Show EDUCATION VS experience under the heading of the new york engineering and mining journal of the alth dinst says men of education are needed to drag men of experience out of the rut probably the journal knows what it means to say but is unable to adapt the english language to its meaning to a certain extent the statement is a slander upon the mining operators of the west and for the reason that the journal claims to be a mining and engineering paper weighing the sentence carefully the impression conveyed is that the mining men of experience no matter where located are uneducated a lot of untaught ignorant men who have gained experience because their lifework life work has been directed in a certain channel but who do not know enough to get out of the rut into which they have fallen As a matter of fact the mining men of the country and especially of af the west are men of education as well as of experience and without a shadow of doubt they are brighter more capable more aggressive and more reliable than are the educated men who lack exper experience lenee the educated man is generally a theorist and has no practical knowledge of actual mining milling or metallurgical affairs put the educated man and the experienced man side by side in any avocation and the former will fall down oftener than will the man of experience and for the reason that he is really ignorant and will persist in pursuing his pet theories many of which have been proven untenable long ago by the man of experience the educated man fresh from the schools but without any actual knowledge of mining operations makes but a sorry show of himself when put in charge as manager or superintendent by eastern mining companies and to him may be attributed tri buted a majority of the many failures in mining in this western country As a rule he is but a child in comparison with the experienced man and any western mining operator would rather give the experienced perien ced man a position even though he had nothing more than a high school education rather than entrust his important affairs to the man of education but who really has had no experience in the line of his chosen profession take the man of education and give him a chance to work his way up from the bottom in mining affairs and there is a chance for him to amount to something if made of the right stuff he will probably become an ornament to bis profession but place him in a position of trust where the expenditure of large sums suma of money is involved and where intelligent management is is expected and he will prove a failure in nine times out of ten A man even if educated must have actual experience before his services are possessed of any intrinsic value if placed in charge of a mine he should be able to know ore when he sees it if in charge of a mill he should at least know as much as a common mill hand and an if he poses as a geologist he should be able to distinguish between the country and the vein rocks in the ranks of men of experience the west possesses some of the brightest brain lest iest men that any country ever boasted of their experience with their education has enabled them to steer clear of ruts and they are the men who are always in the lead with new invent inventions iong new in ovations and new metallurgical chemical milling and mining triumphs |