PROBLEMS IN TRAINING MINING ENGINEERS 667 



been nearly 1400 per cent since 1887. There is no doubt that the 

 demand for mining engineers in America can easily be supplied by the 

 existing schools. It would be a distinct advantage if they could be re- 

 stricted to a very much smaller number. Not more than six, or at most 

 a dozen, favorably distributed according to the needs of the mining 

 communities, could do all the work demanded of them much better 

 than a larger number. Under American conditions no regulation but 

 that of natural competition is possible. Much could be gained, how- 

 ever, if the existing schools would cooperate to fix a common stand- 

 ard for the degrees given. While no official relation with the mines is 

 possible, the moral effect of such a step would be very great. 



Degrees 



One of the reasons that so little attention has been paid in America 

 to college degrees in the past is the great unevenness of the require- 

 ments for them in different parts of the country. Wherever a degree, 

 or its equivalent, has come to mean something definite, as with our 

 military and naval academies, it has received full recognition. 



Still, there are indications of a general change in the public estimate 

 of degrees. This has been most marked in regard to the degrees of 

 Doctor of Philosophy and of Science. These have come to mean a 

 capacity for original investigation in some branch of science or letters. 

 It would be a distinct advantage to the mining schools, and to the 

 mining profession, if a similar definite meaning always went with that 

 of the degree of mining engineer. 



At present the practice of American mining schools differs greatly 

 in this matter. Some give the degree of mining engineer at the end of 

 a four years' undergraduate course. One even gives it in three years; 

 one has attempted a five years' course, but has unfortunately gone out 

 of existence. Others give, for much the same amount of work, only 

 the degree of Bachelor of Science at the end of the undergraduate 

 course, and reserve the degree of mining engineer for advanced work. 



I am convinced that no matter how excellent the course of a mining 

 school, it is a distinct mistake to give the degree of mining engineer on 

 the same basis as that of the bachelor's degree. Some engineering 

 schools, recognizing this difficulty, have attempted to institute as a 

 mark of greater attainment the absurd degree of doctor of engineering. 



The highest degree given by a mining school should be that of 

 Mining Engineer. This degree should be put on the same basis as that 

 of Doctor of Philosophy, or of Science. It should be confined to those 

 who have not only mastered the fundamental training, but have 

 shown by actual accomplishment that they possess, in addition, the 

 precious qualities of initiative and capacity as leaders in engineering, 

 and also that maturity of mind and character which one naturally 



