666 MINING ENGINEERING 



mining schools located near large commercial centres, particularly 

 when these command not one, but many mining districts. 



Over-Supply of Mining Schools in America 



In a paper on "The Growth of American Mining Schools and their 

 Relation to the Mining Industry," read at the Engineering Congress 

 at the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893, 1 I have already called atten- 

 tion to the relatively small proportion of miners among the wage- 

 earners of the United States. According to the Tenth Census, the 

 number was only 1.82 per cent of the wage-earners, or 0.63 per cent 

 of the total population. The Eleventh Census showed a similar rela- 

 tion. The figures of the Twelfth Census show the total number of 

 miners and quarry-men to have increased to 1.95 per cent of the 

 total wage-earners, or 0.75 per cent of the population. It is impossi- 

 ble to determine from this report the exact number engaged in metal- 

 lurgical work, but after a careful study of the data given, a liberal 

 estimate for metallurgical laborers shows that the total cannot be 

 for both industries much more than 2.5 per cent of the wage-earn- 

 ers, or 0.95 per cent of the population. 



On the basis of the Eleventh Census (which contained no enumera- 

 tion of mining or metallurgical engineers) I estimate that there could 

 not have been at that time over 6000 persons in the United States 

 who practiced these professions; and that to keep up the supply 

 would require about 200 new men per year. In the Twelfth Census the 

 mining engineers were enumerated for the first time and the number 

 given is only 2908. Metallurgical engineers are not specified; but 

 under the head of "Chemists, Assayers and Metallurgists" the num- 

 ber is 8887. It is plain that a liberal outside estimate of mining en- 

 gineers and metallurgists would be ten thousand; and to keep up 

 the supply would take about 330 new men each year. By including 

 assayers, mine-surveyors, and the various minor officials of mining 

 and quarry companies, who might require some technical training, 

 this number might possibly be doubled or even trebled. But when we 

 remember that for many of these positions very little training is re- 

 quired, and that they are open to any one who wishes to attempt the 

 work, including many mining students who fail to graduate, it must 

 be evident that there is a legitimate field for not much over 300 min- 

 ing-school graduates each year. In 1893 I showed that there already 

 existed in the United States a much larger number of mining schools 

 than was really needed; and the number is now much greater. The 

 attendance at many of these schools has already increased enor- 

 mously. At the University of California, for instance, the gain has 



Transactions, xxm, 444; also, Transactions of the Society for the Promotion of 

 Engineering Education, vol. i, 1893. 





