New-York tribune., 1903-05-03

Honesty has a commercial value-when it can
Bot be bought In the selection OF costly plant
and machinery, in the control OF large expendi-
lures and In the valuation Of mines there is be-
tween right and wrong not line simply but a
space broad enough for the manGuvres OF a
regiment of cavalry. This wide margin between
right and wrong must be brought down to =
definite line; nothing but absolute intellectual
honesty will suffice for the who claims the
honorable designation OF engineer. No wonder
then that men OF unquestioned integrity com
mand high salaries and that those who are the
sport OF circumstance gradually weeded out
unfit for service. Similar reflections can be
made concerning tact. which IS instinctfve-a po-
liteness felt rather than expressed. no man who
commands other and is himself subject to
command can afford to be without It. \ mining
engineer. even more than the lawyer or the doc
tor is thrown into contact with all sorts ard
conditions OF men. not in one country alone
but, during the course OF average lifetime,
In several In this country especially the work
men whom an engineer is called upon TO direct
belong to every nationality: he has to deal with
political and industrial conditions of the ex-
tremest kind. Furthermore. mis- employers
whether directors clients number an extraor-
binary variety Of people. aristocratc pIutocratfo
and kakistocratic. educated and ignorant do
nestle and foreign. so that much OF bis eventual
success will depend upon a control Of himself
and consideration for others, such as dis
tinguishes OF resource. You can get on
without honesty and tact as you can enter a
house without the combination Of a door and a
key, but it does not take much OF philosopher
to observe the advantages Of these characteris-
tics amid the chances and changes OF cosmo-
politan career.
Mining engineering In its wider development
is new profession in America, although it can
claim historic descent elsewhere. The berg
man, mountain man. OF Central Europe In
the offspring Of the primitive prospector who,
in the early dawn Of history. hunted for stones
and metals such as he needed for defence or
habitation- It Is long step to the Cornish
mine captain. but the latter can claim descens
from those who digged for tin before even the
Carthaginian discovered Britain. and II he
swings his glance from a misty past 10 the
palptatins present he can regard as his own
the capable mine mana gers who in recent years
have gone abroad Per mare ct per terrain 70
search for the hidden things Of the earth
Moreover, II can be said that the mining en-
gineering OF the modern world divides Itself
into three distinct periods: First there was ths
time. 25O years ago, when the Saxon engineers
led by Schneider, pre-eIninent throughout
Europe; then, the period. lasting fully two hun
dred years. during which the Cornish rnfns
captain proved himself the best man: and now
won by American mining engineers reputa-
tion which was first emphasized at the mines OF
the Transvaal, and has since broadened TO Aus
tralia. Mexico and other regions.
In adapting itself to new conditions. the pro-
fession Of the mining engineer has only recent
ly begun to win position comparable to that
which ii enjoys IN Europe. In France. for ex-
ample. the two ranking graduates from tbs
Ecole Polytechnique have the privilege OF Sc
fanr rFr1er
between the school OF mines and the school OF
civil engineering. aud this resolves itself always
into the selection Of the Ecole des Mines
Recollections OF personal experience CONS
vividy to the writer. in comparing the status
which accorded to young graduate in two
localities so unlike as the French-ItaIian Alps
and the mountains Of Colorado. only fifteen
years ago the product OF a school Of mining
gineering would have found IT inexpedient. IN
the Rocky Mountain districts TO mention his
degree. He hastened rather 70 obtain the right
to refer to experience gained at some mining
camp such Leadville or Georgetown in pref
erenee to making mention OF an academic train-
ing. which only invited comment unfit
ness for practical work In France. on the con-
trary. to be ancien eleve de TEcoe des
Mines. whether OF Paris or elsewhere. won an
instant recognition of social and technical
standing.
Nor has the comparatively seVer6r attitude or
our mining camps been without its good result;
it has taught the young graduate that the
passing OF examinations alone does not const-
tute training sufficient to make him efficient.
and that four five years Of apprenticeship
must set the seal to the diploma Of a man who
is worthy Of the title of mining engine pr. Thus
have various factors mutually reacted until TO-
day the mining engineer is far more practical.
and therefore more satisfactory. man than he
was. say. twenty-five years ago. He may not be
accomplished his father was at the same
age for general culture has been sacrificed u
special training. but he is more in touch With
the realities of things. he ranges himself more
quickly alongside of facts. and is better able 70
go to the bottom OF the practical problems which
face him in his daily work He may lack some
OF the fine touch OF scholarship when compared
TO the men OF earlier day. he is not a good
mathematician. it may be. and his classics are
distinctly weak but longer stay at university
and school Of mines. the aid of summer eNCuT-
siOns To mines and mills. the closer contact with
the men already in the field. and the dimiuution
OF the barriers OF time and place brought about
by rapid methods of communication. have ali
tended to make him better prepared for tie
career which he has chosen The fact that such
a preparation is readily obtainabIe is uanifestly
highly favorable TO the choice of this proiss-
sion by the youth of America. our schools OF
mines and Institutes of technology. in addi1io"
to the special courses now given dt the ieadihs
universities, afford ample opportunities for So
curing an education such i at least as S'"@
as, II not better than. that procure be III 'N0
older centres of learning in Europe
In the United States the profession Is SUN 80