him six months behind the apprentice and two and one-half years behind the trade-school graduate. In six months the technical school graduate overtakes the apprentice, at which time both are earning $14.00 per week. The technical school graduate reaches the $15.80 line nearly one year before the regular apprentice. In three years' time the technical graduate overtakes the tradeschool graduate. The line then becomes more curved until, at the age of 32, just ten years after graduation, the technical school graduate has a potential value of $43,000 and receives the 5 per cent. interest on this valuation in the form of a weekly salary of $43.00, at which age the pay of the trade-school graduate may be assumed to be about $25 per week. The curve on the diagram ends here, but the writer has plotted it to a probable maximum of $45.00 per week fifteen years after graduation, with a prospective drop after the age of 45. The compensation of the average graduate in mechanical engineering is thus seen to be at a practical maximum fifteen years after graduation of about $2250 per year. This does not seem large, but it is well known that some exceptional men, or men who had exceptional opportunities, earn far more. This, likewise, applies only to salaried men.
