The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-08-07
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.

Suggestions In Young Men who Are
Looking That Way.
The inducements offered by the profess
sion of electrical engineering are drawing
each year an increasing number of young
men INTO technical study Of the subject.
A word "a such may not be n OF place.
You must remember that the great electri-
cal industries in whish you hope 10 see ac-
tive service are In the growth OF hardly
more than a single decade; yet, while
this gives high promise for the future II 10
clear that the pioneering period Ia for the
most part gone says the Electrical World.
While each year will see an extension
and strengthening OF electrical interests,
they are steadily settling into more con-
sentative and business-like shape. Do
not, therefore, look for the sudden and
brilliant success that came to reward some
of the early workers in the electrical
field, but rather for the steady labor and
w~ell-earned prizes that pertain to serious
and faithful professional work.
Electrical industry has two widely diff
ferent phases, business and technical. In
the former an electrical education may or
may not he of marked service--one OF the
most active and successful electrical bust
ness men we nov was, until quite re-
Gently, the manager of a brewery-in the
latter II is no longer a convenience but q
utStb5tkys Ittcu stuTo dko 81 ttttlC WaS
known of the practical application OF
electricity that q quick inventive mine
with no more technical training than
might be gained by the experience of a
telegraph Office, could strike out i'm new
lines Of progress with every prospect of
success. To-day, while b field Is very;
very far from being fully explored, good
work cannot be done without studying
and proflting by the results of hat fifteen
years of marvellous development.
He who starts to-day with the training
that would have meant success then will
probable meet dismal failure now. There
fore, in taking up the study OF electrical
careful and thorough work you do the
better the chance in the future. And do
not be deluded into the idea that you
should hurry through your training and
''learn practical electricity in the work
shop" You q learn more that will be
in a good laboratory than in i've years in
an electrical mandatory. Do not ex-
pect to leave the laboratory with
an intimate knowledge Of any electri-
cal system-you will not have
il, but YOU will have acquired that what
Of the general principles that will enable
you In seizing the details of any system
with a rapidity that will surprise you.
Study, then, the broad principles in
volved In applied electricity and the the
oretical basis on which they rest, This is
the electrical side of your education. But
there is another, every whit as important.
Electrical engineering is mechanical en-
glneering. plus electricity, and while per
haps, Sir William ~Thompson's statement
that a mechanical engineer can acquire
all the necessary electrical training in six
months or SO is rather strongly put, there
Ii q deal Of truth in IL. A sound idea OF
mechanical principles Is very necessary
70 success in practical electricity, and the
ideal training, then would build a firm
su~perstructure Of electricity on a founda.
ton of mechanical engineering. Put all
all h time you can spare, therefore, OH q
cellent schools that are available, and
when you have completed IL make up
your mind to work for all you are worth,