April 29, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



401 



of various schemes of taxation are all quite 

 sure that if their measures are enacted the 

 millennium would be here. If the ancient 

 civilizations were complex ours is chaotic, and 

 further extension of our complex industrial 

 system makes this personal problem more and 

 more difficult. 



Out of this chaotic condition, however, three 

 viewpoints to-day stand out above all others 

 and are well worthy of earful consideration. 

 The first is the conviction that is rapidly 

 taking root in the minds of thinking men 

 that industry should be considered a means 

 of supxwrting the human race, and not as a 

 means of personal corporate or state profit: 

 the conviction furthermore that all men are 

 entitled to a certain amount of physical, 

 mental and spiritual well-being, and that the 

 nation which can develop such well-being is 

 the one that will endure. 



The second is a .conviction that no adjust- 

 ment of these difficult industrial matters can 

 be enduring that is not based upon justice. 

 It is true that justice varies with time and 

 place, but whatever stands for justice at the 

 time and place considered, is the only basis 

 on which enduring industrial adjustment can 

 rest. This conviction differs from the old 

 legal view]X)int quite markedly, and it is well 

 illustrated in our changed point of view con- 

 cerning accident compensation. For hundreds 

 of years accident compensation was based on 

 legal verdicts inherited by us from old Eng- 

 lish common law and having sometimes little 

 to do with justice. The modern compensation 

 law is an effort to adjust these matters on the 

 ground of justice and the fair deal. 



The third conviction is that there can bo 

 no justice where there is no knowledge. Any 

 one who has read carefully the history of 

 industi'ial disputes during the last few years 

 can not fail to be impressed with the truth of 

 this statement. Wherever a wide knowledge 

 of fact can be obtained, adjustments usually 

 are not difficult, but an enduring adjustment 

 can never be accomplished where facts are not 

 known. 



What has tliis to do with the work of the 

 engineer? A very great deal indeed. A few 



years ago the engineer was looked upon as one 

 who built and designed machines or struc- 

 tures. With the growth of his technical and 

 scientific background it has become necessary 

 for him to assume the management of in- 

 dustry and to-day he stands as the foremost 

 figure in industrial management. This has 

 brought him for the first time in close touch 

 with the human element of industry and face 

 to face with the great problem of the distri- 

 bution of wealth. Up till recent times he was 

 not expected to know of these matters and 

 much less was he exi)ected to have any wise 

 ideas as to the solution of the problem. It 

 should be remembered, however, that the 

 engineer in thus enlarging his field has 

 brought with him the most powerful mental 

 tool that the human has devised, and which 

 we call commonly the " scientific method." 

 With this method he has conquered and sub- 

 dued nature. At the present time he is teach- 

 ing the human race a better and more effi- 

 cient means of organizing industry. It re- 

 mains to be seen whether he can apply this 

 method to the solution of the old time prob- 

 lem of " what is mine and what is thine." It 

 should be remembered that this problem has 

 been wrestled with by many able minds but 

 it will also be remembered that many of those 

 who have given much time and thought to 

 these problems did not have the intimate 

 knowledge of industry, and of those who work 

 in industry that is the possession of the 

 engineer to-day. If he undertakes the solu- 

 tion of tliis problem with the same energy and 

 vision that he has applied to fields that he 

 has already conquered, I am hopeful for the 

 result. 



I see, therefore, in the Federated Engineer- 

 ing Societies something more than an organi- 

 zation to assist city, state and nation in the 

 solution of technical problems. I see in it 

 an opportunity for the engineer to study and 

 to solve the last remaining problem of civili- 

 zation. I see in the society a means of gather- 

 ing data on the industrial problem such as 

 we have not possessed and in general of 

 obtaining that knowledge, which as I have 



