Evening Star Newspaper, July 31, 1921, Page 62

BY JAMES A. BUGBANAN. HEN Congress passed the act establishing the ba-| reau of mines, those wno took cogaizance of tme fact at all had but a silght canception of what such a step would meun 0 the people of the comwntry. There were many who hed the idea thau 1t simply to be a biireau designed for the purpose of inspecting tim- bering. lagging and other devices used in mining to render shafts, tun- nels. stopes and other ‘workings sue, so that human life might be sate- guarded, but as time has gone on tne bureau has provenm its usefulness In many fields of endeavor I¥ has ever tried to be a useful instrument in tne developing of certain of the natural resources of the country. It is prue- tically impossible to figure in dollars the value of the work done by tals branch of the Interior Department. The burecu of mines is a w=il oiled, noiseless machine, and while ita head- quarters are located in Washington. the majority of its work. both n- structive and investigative, is carried on outside of the nation's capital. As one enters the office of Director Bain and is shown througi the rest of the rooms, he involuntarily com- pares it to the executive offices of some large afl succesalul corpora- tion. There are no piles of dog-eared pamphlets littering up the corners of any of the rooms. Before desc: bureau it is perhaps it includes an Investigation branech, which consists of the teochnical dl- on and the di ion of m ex- perment stations. technical di- vision embraces the division of min- ing. divislon of mine.al techrology fuels division, metallurgical division and the division of petroleum and natural gas. The operations bramch includes officers of administ-ation. educational information. the divisfon of mine rescue cars and stations, ex- plosives and routine office admin- istration. A portion of the work of the bureau arily engages the attention of is that which pertains to the on of human Lf¢, and the bu- recognizing the fact that the miner’s occupation is n fazardous one, has ever been striving to minimize the dangers that beset those who work un- derground, and to this end numerous devices have been invented. men have been train-d in first and acd mine res cue work until we find today numerous aine rescue teams scatfered throughout different parts of the countr At 8t Louis, in September of this ¥ an an- ternational first aid and rescue meet will be held in the Coliseum. At this time numerous teams that have been trained by empl of the bureau of mines will participat- and strive for prizes. In the mining communiu throughout the country the rescte teams are regarded as evervday heroes It is only a matter of about ten’ ysars ago that the Lite Joseph A. Hoimes, the first director of the bureau. introduced oxy gen rescue aparatus. and from.tnls start has grown the formation of teams in practically everv mining camp In the United States. There nre - of these teams that should a di great magnitude take place a rescue train would probably in the course of of t to say that bing the work of the; fit the lectures are being given. The ! bureau. under the safety work plan, | has provided posting boards and bui- and these are piaced in con- ous lscations so chat the miner, every day, has a constant warnuag presented to him. Numerous pubsi- cations are furnished to the miners. one of the most interesting is the Miners’ Safety and Health Almanac. It is replete with information that ix not only beneficial to the miner. but would, with certain additions, be a valuable text book for every home in the land. In the earlier days of mining scamt attention was pald to the housing jproblem as far as it affected the miner. In the coal mines of the east tumble-down board struétures, suffi- cient only in part to keep out the | raln and snow, were considered goed !enougi for the underground man. In | the western camps where gold, silver. | copper. lead and other metals were : ! produced. any old kind of a shack or| {cheap duck tent was the order of the! jday. but with the advent of safety! {devices in the mines came a realiza tion tha' the matter of housing was also an important feature of the in dustry and while some of the larger mining companies at first rebelled in providing sanitary conditions, _the bureau of mines speedily convinced them, forcibly in some cases. that it was not only for the benefit of the miner but to their best interest as twell. to see that the man who ibrought up the coal or minerals was [property cared for. * ¥ ok ok THE result has been that in many communities there are well con- strueted. prettily designed homes. Somie of the companies have offered prizes for the neatest sireel, the best i kept garden and other conditions The bureau has inaugurated a sys- tem of safety signals, now in use in nearly every mine in the country. | Foremen and shift bosses are com- | pelled to explain to the miner just | i What each drawing apparatus means. | Books with photographs showing safe and unsafe methods of mining iare given to the worker. The im-| {portance of the need of safety is [ carefully explained to him and from itime to time a volunteer mine res- cue team quizzes him on his lessons und when the representative of the | bureau visits the locality the men are ioned on the above subjects they had explained f6 them. Tals: of ever hammering in the| n of safety first has not omly resulted in the saving of thousands of 1f but it has been the means f saving vast sums of money. not only to the mine owner. but to the | miner. for a mine accident of any' magnitude means quite an extended ! Luv-off from work i Joseph Austin Holmes was for ten years. beginning in 1591 to 1901, pro- tessor of geology in the University of North Carolina. His whole life was wrapped up in mining, metallurgy chemistry of explosives and electricity. Not content with viewing the mines of this country, he traveled extensively throuzh Belgium, France. Great Britain and ‘the other countries of Surope. He visited the countries for the speeial purpose, of _studying methods that might ledken the loss of lives and prevent the w pataral resources. Whe chosen to organize the department of :m.iqes and metallurgy of the Louisiana purchase exposition at St. Louls he! [ C, uredu of Mines Is One of the Nation’s Valuable Assets JULY 31, 1921—PART 4. e ~ ;T | HOUSANDS of Lives Are Saved Each Year by Work of Mine Rescue Corps in All Sections of the Mining Country—Safety-First Teaching Has Saved Millions of Dollars—Helping Conserve the Resources of the Nation—Making Use of Waste Products, One of the Important Phases of the Bureau—Aiding the Miner in Far- Away Alaska—Lanratory Tests That Hclpcd Win the World War. MINE RESCUERS, EQUIPPED WITH OXYGEN BREATHING APPAR. ton and East Boston: the length of the | War Department and the bureau of 1 latter will be approximately 6.000 feet. | mines began a joint study of sul It requires no great stretch of imagina- | phuric acid. Graphite was a ton to picture the conditions that would | ject of study. Attention was pa obtain with dozens of pleasure cars and | the recovery of quicksilver and trucks all chugging through the tunnels, | phur. Concentration of chrome and each giving forih this deadly gas. Va- | tin was another subject that was rious tests have heen made by the bu- | necessary. Manganese was important, reau and a solution of the problem is! for the country’s requirements close at hand. These tests have been | 1918 totaled about 000 tons of made, in part, by-attaching an accu- high-grade ore, and because of the rately graduated tube con! ng gaso- [ need of the steel industry it was not line to the carbureter. and another | possible to make any reduction in device is fastened to the exhaust pipe ' the amount. It was imperative that so that sample may be secnred. | bottoms heretofore used In carrying Anozher phase of the activitles of the | manganese be released for other | uses. Deposits in this country, Canada and Cuba had been located, and then came the problem of pro duction. The problem was solved and the result was that the domestic production jumped to 294.479 tons in 1918. Previous to this time the pro- duction in this country had not been over 5,000 or 6,000 tons. Platinum. tungsten and numerous other ‘essentials were given exten- sive atudy and furnished for govern- ment usge. Numerous experiments were cagried on to demonstrate whether animonia could be Succe: fully oxidized on a commercial scale to nitric acid. anq especially whether ammonia produced by the destructive distitlation of coal was as suitable for the purpose as cyanamid. The bureau had received a report from France that hydrocyanic acid was desirable for gas warfare, and then came the problem of producing sodium cvanide. The problem was solved and the plant was turned over to the ordnance department of the Army. 1 ""As the war is over. it is no viola- i tion of confidence to record that this country had perfected a .gas that would have annihilateq thousands had the struggle continued a month or_so longer. The bureau did not confine its activities to offense work alome: it took up the problems of defense as well and developed substances used in gas masks. Special elothing was | e | i i than 85 per cent, and often it hi run as low as 60 per cent. Recipro- cating tables and other means have been used, but they have not yielded the desired amount of the precious metal, and the bureau of mines is working on a plan thar will, if suc- cessful. enable the m, to know that he is saving from 90 to 99 per cent. While tne bureau does not, as a rule, make any tests for individuals or companies, in the case of Alaska its| services are to be had because of the scarcity of private laboratories. Ex- periments are being carried on in the matter of other ores, for Adaska has other precious metals than those washed out from the beaches or creeks. ::nd the work on the complex ores is being carried on by the ex- perts that have been sent out by the bureau. In the old days if a man i | carried on. ATUS, RECEIVING TRAINING AT BUREAU OF MINES EXPERIMENT STATION,| PITTS BURGH. discovered what appeared to be min- eral-bearing rock he had to either “mush” many miles to an assayer at Nomes or send, his sample by dog team to the nearest point where a steamer was ready to sail for Seattle, and then he had to wait months be- fore he learned what the rock con- tained. With the ever-increasing scarcity and cost of wood the problems of heat, lighting and power have steadily become more acute. The bureau has been making tests of the lignite found in the Nenana field and also has been making a survey of the practicability of the transmission of power electri- cally to the districts where mining is * ok X * NE of the greatest scientific and technical triumphs has been AMERICANS DETERIORATING, SAYS EDISON i commercial use in Peace and War production of helium, making this rare gas available for military ust.’ merce to be bartered in by any one By almost superhuman efforts 7,200, 000 cubic feat hus been produced. uné A short time ago word was received | tn. ‘cost of producing this amount that helium in comparatively large | was reduced to $5,136,000—quite & quantities had been found in ihe| S4VINE. but not yet enough to ;.«p‘ “blimps” to be filed with the boric acid soffione of Larderello, Tus- | nas 7 3 cany. Italy. It has aiso been found | 52 —that is, for everyday use. in other parts of Europe, but usually it in very small quantities. AT the time of the signing of the Helium is one of the very rare inert gases. Every attempt to make these gases enter into a chemical combination has, so far, failed. He lium is the second lightest gus known, thé first being hydrogen. It has 926 per cent of the lifting power of hydrogen, but it has the advantage of being free from the danger of ex- plosion or ignition, and the reason of this is its inertness. It is the near- est perfect gas of which we have any | knowledge today; it is monatomic, | posed 1o have and liquefies at even a lower tem- |the world. The perature than hydrogen. Prof. Onnes, | ered has not by evaporating it in vacuum, pro- | 100 per cent duced it in liquid form | Those who' visit In order that the reader may not, bureau of mines in Washington and wonder why we did _not produce : pass from oflice 10 office are not like great quantities of it for Army and | Iy to realize that these courteous, but i in 191 it is best to | quiet and reserved men are carrying that but a small amount |on .a work which not only saves could be isolated at that time, and | thousands of lives every ycar, not the cost was but a mere trifle of only saves hundreds of millions of $2,000 a cubic foot, and while the |dollars, but looks to the conservatio bureau of mines, acting with other | of hundreds of millions of dollars agencies later, was enabled o pro- | worth of resources. The bureau of duce larger quantities, helium did | mines is a national asset, not a lia- not become an article of com- | bility. 4} armistice about 150,600 cubic f2ct of the gas was on the dock in steel cylinders ready to ship to France the being under a pressure of 2,000 pounds, that have been made, the supply limited, and the officials of the gov- ernme; are taking steps to conserve it. of which the United States is sup- the Bargest amount in lfum o far recov- reached a purity of gas From all observations the offices of the explain i \ | ] i ONE OF THE MINE RESCUE TRUCKS OF THE BUREA AFTER A STUDY OF APPLICANTS FOR JOBS ! BY EDWARD MARSHALL. | RE we Americans losing intel- ligence? This amazing inter- view with that greatest of all Jdiving Americans, Thomas A. Edisen, makes this seem a possibility. He said to me; “Atrophy of perception afflicts Amer- ica today. The eye sees, but no mes- sage goes from it to the brain. De- spite unquestioned vision of the fact, there is no sensing of it by the in- dividual before whom it is placed. It is seen physically, but not mentally. These are startling words for proud | | | ards, in Washington. E Gives First Interview Regarding the Much - Talked - of Questionnaires and | Tells of Startling Revelations Concerning._‘ Present Mentality of Nation—Memory as the | Most Necessary Quality—American Brain; Atrophies Rapidly—Says Bureau of Stand-: , for it im- {plies that the pla for facts is in the | books, not in the brain, and that the function of the brain is 10 know how to get facts out of books when facts ay be required. Personally, I hold | the brain above the book. >erhaps the failure of the colleges | lies principally in their lack of apprecia- tion of the dull inferiority of the mate- rial which the lower schools deliver to i |them: it may be because of this that | they @0 not go down the line to help to- | ward the correction of a national evil. 1 {am sure the public does not understand | the perils of this so generally existent ducatioral situation. although 1 see how it grew up. TI the mewspapers . considerable number eriticlse me does not surprise me, for they have not studied that which we are trying to uc- ",y should tak Is One Organization devised to protect against skin irri tants, such as mustarq gas. Just be- fore the armistice was ed this | Americans to read about Americans !from the lips of the most celebrated |and notably observant of us all. They Which Functions 100 Per Cent. | complish; they do not even understand |the objects; they incorrectly state and lige: forty or fifty miles be able to pick up more than the number of experienced lifesavers that would be needed. * % * * THE wearing of the helmet to pro- tect one against the poisonous gases of a mine does no: constiiute all of the rescue work, for after a-man mas been brought up to the collar of a shaft he is very often in such a condition that it is hard to tell whether he is a dead miner or a live one, and it is here tnat the balance of the rescue team con:inues the work begun by their feligws. A minute or two of delay may ba fa: a man wiho has beeg brought up to the Rurface after inhalink the noxiots gases below. In addition to the employes of the bureau. tiwre are probably 130,000 men in_the country who have been trained by the bureau of mines in frs: aid or mine rescue work or both. Of the million or more mcn employed m the mining industry there are more tnan | 000 killed each he lifesaving work the saving of over 6,00 dvent of the airoplane these rescue workers can be rapidly transported ro the scene of mine disasters. Under the direction of the bureau of mines different forms of explosives needed in mining have been placed on the permissible list. For instance. an gassy and dusty mines black powaer and dynamite are more dangerous than the explosives permitied by the bu- reau. Mine operators have, in tne great majority of cases, gladly ww- operated with the bureau in order taat adequate ventilation and an effective controiling of the dust_menace in coal mines may be had. Mine inspee- tors, both national and state, compelled the use of proper timbering 0 that the danger of cave-ins has been greatly reduced. It is generally un- derstood by the public that the miners working underground must have art ficial light and either herd or carrying lamps or candles are used. One of the favorite jokes in the west Is told of a stockholder who, when he came to Tonopah, Nev.. to attend a directors’ meeting, scrutinized the sheet carry- ing the expenditures most closeiy. When he came to an article callmg for several hundred dollars’ worth of vear while at work. responsible tor lives. With the * candles he demanded an explanation | and upon being told that the miners worked underground at night he 1s alleged to have said: “Why not put on a double shift in the daytime and save the candles’ Under the direction of the bureau other devices have been suggested for the saving of life, among them being safety catches for mine es, gates for safeguarding mine shafts, stand- ard platforms, safe practices for engines, ladders for use about mines, haulage equipment. caging devices, safe construction of cages and skips, the determination of the deterioration of wire ropes used for the lifting and lowering of cages, etc., beits for power transmission, etc. Before taking the fleld mine res- cuers are put ihrough a course of training at the Pitishurgh station and actual mining_ conditions. are simu- lated. The bureau constantly preaching not only safety first, but ONE OF THE BUREAU OF MINES CARS. to | have | realized that here was the long-wished- for opportunity, and throuxh his efforts a commission was appointed to analyze and test the coal resources of the United States and also to study structural materials. The report of this commission is a | valuable contribution to science and | technology. - The United States has | ever been the prodigal nation, | here and there has been a man who | had vision, one who realized that the upply was not inexhaustible, a man who couid draw a mental picture of !a great experimental station where all | marner and kinds of accidents could | be_studied. The result is the Pittsburgh station | of the bureau. the finest institution |of its kind in the world. In this} magnificient structure are to be found | Instruments and devices that have not |only been instrumental in saving | human life, but also have been the ! means of stopping millions of dollars lof waste. To Dr. Holmes belongs {much of the credit for bringing into being a bureau that is a national |asset. | "With the advent of the automobile |came an ada.¢ danger. namely. the exhaust gases from ' automobile engines. a new hazard, and It was not |80 noticeable until the time arrived when nearly every on- owmed a car. ! Then garages were filled to over- \flowing with automobiles. These: garages, as a rule, were either old { warchouses, stables or structures of similar character. Proper ventilation ad not been carefully considered. The result was that numerous deaths occurred from what was called “petro- mortls.” The term is not a zood o as the cause of death in these cases {is due to carbon monoxide poisoning. | The bureau has prepared a builetin giving the proper method of resuseita- { tion for those who have been poisoned by carbon monoxide. It contains the following instructions: When a person is found overcome in a garage, throw the doors wide open and remove the person to fresh air at one. 1f a tank of toxygen and a breathing mask are at {hand and the person is breathing. ad- minister oxygen through the mask for twenty minutes. If the person is mot breathing, give artificial respiration by the prone pressure or Shaefer method. i The bureau cautions against waiting for the arrival of a physician. Commence the first aid work at once. If no doctor is availablel continue the artificial respi- | ration witout interruption until natural Lreathing I8 restored, or for at least three hours.] It is most unwise to give any liquid by mouth until the victim is fully consclous. Under no circumstances should the)person be permitted to stand or walk; {5.make him walk may cause death. Ownérs of small garages are warned niot-to run their engines unless the doors and windows are wide open. * x % * THE rapidly incressing use of auto- mobiles/and motor trucks is creat- ing a “new problem, namely, the proper vertilation of subways, tunnels and other confined spaces through which | the machines must pass. One striicng | example is the vehicular tunnel that 1s to connect New York city and New Jer- { + land country had perfected a gas mask {hat was without many of the oblec | ionable features of those used by | any of the allies. It was so devised las to permit the wearer to breathe {through nose as well as mouth; the! eariler masks had a nose clin. Gas| masks for horses and tremch faus for removing gases were aleo de. vised. Smokes of a density to per- mit_of their being used as screens * % x x ENSING that the United States might become involved in the con- flict that was raging in Europe, the bureau, on Its own initlative or in co-opération with other government organizations, began investigations of the more important minerals or mineral products as they related to war. Among them were nitric acid, sulphuric acid and potasb. The chief chemist of the bureau made a thor- ough study of the nitrogen fixation bureau is the inspection of oil and coal leases on the pubiic domain. As owner of vast holdings of coal and ol lard in the western states, Uncle Sam is cor fronted with two important problem: First, the protection of the resources of { hands of the men of the bureau. the country. and. second, the protection P of the individual or company that wishes to develop the lands. _Our benevolent| A NOTH. custodian must so safeguard both inter- he ests as to play the game with absolute e g e fairness to both the citizen at large and { use of aviators. Dr. Henderson {0 those who seek to cam a livelihood | vised for the tests a tank contal y development work. These lands aré ing air, which the subject inhaled now being leased, and it is the d 'ty of | t The bureau to sce that both interests are | through a mouthplece and tubing, safeguarded. The bureau represents the | the e “haled air passing back through government and superviaca’ the n=la cartridge of alkali, which removed of wells and the working of coal lands ! with a view of conservation of resources | the carbon dioxide. As the aviator and the safety of the worker. Under breathed the oxygen content of the e direction of the bureau, royalties are | g( jp the tank becrme lower, and his fixed g0 that the government will secure | D118 172, TE NG ion "SRR, CC e its portion of the profits. and during the | PAYSIQOETCRE SONTIUON KOS L O e B e g mas et iuwas used to test the aviator's en- R durance under fiight condlitions. There are about 750 employes ofi™"per the bureau were sections de- the bureau at the present time, and |y ieq to gases in submarines, pyro- of this number at least 250 are tech- | {0, 1% STt gan shells, smoke nical men, all skilled In mining and { (Crecns. "hand _grenades, incendiary metallurgical lines. The others are | JOTRERS. o AVEC Brrn e et connected with the ~administrative | 3€t10R, ARRURE [T SELEL L ST end. engaging in clerical and service | Ger v, "o gay nothing of the vast worl . : labor concerning ‘explosives. e e e ts eoi| There are thirteen field mining and Sale e ae bydine S vermoart. “Fhs | experiment stations of the buread of 1 in question consisted of four |mines, and they are so located that 160-acre tracts. in the Elk Hills re- "fi"h"‘ DeRE the l-fld of endeavor in gion. California, which. when sold at | Whic L e Lt & public auction brought, in addition p uatil (18 Dractically al to the cash bonus, $1.165,000. and lhatl{np e crucibles manufactured In government maincains 2 sliding scale | L1 Ste tombined with " German tont an’all ofl and” gas produced. | Klingenberg clay, and it was the be- Another case was the aale last month j lief of the trade that good crucibles L6480 mcren in Qe Salt Crack Held. | o e and craphites. | Atter 154 0o oming. ohuses in this cas . amounting o $1,187.000, the royaities | Klingenberg clay could be exported amounting to 33 1-3 per cent on some | from Germany, and, although the of the inside tracts and 25 per cent|manufacturers of crucibles had a on other less desirable portions. goodly supply of this cla yon hand, e e Sae e e terive | buctness. The bartau of mines had e a es of some of the more ness. e important branches of the govern-!long been concerned with the matter ment without referring to the part | ef making crucibles and their early played in the winning of the late [labors in testing American clays war, and .the part performed by the | convinced them that a solution of the bureau of mines was an Important | problem could be bad, Tests were one. made a roit, and Swissvale, ai {1t was proven that the American product showed & higher percentage in the tests than dig the famous Ger- man make or the English samples that had been placed in competition. Very little, if any, Klingenberg clay is used in this country today. Large gquantities of magnesite are used for furnace linings in the metal- lurgical industries, and up uatil the beginning of the war nearly all of the magnesite used for the manfac- ture of refractories was imported from Austria and Greece, but with vast_deposjts uncovered in the states of Washington and California and the methods employed by the bureau plants in Europe, and upon his_re- jthere is no need to worry as to the turn evolved a successful method of | future of this industry. / B e rretion o¢ | mokths fhe. mercury” in._the "ther: ockade cu e importation of |mon e - potash from Germany. the bureau, |mometer quits and goes to sleep, the acting with the United States geo-,miner has not been able to save Al logical survcy, bureau of soils and : the gold that is dumped in the sluice other government agencles, turned |boxes, because of the “floured” quick- its hand to an Investigation of the |siilver that is used In making the sources and methods of manufacturs, | “clean-up.” And again, there is gold for #ither offensive or defensive work | method to find for his gigantic busi- became realities under the skiliful [ness helpers whose perception is not ER interesting feature was!giil to pass his tesis. rebreathing apparatus for |gdtting some. |actually make good In his employ {other words. his plan, which has been were spoken to m. yesterday in the study of his famous latoratory at Oange, N. J., as part of the great inventor's first personal explanation of just what the mucn discussed lists, of ‘questions which he recently has been requiring app:icants for execu- tive jobs to answer are and what he intends them to accomplish. He is trying through this simple atrophied—and such men are scarce in these days, he says. It is very dif- ficult indeed to find the men. Many But Edison is And those who are not simple Q\llllles n floored by the very thoughtfully criticised by some, jeerd at by others, praised by very few, is a success—like many plans which have been created and applied by this great American. EE Y question wa: M really effective?” “Unqualifiedly, I say.” he answered. “although much fault has been found with it by those who do not under- stand it. I always welcome criticism. It helps me think and often shows me where I have been wrong. In this in< stance it has shown me where I have been abeolutely right. ‘We still hear a good deal about the questionnaires which we request those applying for executive and other high-class job¥ with us to answer. Some condemn. and a very few applaud. ‘We know, now, that the plan is fight. “The questionnaire idea grew out of my desire for a way other than sheer, bullhead luck, of finding good men for the jobs we offer. Competent | men in our jobs mean success for us; incompetent men in them would mean failure. Before I worked out the plan I had to decile on the one quality most important to us. Study- ing over this, I was forced to the decision that the best of qualifica- tions is a fine memory. ‘Every intelligent much; words intended to convey information pass before his eyes, even if he does not study as the col- lege student is supposed to stud. But information which merely. passe: before a man's eyes does not help him unless,. in passing. it is im- pressed upon his memory and stored there, where he not only can but automatically will ‘' get it at e second’s notice when it is required. “I had known this for many years. But I had had a hard time finding the men with such memories because there had been no means of testii them except by putting them at worl Re- flection upon this brought the idea of the questionnaires and I drew them up, believing they would select for mé from among the ruck of applicants the pos- sessors of comprehending and retentive ‘minds. ““The subject-matter of the questions I led and as unimportant; they were designed not to test informa- tion, but the ability to retain it. I knew that every college man—and these ex- aminations were given to none but col- lege me! ‘been required to learn the answers to every question on the list. The point was: Had his mind pre- served and kept available for instant use the facts which had passed into it? “1 never before was 80 shocked and “Is the plan man reads {uninte Th, assumed th lleges, which is t thinking 1 attack wspapers attack me matter, upon, generally, prinei- pies of self-defense ““The colleges do not take men to t. h them isolated facts,” was the in- | dignant tatement of one man |thought 1 had attacked the colleges. 1f § ithis be true, then the colleges are wrong, for young men cannot think efi- ciently unless they have facts in their minds ready to sery bases for their thinking. It wouid be a melancholy | world if all experts had to fly to librari-s every time they were required to pass on snything. “Certainly the brain should have the facts. If-a brain possesses an enormous number of facts, those fa.ts, through action of the subconscious mind, auto- | matically will make themselves avail- able when needed and automatically will | keep themselves out of the way. not in- terfering when not required “The employer who does nmot study and judge men before hiring them ix fcolish. There 18 no way whereby men finding out how know. and espe- THOMAS portion of those gol: periment make: n\:fin to American education less than appalling, with the coll making a far better showing than the 1t is quite clear technical institu- tions are far from what we fondly have hoping them to be. The lwgcr me man graduated from the public schools of Yonkers could hot answer any query lower schools, altho that even b 00ls’ results seem to be tragic. on the short and simple list. * ¥ x ¥ “It is obvions that our schools and colleges are benefiting but & small pro- to them. The ex- tions with regard which are not their capacity for learning mem- Men cannot be rightly judged by looks. T have tried it and been fooled many times. Possession or non-posses- sion’ of great quantities of facts has slight, if any, influence upon appear- ance. *x x «THE aquestionnaires whick T de- vised asked nothing which the average young college graduate seeking a position In u great industrial plant ought not to know. for they required no information concerning anything not in | the college or school courses. For ex- ample, 1 used the first words of the Aeneid. Almost none identified them. “That revealed the fact that the mem- ory of the examined men did not retain facts which their minds certainly had studied. This was the important point. I tried to make a mind test. The mind which would retain facts studied in the college would retain facts brought to its attention in later business life, and vice =i | L] s that clear to you? In mechan- ical engineering I put.the simplest problems as, suppose So-and-so does 80- and so, what then? Very few could answer. That was another serlous revelation. Young college men found themselves unable to suppose. They had no imagination. And many failed in memory, for, trained in colleges and technical schools, they revealed ignorance of the first rules of me- chanics. 3 But ngain 1 must explain that those who have not had such training make even worse resuits upon exam- ination. ~ The fault unquestionably lles farther than the colleges down the line. If there 1 comfort for the college president and technical schosl head in that, he is quite welcome to it. Let him take it. 1 am all for the college men. They are the best we have, but they might be a great deal better, for only 7 per cent of the total we examined answered our very sim- ple questions with evidence of decent memory and uctual intelligence. ““The fact is that our youth, bright though they may be as children, are rot educated so as to take college training with 100 per cent benefit; they do not get the preliminary train- ing necessary to the development of & reasonable fitness in college for the A. EDISON. education. In general, their claim is that boys and young men go to them not to learn, but to learn how to learn. It seems that youth is not expected to acquire knowledge through education, but throughe education to acquire the ability to acquire knowledge out of the processes of life surrounding him al’(erl the ending of school day “Even, according to certain college presidents, the education which their in- stitutions offer trains young men to find the books In which is noted down the knowledge which they will require in later life to suit their practical pur- ' uitimate of usefulness in later life. They are not started right. The; (Continued on Fifth M. N) surprised as 1 was by the results. The proved that something is radi- cally v:-.h the for potash was an essential. It was at is “rusty,” or gold that has been necessary for the use of the soldier [coversd with grease and dirt. The re- and the farmer who was to raise the has been that the miner often crops. At about the same time the : 2 ~ y safety always, and upon the different |sey. This tunnel is to be about 8,000 to of instruction the’/fact that it|feet long. Another iz the tunnel at pays to be careful at all” times fis|Pittsburgh, 5,700 feet in length, and a | hammered into those for whose bene- | third is proposed that will connect Bos- W 4 P ¢ A MONG my violent eritics have and serve their esthetic tast been, of course, the men respon- Fole & Tar ‘more serious matter that slble for, -our.primary .and. secondary those wha shape our lower schools A 4 T R