PROBLEMS IN TRAINING MINING ENGINEERS 663 



it is possible to cultivate these qualities, even in the most hetero- 

 geneous material, is evidenced by the success of our military 

 and naval academies in producing them in the average American 

 youth. The raw material they have to work on is not different 

 from that which goes to our engineering schools. But the results 

 they attain in this respect are so decidedly better that there is no 

 comparison. In most engineering schools these important qualities 

 are simply ignored, and no attempt is made to cultivate them. 



Where, as in many of the so-called "Land Grant Colleges," a 

 certain amount of military instruction and discipline is required, 

 the means exist by which these qualities may be cultivated to some 

 extent. In the University of California such is the case, and I have 

 always found that the mining students who, by attention to such 

 matters, succeed as officers, invariably take high rank in their pro- 

 fession in executive positions. It is one of the few chances men 

 have in college of learning the arts of controlling themselves and 

 others. There is no agent so effective in forcing men to realize the 

 means and advantages of cooperation as rigid military discipline; 

 for the wars and struggles of our race since primeval times have 

 polished and perfected this method till it has reached a high state 

 of efficiency. But it is difficult for engineering schools to give the 

 time and attention to it that is possible in a purely military school. 



Another important means of reaching this end is to be found in 

 all athletic sports in which, as in baseball, boating, and especially 

 in football, team-work plays an important part. 



Organizing students into parties for surveying and other field 

 and laboratory investigations, where each in turn acts as aid and 

 as chief, is another effective means. In short, any agency that 

 develops the instinct of cooperation, of team-work, of the faculties 

 of self-control^ courtesy, fidelity, and faithfulness, will prove effective. 

 It will be more difficult to secure these qualities in America than 

 it is abroad, because of the strong instincts of individualism and 

 self-assertion that are such marked characteristics of American 

 youth. Nevertheless, the uniform success of Annapolis and West 

 Point in these matters testifies to its possibility. There is great 

 room for improvement along these lines in all American engineering 

 schools. 



Sundry Minor Essentials 



There are also certain minor matters, too often neglected by 

 both students and professors, which are peculiarly important to 

 the young engineer in his first work after graduation, and all of 

 which can easily be mastered in college; such as, neatness in draw- 

 ing, mapping, and lettering, certainty and rapidity in numerical 



