256 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



And the proof of all this lies in the fact that the speaker had sought 

 unsuccessfully in several technical schools for a man willing to teach 

 mechanical and electrical engineering under missionary auspices in a 

 foreign land. His argument was strengthened by the assertion of 

 one president that the young men in his institution were not in engi- 

 neering for the good they could do in the world, but for the amount 

 of profitable employment they could secure for themselves. And the 

 survey of conditions led to this forecast: 



I believe we are going to have to face in this land that inevitable result of 

 our technical education. We have turned away young men and some young 

 women from the great classical ideals of self-sacrifice in fields where they could 

 do the most unselfish work. 



These statements, made in all sincerity by one who is respected by 

 all who know him, appeal directly to the prejudices of many who wish 

 well to all mankind; but they are defective and the defect arises from 

 confounding things wholly unlike and unrelated. 



Technical schools are not schools for the study of science, but 

 schools in which the principles of pure science are applied to practical 

 operations. Like trade schools, schools of law or medicine, they are to 

 prepare a man to earn a livelihood in honest and honorable fashion, to 

 do well that which formerly was done in slipshod fashion. Mental and 

 moral training, as such, have only incidental place, yet such training 

 is as inseparable from their work as muscular training is inseparable 

 from apprenticeship in blacksmithing. When one considers that stu- 

 dents in such schools are taught to regard theirs as professional work 

 of the highest grade; are taught to regard honorable dealing as the 

 foundation stone of a successful career; are trained from the outset to 

 recognize the great responsibility awaiting them, in that the security 

 of vast properties and the safety of communities will depend upon their 

 skill, accuracy and honesty ; he can not doubt that even the coarse fiber 

 of an unscrupulous man will undergo some refining during a four 

 years' course. And the facts amply confirm the a priori conclusion. 

 The writer knows that the moral standard among engineers of every 

 type — chemical, civil, sanitary, electrical, mining, mechanical — is im- 

 measurably higher than in the days when there were no technical 

 schools, when the work of such professions was left mostly to mechanics. 

 If the standard of professional honor were not high, very high, our 

 national prosperity would come to an end, for all depends on the 

 engineer. 



There is no room for pessimism here. Men should thank God and 

 take courage for the future as they see the influence of technical train- 

 ing, which has transformed the face of the world and led to increasing 

 recognition of unity of interest. Improvements in mining and metal- 

 lurgy have brought about improved methods of transportation and 



