June 4, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



881 



most popular and the most successful un- 

 questionably have been the schools of engi- 

 neering. 



You will hear men blaming the engineer- 

 ing schools for overcrowding the profes- 

 sion. I do not think we can accept that 

 criticism offhand. I grant you it is true 

 that many more men have been graduated 

 from our engineering schools in the past 

 twenty years than can find employment in 

 engineering work ; but would it be well for 

 the profession or for the country to have 

 it otherwise? Must we not frankly recog- 

 nize that of the men who graduate from 

 our engineering schools every year, a very 

 considerable percentage are not fitted by 

 natural ability to become successful engi- 

 neers ? 



I have great sympathy for the many in- 

 dividual cases of hardship that result from 

 the overcrowding of the profession. I 

 freely subscribe to the statement that the 

 engineering profession as a whole is not 

 paid in proportion to the responsibility it 

 carries and the useful service that it ren- 

 ders to the community; and yet I can not 

 . believe it for the benefit of engineers or of 

 the public to have the paths into the engi- 

 neering profession made too easy or the 

 rewards for the lower grades of engineer- 

 ing work too great. The older men in the 

 profession can recall times when there were 

 not enough engineers to meet the demand, 

 when any man who knew how to handle a 

 transit could command a good salary as an 

 engineer. Some of the recruits brought in 

 at such times have been an injury to the 

 profession and to the public. An injury 

 to the profession because the work of in- 

 competent men in any profession injures 

 its reputation and limits its chances for 

 profitable employment. An injury to the 

 public because the public has to stand the 

 loss and the disaster that result from engi- 

 neering incompetence. 



It is not, then, a conclusive argument 

 against increase in engineering schools that 

 the profession is overcrowded. I yield to 

 no man in honoring our profession. The 

 best efforts of my life have been devoted to 

 its advancement; but when the question is 

 squarely put whether there are too many 

 engineers, I am obliged to answer, there 

 are none too many good engineers even 

 though there be a surplus of poor ones. 

 If engineers are underpaid, as I believe 

 they are, it is because the public which 

 employs engineers does not yet appreciate 

 how valuable high-class engineering work 

 is. Somebody has defined the engineer as 

 a man who can do with one dollar what 

 any fool can do with two. "When all mem- 

 bers of the profession appreciate and act 

 on that definition, the public can well af- 

 ford to pay princely salaries to its engi- 

 neers. How many millions of dollars do 

 you suppose might be saved annually in the 

 United States if high-class engineering 

 were substituted for mediocre engineering ? 

 Let me give you an example in just one 

 single industry: steam power plants for 

 generating electric current. One of the 

 most prominent engineering firms in this 

 country recently authorized the following 

 statement: If good engineering were used 

 in the design and operation of electric sta- 

 tions in the United States, a saving might 

 easily be made of one fourth cent per horse- 

 power hour, and that would have amounted 

 last year to no less than $37,000,000. 



I deprecate that competition in the engi- 

 neering profession which lowers the pay of 

 engineers. Competition in engineering 

 ought not to be in rate of pay but in 

 quality of service. A few days ago I 

 received a letter from an official board ask- 

 ing what would be a proper salary to pay 

 an engineer for taking charge of a piece 

 of hydraulic construction involving an ex- 

 penditure of a million dollars. I replied 



