find to whom the origin of our methods should be credited. The
science has grown by small contributions of experience since, or
before, those unnamed Egyptian engineers, whose works prove their
knowledge of many fundamentals of mine engineering six thousand
eight hundred years ago. If I have contributed one sentence to the
accumulated knowledge of a thousand generations of engineers or
have thrown one new ray of light on the work, I shall have done my
share."

In the latter chapters of the book Hoover, having devoted the earlier
chapters to technical methods, treats of the administrative and
financial phases of mining. The last chapter is devoted to the
"character, training, and obligations of the mining engineering
profession" in which he sets up a standard of professional ethics for
the engineer of the very highest degree and reveals clearly his own
genuinely philanthropic attitude toward his fellow men. In the
discussion of mining administration there is a concise but illuminating
treatment of the subject of labor unions. After discussing contract work
and bonus systems he says:

"There is another phase of the labor question which must be
considered, and that is the general relations of employer and
employed. As corporations have grown, so likewise have the labor
unions. In general, they are normal and proper antidotes for
unlimited capitalistic organization.

"Labor unions usually pass through two phases. First, the inertia
of the unorganized labor is too often stirred only by demagogic
means. After organization through these and other agencies, the
lack of balance in the leaders often makes for injustice in
demands, and for violence to obtain them and disregard of
agreements entered upon. As time goes on, men become educated in
regard to the rights of their employers and to the reflection of
these rights in ultimate benefit to labor itself. Then the men, as
well as the intelligent employer, endeavor to safeguard both
interests. When this stage arrives, violence disappears in favor of
negotiation on economic principles, and the unions achieve their
greatest real gains. Given a union with leaders who can control the
members, and who are disposed to approach differences in a
business spirit, there are few sounder positions for the employer,
for agreements honorably carried out di