expression is a summing up to him, namely, how to mine in various rock conditions that are presented, the dangers encountered, how to prevent injury or impairment to himself, to others, to his equipment, and to the work already completed, as well as to be at an advantage with that which is ahead.

Methods of mine timbering and their installation.

Chutes for ore and rock and their installation.

Blasting and use of powder, including choice of powder. Rock drills and their operation.

Mine pumps and the operation of them.

Hoists.

Track laying.

Mine cars, turn sheets, and points of attention to be given to them.

Filter pressing.

Smelting precipitates.

Sampling and testing solutions.

Tube-milling work.

Making the cleanup.

Settlers, etc.

Assay Office.

Types of furnaces and their management.
Preparation of samples and sampling.
Use of type fluxes in crucible assaying.
Operation of weighing and care of balances.
Cupellation and scorification.

Parting of beads.

Bullion melting and assaying.

"Wet" assaying, etc.

Surveying.

Care and use of instruments.
Making surveys and maps.

Blue printing, etc.

Mechanical Drawing.

Use of drawing instruments.

Geometric constructions.

Making sketches of machine parts, timbering, rock drills,

pumps, etc.

Production of finished mechanical drawings from these sketches.

Blue printing.

Prospecting course.

PERMEATING SUBJECTS

The following subjects were taught and they were made to permeate to a different degree each of the above courses as seemed to be required: Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry Rudimentary chemistry, with many exercises. Recognition of minerals.

These subjects were given before and simultaneously with the practical courses.

RECOGNITION OF EXPERIENCE OF OTHERS

The above plan of courses was followed from recognition of the experience of those in this field with courses antedating the school and, for that reason, those doing so were regarded to be authority by deference. And the plan was accepted without permitting an admission into it of whatever opinion there may have been of the plan. regardless of the fact that there had been given to it a personal effort to make the plan the best possible from the suggestions mentioned, and it was hoped that it might be a success. Judgment had been reserved until there was paid respect at least to the authority. These courses have some of the characteristics of being planned in the field of operation as distinguished from any planned elsewhere.

The attendance at first was large and continued so until the men began to see that there was an attempt to teach them that which they had already learned in a better school, namely, that of being practical learners, the industry itself being the school. About three-fourths of the attendance fell off.

The remaining one-fourth were mostly helpers or beginners. They still clung to the visions of success and lingered on for a time. One or two, it was thought, could be prepared for the University and in the case of others it was not thought advisable.

Those who remained saw, however, that the best these courses could do for them was not equal to that in which they had employment wherein there was a different exercise of observation and judgment, and to all intents and purposes a better school so far as they were concerned.

ATTITUDES OF INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENTS

There are two rather extreme positions regarding that which operating companies desire to pay for and expect of their employees. According to the one, the employee is supposed to know a prescribed and standard way of doing his work. His individuality is at a minimum, and he is reduced in the extreme instance to the position of being an automaton. On the other hand, in accordance with the other position,

the employee is supposed to exercise more intelligence and be capable of taking the initiative suitable for an occasion, and have a pride in being able to do so, which the employee in the other case has very little of, and is not expected to attempt to have, he being in the condition wherein it is at a discount.

One is represented by the factory hand and the eastern coal miner, while the other is represented by the western metal miner.

Mining is an industry which attracts men of all sorts of preoccupations and success, and there has been in this district, under observation for several years, companies representative of both positions, as well as others of various stages which were classed as being intermediate. The two attitudes or positions have been learned from observation by being on the ground.

The shift boss or foreman for instance, in one case is an overseer and in the other case a director. It is found, for illustration, that there are also many whose idea of what they think should be done in the way of management is more or less of a confusion or mixture of the two ideas.

PRESENT COURSES VALUED AND RESPECTED BY THE

DIFFERENT ATTITUDES

It should be stated that those in the present courses, which courses have not yet been considered, were as successful in the employ of a company that is exemplary of one position, as in the employ of a company representative of the other position, and equally successful for both, being valued in one case and respected in the other.

The former plan of course was carried on for some time by making various changes and readjustments, but it became obvious that the courses were not very successful with regard to results, and on the other hand, in order to have even a fair number in attendance, the courses had to be lowered to the plane of being informational or encyclopedic.

Those who are representative of the three-fourths spoken of as having dropped out were not attracted. The same was true of those representative of the most desirable of the one-fourth that were mentioned as having remained longer.

SUCCESS OF THE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE

This situation cannot be wholly charged up to the school since the courses were essentially those designed elsewhere by a staff whose special business it was to be of the best ability to produce and conduct their courses. It was, and is, with the correspondence schools, a business enterprise and in order to be a success it was to their interest that the courses be the best possible. The most important information relative to this is that a correspondence course is not taken to much extent by those who have had practical experience along the lines of the course, and in the case of the extent to which the courses are taken, it is usually done by beginners with practical work and then it is seldom that they finish if they continue with their occupation.

The subscriptions to the courses are usually taken by those who are not engaged in the occupation or those who are remote from the one of their choosing. They often become very excellent in their vocation, but it is after they have had sufficient experience to have become sea

soned or inured to the occupation, just as it is in the case of the graduate of every other school, except in the case of those who take the present courses of this school.

GRADUATES OF THE STANDARD SCHOOLS

This statement regarding the graduate of any standard school of whatever description requires no special comment since every one is accustomed to think of him as requiring a certain number of years of experience to round out into full possession that with which he has been equipped. This fundamental assumption we will take occasion to refer to later.

When the courses that have been programmed were in use for a time, their defect began to be seen to make its appearance. It was necessary, therefore, to seek a remedy and as soon as one could be found, if one there was, these courses were to be discontinued. There was no authority that could be found that was suggestive, but there was a resource of observation and experience, it was thought, which might be available. The prospect at this time that there was a possibility of a solution at this juncture was not very encouraging.

THREE CLASSSES DISCOVERED

Before a great while three classes began to sort themselves out and each as it arose into distinct view, there being particular care not to resist or obstruct their emergence by opinions, desires or views, or by theorizing with conditions or circumstances so long as they would continue to shape their outline, indicated afterward as we thought what should be done.

It was then that the process of discarding the former courses began and progressed as fast as preparation could be made.

These three classes we have been in the habit of regarding as primary, secondary, and third class.

The primary and secondary classes are of the same kind and the third class has practically little in common with them.

The present courses apply to the primary and secondary classes. The third class has been given the attention that was required for them.

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FOR ENTRANCE TO
PRESENT COURSES

The only educational qualifications for admission to the primary courses is that of being able to read and write the English language. But that is not the only real qualification that there should be. The applicant should have at least one year of practical experience in the service or employment of an individual or mining company within which he has been actually productive-that is, his labor has been of exchange or remunerative value. One year of experience does not make a miner, a millman, a cyanide man, a flotation man, and so forth, but a year of experience familiarizes him with a great number of facts and these facts, very numerous as they are, have a relation to one another in his experience within the conditions of real production.

BASIS FOR SPECIALIZED REFINED COURSES

Upon this basis for courses and with a specialized refined course we were enabled to proceed. And before a great while the student was

doing work in mathematics and science, which work, it has been said, that men of academic and high-school connections have pronounced, "too difficult." They are in error. He was able to do the work and that is quite sufficient. He did not think that the courses were particularly difficult. On the contrary he thought that the courses were very nearly the right thing.

ATTENDANCE INCREASED

When the character of the courses began to be known and understood the attendance increased quite rapidly. During a period of good times in this district it was not unusual during a biennial period for a number of men to finish the courses. There was one year in particular after they began finishing which covered about a month and a half from the time the first man finished until the last one of the number finished. Seven men completed the courses. They were all excellent in their courses which requires that there be made the equal statement that they had become industrially excellent. The basis of the course on real production, the increased attendance and the results we shall again have occasion to consider.

After these courses had been introduced, there was a marked change for the better. The attendance was more regular and there was more time given each day to the courses than ever formerly had been given.

VALUE OF EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATION

The men of only local and those of one-district experience did not make the speed of progress that those of two-district experience made and so on. But those who came from the outside of the district with only one-district experience did better than those of only local experience for the reason that they were getting an experience that was being added to their former experience. Often times those of only local experience were advised to go elsewhere for a time. There could not have been an enforcement of this advantage of experience to the extent of being a requirement because that was due to the defect of the system or lack of system. The defect was something for legislative correction. It is quite obvious that if the refinement of instruction was based upon this experience the defect should have been removed.

PLAN FOR STATE ORGANIZATION

The following plan, which had been discovered through observation and experience, we hoped would be adopted. The items of the organism are essentially as follows:

The school to be made an integral organic part of the mining industry of the State, and each district to be entitled to an attendance that is proportional and determined by the ratio that the number of men employed in a district bears to the whole number of men employed in the mining industry of the State.

BOARD FOR CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOL

The direction and management of the school to be under a local board consisting of the superintendents, foremen, presidents of the unions, and the instructor or "principal." At one time it was thought that the state board should be a part of this board, but later it was considered that the State Board of Vocational Education be substituted instead. This mining school board should be so constituted as