household words, in particular have gone big in the profession and
from very obscure beginnings. It is not stretching the obvious to say
that the majority of these men, had they entered upon any other work,
would never have been heard from nor have attained to their present
wealth and affluence. Smith was just one of many in a profession
offering liberal opportunities. The opportunities still exist and in
just as large a proportion as they ever existed. It remains but for the
young man to decide. The profession itself, almost, will take care of
him afterward.

However, not all of our engineers have gone upward by the overalls
route. Nor is it at all necessary to do this in order to attain to
success. The high-school graduate, entering a college of engineering,
has an equal chance. Some maintain that he has a better chance. Certain
it is that he is better qualified to cope with the heavier theoretical
problems which come up every day in the average engineer's work. There
is a place for him, side by side with the practical man, and his
knowledge will be everywhere respected and sought. But a combination of
the theoretical and the practical, as has frequently been declared,
makes for the complete engineer. Some get the practical side first and
the theoretical side later; some get the theoretical side first and the
practical side later. It matters little--save only that he who gets the
practical side first is earning his way while getting it, while the man
who goes to college is in the majority of cases being supported from
outside sources while getting what he wants. But in the end it balances.
Merely, the "full" engineer must have both. Having both, he has,
literally, the world within his grasp. For engineering is--to
repeat--the adapting of discoveries in science and art to the uses of
mankind. And both art and science reflect and are drawn from Mother
Nature.

There is still a great scarcity of engineers. All branches feel the
need--civil, mechanical, mining, chemical, automotive, electrical--the
call goes out. It is a call just now, owing to the vast reconstruction
period confronting the world, lifted in strident voice. Engineers
everywhere are needed, which in part accounts for the liberal salaries
offered for experienced men. The demand greatly exceeds the supply, and
gives promise of exceeding it for a number of years to come. All
manufacturing-plants, all mining enterprises, of which of both there are
thousands