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

Page 8 text:

CA JM P US

Page 7 text:

A CHANGING WORLD DEAN JOSEPH XV. BARKER EOLOGISTS and astro-physicists have written the stories of the slow, ceaseless changes which occurred ' in the prehistoric ages of this planet. Their stories run into the period of recorded history and then the historians i take up the task of tracing the accel- erating pace with which our civilization has developed. This World of ours is ever-changing and constantly evolving, but I think it is safe to say that at no time has the rate of change been higher than today. We are living through a critical period, torn by -an extremely -ef severe business crisis, wearied by unsolved problems arising from the cataclysm of the VVorld War and its aftermath and harassed by the uncertainties of political and social upheavals. Your class is leaving the University atmosphere, relatively calm, sedate and unhurried, and entering a rough, struggling and Hustered world of industry just at the turn of the ebb tide. The storms of the past three years have strewn the waters with wreckage and flotsam both material and human. The waves are running high and many of the recognized marks on our charts have been destroyed or altered. Truly this promises dangerous and diflicult navi- gation. The mariner who carelessly dismisses the dangers and, without precautions, sails in such an abating storm is inviting troubles and possible shipwreck. Are there any lessons we can draw from the experiences of the past three years? I think there are, although it must be said that it is extremely difficult to evaluate accurately the damage while the storm is in progress. DEAN BARKER l believe we engineers have recognized theimportance of evaluating new methods and new processes in terms of social as well as economic factors. Our attention has been turned as never before to the extreme importance of securing a proper balance of social, economic and scientific factors. We are turning toward a scientific manage- ment which recognizes the social as well as the economic phases of a cooperative society. Everyone is thinking in terms of some sort of a governing device. just now that the social machine is running at a subnormal speed, we want a governor which will bring us up to rated speed. Qur big problem as engineers is to help in the design of such a governor and to make it as nearly foolproof as human nature will permit. The world would readily install such an equipment now but would almost as readily scrap it whenever the device tended to prevent a super-normal speed. As a mob we love higher and higher speeds until a crash comes, and then we look about for someone or something to blame. A ready and open mind for all our problems is the ideal of an engineer. We should never hesitate to apply decelerating means whenever speeds tend to go into the Danger Zone. At the same time we must not become ultra-conservative to the point where we would be willing to retard progress for the sake of uniform speed. This business world is indeed a rough hurly-burly and many of you are going to find it extremely difficult to keep your heads above water for a year or so. I caution you but I donlt pity you. I reserve my pity for the middle-aged person who let himself get into an easy rut, died mentally and rested on his oars only to have the storm spew him onto the sands broken and nearly useless. Are there lessons to be learned? Yes, but you'll no longer have professors to assign them. l've touched on only one, are you ready to recognize and study out the others for yourselves? Six

Page 9 text:

MINES