Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-10-24
New Fields For Technical Men.
Professions No Longer Overcrowded Because There Are
More Professions Developed by Modern Activities.

paper mlll--in every place where any
of the modern wonders are per-
formed.
Both the engineer and the chem
list join hands with the architect In
the construction of modern buildings.
The work OF the structural architect,
as he might be called, is supplement-
ed nowadays by that OF the landscape
architect, and since steel has taken
the place of wood in shipbuildine
marine architecture has taken q
prominent place among the profess
sions. These are the employments
which, in their multitude of ramifi'
cations, have offered the opportuni.
ties for success to the graduates OF
technical schools.
1t is curious how one side Of 4
profession has led to another, some.
times quite different, in the exper-
ence of these 1856 men. For exam.
pie, there is one who started out in
charge of experimental work for a
projectile company; two years later
he became assistant engineer Of an
automobile concern, Of which, at the
end Of ten years, he is chief engin-
eer. A classmate of his who became
assistant engineer for the canals on
the Merrimac River from which the
great mills at Lowell get their pow.
err, is now superintendent Of construc.
ton with concern that builds reser.
voirs and water supply and power
systems. Another, having seen SER
vice in the United States Navy during
the Spanish war, is chief craftsman
in one of the great shipbuilding
yards where government vessels are
built.
How New Profession Develop.
The way in which new professions
are developed from old ones and new
lines of work devised by men who
start out on one of the traditional
trails is sometimes curious. Here IL
man who began as a craftsman In
an architects office. He made spe'
cial study of fire-proofing and of the
problems involved in the protection
of modern buildings, became genera
inspector of an Insurance agency, and
so eventually found his place among
the fire underwriters. There is one
who started as a craftsman on pat
emit work, went through the engineer
ing departments of two or three biz
electrical companies and street rail
ways and finally took up designing
and drafting textile machinery. A
third turned his technical knowledge
in quite a different direction, for h
entered the Patent ONCE at Washing
ton, studied law while there and Il
to-day associated with firm Of pat
ent and trademark lawyers.
Electricity, water supply and indus
trial chemistry seem to have fur
nished the largest variety of opportu
mites. The electrical engineer no
not only plans and constructs light
ing systems and street railways, bu
also works somewhat in the field o
mining.
Refineries, distilleries, drug anC
chemical manufactures, gas plants
mills of this, that and the other kinC
have their quota of graduates VIII
specialized in chemistry.
? Nor are they the stay at homes
these technical school graduates, tina
their brethren of the classical" uni
versitles are likely to be. The tent
annual report of the class of '93, 0
the school from which this articl
has taken its statistics, showed tina
members were living in thirty-tw
States and Territorles.-New Yorl
Tribune.