11^ — ^THE RISE OF SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY 



which is the normal condition of those who range only within the 

 sphere of their own practice, and to whom analysis and generalization, 

 in their business affairs, as well as in morals and politics, are an un- 

 known thing. It is unfortunately true that a large number of managers 

 in metallurgical enterprises — men who are deemed indispensable, and 

 who probably, are indispensable, in the average state of practical science, 

 are thus not incorrectly characterized. Conscious of their power as con- 

 servators, ignorant of the elements of improvement, and not unfrequentlv 

 jealous and blindly fearful for the interests of their craft, they sit tri- 

 umphant on an eminence (the steady undermining of which they cannot 

 observe), and sneer at the too frequently condescending magniloquence 

 of recent graduates and book men. The best of this class are the work- 

 ful and painstaking men who come up from the ranks — men who are 

 plucky in emergencies and regulative of labor — men whose unconscious 

 reasoning or intuition covers the ordinary exigencies, and who, perhaps 

 for this very reason, never inform themselves outside of their own range 

 of observation, nor observe in a methodical or fruitful manner, . . . 



In the enlargement ... of mutual respect and instruction, to a 

 certain extent lies the solution of the problem under consideration; but 

 it is a complex method, only actively operative under several important 

 conditions, such as: 



1. A public opiiiion among schoolmen that a course of object and 

 phenomena study in w^orks is to be reckoned, not as a matter of mere 

 business sequence, but as a large and equal feature of that curriculum 

 which is essential to a degree of professional graduation. 



2. A diffusion, among the class which we have termed the "prac- 

 tical" class, of a real appreciation of an organized system of informa- 

 tion and of the scientific method of making this information useful to all 

 classes of men and noxious or unimportant to none; such a general ex- 

 planation to that vast, preponderating class of workmen and of fore- 

 men and managers, who are foremen and managers simply because they 

 have been efficient workmen, as wull ever prevent their indiscriminate 

 and contemptuous application of the term "theory" to whatever a 

 schoolman proposes. 



3. An understanding among the owners, directors and commercial 

 managers of engineering enterprises, that it is not a matter of favor, but 

 a matter of as much interest to themselves as to any class, that young 

 men of suitable ability and of suitable preliminary culture, however ac- 

 quired, should have opportunity and encouragement to master the prac- 

 tical features of technical education in works, not as mere apprentices, 

 but under reasonable facilities for economy of time and completeness of 

 research. 



But these conditions do not largely exist, and are only growing with 

 general civilization. They must be hastened and magnified by some bet- 

 ter means than merely stating the case again and again, as some of us, I 

 confess, are too fond of doing; than perpetually repeating, in a manner 

 more sentimental than efficient, that scientists should appreciate practice, 

 and practicians should appreciate science, and capital should join the 

 hands of science and practice, saying: "Bless you, my children," in the 

 expectation that this will prove a fruitful union. Let us rather inquire if 



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