President's Address. 



25 



sent somewhat different surrounding conditions. They are the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, Purdue 

 University, Ohio State University, University of Michigan, Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, the Iowa State College, 

 and the University of Kansas. The statistics given refer only to 

 technical students, and the changes are shown graphically in the 

 accompanying plate, for a part of which credit should be given to 

 Prof. A. N. Talbot, of the University of Illinois, his diagram being 

 extended and brought down to date. Beginning with the year 

 1890-91, enrolments in all colleges show an increase up to 1894 or 

 1895 and then either a falling-off or practically a maintenance of 

 numbers. This was due, no doubt, to the financial depression in 

 the early '90's, which put a stop to so many public enterprises, less- 

 ening the demand for young engineers on the one hand and making 

 their parents feel a monetary stringency on the other. But in 

 the late '90's the schools began to feel the effects of the upward 

 wave of prosperity, and their enrolments began to increase with a 

 sharp rise about the year 1899-1900, the older Eastern schools tak- 

 ing the upward trend a year or two earlier. Since the beginning 

 of the present century the rate of increase has been very remark- 

 able, if not phenomenal, as is shown by the diagram, or by the sub- 

 joined table, covering the six years from 1899-1900 to and including 

 1905 -'06. 



Growth of Enrolments of Engineering Students in Certain 

 Colleges. 



The percentages of increase in the case of the two Eastern col- 

 leges are relatively low, notwithstanding their rapid growth, because 

 they already possessed large enrolments at the beginning of the 

 period. They were also well equipped. The most remarkable ex- 

 pansion in numbers occurred with the group of institutions lying 

 in the Mississippi valley. These found themselves placed under a 



