Montana labor news., 1938-11-24

piece.
spent in running the instruments,
handling them, finding out how they
are made and what can be done
them, all by actual contact. 1t
can't be learned in books. When
four or five boys r in a ere 1t
cuts down on the amount of time
each one can spend using the instru-
ment. And all of them are not busy.
One or two have to stand around.
With three to a crew they are all
working and each n gets a chance
to use the instrument a maximum
amount of time"
DO you handle all these boys by
yourself out there?s we asked,
wondering how one man could
handle 95 boys in a course like that.
INC, / don't. I have n or two
faculty members and two or three
Junior or senior students assisting
me. need three or four more. All
those boys spread out over two or
three square miles need lots of atten-
ton and in surveying they need per
sonal attention more than in any
other course. If something goes
wrong they can easily waste a whole
afternoon trying to set it right when
perhaps a word or two from the in
structor can put them on the right
path in a few moments. But the
nearest instructor may be half a
mile away instructing another crew
and in any case the five or six of
us are not enough to get around to
the different crews always at the
time they need us. A loss of eff
cheney, of adequate training, results,
In all of these things it is the same
story-we can't afford the things we
need
'Mr. Adami," we said, IT'S easy
to see you + very busy here this
afternoon. We don't want to take
up any more of your time. But one
last bit of information. Just whaf
do you need in this department tC
make it function without this con.
slant scurrying around, as it were
to give your boys the kind Of train
ing they must have?"
"They get good training" MIR
Adami said. 'They must, or they
wouldn't be the good engineers they
are when they graduate. But the!
get it under great difficulties, un
necessary difficulties if we only hat
more money. What do l need il
this department? Our bare need
are these: 10 or is transits at abou
$3.50 apiece; 10 levels at $225 apiece
5 alidades at $500 apiece; tapes, rods
and tents, and all the other Incl
dentals to go with them. We sool
will have more space here, due t
the new Library and Museum build
ing which will be completed mex
fall. We need drawing tables badly
l suppose that if you talked to MI
Dingman and the rest of the me
in this department they would te.
you Of more things we could use
material which would make on
teaching better. The whole depart
ment needs more instructors. Pei
sonal attention from the teacher
vital in any curriculum and in tn
: mining engineering curriculum it
indispensable. We would like I
give our boys more personal after
t ton than we do but we can't do
7 without more instructors. Certainl
' the boys + entitled to the best W
can give them, the best training
is possible to provide. A vel
< trained engineer is an extremel
valuable asset to society"
At this point Mr.. Adami was il
terrupted by a group Of five stI
dents wanting to know somethir
: about "the bearing of curse 1924
So we left him and rushed home
{ write this while it was fresh ar
{ clear in our minds. We r goir
= back up there soon and talk to D
= Koenig, head of the chemistry d
partment. In fact, we r going
d keep going back until we've heal
| the story of all the departments. M
e Adami told us just enough to VIII
our interest. We want to get Il
y whole story. You readers will 6
o it, bit by bit, just as we hear it.