The following article ran in the Jan. 21, 1922 issue of the M.C.M. Lode.
In student discussions relative to their class work how often is heard that pungent and virile phrase “get the dope.” It is a phrase we may well adopt as our watchword while in college and on the job. “GET THE DOPE.” The pity words carry with them the spirit of determination to master and overcome all difficulties. This spirit has been alive in all ages. It was this spirit that led Hannibal to scale the snow-clad peaks of the Alps amid the swirling snows and batter at the gates of Rome. It was this spirit that imbued Marshal Foch to hold out with bull-dog tenacity against the German onslaught to stem the tide of German invasion.
For fifteen years, Bernard Palissy, the Huguenot potter, labored to discover the process for glazing porcelain, and after he was reduced to such poverty that he was forced to burn his furniture to start his ovens he attained his goal. He “GOT the dope.” Columbus had the courage to sail the uncharted sea against the combined superstition of his age and he was rewarded by discovering a new continent. He also “Got the dope.”
The following anecdote — current in Houghton some years ago — of a mining captain is illustrative: The mining captain accustomed to visit the mine every morning would call for the man in charge of the work and say, “Good morning, how is that drift going north of the shaft on the tenth level?” The reply to this query would be, “She’s lookin’ keenly, Cap’n. There’s a lot of copper in ‘er.” “Damme, what the bloody ‘ell is the use of copper down there. Send ‘er up, send ‘er up.” He was “AFTER the dope” and presumably he got it.
