termination against rats and mice, which was later extended to include all useless cats and dogs. The economy effected by this campaign amounted to some hundreds of millions of dollars annually; consequently it has been made a permanent institution under federal-government control.

RESEARCH

Up to the third decade of the century the work of engineering research was handled mainly in the universities and technical schools, although the Bureau of Standards at Washington had been making many important investigations; but since then the greater part of such research has been done by the federal government through that bureau, and on a much larger scale than formerly. The beneficial effect on the profession of the results of the many researches in all lines of technics is simply incalculable. By its recommendations to the federal government concerning proposed investigations and by suggestions of its own thereto, our academy has rendered most effective service in this line of activity.

DEVELOPMENT OF A SPIRIT OF LOYALTY

Regarding loyalty to the profession, Sir Francis Bacon said: I hold every man a debtor to his profession, from which as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavor themselves, by way of amends, to be a help and ornament thereto.

The development of a spirit of loyalty to our profession has been a slow process, spread over a long period of years; but I am happy to say that to-day it pervades all ranks of engineering and is the mainspring of both individual and concerted action in all matters professional. The instruction of engineers in respect to the necessity for professional loyalty was the work of the various technical societies of the country, which were systematically instigated thereto by the American Academy of Engineers. The members of our organization take great satisfaction in this accomplishment.

GOVERNMENTAL RESTRICTION OF WASTED EFFORT

While it is true that, in the early days of modern engineering, the factor of competition in design and the stimulation to mental effort which it produced had much to do with the advancement of American engineers ahead of their European brethren, it was gradually carried to greater and greater excess until it resulted in being a heavy burden upon the profes

sion. It became customary among municipalities and the promoters of enterprises to advertise for competitive studies and plans. Sometimes, but by no means always, they would offer a small prize, hardly large enough to cover the cost of a single set of papers, the real bait being the promise of the engineering to the successful competitor. In many cases the project failed to materialize, in others even the payment of the prize was dodged, and it was not an uncommon occurrence to have the total expenditure on studies by the numerous competitors far exceed the net amount of the total fee earned by the successful competitor.

Some forty years ago, the academy took hold of the matter, pointing out the injustice done to the profession, and succeeded in having Congress pass a law making all such competitions illegal, and providing that any person, company, or community desiring competition on engineering or architectural projects or plans must limit the number of competitors, must pay each unsuccessful competitor a fee large enough amply to cover his entire expense in the competition, and that the prize for the successful competitor must be either retention on the work at the standard rate of compensation, or a sum of money at least five times the amount of the expense to which he is put in preparing his competitive papers, the actual amounts of the payments being settled in advance by agreement between the promoter and the various competitors. This law, while cutting out all illegitimate and unnecessary competitions, has not militated materially against the public's receiving, whenever necessary or advisable, the benefit of competitive effort; but it has proved a great boon to the consulting and independent engineers of America. The Canadian Academy of Engineers, which was established in 1923, soon followed our lead in this movement, and succeeded in having similar legislation passed by the Dominion Parliament.

CESSATION OF WAR

The sudden cessation of war throughout the world, after the conquering of the Central Powers by the Allies nearly a half-century ago, with the establishment of permanent peace by means of an armed alliance, and with the subsequent gradual reduction of the policing armament which ensued as the nations became accustomed to arbitration and alive to its wonderful advantages, permitted some of the best brains of the world to turn from thoughts of destruction to those of construction; and thus the engineering profession received the benefit of an increased amount of highly skilled labor and inventive genius.

To-day any invention of an instrument of destruction is frowned upon by all thoughtful people; and any one who advocates war in any shape is treated as a public enemy and punished accordingly. As a result of the successful establishment of world peace, Congress in 1937 changed the name of the War Department to that of "Peace Department," and the name of the Navy Department to that of "Navigation Department."

SYSTEMATIZATION OF TECHNICAL LITERATURE

By the suggestion of our academy, the federal government in 1923 undertook to issue annually (and later semi-annually) a pamphlet giving for each engineering specialty a list of the best and most useful technical books published in the English language, and indicating in condensed form their contents. This is kept up to date by the direction of a committee of the academy, all books being dropped from the list as soon as their practical usefulness ceases. The result of this innovation has been to enable both individual engineers and the libraries of schools and municipalities to purchase the treatises they need without squandering their money on works that will be of no practical assistance.

INCREASE IN SIZE AND NUMBER OF TECHNICAL LIBRARIES

The mass of technical literature has gradually become so large that it is impracticable for most engineers to purchase all the books they need; consequently, at the request of our academy, the federal government has initiated the custom of making allowances to public libraries for the purchase of technical works. It is, therefore, practicable for an engineer located in a city of any size to find all the references he needs in his work without having a large library of his own. This arrangement has been of great service to the profession, especially to its younger members.

Some of the other important items of influence in the general improvement of the status of engineering during the last fifty years are the following: The establishment of the American Institute, the inauguration of the Department of Public Works, the Federal licensing of engineers, the permanent alliance of labor and capital, the formation of the Industrial Army, the reform of the Patent Office, the universal distribution of power by the government, the enforced conservation of materials, the utilization of by-products, the proper restriction of the employment of the term "Engineer," the avoidance of

disasters to great engineering constructions through extra checking of plans, the establishment of a code of engineering ethics, the inauguration of legalized distinctions, the determination of minimum charges for services, the improvement of technical literature, the systematic promotion of projects, the working of American engineers abroad, the installation of concerted publicity movements, and, finally, the due recognition of the profession by the nation. As before, I shall discuss each of these items in the order in which they are mentioned.

AMERICAN INSTITUTE

When the founders of our academy first proposed its formation, they had a still greater step in mind, as was indicated in public on several occasions, viz., the establishment of an American Institute on the lines of L'Institut de France, to include besides our own organization the then-existing National Academy of Sciences and all future duly-organized American academies, such as those of Architecture, Medicine, Literature, Law, Journalism, Art, Political Economy and Universal Peace.

During the third decade there were established only three of these academies, making five all told. Then the dream of the founders of our academy came true, for the American Institute was formed in 1927; and within the next five or six years the other academies just mentioned were organized, each one, as

as established, becoming a member of the institute. This organization holds regular meetings only twice a year; but occasionally it has called a special meeting to discuss and take action upon some burning question of the hour. The fine building for the institute, in which are located the headquarters or offices of all the component academies, was presented by the federal government in 1929 at a cost of about twenty million dollars. The bringing together of engineers and other learned men from the various walks of life to discuss matters of great moment in which their lines cross has done much for humanity; and especially has it benefited the engineers by forcing them out of the narrow ruts into which they constantly tended to fall, and broadening them by contact with many of the most brilliant minds of their compatriots.

A number of special meetings in the Institute House of two and sometimes three academies have been held for the purpose of taking action on questions in which they were jointly interested; and these meetings also have been found eminently productive of good for the commonwealth. Among other benefits obtained in this manner might be mentioned the partial purifica

tion of politics (it would prove an impossible task to cleanse it thoroughly!), the remodeling of the American diplomatic service so as to make it superior to that of any other nation, and the reform of the Patent Office.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

The first great task undertaken by our academy was the establishment of a Department of Public Works to take over all the engineering work which had hitherto been distributed rather illogically among several of the departments of the government. It required a hard fight to accomplish this; but the results have proved, beyond the peradventure of a doubt, the importance of the measure. This department is practically removed from politics, because its secretary (always a civil engineer of high standing, undoubted attainments and special fitness) continues to hold his position in spite of changes of administration, retaining it as long as he is mentally and physically fit to attend properly to the work of his high office.

LICENSING OF ENGINEERS

During the second decade of the century there had been much controversy among engineers concerning the advisability of not permitting technical men to practise without first securing a license. Many were the arguments advanced by both sides, and most of them were sound. Those favoring the movement declared that engineering could never attain to its full measure of public respect without the license system, while those opposed stated that the control of their professional activities by the numerous states would be intolerable. A compromise was finally effected by a general agreement to accept a federal license, based upon broad lines, and to repeal the few state technical-license-laws that had already been put into operation. As you all know, the result was eminently satisfactory. Not one of us would be willing to revert to the nonlicense days.

I do not believe that any one would dare to contradict me when I claim that the credit for the satisfactory settlement of this long-mooted point belongs to the American Academy of Engineers.

ALLIANCE OF LABOR AND CAPITAL

Up to the year 1929, from time to time there had been struggles of a bitter nature between organized labor and capital, to the great detriment of progress in all lines of business. These