Bisbee daily review., 1916-07-09
MINING EDUCATION
 0F CITY RESIDENTS
Continued From Page D

NSOhlihuCu TlOll I dSc I)
 ?riginal thesis, that a mining engineer 5hould above all else be a broadly Nducated man and that such a founda- lation may be best obtained as the 'esult of a general university training. doubt if any profession subjects its members to tests of character so se- ere and so prolonged as does that Of
 he mining engineer. Consider for a ~oment how often he is placed in places remote from restraining influ- ances, where he cannot seek advice If his elders or benefit from the stim- Hating moral control of home and family In the absence of these checks ! man must fall back upon his own cultural and mental resources, his books, his pen and love of Nature. into which the educated man sees so much deeper than one who has not been taught. A mining engineer often finds himself in situations so abso- 'utely detached and foreign to the life ne has been accustomed to, that 1t becomes a serious test of character if he has no diversions save his em- DiOA lltui anu lut Olltn AAAfoiOuo RAS times of his companions. It cannot be disputed that too complete ab- Sorption in ones work is, bad both for the man and the job, hence it is high " important that the mind for short periods should be completely detach- ed and interested in something whol- ly unconnected with the engineers daily occupation. Under such condi tions the broadly educoted man has 2 great advantage over one who knows the technicalities of his work and lit
 tie more; in lonely remote mining camps it is the idle hours that are the real menace to both body and soul Sl this connection it is well to re member that on the last analysis it is the man, not his tools, that makes civilization. and the character of il will be either brutal or ethical accord
 ing to the spirit he infuses into if.
 There is another subject relating t. an engineers education that has re ceived little or no attention. that is his fitness and the indisputable i'm portance of his taking an active par in the public life of the nation. We live today in a mechanical age, yet il is the rarest thing to find men who have had engineering educations ir the supposedly deliberative bodies that make our laws or in the executive positions and offices that administer them. No country in the world af lords such abundant opportunity fol higher education as the United States md the least its recipients can do is to make some return in public serv ice. During our Civil war the mili
 tary officers on both sides of that un
 fortunate contest were largely re cruited from the professions. chiefly the law; for in those days engineer ing had hardly reached the dignity O that designation. Yet today, although we are living in an engineering age ihe engineer as a citizen has no more influence or voice in public affairs thar fifty years ago. This is all wrong for it is a serious blunder that the laws now governing us should bf framed and administered by mer wholly unfamiliar with engineering il any Of it's branches. That men are competent to frame laws simply be
 'ause they are lawyers is absurd, fot aw is or should be based on commons sense and thorough understanding If the physical conditions affecting
 he different phases of human life ano andeavor that it is intended to regu late. In the present war the Britisi are drawing heavily upon the engin eer.ng professions for their army off