4 W isconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
America Las not only advanced engineering science in bridge 
design, in railway construction and in canal digging, but Las 
extended engineering science to entirely new fields. A famil¬ 
iar example is tLe complex development of tLe municipal rapid 
transit systems of tLe American cities. Another example is 
tLe American steel frame sky-scraper, witL tLe difficult asso¬ 
ciated problems of beating and sanitation. A less well known 
example, but, nevertheless, one in wbicb the economic results 
have been of international importance, is the application of 
engineering science to the design of machine tools—such as 
the lathes, boring-machines, shapers, planers, etc., used in ma¬ 
chine shops to give form to the"metal parts of a machine. Such 
tools have not only been made highly versatile and highly auto¬ 
matic, but the theory of their design has been enormously elab¬ 
orated. The introduction of improved tool steel and scien¬ 
tifically designed cutting tools, permitting deeper cuts and 
higher speed, has increased immensely the earning power of 
all machine tools. Likewise the introduction of standard de¬ 
signs and dimensions in cutting tools and other parts and the 
use of graduated indices have converted the machine tool into 
an instrument of precision—a quantitative and not merely a 
qualitative instrument. The further development of the de¬ 
sign so as to produce the maximum product in the minimum 
time has made the cost of unit output nearly independent of 
the operative and the rate of his daily wage. These achieve¬ 
ments are of the kind that has enabled this country to enter 
successfully into international competition, notwithstanding the 
much higher cost of labor. 
It is unnecessary to multiply examples of American contri¬ 
bution to technical science, or to enumerate further additions 
which American necessity has added to the recognized domain 
of engineering practice, I use these facts to indicate that 
American leadership in pure science is not hopeless, if in the 
future there can be provided for the scientist an environment 
as favorable as the past has allotted to the inventor and the 
engineer. One must be blind if he can not see such indications 
in the present situation. It is obvious that it is not the first 
concern of the pioneer to cultivate science and scholarship. 
