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

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The 1933 COLLKMBIA ENGINEER IMINING AND METALLURGICXIL ENGINEERS AND FACULTY Nordrtronz Legsdin P. Queneau W'yfall Foote B. Queneau Sheelo Catlin Nemtroeff Poole Narodny Towing Gelzert Lewin Jette Buoley Read Campbell .Morrill Kern Anderson DIGGING IN THOMAS T. READ RACTICE in the writing of messages to a graduating class often seems to favor the adoption of a waggish air, perhaps as a relief from the almost incredibly solemn adjurations, Cto be found even in the rituals of the honor societiesj to the general effect that the faculty are really the students' best friends, instead of their oppressors and adversaries. VVhy it should be assumed that the latter view is one Widely entertained by students has never been clear. ln my undergraduate days the typical college student of the cartoonists and humorists, who spends his energies in trying to attain passing grades Without really learning anything, was almost as rare as a wild goose, if indeed he had ever existed in considerable numbers. Nor has his frequency apparently increased. ' The astonishingly large proportion of Colum- bia studentsgwho are working to contribue to their support while in college is the best possible evidence that they are really here to learn. While they may have definite opinions as to how efficient mechanisms their instructors have been in carry- ing out that purpose, they are not likely to regard them as adversaries, nor to need any parting suggestion to the general effect that, after all, we were just a bunch of good fellows together, and while you perhaps did -not enjoy the enforced association very much at the time, you will eventually come to look back on it with a good deal of pleasure. ' A Rejecting, then, the waggish approach in a farewell salutation, may l agree that you probably will look back on your years here as pleasant ones, and suggest a seldom noticed underlying reason for that feeling. The most difficult of all human problems is to know what to dog how to do it, after you have once decided' upon it, may call for ingenuity and long-continued effort, but it is a rather pleasant form Thirty-eight

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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

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The 1933 COLUJICIBL4 ENGINEER of endeavor, While making a decision often involves tremendous nerve strain. You came here in accordance with a decision that circumscribed your activities for .a period of years, you depart into a life where decisions may require making, and re-making, at frequent intervals. Within the limit of our abilities We have been trying to help you prepare to make wise decisions, that will Work out satisfactorily for you and yours. College might be likened to the training period of a fighter, and life afterward to an unending series of bouts. We hope you will win oftener than you lose. No one can look upon the World today and fail to observe that men have made much more progress in learning how to do things than in deciding what to do. As a specific example, business men and engineers combined have set up means of produc- tion that seem far beyond our capacity to distribute and exchange their products, though the people of the world are still far from having all they want or need of those things. Somebody ought to do something about it is a natural reaction, but the question is what to do? I would not for a moment suggest that the world is to be remolded nearer to our heart's desire by engineers Who, having been so successful in finding out how to do things can now turn to the problems of finding out what to do in the con- fident expectation of equal success. But I do want to point out that human progress up to novv has mostly resulted from individuals deciding what they ought to do, and then doing it. A large and vocal group now tells us that While that procedure Works well in a simple civilization it breaks down in the complicated one that has gradually arisen. We are invited to try instead a scheme in which all-Wise central planning boards will decide for us what we ought to do. Skeptics point out that central planning led to reclaiming the arid lands of our West but ended in a situation where farmers cannot make a living even on land that did not need to be reclaimedg central planning led to the promoting of agricultural production and now finds itself confronted with the problem of huge surpluses of agricultural products. Years ago We had a professor of mechanics Whose favorite expression was I can't think with your head. Instead of believing that we can safely pass our decisions on to planning boards, I am convinced that the World situation today is the result of too narrow rather than too wide a distribution of the responsibility for making decisions- fclozztizzzzed on page 562 DOWN UNDER ORE DRESSING Thiriy-nine