14 UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN SHIP CONSTRUCTION 
the very best mechanics of that line, showed his hand. I had criticised part of the work 
which he was doing, and he explained that his reason for not doing it as he knew it 
should be done was because he could not ‘“‘make his time.”” By this he meant he could 
not accomplish his speed bonus by doing the job in the manner he believed best suited 
to insure first-class workmanship, therefore he did not hesitate about cutting across 
corners even at the risk of sacrificing quality, and with it a successful job. 
While I did not altogether agree with the welder’s théory as to how the work should 
be done, I considered that an insignificant matter as compared with the principle in- 
volved in his admission that he was obliged to use inefficient methods in order to save 
his bonus. 
Now, gentlemen, I think it is up to you as executives and administrators to take a 
hand in this education and try to impress your assistants and your foremen, and through 
them the workmen, that it is not merely a question of how many dollars or how many 
cents they are going to get out of a job, but how well they can do the work. I believe 
the colleges should feature that in their courses, as being just as essential as knowing how 
to work out formulas for calculating sizes and estimating costs. 
I would like to take exception to the idea our chairman expressed that the principal 
function of welding is its use as a corrective art, and to have you feature welding in your 
minds as a productive and a constructive art. It is all right to use welding for corrective 
work, as far as it need be so used, but let us hold our men to the same strict account- 
ability—pardon the expression—for avoiding the necessity of corrections as they were 
admonished to use prior to its introduction, and let us also feel that we are equally 
justified in developing welding for protective and constructive work. 
Mr. STEVENSON Taytor, Past President:—As president of Webb’s Academy and 
Home for Shipbuilders or Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, as it is now known, I 
wish to say a few words. 
Most of you, perhaps, know this institute is quite different from any other institu- 
tion of the kind in the whole world. It was founded by the great shipbuilder, Mr. 
William H. Webb, in 1889. He made me one of the charter members of the Board of 
Trustees. Upon his death in 1899, I became his successor as president. The institution 
was called by him Webb’s Academy and Home for Shipbuilders. It is divided, therefore, 
into an institution for instruction and an institution as a home for indigent shipbuilders. 
Its foundation is practically settled, so that I do not imagine that it would be attractive 
for those who desire to leave large sums of money to institutions of that sort. It is 
probable that we shall not increase its present funds to any considerable extent, and 
therefore we are limited as to the number of each class of beneficiaries. 
We give an education to young men in naval architecture and marine engineering, 
confining most all of our efforts to those lines, and I am proud to say that during its 
comparatively brief existence the success of the graduates, considering the size of the 
school, has been such that we need not be ashamed of its progress or its work. During 
the recent demand for shipbuilders and people with some knowledge of naval archi- 
tecture and marine engineering, a great many of our graduates—one hundred and forty 
out of a total of one hundred and ninety-two—served the United States Government in 
its various departments, doing their best and receiving high commendation. 
Limited as it is by its endowment, which will probably not increase, we must go 
along the lines we have followed heretofore. It probably would be advantageous to add 
