FAIR,  1895.
 

33
 

THE   HEBREW  TECHNICAL  INSTITUTE.
 

This society was organized in November,
1883, for the purpose of providing free educa¬
tion in technical and industrial branches for
 

needed to suppl)^ the means for a proper
extension of the work, and the necessary
steps toward this end were taken on April
22, 1886, at a meeting held in Temple
Emanu-Kl.   About two hundred persons joined
 

poor Jewish boys.    It began as the offshoot of    the  society   as members  and   patrons.      The
 

Technical Institute.
 

the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum
Society, the Hebrew Free School Association
and the United Hebrew Charities, each of
which bound itself to contribute annually
toward its support, and to delegate five Direc¬
tors for its government. The first two of those
societies were naturally led to a belief in the
value of such an undertaking by their own
experience in the education of the boys under
their charge; the Charities hoped to assist
families out of pauperism by properly de¬
veloping the earning capacities of the chil¬
dren. There can be no doubt that the pur¬
poses of the founders have been fulfilled :
there is reason to believe that the present
school has developed considerably be3^ond the
original plans.

It  soon   became   apparent   that   the   sup¬
port   of  a  regular membership   society   was
 

number of Dh-ectors was increased to twenty-
one, of whom six were elected by the society,
the other fifteen being delegated as heretofore.
As the membership increased, the parent so¬
cieties were enabled to gradually withdraw the
annual contributions and to correspondingly
diminish the number of their delegates. Now
the Orphan Asylum alone continues its contri¬
butions, in recognition of the services rendered
in the education of a number of its wards, and
it sends three delegates to the Board, the other
eighteen Directors being elected by the mem¬
bers and patrons.

Ever since the beginning of the undertak--
ing, Mr. James H. Hoffman has been Presi¬
dent of the society, and has devoted much, of:"
his time to the interests of the school.    TKeP
actual management, however, is intrusted to a
paid Principal, who is directly responsible ta
 

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