Chapter XXXIII: Section 1754: applies to all branches of the service, in Washington, D (24)

Wage setting--Minimum wages and the cost of living--Wage scale
formation--Technique of wage paying.

Promotions and deferred benefits.

The control of working conditions:

Health, hygiene, sanitation, medical aid, fatigue, mental strain,
motion study.

Working hours and rest periods.

Problems connected with the introduction of women into industry.

Efforts to keep the worker up to standard:

Accidents, accident prevention, insurance, and workmen’s compensation.

Canteen economics.

Local transportation--Home conditions.

Housing--Community efficiency.

Recreation and its effect upon productive energy.

Thrift, loans, relief and legal aid.

Pensions and the problem of the aged worker.

The relation of the employment manager to local and State agencies.

The government of the shop:

Shop rules, rule books, foremanizing, absenteeism.

Suggestion systems and the treatment of complaints.

The organization of shop committees and their functions.

Collective bargaining contracts and procedure.

Associations of employees.

The ultimate bases of discipline and loyalty.

Fortunately, there is now a considerable body of literature available to the person who would inform himself. It should be remembered, however, that mere reading is not study; and that even earnest study only yields correct conceptions. It is experience alone which teaches us the uncommunicable art of applying the powers of our personality in the pursuit of a course of conduct which receives its guidance from our conceptions. There is a great difference between being informed on a group of subjects and being expert in the practice of a profession. If you feel qualified to undertake this training talk it over with the Vocational Advisor of the Federal Board for Vocational Education.

Following is a brief list of references which may be called the employment manager’s 3-foot bookshelf. They indicate the broad range of his interests and activities, and with these any course of training for this new trade or profession must deal adequately.

1. Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science,
Philadelphia.

May, 1916.

May, 1917.

2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D. C.

Bulletins as follows:

No. 144. Industrial Court of the Cloak Industry, 1914.

No. 196. Proceedings of Employment Managers Conference, Minneapolis,
1916.

No. 198. Collective Agreements in the Men’s Clothing Industry, 1916.

No. 202. Proceedings of Employment Managers Conference, Boston, 1916.

No. 208. Profit Sharing in the United States, 1916. 20 cents.

No. 222. Welfare Work in British Munition Factories, 1917. 10 cents.

No. 221. Hours, Fatigue, and Health in British Munition Factories,
1917. 15 cents.

No. 227. Proceedings of Employment Managers Conference, Philadelphia,
1917.

No. 229. Wage Payment Legislation in the United States, 1917.

No. 230. Industrial Efficiency and Fatigue in British Munitions
Factories, 1917. 20 cents.

3. Emerson, Harrington. The Twelve Principles of Efficiency. New York,
1917.

4. Handling Men. Chicago, 1917.

5. Hoxie, R. F. Scientific Management and Labor. New York, 1915.

6. Industrial Management (monthly). New York.

7. Jones, Edward D. The Administration of Industrial Enterprises, New
York, 1916.

8. Kelly, Roy W. Hiring the Worker. New York, 1918.

9. Metcalf, H. C. Report of Committee on Vocational Guidance. New
York, 1916, National Association of Corporation Schools.

10. Monthly Labor Review, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.
C. Gratis.

11. Price, Geo. M. The Modern Factory, Safety, Sanitation, and
Welfare. New York, 1914.

12. Stimpson, W. C. Prevention of Disease and Care of the Sick.
Washington, 1917, United States Public Health Service. 50 cents.

13. Tarbell, Ida M. New Ideals in Business. New York, 1917.

14. Tolman, William H. Social Engineering. New York, 1909.

15. Trade Specifications and Occupational Index of Professions and
Trades in the Army. Washington, 1918. War Department Document 774.
Office of The Adjutant General. Gratis.

16. Webb, S. B. Problems of Modern Industry (an English book). New
York, 1913.

PLAN No. 915. THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AS A VOCATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

For the material of this monograph the Federal Board for Vocational Education is indebted to the J. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pa., through its publication “Training and Rewards of the Physician,” and the Collins Publicity Service, Philadelphia, Pa., through its publication “Medicine,” School Edition, Teachers’ Auxiliary, Number One, of which this pamphlet is largely an abstract. The monograph was prepared by Dr. H. L. Smith under the direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division of the Federal Board. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.

NATURE OF THE PHYSICIAN’S WORK

The work of the physician is twofold. It is his duty to cure those who are sick and to keep the well from becoming sick. Usually he is not called upon until there is illness, so that the bulk of his work is with the sick. There are two general fields of activity for a physician, that of the general practitioner, and that of the specialist. Physicians in rural communities and small towns and cities must be prepared to deal with any type of accident or disease. In cities the tendency is to specialize on some particular disease or on disturbances connected with some particular part of the body. Some specialists in large cities are able to confine their activities to office work altogether.

The work of the physician is difficult. There is a great mental strain connected with his work, for often even the life of the patient is at stake. With the general practitioner there is a great physical strain due to irregular meals and sleep, and trips in all kinds of weather. Particularly is this true of the practice of medicine for its curative effects. More and more thought in medical science is being directed in modern times to preventive medicine, that is, to ways and means of keeping well rather than of getting well. The preventive work can be done under conditions more nearly those that the physician himself chooses rather than under conditions forced upon him as is usual in the case of curative work.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS

Of all the professions the practice of medicine makes the greatest demands along the line of a good sound body. In some professions a man with even severe physical defects can, through careful living, be successful. Good health, however, is essential to the physician in order that he may successfully withstand the long periods of strain, the irregular hours for meals and sleep, the bad weather he is often forced to go out in, and the dangers of infection.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS

Not only must the physician be practically fit, he must have a natural aptitude and love for his profession. He should care more for medicine than for any other calling in life. By natural aptitude for medicine is meant certain foundation qualities which are essential.

It goes without saying that the physician, because of his close relationship with his patients, must be of the highest moral character in order to gain and retain the confidence of his patients. A kindly and tactful manner are essential also in gaining this confidence. One must be alert, too, particularly at the present time when rapid advances are being made in medicine--more rapid than in many other professions. Self-reliance is essential in medicine because unexpected situations are constantly arising, and emergencies, too, in which the help of other physicians can not readily be gained. To practice medicine successfully one must be constantly learning. Because of the rapid changes in medical science one’s apprenticeship is never completed. Each day some new method or means of treatment must be mastered. Moreover, one’s work is never ended. One great element of success is faithfulness to the patients one already has. This means love for the work and enthusiasm over the idea of service to mankind.

Among the characteristics that lead to failure in the practice of medicine are dislike of the work, inability to decide quickly and definitely, and lack of ability to get along well with other practitioners and with patients.

GENERAL EDUCATION NECESSARY AS A BASIS FOR A COURSE IN MEDICINE

As a basis for a course in medicine one must have completed not only the eight grades of common-school work, but the four years of high school. Twenty-eight medical schools require two years of college work for entrance, and there is some tendency to require even four years of college work. This tendency, however, will probably not grow very fast. Certainly if the requirement is made it can not be a hard and fast rule, for the simple reason that it would raise the age of graduation from the medical school to a point higher than the age at which it is wise for one to begin practice.

The question of what subjects should be taken in premedical work is very important also. Not long ago some 300 graduates of the Harvard Medical School were asked to fill out answers to questions, giving their opinions in regard to the value of their premedical education. They were asked to state whether they thought it best in this premedical work to have a large amount of general culture--such as history, philosophy, economics, literature, and art--or a large amount of natural science--such as physics, chemistry and biology. Of the 300 reporting, 120 favored a large amount of science, while 110 favored a large amount of general culture. Seventy favored an equal amount of general science and culture. It would seem, therefore, that according to the present opinion there should be an equal amount of general culture and science in one’s college education previous to taking up the special training in medicine.

Available records show that in 1904 there were only 20 States that had made any legal provision for preliminary education to go before the definite education in medicine. Now 26 States have such a provision. At that time only 10 States required four years of high school as a minimum amount of preliminary premedical education and none required college work. Now 30 States require the four years, or an equivalent, and 8 of these 30 require either one or two years of college work in addition. At that time 36 States required that all candidates for license be graduates of legally chartered medical schools. Now 44 States make this requirement by law. At the present time 48 States require an examination to be taken by all those who are seeking license to practice medicine, unless they hold a license granted by some other State.

It is necessary, therefore, that the course of instruction taken in medicine shall include courses that will qualify the graduate to meet the requirements of the examination for license to practice in the State in which he wishes to locate. There is a tendency at present for the examination to consist not only of questions and answers, but of some practical test of one’s ability to practice medicine successfully.

THE LENGTH OF THE MEDICAL COURSE ITSELF

At the present time one can not hope to get a satisfactory medical education without taking a full four-year course in the medical school. The course of study in American schools of medicine at present is definitely laid out, and one can know beforehand just what subjects will have to be taken. Even at the end of the four-year course in medicine it is not advisable to begin the practice of medicine immediately. Those who are looking for good positions in the profession should add to the theory gained in college some actual practice. The best way to get this practical work is to serve as an interne in a hospital. Appointments to such positions are often made on the basis of an examination. Such positions last sometimes for one year and sometimes for two years. During the first period of his work in the hospital an interne is directed to some extent by other physicians, but largely by his senior internes. During the last six months of his experience as an interne, however, when he is usually acting as the house doctor or surgeon, he is shown especial attention by physicians and surgeons who have patients in the hospital. There is generally no pay given the interne aside from board and lodging. The period in which one acts as an interne is considered as a further educational period. It has been said that the experience gained during the two years’ interneship in New York City’s largest hospital is considered equal to that acquired in 10 years of ordinary undirected practice.

But even after one actually begins the practice of medicine his education is not complete. In order to keep up with the times he must do a great deal of reading. He must attend district medical meetings, and also State and national meetings. Moreover, he should visit other cities and thus come in contact with the ideas of other practitioners in other communities.

An ideal standard of medical education is outlined in the following quotation:

“The American Medical Association’s ideal standard of medical education as set forth by the Council on Medical Education, after years of extensive study, research, and investigation, is given herewith:

“(a) Preliminary education sufficient to enable the candidate to enter our recognized universities, such qualifications to be passed upon by the State authorities.

“(b) A course of at least one year to be devoted to physics, chemistry, and biology, such arrangements to be made that this year could be taken either in a college of liberal arts or in the medical school.

“(c) Four years in pure medical work, the first two of which should be largely spent in laboratories of anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, etc., and the last two years in close contact with patients in dispensaries and hospitals in the study of medicine, surgery in its various branches, and the specialties.

“(d) A sixth year as an interne in a hospital or dispensary should then complete the medical course. Under such procedure the majority of students would begin the study of medicine at about 18 years and graduate from the hospital interneship at about 25.”[15]

[15] Vocational Studies: School Edition, Teachers’ Aux. No. 1, p. 4,
Collins Publicity Service, Philadelphia, Pa.

THE INCOME THAT CAN REASONABLY BE EXPECTED IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

The practice of medicine does not hold out the hope of any great financial reward. There are some medical practitioners who have made small fortunes in their practice, but such cases are few. The ordinary practitioner can not count on much more than a comfortable living, in accordance with the living standards in the community in which he lives. Not only is the physician’s salary generally small, but it is uncertain as well.

The following table gives the incomes of Harvard medical graduates, by classes and by years of experience, according to a study recently made:

_Average Earnings of Harvard medical graduates, by classes and by years of experience._[16]

=========+============================================================
Years in | Classes
practice +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
| 1901| 1902| 1903| 1904| 1905| 1906| 1907| 1908| 1909| 1910
---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
First | $866| $787| $541| $362| $625| $502| $350| $533| $425|$1,237
Second | 827|1,089| 790| 995| 773| 826| 588|1,250| 874| 1,083
Third |1,181|1,539|1,412|1,295| 995|1,262|1,353|1,025|1,370| 1,578
Fourth |1,505|1,694|1,720|1,566|1,559|1,765|1,963|1,575|1,632| 1,835
Fifth |2,027|1,556|1,966|1,981|1,818|2,359|2,347|1,847|2,150|
Sixth |2,341|1,837|2,333|2,277|2,347|2,997|3,202|2,360| |
Seventh |2,527|2,161|2,654|2,967|3,043|3,650|3,545| | |
Eighth |3,003|2,491|3,155|3,043|3,337|4,332| | | |
Ninth |3,560|2,900|3,616|3,604|4,500| | | | |
Tenth |3,524|2,963|4,135|4,535| | | | | |
Eleventh |3,885|3,691|4,604| | | | | | |
Twelfth |4,422|4,130| | | | | | | |
Thir- |4,680| | | | | | | | |
teenth | | | | | | | | | |
Maximum | | | | | | | | | |
number of| | | | | | | | | |
men | 38| 39| 29| 39| 33| 26| 29| 29| 25| 26
---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------

[16] Training Rewards of the Physician (Cabot), J. Lippincott Co.,
Philadelphia, Pa., v. 136.

OTHER REWARDS CONNECTED WITH THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

The fact that the physician’s work has a great effect upon the length of life of the patient is in itself a great reward. During the past three centuries medical science has made so great an advance that the average working life of the English-speaking people has been almost doubled. The things that have added to this increased length of life are physical comfort, medicine, hygiene, and surgery. Aside from the satisfaction of seeing length of life increased, the worthy physician enjoys the satisfaction of holding a position of trust and leadership in his community. As a result of this, he is in a position to teach others what they should know. Through his work also a physician has a chance to come in contact with all classes of people.

THE LENGTH OF TIME IT WILL TAKE TO ESTABLISH ONE’S SELF IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

If one decides to establish one’s self as a general practitioner he must count upon at least a year of patience and hard work with little income. At the end of the year, however, if he has been fortunate in the choice of location, and if he has a good personality, he can reasonably hope soon to inspire confidence and come into public recognition. Often he can hasten this public recognition by giving his services, free of charge, to those whom he knows to be worthy of such assistance and consideration. If it is necessary for the graduate from the medical school to become an actual earner immediately, he will probably apply for an official position in some public institution, such as health officer, teacher, medical missionary, or research worker.

THE EXTENT OF THE NEED FOR PHYSICIANS

It has been said that in America the number of doctors, in proportion to the number of people, is greater than in any other country. A recent study shows that there were in the United States 151,132 practicing physicians and surgeons, 16,920 students in medical schools, and 6,955 instructors in medical schools. Before the European war the supply of physicians in the United States was large--so large, in fact, that the income of physicians was being materially affected thereby. As a result of the war, however, new fields of practice will be opening up for American physicians in other countries, because of the fact that many physicians in those countries were either killed or disabled, and also because students have not been graduating from the medical schools in those countries during the past few years. It is said that it will take five or six years to develop or to train a new group of physicians in England, France, and in other warring nations.

HOW MUCH IT WILL COST TO PREPARE FOR PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

If you are a soldier or a sailor discharged from the service since October 6, 1917, with a disability for which the Bureau of War-Risk Insurance will grant you compensation, and if a course in medicine is approved for you by the Federal Board, your education will be furnished free by the Government. The Bureau of War-Risk Insurance, through its compensation, will meet a part of the expense, and the Federal Board for Vocational Education will add to that amount to a minimum of $65 a month with the purpose of meeting all of your expenses for living, clothing, transportation, tuition, and incidentals.

PLAN No. 916. SAFETY AND FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEERING

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This monograph was prepared by J. Albert Robinson, Special Agent for Safety and Hygiene. Acknowledgment is due Mr. Jos. B. Finnegan, Professor of Fire Protection Engineering, Armour Institute of Technology; to Mr. R. M. Little, Director of the American Museum of Safety; and to Mr. F. M. Griswold for excerpts from his address entitled “The Inspector and the Insured.” For editorial assistance acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division of the Federal Board.

You who have been under fire at the front and have come back disabled have had an insight into life that of necessity affects your outlook on the future. Things which once assumed importance in your mind have lost their appeal. Positions which you held before going over may now seem ineffectual after the vision of war which you have beheld. In the months of facing death and later of adjustment to a new condition, your outlook has broadened beyond a mere material view. You have been in the fight for world peace and safety, and the impetus gained in helping the other fellow still carries you on. This feeling is not a weak sentiment, but an appreciation of the fact that life has more windows than the one which looks out on material welfare.

Perhaps no form of work offers more opportunity for a combination of success in material and altruistic lines than safety and fire protection engineering. Especially in safety engineering, a man himself disabled carries to everyone with whom he comes in contact a warning and an encouragement. There is nothing more inspirational than a man who has ignored or made use of his handicap in his own forging ahead. Handicapped himself, he may prevent others becoming so. The safety engineer is a guardian of the people’s happiness and future. The work offers to those who have the insight an opportunity to join in the general drive for world safety from an industrial point of view and for conserving human power.

This same inner purpose holds also in the case of the fire protection engineer. To him falls in large part the work of saving the created and natural resources of the nation. While it is true that men disabled by amputation can not so easily take up this profession as that of safety engineering, the war’s statistics show a larger percentage of the returned men to be disabled by disease and internal wounds which have undermined their strength than by dismemberments. For these men, the vocation of fire protection engineer is particularly suitable.

No work which is done for the material gain alone can satisfy a man’s ambition, and these two important professions are doors which open to service as well as to material welfare.

PLAN No. 917. SAFETY ENGINEERING

Safety engineering in a broad sense of the term is a new profession in industry which offers good opportunities for well-qualified men. It undoubtedly offers a broader field than fire protection engineering, yet in many ways these two professions are analogous and they are frequently combined. A soldier or sailor disabled in service who wishes to be trained for this vocation may be given the opportunity. In order to benefit by the training and be assured of a good position in an industrial plant, certain qualifications are necessary.

EDUCATION

A high-school education or its equivalent is practically essential, and if this education has been secured in a technical high school it will have especial value. Men who have had more advanced training in technical schools, colleges, or universities stands a better chance than others of becoming leaders in the profession. A knowledge of the fundamentals of any of the other leading engineering professions is helpful in safety engineering as in fire protection engineering.

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS

To become a good safety engineer one needs to have a clear mind, capable of analysis and of constructive thinking; a pleasing personality, and the qualities of leadership. Safety engineering has quite as much to do with the human element as it has with mechanics. In general, it is divided into two parts; Structural engineering and engineering revision; and mechanical safeguarding, coupled with safety organization in industrial plants and educational methods aiming to reach managers, superintendents, foremen, and workmen. It is apparent, therefore, that mechanical and engineering technique, coupled with educational ability and leadership, are necessary qualifications in safety engineers. As he must respond to humanitarian as well as to business interests, the safety engineer must be a man of sterling character, or moral enthusiasm, and of broad human sympathies.

NATURE OF WORK

Safety work proper is divided into two essential branches--safeguarding and education, both conducted under a well-planned scheme of organization.

In the company and rating organization field the safety engineer will make careful inspections, reporting upon many details from which the risk is determined and the rate made.

A careful study of working conditions, a painstaking analysis of accidents occurring under them, a searching inquiry into potential causes of accidents that may not have occurred is made to determine truly the hazards to which workmen are exposed. The correct means of overcoming them are determined upon and put into effect. In order to overcome the unfortunate lack of safety precautions when machines are built or plants designed, it is an essential duty of the safety engineer to check plans and specifications for new machinery, new equipment, new construction, and for alterations, repairs and rearrangements, in order to see that every safety requirement is covered so far as is possible. Safety engineers must have the personality to get the sympathetic interest and co-operation of men and bosses, and to get them interested in his safety propaganda; to organize committees and campaigns; to make men get the safety habit and think safety unconsciously. Safety engineering is related to problems of industrial management, employment and labor turnover. It has to do with welfare work, first aid treatment, hospital service, etc. It is really human engineering, embracing all the broad features that are implied thereby.

OPPORTUNITIES

The opportunities for well qualified men are many and constantly increasing. There is undoubtedly a future in safety engineering for those who are well trained for the work.

The nature of the casualty insurance business is such that men with the technical training and skill of safety engineers are in more demand, in the actual details of the business, than perhaps are the fire insurance inspectors in the fire insurance field.

There is a close connection between workmen’s compensation insurance and safety engineering due primarily to the fact that the insurance rate is made to depend on safety conditions. This necessitates the employment of a large number of inspectors and safety engineers. Up to the present time there has been a demand for safety engineers and competent inspectors far exceeding the supply, and it is believed that these conditions will continue to exist, as industrial plants are now absorbing a large number of these men.

The State compensation laws are awakening all of our industries to the necessity of prevention of accidents to wage-earners. Large industrial corporations have safety departments, with a chief safety engineer and many assistants.

Capable safety engineers receive good salaries, and those especially well qualified and experienced are often advanced to executive positions in the larger industries.

State factory inspectors and casualty insurance inspectors receive from $1,200 to $2,000 per year. Capable safety engineers in industry receive from $1,500 to $5,000 per year.

The following excerpts from letters received from prominent men in the casualty insurance and engineering field show the opportunities in this profession:

“In the field of safety engineering there is an exceptionally good opportunity for men who are adapted to this work. Even in normal times employers in this field of endeavor have found difficulty in securing men with proper educational foundations and ability. There is always a demand for men in this field and the opportunities for advancement are exceptionally good.”

“The field of safety engineering is a rapidly extending one. As the people awake to the tremendous economic drain of the waste of life through accidents, more and more attention will be given to these matters, and the demand for men who understand them will strengthen.”

“The opportunities for safety engineering are as large, or larger than the opportunities presented in other branches of engineering work. The field has hardly been scratched on the surface.”

“There is without question an unusual opportunity for trained men in the field of safety engineering. The rapid spread of the safety idea, and the recognition of the importance of human relations in general, are leading many manufacturing organizations to install safety departments, and properly qualified men are not available for these positions.”

“Up to the present time there has been a great demand for safety engineers and competent inspectors that was far beyond the supply, and these conditions will continue to exist, as industrial plants are now absorbing a large number of these men.”

PHYSICAL QUALIFICATIONS

A man with one eye, one arm, or one leg can be a good safety engineer. Likewise, a man with a weak heart or lungs may be a good safety engineer. Disabilities which disqualify men for many industrial pursuits do not disqualify but may partially qualify them for safety engineers. In other words, one does not need to be 100 per cent physically fit. In fact, men who have suffered the loss of members may precisely, on that account be more effective in teaching the principles, habits, and practices of safety to men in our industries.

It will be noted that the physical requirements for a safety engineer have not been made as rigid as those for a fire protection engineer. This is because the great field of activity for a safety engineer is employment at a manufacturing plant and the work can become more one of the head and less one of physical perfection.

TRAINING

Men who have been disabled in the military or naval service of the Government and wish to be trained for safety engineers will be trained by the Federal Board for Vocational Education. The Board will make arrangements with the safety organizations of the country to give special courses for them. The teachers will be experienced safety engineers. Part of the work will be classroom lectures and assigned readings. The study of mechanical safeguards and hazards will be given in a well-equipped institution, with visits to industries for personal instruction in the methods of active operations. When the course in the institution is completed, the men will be placed in the industries themselves, under the direction of the head safety engineer, there to be given the benefits of a further practical instruction, in order that when the course has been completed the students may all be assured of positions.

The National Safety Council, through its local councils, is establishing courses in safety engineering in various centers as fast as a suitable demand warrants, and classes are already under way in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Rochester, N. Y.

The American Museum of Safety in New York City has a similar class under consideration.

PLAN No. 918. FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEERING

Fire protection engineering, or fire insurance engineering, is a well-established line of effort which has been raised to the dignity of a profession during the past 20 years of its development. The fire insurance inspector belongs to this profession, as do inspectors in municipal fire prevention bureaus such as the large cities are organizing as an auxiliary to their fire departments. There are certain institutions in which instruction is given, and ways whereby a disabled man discharged from the military and naval forces of the United States may be trained for this vocation. In order to benefit by the training and be assured of good opportunities, certain facts should be considered.

EDUCATION

Primarily it may be conceded that the man who has had a technical education can generally get on in the profession more rapidly than one who has not. When technical knowledge and scientific attainments are secured in the hard school of experience the graduate has paid dearly for his lack of earlier training.

A distinction may be made between the requirements for fire protection engineering proper and those for routine inspection work.

A well-equipped fire protection engineer should have the equivalent of a sound engineering course, with a knowledge of the fundamentals or basic principles involved in civil, architectural, mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, and chemical engineering. These principles can be utilized in the problems of plan drafting, proper building construction, occupancy equipment, public and private fire protection, and common and manufacturing hazards. Experience has demonstrated, however, that such foundation is not absolutely essential, and that many possessing the requisite personal qualifications have succeeded without it. For instance, many industrial occupations provide valuable experience as a foundation for development of the necessary technical ability. Men who have had experience as building inspectors, construction or factory engineers, piping foremen, estimators for automatic sprinkler concerns, and men who have been employed in municipal fire departments or in fire-alarm and signal work have been successful in routine inspection work and have risen to places of eminence in the world of fire protection engineering.

Graduates of engineering departments other than fire protection engineering have repeatedly shown themselves to be readily adaptable to work in this field, after a period of readjustment to enable them to acquire the point of view necessary to a man to whom the causes and prevention of fire, rather than other phases of engineering problems are significant.

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Whether technical qualifications be founded on training in a technical school or be the result of later effort the aspirant for success as an insurance inspector should be familiar with insurance practice, and should be endowed with a broad complement of common sense. He should have an inquisitive and observant mind, coupled with a desire to investigate the “why and how” of every problem, a constantly receptive brain, a retentive memory, and should be competent as a teacher of those less thoughtful or less well informed than he.

Above all a successful fire protection engineer must not minimize the importance of accurate observation and faithful reporting of small details which may have most vital import in determining the conditions of a plant.

Finally he should be resourceful and capable in planning and carrying out to a successful issue the details of technical propositions.

Tact and judgment must be exercised when dealing with men who may not always appreciate the viewpoint of the inspector, and courtesy is always a prime essential.

NATURE OF WORK

It is the work of the inspector to scrutinize closely all conditions and materials which may in any manner create or increase the fire hazard, including the character and nature of raw stock or material used, all the processes of manipulation, from its reception at the plant, its handling and storage, to the completion of the operations necessary to produce the finished goods or article. The inspector must carefully note and define the hazards incident to each state of progress where physical or other changes affecting the conditions may take place. In addition to these purely technical investigations and conclusions, he should closely observe and study “shop practice” or management, including supervision and discipline of employees, as related to the cleanliness and care of hazards, which form the basis of “good housekeeping” and are important essentials in securing safety from fire in all classes of property.

The apparatus and appliances for fire protection or fire defense need to be very critically examined and described. This often necessitates going into dark basements or low pits to locate automatic sprinkler valves, etc. Water-supply tanks for automatic sprinkler systems have to be climbed to examine their condition and to ascertain water levels, and when the assent and co-operation of the insured can be secured, tests for efficiency of such devices as fire pumps should be undertaken. The nature and condition of the structure forming the plant or risk require careful consideration and full description, and finally, the information gained is generally embodied in a written report of such lucidity as to convey a mental photograph of the hazards and conditions to the minds of those who have to decide upon the acceptability of the risk from an underwriting viewpoint.

OPPORTUNITIES

Fire protection engineers are employed at the present time largely by insurance companies, either individually as company field engineers or collectively in the inspection and rating organizations. Every important geographical section in the country has somewhere within it an insurance organization consisting either of an insurance exchange or rating board for making insurance rates and specifying requirements for improvements, and an engineering or inspection bureau for making surveys, inspections, and reports to its members. Large municipalities are cared for by local rating boards. Many large corporations are employing engineers, often with the title of “Fire marshal,” and others combine their fire insurance affairs, both business and engineering, in the office of a “Superintendent of insurance.”

Insurance engineers are frequently called to a company home office, after having had a good field experience, to take charge of the underwriting or passing upon the business offered in special departments, for the business requiring a technical or engineering knowledge. These are variously known as “Improved risk departments,” “Sprinklered risk departments,” etc., because the use of automatic sprinklers is fundamental in fire protection and required in risks accepted by such departments. One of the best avenues of approach to good home office positions is through the field experience of a fire protection engineer, employed by an inspection bureau or by an individual company.

There is a marked tendency among the larger insurance agencies and brokerage offices, in striving to render service to their customers, to employ fire protection engineers as a means of obtaining and holding business by reason of their superior technical knowledge.

Training obtained as an insurance or fire protection engineer is one of the best means of acquiring the technical knowledge requisite for success as a broker, by one who would become an expert buyer of insurance, able to study the needs of his clients, advise with regard to the kind of insurance to purchase, work out satisfactory contracts, and negotiate with the rating authorities to secure the lowest cost.

The agency end of the business offers the greatest financial inducements, since one may develop a clientele of his own, receiving commission on the amount of business he can bring into the office, and may perhaps become a partner in the business.

Trained inspectors are rarely employed for less than $1,200, and salaries run up to $2,400 for field men. Chief engineers of organizations, engineers in agencies, and company executives obtain much more.

The following excerpts from letters received from prominent men in the fire insurance and engineering field show the opportunities in this profession:

“The opportunities in the field of fire protection engineering were never greater that at the present time, as the public now seems to be in a receptive mood as regards conservation of all resources.”

“There is a constant demand among fire insurance companies for practical fire protection engineers. The number employed by any one company is not great but the number is growing now that insurance companies as a whole are getting to appreciate the constant dangers of conflagration areas, poor water supply, poor fire equipment, and other kindred effects.”

“There is a splendid opportunity in what is called the inspection or rating bureau service, as even prior to our country entering the war there was always a shortage of competent help.”

“In the inspection and engineering branch of fire insurance a wide field can be readily opened to disabled soldiers and sailors as well as to other discharged service men.”

“Several months ago one inspection bureau formulated tentatively its own employment plan, which in brief was, ‘first, to re-employ its former men now with the colors, and to thereafter give preference to disabled soldiers and sailors.’”

“In the field of fire protection there are comparatively so few trained men in this vocation to-day that the opportunity is unlimited. Where yesterday the idea was the protection of property by fire departments, water supply, etc., to-day it is one of fire prevention, i. e., checking the cause of fire before it may have an opportunity to do any damage. Fire prevention to-day is confined mainly to organizations covering wide fields. There is no question but what in the future each industrial plant of any size will have their own fire protection or fire prevention engineer, and probably the same will be extended to each city of any considerable size.”

“Graduates of the Armour Institute of Technology and former students who have not graduated have been in demand. In most cases the employment entered into immediately after graduation has been moderately remunerative, but advancement has been much more rapid than in the case of untrained men. A few graduates have been employed by companies manufacturing and installing automatic sprinkler equipments. The typical case is that of a man who enters an inspection bureau, and after three or four years assumes work of responsibility with a fire insurance company. Recently several companies have shown a tendency to depart from the traditional plan of looking to the bureaus as training schools, and have engaged men with the Institute’s degree, but without field experience. A large proportion of the classes of 1917 and 1918, who entered military or naval service upon leaving school, will probably be employed by insurance companies immediately after discharge from the service. There are now, as at all times, in the history of the department, applications for more graduates than are available.”

PHYSICAL QUALIFICATIONS

Disfigurements or physical incapacities which are not too serious need not be a handicap for pursuing the profession of fire protection engineering. These can be more than offset by good education, technical training, a pleasing personality, and enthusiasm for the work.

It must be remembered, however, that this work involves a great deal of traveling, either about the country or locally in large centers, carrying usually two grips. While making an inspection, an engineer is constantly called upon to climb around in unfinished buildings, and through manholes to roofs, which ordinarily requires the use of both hands and legs. Measurements are made, notes taken, plans drawn, and reports written up.

Minor handicaps, such as loss of an eye, pieces of bone removed, claw hand, stiff knee joint, or slight limp, etc., need not debar men from the profession. Those having tubercular tendencies to a degree necessitating an active outdoor life, should be materially benefited, and should recover both health and strength by this line of activity. This would apply to other cases where fresh air and activity are desirable but it must also be borne in mind that a certain amount of physical stamina is necessary, and that exposure to weather, walking and climbing about for many hours at a stretch, might affect some forms of disability adversely.

It is obvious that loss of a leg or an arm, except in unusual cases, would be a serious handicap. Field experience is important as a means of training for inside consulting, or executive work in this profession. However, men who have become used to artificial limbs can best judge if they are qualified to undertake these activities.

TRAINING

The Federal Board for Vocational Education will make arrangements with certain institutions and insurance organizations of the country to give special courses for men who have been disabled in the military or naval service of the Government who wish to be trained as fire protection engineers.

We believe that at present the only regular four-year college course in fire protection engineering is that offered by Armour Institute of Technology. Special courses and facilities for amplification are offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnical Institute, Columbia University, Cornell University, Stevens Institute, Washington University, and perhaps by other institutions.

Experienced engineers believe that men who have started college courses, especially in engineering branches, should continue them, keeping in mind the line of work they contemplate pursuing, and should then supplement their college work by entering the employ of an inspection bureau.

A course of fire protection engineering is offered by the American School of Correspondence. The Insurance Institute of America, through its several branches in local insurance or insurance library associations throughout the country, has offered night school lecture courses. Plans are being considered, if there is a warrantable demand in any given locality, to offer a more intensive bureau. In some cases these inspection bureaus may cooperate to the extent of giving a well-rounded training to a man who has had sufficient general technical education or experience to justify such action.

PLAN No. 919. THE METAL TRADES

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

This monograph was prepared by Eugene C. Graham, Special Agent for the Federal Board, under direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings of the Research Division for editorial assistance.

A METAL-WORKING AGE.

Nearly every industry depends to some extent, and most industries depend to a very great extent, upon metal working, either by employing metal workers directly in some processes, or by using metal products as raw materials in the manufacture of other products, or at least by using tools, implements, machines, and engines, which are products of metal-working trades and industries. And, in addition, these trades and industries produce a great variety of finished utensils and furniture ready for consumption in households. More than any other ours is a metal-working age.

MACHINE WORK AND HANDWORK.

Metals must be worked largely by machine processes, but they must be worked also in many instances by hand processes. All-round machinists and other metal workers must know how to operate machines, but they must also be skilled artisans capable of using a variety of hand tools. Bench hands, assemblers, and specialists in many lines are hand workers and only incidentally if at all machine operators.

If you like machinery and tools, and working with durable materials--working with steel and other less difficult metals as the carpenter works with wood, you can almost certainly find some line of metal working in which you can succeed, whatever your disability.

In the metal-working trades there is every variety of handwork and footwork and headwork to be done, light work and heavy work, work in shop or factory and work in the open, bench work and machine work, highly skilled as well as simple routine work.

TRADE TRAINING FOR PROMOTION.

Promotion comes to trained men who acquire dexterity in handling tools, in operating machines, in manipulating various metals. It comes easily to men trained broadly, who are able to deal intelligently with any problems that may arise in their line of work.

If you decide to enter one of the metal-working trades, you should take training for the trade, rather than for some job in the trade. Learn the trade rather than simply how to operate some one machine, or how to do one simple task, and you can then accept promotion in the trade, and make good at any job in it.

WHAT METAL WORKERS PRODUCE.

Everything in metal from a minute screw to a locomotive engine--from a tin can to a great gun casting. They produce machines to produce machines, and with tools and machines which they themselves produce, they produce every sort of metal product or metal part of a product, including machinery and equipment for the farm, the factory, and the home.

Nearly every article of common use, whether made of metal or of other material, is more or less a machine product, and practically the whole machinery for producing nonmetal as well as metal products is originally the product of the metal trades.

Specifically the product of a machine shop may be a complete machine, a rebuilt or repaired machine or machine part sold to other firms. For such a product raw material of cast iron, sheet iron, steel of varying degrees of hardness, wrought iron, brass, or bronze, comes from the foundry or from a stock department in which are kept sheets, steel bars, castings and forgings. Much of the labor in some shops must be employed in producing shop equipment, including formed cutters, reamers, drills, and various metal working tools made in the shop.

PROCESSES.

Molding, which is a basic operation in the metal industries, is a comparatively simple process especially when standardized parts are being cast, and it is not necessarily heavy work since castings in various metals, may be of any size and weight. Molten metal, pure or alloyed, is poured into a mold formed by a pattern in sand or loam. In many instances castings must be finished by machinery.

When a part is to be subjected to hard usage or to severe strains and stresses, forging or hammering rather than casting may be the process employed in shaping it. Drop forgings are made by means of automatic power hammers and dies. With few exceptions forgings, also, must be finished by machining.

Sheet-metal workers lay out work on sheet metal, cut it, shape or bend it, and solder, rivet or weld it into various forms, such as are required in building up ornamental cornices for buildings, or in constructing hot-air heating apparatus, or in manufacturing filing cases, various sorts of containers, and many other articles. Some of the work is outside work, but an increasing number of processes are being performed in the shop with the use of machinery. Metal stamping and electric welding machines are used to form and weld together parts of, for example, automobile bodies, doors, and fenders.

Of all the metal-working trades, that of the machinist is the most varied in its hand and machinery processes, although many workmen never learn more in the trade than how to operate some one automatic machine, or how to do some one simple task. In general the machinist should know how to operate all of the machinery of his trade, and in addition he must acquire skill of hand in metal working, and especially in the processes of building, repairing, assembling, and erecting every sort of engine and machine.

PLAN No. 920. MOLDERS

VARIETY OF EMPLOYMENTS.

Foundry employments generally will not be found to be suitable for men who have suffered serious physical injuries, or for men whose physical strength has been seriously impaired by exposure or illness, and they are not generally employments for which any extended course of training is required. These employments are, however, more varied in character than they are commonly supposed to be, and some lines of molding and casting may very well be undertaken by men who have been disabled, especially in cases where previous experience and training in foundry work will prove helpful.

Practically all floor molding is heavy work. Shovels and various hand tools are used in building molds around patterns or templates which determine shape and size of castings. Bench molding and machine molding, on the other hand, may involve no considerable physical strains, and many operations in machine molding can be done with one hand. Some lines of bench molding may be done sitting at the bench and do not require the molder to move about in the foundry.

PROMOTION.

In welding as in other trades, advancement comes to specialists, and to those who acquire such technical knowledge as is practically useful in the various lines. Some training in metallurgy, for example, will have value where alloys of vanadium, chromium, tungsten, nickel, and manganese are used, and the expert molder who can calculate quickly and accurately, and can handle men may expect promotion to foremanship.

HOURS AND WAGES.

Working hours in foundries vary from 8 to 9 a day, and wages of molders in private concerns range from 50 to 75 cents an hour, the Government rate in railroad shops being 88 cents. Pieceworkers in stove foundries and in other shops where machines are used earn highest wages.

CORE MAKING.

Core making is lighter work than molding, since cores are generally smaller and lighter than molds or castings. The core maker often works at a bench, with a mixture of core sand and binder, which he rams tightly into molds. Comparatively little training is required and such disabilities as partial loss of sight or hearing, loss of fingers or thumbs, stiffness of knee, ankle or hip joint, and weakness of heart or lungs, need not be serious handicaps.

MACHINE MOLDING.

In well equipped plants machines do most of the ramming, turn over the mold, draw the pattern, and do away with much heavy lifting. Machine molders usually work by the piece, and must be active and quick to earn good wages.

TRAINING.

Foundry work is taught in many schools, but only a few schools have been able to keep up with the industry in providing machinery.

PLAN No. 921. SHEET-METAL WORKERS

DEMAND FOR WORKERS.

The sheet-metal worker is the survival in modern industry of the village tinner or tinsmith, and the demand for these workers is large and increasing.

In the building trades, in ship building, in automobile and airplane construction, and in the manufacture of furniture, kitchen ware, heating and ventilating apparatus men of skill and experience in sheet-metal working are required.

WHAT THE WORKER DOES.

Workmen at the trade are mainly occupied in cutting out shapes or patterns, bending and forming these shapes on machines or with hand tools, and assembling the parts by hand. Edges are fastened together by riveting, soldering, or by lock seams. For example, a shaving-exhaust system consists of suction pipes, an exhaust fan, and a large pipe leading to the outlet, at which point is a dust separator called a cyclone. Practically all of the system is built of galvanized iron in sections, which are first constructed in the shop, then erected and supported in place in the factory where it is to be used. All of this work, including the erecting, is done by sheet-metal workers.

It is the work of the journeyman in a job shop to use the common machines for cutting and forming the sheets of metal, to rivet or solder the parts together, and to fasten them in place on buildings or in any location where the product is used.