their own detriment and the world's loss. We can say that matters
outside of the known are not our concern, and we can look with pride at
our individual achievements, and of course, if this satisfies, there is
nothing more to be said. But it is because I feel that engineers of
to-day are not satisfied with their position, that I wonder whether we
have either fulfilled our obligations to the community, or secured
proper recognition from it; whether, in fact, the engineer can become
the force that he should be, until he brings something into his
equations besides frozen figures, however diverting an occupation this
may be.

One may wonder whether this state of affairs is caused from a fear of
injecting uncertain elements into our calculations, or whether it is our
education or training which makes us conservative to the point of
operating to our own disadvantage. We may read the requirements of our
membership and learn from them that in our accomplishments we are not to
be measured as skilled artisans, but the fact remains that, to a great
extent, society at large does so rate us, and it would seem that we must
ourselves be responsible for this state of affairs. Our colleges and
technical schools are partly to blame for the existence of this idea, on
account of the different degrees which they give. We have a degree of
civil engineer, regarded in its narrowest sense, of mining engineer,
mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, and by necessity it would seem
as if we should shortly add some particular title to designate the
engineer who flies. In reality there should be but two classes of
engineers, and the distinction should be drawn only between civil
engineers and military engineers. As a matter of fact, fate and
inclination determine the specialty that a man takes up after his
preliminary training, and so far as the degrees are concerned, the only
one that has any right to carry weight, because it is a measure of