Columbia University School of Engineering - Yearbook (New York, NY)

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The 1933 COLUIVIBIA ENGINEER INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS AND FACULTY Wand Reilly Nlitclzell deScianni Vom Saal Fixher Hendry King 0'Neill Ayarr Rautensirauch Olstad Eoyang THE ERA POF PUBLIC ENTERPRISE WALTER RAUTENSTRAUCH T MUST be apparent to any observer of social phenomena that we are passing through a period of changing concepts with respect to industrial enterprise. We are gradually emerging from the period of private enterprise to enter the era of public enterprise Centerprise in the public interestj. This change is forced upon us because we have altered the methods of converting the natural resources into commodities and services, and by this change have altered the relative claims of labor and capital to share in the goods produced. Coincident with the changes in processing through which manpower is being displaced by machine power, and interest charges seem to be increasing over wages, we have built up an aggregate of specialized functions in the business process and have operated them as independent functions without regard to their interdependent relationships. Our credit-capital systems-our manufacturing industries-our distributing agencies have grown up as institutions competitive among themselves and Without due regard to the foundations of social well-being upon which their existence de- pends. We are learning that an aggregate of operations is not an orderly system and cannot be maintained in balanced harmony. The social wastes of our present practices cannot be corrected by waiting for what many believe to be natural eco- nomic laws to have their effect. Social conditions result from social practices and when these practices are changed there follows a change in social conditions. Our minds have been conditioned to accept the recurrence of periods of depres- sion, misery, and want as natural and inevitable. People once looked upon devas- tating plagues as phenomena of the same character. Thirty-four

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The 1933 COLUJVIBIAI .ENGINEER are quoted high. But the public utility 'lholdingu companies are in a very bad way. In many cases these were organized simply to make money out of the growing popu- larity of the electric light and power business and did not render society a sufficient service to give them economic justification. The young man of today will find it to his advantage to learn as much as possible about the causes leading up to the present business conditions and this knowledge may be as important an asset as his engineering training because too many engineers are handicapped by an ignorance of business. It is going to be more true in the future than in the past that the majority of young engineers should avoid too great a specialization. But by this term is meant specialization of intellectual interest rather than work, as it is likely that the early years of his employment will be along narrow lines. He should keep his mind open by studying other things in order to be able to take advantage of any unexpected opportunity that presents itself. lVIost advances and promotions result from chance opportunity. There is not one man in ten, and not one in a hundred among the more successful, who continue in a definite specialty in business concerns. To be a success a young man will have to know much other than engineering and among the most important subjects are economics and business, the fundamentals of economics. Very few even among the business men and bankers do. The funda- mentals of economics are more easily appreciated by one who has studied engineering. There is the law of conservation of energy and there is the law that you cannot get something for nothing. There are devices which appear to contradict each of these, for a time, but after a time lag the law asserts itrelf. Many thought, in the recent past, that this law had been repealed. But it had not. It is said of the game of bridge that after 500 deals all luck averages out and the best player wins. Years ago the manager of the large plant in which the wri.ter was employed stated that after ten or eleven years of work each man gets just about what he is worth although in shorter terms other things like favoritism and luck play a part. But there is a time lag which puts a burden on one's patience. The son of one of the big men of the company was brought in from college and after fC07'L.li7'LlL6d on page 565 MOTOR GENERATOR IN A-YLTERN.-4TING CURRENT LABORATORY Tlfirty-llzrce i

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The 1933 COLUMBIA ENGINEER The Department of lndustrial Engineering is endeavoring to find certain facts concerning the processes of production, distribution, and consumption, and to define those procedures in the organization and management of business institutions founded upon these processes, which will result in maximum accomplishment at minimum social cost. . Our studies to date indicate that some of our basic industries have passed the inflection point in growth and are approaching a growth in proportion to population. If the relative claims of labor and capital in both manufacture and agriculture are altered in favor of lowering the fixed debt burden, it is not at all unlikely that industry may experience a healthysecond growth, limited, of course, by the avail- able resources upon which such growth also depends. If We are to avoid the serious consequences of depressions in the future, we must also avoid those periods of expansion which precede depressions. This may be done if We inform ourselves of the natural laws of social growth and are guided by them. Cooperative action must take the place of competitive action as we enter the era of public enterprise. ln this new social era which seems to be demanded, the engineer will find abundant opportunities for social usefulness if he will equip himself properly. Not only must he be informed on machinery and devices, but he must also have an understanding of the economic and social forces which condition the Well-being of society. He must view his problems in broader perspective and enlarge his horizon of interest. He must not only concern himself with building the machine but also with gearing the machine to the whole social mechanism. He must be prepared to do his part in preparing the designs and specifications for more durable and more stable economic and social orders. TPIE NEW' LIBR.-IRY Thirfy-ffue