PROBLEMS IN TRAINING MINING ENGINEERS 647 



is, if not contented with his lot, at least more likely to be reconciled 

 to it; for he feels it idle to waste himself in useless effort. But if you 

 can convince such a man that there is no limit to his ambition but 

 that of his own powers, you have fired him with the most powerful 

 stimulant that can influence human nature. It is this stimulant, 

 working day and night for over a century upon men descended from 

 every race in Europe, that has produced the American temperament. 

 It is a temperament that was not unknown in Greece in its great 

 democratic days. Republican Rome felt it too. But in monarchies 

 its influence is mostly confined to the army and the navy. For in war 

 times the best man must be had regardless of his birth. Napoleon 

 overran Europe by declaring to his men: "Every soldier carries the 

 Marshal's baton in his knapsack." 



The Role of "the Practical Miner 1 ' in America 



Nowhere in America has this influence been more keenly felt than 

 in the mining industry, particularly in the Western States. The 

 policy of our Government in throwing open to the hardy prospector its 

 ownership in the mineral wealth of these states has stimulated men 

 without previous technical education and training to accomplish 

 what in older countries would be regarded as physical impossibilities. 



It is true that the path has been marked with waste of money, 

 labor, and life. Blunders, failures there have been, and still are, innu- 

 merable. But the accomplishment is all the more remarkable when 

 we recognize these facts, for it testifies to the almost superhuman 

 energy with which these obstacles have been overcome. 



We are greatly indebted to the Old World for its contributions to the 

 mining and metallurgic art, but we are beginning to repay the loan 

 with generous interest. And, to tell the truth, it is largely due to the 

 plain average American, without college education or training, that 

 many of these advances have been made. Every one who has mixed 

 much with American miners has met and honored many such un- 

 crowned kings. And unless the graduate of American mining schools is 

 ready and inlling to meet with this kind of competition without fear or 

 favor, he will surely and deservedly fail. 



This was the first great problem that confronted the American 

 mining schools and it has proved their greatest advantage. There is 

 no royal road for their graduates. They cannot depend on the Govern- 

 ment for places in the mines, because the Government neither owns, 

 works, nor attempts to control the mines. Neither can they look to 

 their diplomas as a guarantee of employment. 



The American attitude on this question has hitherto been very 

 different from the European. Credentials, degrees, diplomas, and 

 recommendations that in Europe carry great weight, in America often 



