The sun., 1900-11-17
Education for Railroad Men.

With the material development Of our
American railroads We are all more or less
familiar, we do not know so well, however.
their growth along the more strictly scien-
rife and technical lines. In special chap
ter in the forthcoming report OF the Federal
Commissioner OF Education. on Educational
Training for Railway Service" Mr.. j. SHIR-
ley EATON. statistcan of the Lehigh Valley
Railroad. describes at length what has been
done for technical education by railroads
and colleges. and what yet remains 10 be
done
II is only Of late years that the old rule
of-thumb railroad men have given up the
control OF the roads The railroad Ia so
very new that the generations of rail-
readers Just retired had 70 learn every
feature of the business for themselves;
there was no one to teach them. Naturally.
they looked down on college-bred and
book-taugh, men Civil engineering was
70 them the only profession that could
in any way tit man for railroad work
and they excepted that because even from
the beginning their routes had been laid
out by civil engineers. BY degrees, though,
the value even on railroads OF trained
scientific men began TO be understood:
Mr. EATON suggests that the change came
slowly for the reason that the great body
Of rolling stock was not built by railroads,
but by private concerns. When the roads
began 10 build as well as TO operate their
trains, it was u their immediate advantage
20 construct them as well and as cheaply
"a possible. Then the need Of the trained
student became apparent
Educational training for railroad service
ia obtainable in various ways. Some col
leges have courses for graduates or upper
class men in railroad work; some schools
Of commerce in the larger universities
have courses in railroad economies. and
some railroads maintain or aid schools
intended 10 III their employees more fully
for their labor. At the colleges there in as
yet no railroad course of four years. There
are special graduate courses at Sibley Col
lege, in Cornell University; Purdue Uni
versity inclines to extend the course il has
In railroad management to four years, this
college being extremely well equipped for
railroad instruction; the University of
Wisconsin has railroad courses open TO
juniors. seniors and graduates.
What may be termed the book work ~
railroad management. railroad economics
the study of accounts. legislation, trans
portation, &c. requiring less plant for
instruction. is studied at more colleges
than the mechanical branch of railroad.
ing. The Wharton School Of Commerce
In the University Of PENNSYLVANIA. the
earliest school OF commerce. provides n
course in the non-mechanical side of rail-
reading. At the University Of Chicago the
railroad course is covered in two Years the
latter half of the college course There are
very complete lecture courses on railroad
economics at some Of the colleges, notably
at the University Of Wisconsin and st
Purdue University. These two colleges. IL
will be noted. have both mechanical and
theoretical courses.
The training given by the schools al
ready existing has been deemed insufficient
6y some railroad men. who propose prac-
iically university railroad curriculum,