580 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 879 



government and its relations to the public. 

 In building up our industrial structure we 

 must not overlook the plain guide board of 

 history, and personal answerability must 

 be established. But if we must establish 

 personal answerability to the public, we 

 must also establish fair and generous deal- 

 ing by the public. 



The building up of a great industrial 

 nation in an honorable state of civilization 

 is subject to many hazards — an error may 

 cause injury to the structure that takes 

 years or even decades to eradicate. It is, 

 therefore, desirable to go cautiously and 

 utilize the mature reflection of straight- 

 thinking men who will give their thought 

 to the subject. The forward route is un- 

 tested, and real progress can be made only 

 by judiciously combining teachings from 

 the records of yesterday with experience of 

 to-day to make a working theory for to- 

 morrow. It has been suggested that a the- 

 orist should be defined as a man who thinks 

 he may learn to swim by sitting on the 

 bank and watching a frog. Doubtless, 

 there are many such men in the world, but 

 they are not theorists. The definition is as 

 inaccurate as defining a black object as an 

 object without color. Such men are only 

 inexperienced, superficial or foolish. The- 

 ory, as the word is used by engineers, 

 means a working hypothesis founded on all 

 known facts and experience, which may be 

 used to guide progress beyond the margin 

 of past experience. Every successful, 

 progTessive man is a constant user of theory 

 in this proper sense of the term. Every 

 progressive step is made according to a 

 theory of the man responsible for the move. 

 Theory is not antagonistic to practise, but 

 is founded on experience and is a guide to 

 progress. Custom should be followed only 

 when it has reason to support it. In the 

 juncture now before us we must utilize the 

 best theories of the corporation relations 



and the rights of persons and property, 

 and cautiously extend our practises accord- 

 ingly. No body of men are better equipped 

 for this sound and scientific procedure than 

 a body of professional engineers; and few 

 others are so fully and adequately trained 

 for such procedure as engineers, for the 

 reason that this procedure is in accordance 

 with the every-day steps of their business 

 life. Moreover, the engineers of experi- 

 ence are well adapted to grapple with the 

 mighty problems of a new age, for the 

 reason that an efficient engineer must asso- 

 ciate audacity and sobriety in his spirit. 



If my premises are tenable, and I believe 

 them to be incontestable, the engineers have 

 a special duty, as professional men who are 

 trained and experienced in straight think- 

 ing, to use their infiuence for the establish- 

 ment and support of right and reason in 

 the dealings between the public and the 

 public service corporations. The problems 

 surrounding the public service companies 

 in American cities, and their relations to 

 the citizens, should receive particular atten- 

 tion by members of our Institute, for those 

 problems and those relations have been 

 largely brought to their present importance 

 and prominence through the activities of 

 electrical engineers. 



The public service corporations are the 

 natural outcome of the demand of the civil- 

 ized world for efficient and rapid transpor- 

 tation and intercommunication, and the 

 concurrent need as communities become 

 immersed in peaceful industrial pursuits 

 for ample and conveniently provided sup- 

 plies of water, gas and electric power. 

 They compose a comparatively new and 

 mighty force in the social organism and the 

 organism must be adapted to efficiently 

 utilize this force, but the force must be pre- 

 vented from dominating or warping the 

 organism. There is no danger of the 

 public service corporations becoming des- 



