Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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tntions between students in so-called technical and so-called cultural courses. In other institutions it has been customary to look down upon the students and the work in the scientific and engineering courses. This, fortunately, was never the case at Stanford, and it has been a helpful factor in shaping the raw material. A sympathetic environment has been the privilege of the students and of the faculty in engineering, since the doors of the University opened. As a result the technical students have taken a position in the greater life of the University, have taken part in all student activities, including some not always looked upon with favor by the authorities, and have had collectively the respect and good will of their fellow students. I speak of this factor of environment because I consider it one of the most important ones in influencing the men we are trying to train as engineers. This environment in a university brings home to them day by day a realization of the fact that in order to be able to influence men, in order to be good company, as Dean Hodges said, they must first of all be men. Starting with the same amount of general training as their fellow students, the men in the technical courses take up studies which as a rule are not sought after by the snap hunter. These studies are by some believed to be narrowing, but the ability to see clearly and to think straight can hardly be said to have a narrowing efifect on a man ' s intel- lectual development, be he a major in Latin, English, Philosophy, Science or Engineering. The ability to speak and write fluently is, of course, an accomplishment to be desired, if the speaker has something to say worth listening to, or the author something to write worth reading; Stanford engineers, as a rule, have been able to say well what they had to say, be- cause they knew what they were talking about ; those who have written have written well for the same reason. On looking over the list of our graduates I am impressed with the fact that not a few of our Stanford women, the five hundred of intellect, the wisest of their sex, have been willing to take Stanford engineers for better or worse. Nft higher compliment can be paid these Stanford engineers as men than this statement. It also proves my contention that when these engineers have something to say worth saying they say it, and in a way to carry conviction. 9

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The Stanford Engineer B Prof. Chas. D. Marx JVM ■ i : M y M =31M S Sr HE Stanford engineer is a product in whose making a number of factors are combined. Most of these factors are variable, and as they are combined in varying propor- tions, the product is a varying one. It must be admitted that the factor least susceptible to change in the varying processes of turning out a finished product, is the quality of the raw material. Upperclassmen are ready to admit that the material is of this character only during the first year. This may be so. At all events the material entering the engineer- ing courses, if raw, is no more so than the material which enters the University for being shaped in other lines of work. It was of the greatest, importance not only to Stanford engineers, but to all members of the engineering profession, that when Stanford Uni- versity opened its doors in the fall of ' 91, the entrance requirements to the engineering courses were made as high as those to the other courses in the University. In a description of the technical courses of the Leland Stanford Junior University, sent by the writer to one of the leading en- gineering journals at the time of the opening of the University, particular stress was laid on this fact, because it tended to wipe out the line of division, which up to that time had been drawn at most American insti-

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Environment and the studies taken have shaped the raw material which has come to us in the past. It has heen sent out into the world, not a finished pro(Uict. but a modified one, still ca])able of undergoing many changes. Have the men who have been sent out from the technical courses in Stanford University made good? I do not mean measured by the stand- ard of financial success, for some of those we hear least of are often the most successful. Are the communities in which Stanford engineers live any better for their living there? Are these men standing for what is right, are they possessed by the spirit of courtesy? A short tin:e ago I wrote the biography of the late (ieorge Draper Stratton, a member of the pioneer class. J said of him : Among his associates, both business and social, he was much beloved for his fine character and sweet temper. He was ever and always the same quiet, even-tempered man, whose sincerity and loyalty were unfailing. Strat- ton himself, in writing the memoir of his college mate. Van Norman McGee, who died before him. summed up the latter ' s qualifications by saying: He was ever a true man, and is greatly mourned by all who could call him friend. Since first writing this, another name has been added to the list of Stanford engineers who have quietly and bravely done their duty. A. H. Toll died in Mexico, young in years, old in responsi- bility, faithful to his trust. Ability, trustworthiness and modesty were characteristics of these S nford engineers, now dead. I believe these are also the characteristics of many of those still living. The raw material which enters the engineering courses at Stanford now is as good as it was in the past, the environment is the same, the opportunities in the matter of training are larger, and still larger ones will come to those who enter in the future. The responsibilities on the Stanford engineers now in the University and on those who are to follow them are the greater, because the Stanford engineers we have sent into the world in the past to do their work have made and are constantly making good. Chas. D. Marx. Stanford University, October 15, ' 05. 10