigner than for a native. This is done for two reasons-one is that the foreigner should not obtain the benefit of instruction at much less than cost, which is really intended only for the native, and another is to place an obstruction in the way of foreigners becoming acquainted with the local industries. A notable example to the contrary, which deserves widespread recognition, is that of the Polytechnic in Zurich, where the fees paid only amount to 15 per cent of the cost of instruction, and yet this benefit is offered to students from all parts of the world. The consequence is that three-sevenths of the students of the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich are foreigners, the little State of Switzerland being burdened with five-sixths of the cost of their education. Many of the European textile schools remit the fees to needy native students, and in some centers, such as Chemnitz, the school committee assists in paying some of the students' board. There is a widespread practice in England by which scholarships are offered for the benefit of poor but deserving students. This serves two objects-first, to help the needy students, and, secondly, it is a means by which wealthy societies and state and county authorities are enabled to support institutions to which they have not the power to make direct appropriations, or where from any reason it is undesirable to grant direct aid. In some districts it is customary for manufacturers to send workmen to the schools, paying their fees and a small wage while at school, the idea being to qualify them to take positions as overseers and managers. This is especially the case in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Italy. In Italy I have seen girls in one of the schools who had been sent by their employers from the neighboring mills to learn the weaving of new or intricate patterns. The education given by textile schools is so valued by many of the continental manufacturers that, after sending their sons through a full course in a school in their own country, they are frequently sent to another country to take another course. This is especially true in England, where a large number of French, German, and Austrian students are received, and it is found that many of them have previously been through a full course of instruction. Male students usually are only found in the European textile schools, but female students are encouraged to attend, and in a few of the schools there are excellent ladies' classes in design. There are also female classes for burling and mending in some of the Belgian and German schools. The textile school has certainly come to stay in Europe. There is no manufacturing district and there are few manufacturing cities of importance that are now without a textile school, either in the city or at some convenient town, from which the school can be utilized by the young men of the district. The staffs of the schools are held in high esteem and their advice is sought by manufacturers in cases of difficulty, while the government draws on the officials of the schools for expert work, especially in judging exhibits at large expositions. This year the head of the textile department at the Manchester School is one of the judges of fabrics at the Brussels Exhibition. At the Columbian Exposition at Chicago several foreign governments delegated the directors of textile schools to take charge of and report on exhibits. The same thing was done at the Paris Exposition in 1889. A feature which is being now introduced in many of the best textile schools is a textile museum. There is no doubt that the museum at Crefeld is stimulating other schools to follow its example. The museum at Crefeld, in Germany, is one of the best in Europe; in fact, I have only seen one other which is approximately equal to it, and that is the Museo Archeologico, at Florence, in Italy. In the Crefeld school are 8,000 pieces of fabrics. The collection is of extreme historic value, including fabrics thousands of years old, from the tombs of the Egyptians down to the fashionable designs of the present year. The collections of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries are especially complete, and there is also an oriental section with many fine examples. The curator of this museum has a fund at his disposal, and is allowed to purchase fabrics wherever he goes. Some of the specimens have cost as much as $50 each for a square foot of cloth. The Cloth Workers' Company, of London, have just placed at the disposal of the Yorkshire College textile school the sum of $5,000 with which to commence a textile museum. The Bradford, England, technical school is also commencing the arrangements for a textile museum, and other of the larger foreign schools are also engaged on the same work. I shall now deal with some representative schools of England, and with one each of other countries. ENGLISH TEXTILE SCHOOLS. The textile schools in England are almost always associated with science and art schools, and also are frequently in a school where other technical departments are conducted. It has frequently occurred that a mechanics' institution has developed into a science, art, and technical school, the technical department in all cases being an addition of a recent date. The technical departments deal with instruction in the technology of the staple trades of each district, and thus the textile school may be, in many cases, of equal importance with a mechanical engineering department, an electrical engineering department, a woodworking department, plumbing department, and so on. The Manchester Technical School forms a good example of this development. It is situated in what was formerly, and is still to a large extent, a great manufacturing city, although it is every year tending to become more of a distributing point for the manufacturers of Lancashire, rather than a manufacturing center. The production of at least half a million looms is handled in this city, so that it is an excellent center for a textile school. The textile department of the Manchester school gives special prominence to the instruction in cotton spinning and weaving, the county of Lancashire being engaged largely in the manufacture of this fiber. Special efforts have also been made in the direction of teaching silk manufacture with a view to reviving what was formerly a large industry in the Manchester district. The Manchester Municipal Technical School is a very large institution, or rather association of institutions, including the old Mechanics' Institute on Princess street, the Spinning and Weaving School on Peters street, the Electrical Engineering School on Whitworth street, the Painters' and Decorators' School on Nicholas street, with branch establishments at Newton Heath and Openshaw. These schools were attended in 1895-96 by 3,434 individual students, while 554 students attended the Manchester School of Art, which is also in connection with the technical school. The list of lecturers and other members of the staff is about 160 in number, and the director of the school is one of the best known educationists in Great Britain, Mr. J. H. Reynolds; the head master of the textile department is Mr. T. W. Fox; of the chemical technology department, Dr. E. Knecht, and of the art department, Mr. R. Glazier. All the previously named departments, with the exception of the school of art, will be assembled in a new building, which is now under course of erection, and which is shown on page 278, and a plan of the ground floor given on page 280. The estimated cost of the building alone is $650,000, and it is anticipated, with the cost of land and equipment, over $1,000,000 will be ultimately expended. The building, which is from the design of Messrs. Spalding & Cross, architects, of London, is in the style of the French Renaissance of Francis I, freely treated, and will be a notable addition to Manchester architecture. It is being erected in Accrington brick and in terra cotta of an unusually pleasing tint and bold design. The main entrance, which is treated in gray Dalbeattie granite and terra cotta, flanked by designs characteristic of the union of science, art, and industry, by Mr. Walter Crane, is on Sackville street, and will be a specially fine feature of the main façade. From the ground-floor plan, given on page 280, the general arrangement of the building on each floor can readily be seen. With the object of securing the effective lighting of all the rooms, it will be noted that the rooms are all placed in the four blocks which form the frontages of the building, and the corridors, which give ready and convenient access to each of them, are lighted from the large internal area which is divided by the large halls devoted to the museum, the great examination and assembly room, and the chemical laboratory. The basement floor is devoted to workshops and laboratories for spinning, weaving, mechanical and electrical engineering, joinery, and plumbing. On the ground floor are placed the museum, the administrative offices, laboratories for physics, lecture rooms for spinning and weaving, joinery, and other textile workshops. On the first floor will be found the scientific and technical library, the reading room, the lecture room for mathematics, physics, and engineering, workshops for letterpress and lithographic printing, book and stationery room, drawing room for building construction, and the large examination hall. The second floor is devoted to rooms for machine construction and drawing and plumbing, to subjects pertaining to women's industries, to domestic economy, to advanced commercial teaching, and other subjects. The third floor is entirely set apart for chemistry, in its application to the various chemical industries, while the fourth floor is given up to industrial art and to the gymnasium. Provision is made for an astronomical and meteorological observatory at the extreme northeast corner of the building. The lighting of the building will be by electricity, supplied from the city mains, from which source will also be derived the motive power for driving the various machines and appliances. Special consideration has been given to the subject of ventilation and heating, which will be the Plenum system, and to the sanitary arrangements of the building. The fitting and equipment will be made in all respects complete and efficient for the purposes of technical training in the various industries of this great manufacturing district. A textile department is at present conducted in the building on Peters street, Manchester, formerly used as a meeting house. One room is devoted to cotton-spinning machinery, of which there is a large equipment of modern make, but not new. It comprises a cotton gin, picker, two cards, ribbon lap machine, comber, drawing frame, slubbing frame, intermediate frame, fine frame, mule, spinning frame, two twisters, and other machinery, mostly by Dobson & Barlow, of Bolton, England. In the weaving department there is an excellent collection of 22 power looms, including representative looms from almost all English loom builders, with one or two of the American pattern. There are 16 power looms producing cotton fabrics, 4 producing silk fabrics, and 2 producing worsted fabrics. Six of the looms are |