The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-05-18
Former Occur dAlene Man Encour-
ages Employment of American Boys
Albert Bureh in Mining and Scientific Press.

greater skill But the chief consider
alton Is, as stated above, that because
Of his greater ambition, the American
boy will not begin work as common
4 laborer unless he sees the promise OF
something better in the future, and 1t
Is to put before him this promise that
the following plan is proposed. /
Suggest that in each important min
ing center the mining company or
companies set aside or construct ii
suitable room or building to be used
as a mining school for the instruction
of employees in the theory and prac-
tice of mining The instructor should
! be a recent graduate from the mining
department of the University Of Cali
fornia or some similar institution, and
! in selecting him, care should be exer-
cised to obtain one who has had the
school hours should not be so long as
to be burdensome but should be 50
arranged as to afford instruction to
men from both the day and night
shifts. The instruction should be en-
tirely free to all employees of the in
terested companies between specified
limits of age and above a specified
standard of preliminary education.
Just how high this standard should
be need not be discussed here but no
doubt with the aid of the faculty of
the state university two years
course could be devised that would |
give a man a good insight into the
theory of mining even though at the |
start he had nothing better than a |
grammar school education. The OBJ
ject would be not to give a man q |
training as mining engineer, but to
fit him in both theory and practice to
become a first class miner timber
man, shiftboss or foreman. Having
provided the plant and instrucrD. for
the school, the next step suggested is
for the interested companies to send
out an agent whose duty it would be
to select from among applicants in
the mining district itself, and from
the country adjacent, few boys
ranging in age from Is to 21 years,
who We're qualified by physique, in
diligence, ambition and preliminary
education to undertake the work of I
nine laborers coupled with instruc-
ion such as the school could give II
rhey should be given distinctly t. ,
understand that their pay would be !
he same as for other laborers in the /
iame class of employment, and that +
heir jobs could only be held by both /
lolng their work properly in the mine :
md regular attendance at the school r
I is my belief that hundreds of such
'oys can be found in California, and
heir proper training will, in few
ears, materially raise the standard !,
# the miners employed in the state
rhe schools would serve the double
purpose of supplying instruction and
# filling the time of the young men
% occupied as to prevent their fall {
ng victims to the demoralizing in
luences that have in the past ruined =
many American boys in the western O
mining camps. Naturally, the major 5
ty of those boys taking this training =
you'd never advance beyond the u
rade of expert miner and timber men a
ut even this would be distinct gain |
9th to themselves and to the indus {
ry which would be still further bene-
tied by the better training of the n
ew who might become shift bosses
bremen and superintendent. Tho a
Expense of maintaining such trade "
'hools, If they may be so called 4
ould not be a great burden upon -
ny mining company, and it ia my G
1inion that 1t would be much more tc
IAN offset within q very few years u
the greater efficiency of the EN- "
Dyes Progressive railroad and in T
istrial corporations, for many years
I'VE found 1t profitable to maintain
hools for the better training of GER N
in classes of their employees, anf
telligence and skill are quite as val
bile to the conduct of mining oper- VI
ions as to most other lines of work.
lis being true, why not try to de-
Sc some plan that will give us more MI
intelligence and skill? The schem, vi
timed may not seem entirely practi. AT
to those of your readers who con- st
u mines; but it is hoped that thi, Ju
ter may lead to a discussion which h bn
Il result ID the general adoption o SUI
ne plan that will prove practical SUI,
- col
WIRE ROPE. Sc,