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

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The 1033 COLUJMBIJ ENGINEER IWECHXINICAL ENGINEERS KIND FACULTY Raun, Hammond, Hfppenheirner, Goldman, Sfl6l'7'07I,PEfL'l'.S'271, Rieonda, Pegrzzrn, Gross Fofwler, IVIcGough, BZf12fl0lll, Illalzer, Hildebrandt, Greafues, Geoghegan, Smith, Sflleel, Kindermann, Hawkins, Goodale, B!llI7l1Ei5fl'7', Guernsey, Bunbury, Kisselejf, Brofwn, Slzriro, Wilson, Rosen, Tirknor, Illelirhar, Kayan, Parr, Lucke, Dllffflgf, Ford, Eidmann, Hicks. INTROSPECTION XV. A. SHOUDY F WE HUNT with care, we can find not a few blessings resulting from these years of financial distress. One of these is the time given us to study the past, and to carefully scrutinize all those practices which have become our daily habit. Some of these are founded on sound principles, but many have their sole basis in custom, and when we are busy, we are prone to accept custom without careful scrutiny. One of these practices is that of giving advice to graduating classes, but it is doubtful whether a representative of a passing generation can advise the members of a gen- eration whose future offers accomplishments not yet dreamed of. The best that we of the faculty can do is to relate the accomplishments of our generation, and the steps that led to these accomplishments, and to hope that you will avoid the errors that we have committed. ' lt has been the privilege of the engineer to have been the pioneer in improving the physical condition of the human race. He has not always been known by that name but his accomplishments have been essentially engineering accomplishments. Sometimes he has been merely the lceenest mind in the tribe, as was the man who first appreciated the relationship to the heat of friction and the production of fire. Sometimes he has been called the architect, who recognized the engineering prin- ciples that permitted the piling of stones into an arch, or a dome, for a roof. Some- times, the priest whose only outlet for an inquiring mind was the mystification of the people. Today it is the habit to criticize the machine age. It is no new age. It began when the Hrst savage used a piece of broken flint to shape his arrow, or used a round stone to grind his corn. Since that time man has been actively hunting for Thirty-six

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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

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The 1933 COLUIVIBIA ENGINEER new machines to make better arrows or to make them more quickly, to grind his corn with less human effort, to provide better housing and clothes and to give his family more leisure for cultural activities. Each inventor has met active competi- tion, and misunderstanding and misuse of his machine. The arrow, invented for protection and for food supply, was copied by neighboring tribes and became a means of warfare. Fire invented for food preparation became a source of destruction and an arm of war, but later became our chief source of power. The early house became a fortress and a temple of mysticism though now it has become a shelter or a hall of learning. ' During the past 150 years we have had at our command an almost unlimited Source of power. For the first 100 years that power could be used only where it was generated. Consequently our factories became concentrated nea.r coal mines or water powers and living conditions in these congested areas became intolerable. The machine that should have added to the comfort of the race was misused for the exploitation of labor and the increase in human suffering. The steam locomotive and railroad transportation somewhat lessened these evils but it was not until power could be transmitted by electricity that any chance of improvement was possible. For the last 50 years electric power has been available to any community that would pay the cost. The atmosphere of the cities has been improved, manufacturers have moved to less congested districts, the old shafting and belts have disappeared and the factory building is rapidly becoming a cheerful and healthy structure. But again this gift of the engineer has been misunderstood and misused, and we find ourselves in a period of human suffering brought on by the exploitation of the machine instead of its intelligent use. Yet in spite of this misuse, the average of culture and bodily comfort is far higher than in any period of the past. This experience has taught us that the effect on the man behind the machine, and upon the public consuming its products, should be the guiding principle in the engineer's efforts rather than the invention or exploitation of the machine itself. You gentlemen start your engineering career in a financial depression similar fciozztirizzed on page 562 INJECTION OIL ENGINE IN lllECI'Ii-YIVICJL ENGINEERING L.-IBOR.-ITORY Thirty-Jefuerz