THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE FACTORY WORKER. 3
the wider use of the cinematograph, but the efforts required to impart.
literacy to adult operatives working a full day would generally produce
more valuable results if applied in other directions. If adults are to
face the strain of education successfully, it must be given in hours that
would otherwise be devoted to factory work, and this is out of the ques-
tion for the mass of operatives.
The Education of Selected Operatives.
The provision of a simple form of education in working hours
might, however, be worth while in the case of a few selected operatives in
some industries. This would go far to solve the difficulty of obtaining
suitable men for the lower supervisory grades. The first necessity is time
off with pay for promising men selected for the purpose. At least three
afternoons a week might be given to education. But it will probably
be necessary for employers to go a stage further by assisting to provide
the education. The time-tables of the municipal schools will ordinarily
be inconvenient for the operative, and in any case he cannot suitably
be educated along with young children. Further, the supervision of
the education by the employer will do something to secure that it is
properly directed. Under his direction a little technical education could
be added where necessary, but care must be taken to see that the school
concentrates on general and not technical training. The facilities for
obtaining practical experience are usually there ; itis the lack of general
aducation which keeps the promising worker back. The case of the
jute industry in Bengal offers a special opportunity in this direction
by reason of its geographical concentration and of the excellent organi-
sation of the employers. Here, too, the advantages of the proposal
would be most easily tested in that the educated sardar would find his
employment in the same district and frequently in the same group of
mills. © We recommend that the Indian Jute Mills Association should
combine to maintain a part-time school for selected adult and adolescent
Operatives. Such a school would, we hope, secure a good Government
grant, as it would have a strong claim to State assistance. On satis-
factory completicn ot the course, the workman, if properly selected in
the first instance, would be able to take a post as jobber or assistant
Jobber, and the avenue of further promotion would be open to him.
The possibilities of similar co-operative action deserve examination
by employers wherever there is a concentration of industry. While
we have stressed the importance of general education, we do not desire
bo imply that technical education would not be of great assistance
in some cases, and we suggest that employers’ associations might consider
the question of granting scholarships for technical education to selected.
men.
Industrial Unemployment.
We discuss in the remainder of this chapter the question of
unemployment, with special reference to the factory worker. Two
factors have hitherto operated to protect industrial workers a
the dangers of long periods of idleness, In the first place the rate of
