Purdue University - Debris Yearbook (West Lafayette, IN)

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culiar mission to fill. Mr. Morrill clearly saw the need of such institutions when he drafted the bill which gave life to Purdue and the other ' ' land- grant ' ' colleges. It was evident to him and other far-seeing men of the time that the Civil War would be followed by an era of industrial and com- t mercial activity not paralleled in the history of -- ' ' ' J the world. In order to meet this new era and to make the most of it, the establishment of ; schools for scientific instruction in the agricul- tural and mechanic arts seemed necessary. In the development of the State of Indiana and of the middle West, Purdue University has had no small part. The work of Purdue is of a two- fold char- acter. Regular instruction is imparted to students attending the University, while a large amount of scientific work is done for the people of the State. The fact that graduates of Purdue have gone out to honorable and lucra- tive positions all over the country is sufficient evidence of the appreciation of her academic work by those best qualified to judge. The difference be- tween Purdue and most other colleges lies in the fact that in her courses of study emphasis is placed upon applied rather than upon pure science. The advance of human knowledge must depend upon the discovery and formu- lation of scientific laws, but the industrial progress of mankind must depend upon the intelligent application of those laws. There was at the time Pur- due was founded, and there is now, an unusual demand for the application of the laws of science to every-day life. Purdue has endeavored to meet this demand by sending her graduates into professional life and by doing direct scientific work for the people of the state and nation. After centuries of wasteful agriculture, or more properly of earth-butchery, the thinking people of America came to the conclusion that farming in this country would have to be carried , ; on in a more economical and scientific manner. The Purdue A lW Experiment Station and other institutions of like character were the result of this thought. The work of this department of Pur-; due is carried on in such a quiet and unostentatious manner that 5 many of us are not aware of its effectiveness. The value of the: experimental work of the station and of the department of Chemis- try in connection with the sugar-beet cannot be indicated in dollars and cents and can scarcely be appreciated at this time. The prospects are, however, that a new and magnificent indus- try is to be intelligently located in Indiana, due in no small part-- ' ) to the scientific services of Purdue.

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The Station bulletins contain infor- mation of inestimable value to the farmers of the State and are probably better known in the remote districts than they are in Lafayette. The department of Mechanical En- gineering, owing to intelligent man- agement and magnificent equipment, has enjoyed more than a national reputation. The locomotive labora- tory has been a prominent feature in this department, and the experiments performed have attracted the atten- tion of railroad-men in two continents. The new laboratory now being con- structed will contain, among other things, the most successful and com- plete machine ever constructed for testing the efficiency of brake-shoes. The same practical spirit pervades the other engineering departments, and in fact, the entire University. No professional man, in fact no American citizen is now consid- ered equipped for the duties which confront him without some knowledge of history, government, literature, and the modern lan- guages. The scientific world is now a unit, and for an easy inter- change of opinions and the results of scientific investigations, a knowl- edge of the modern European languages, particularly French and German, is indispensable. It is, too, the idea of Purdue and of all firstclass techni- cal schools that instruction along literary, economic and historical lines should be added to that which is strictly scientific. It has been the constant aim of Purdue to embody the essentials and the ideals of a firstclass technical school, and thus to attain to the highest de- gree of usefulness to the State and Nation. s i m } ••mksmifxjafam ai tt l l