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Caption: Booklet - Engineering Experiment Station and Industry (1909)
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44: Discussion—Engineering Experiment Station S r- Discussion—Engineering Experiment Station 45 These are two things for which we should feel especially grateful to the speaker tonight. On my own behalf and the College of Engineering of the State of Illinois, I want to say that since Prof. Breckenridge is to leave us, and is to sever his connection with this State, there rests upon every one who is interested in the progress of engineering education and the introduction of scientific research, a new responsibility. The work he has carried on so well must be taken up by others, and it will require the reinforcement of interest on the part of everybody in the state who naturally should be interested in that work, in order that it may not fall below the high expectations Prof. Breckenridge has had for it. I take it that while we may have other desires and purposes, yet it will not be a fitting ambition on our part if we do not render all the assistance we can in this matter; we want the work carried on as Prof. Breckenridge wishes it to go on. That I think would be a high idea for the existence of this Station, but of course there are others reasons than that. I am sure the engineers generally feel a great pride in the work which has been already accomplished by the Experiment Station. Most of them know of that work and many have had a part in it, and I do not need to urge the members of this Society to do what can be done to sustain and foster the College of Engineering. Now we are reaching the time when we shall have to call on our friends, when we shall have to urge our friends to think of the needs of the College of Engineering and the Experiment Station, in order that we may go on to new standards and greater prominence. It is true that we have a great college and we are doing our work, but it is also true that our facilities are far below the facilities which ought to be available in this state, for the work which ought to be done. Those of us who stand in the place of Prof. Breckenridge will wish to lean heavily, frequently, on the clientage of the college, its graduates, its friends, and the engineers of the state, for encouragement and support. I cannot refrain from saying, just at this moment, after listening to this excellent address, that a beginning has been made, and the time is coming when, in place of efforts which have been made, we must put forth renewed efforts greater than anything which has yet been done. Mr. W. L. Abbott, M.W.S.E. : The talk this evening has centered principally around the campus of the University of Illinois, and although there are many here tonight who owe allegiance to other colors and other engineering colleges, I know that each one feels a pride in the work which the engineering colleges of this day, in common with Illinois, are doing in the work of investigations. One of the principal things which engages the Board of Trustees of Illinois is robbing neighboring institutions #of their shining lights,—for instance, President James was secured from Northwestern University, and Dean Goss from Purdue University, and so on down the line. But we have cause to regret that while we ^ ^ were away on one of our foraging expeditions another institution came along and took one of our best men. One would think, after contemplating the department that Prof. Breckenridge has built up in the past few years, that he would be content to stay and enjoy the fruits of his labor, but apparently he is possessed of that wanderlust which is characteristic of the, Methodist minister, who, after having, by sacrifice and struggle, built a comfortable church in which he could stay the remainder of his life, instead of doing so looks for "new fields to conquer/- and moves on again to a churchless parish. So Prof. Breckenridge is going to a benighted institution where he thinks the gospel is needed more than it is in Illinois. He is going to show the people of the East what Western civilization and Western hustle can do. He says that if he is able, he will develop an engineering school at Sheffield, which will compare with that at Illinois, but in case he is not able to do so, he will settle down in academic repose in the land of fried chicken and fresh oysters. James Lyman, M.W.S.E. : After the remarks of the last speaker, I think it is incumbent upon me, a,s an alumnus of Yale and a fellow college man with our member Prof. Breckenridge, to call attention to the fact that the great universities and most successful colleges in the West have been started by Yale men. Prof. Breckenridge came West with a splendid groundwork in educational lines and the enthusiasm and spirit of Yale, and it was due partly to that and partly to the fact that he "hailed" from the state of Connecticut (which, although one of the smallest states in area, ranks highest in educational lines), that he has made such a record. The engineering department at Yale is a purely scientific school, and the engineering graduates are all rejoicing in the selection of Prof. Breckenridge to make Sheffield not only a scientific school, but one > that shall minister to the needs of the great industrial enterprises of New England and all the East, in establishing such an engineering department as he has created for the state of Illinois. What is loss to the State of Illinois is gain to Connecticut and Yale. Mr. A. Bement, M.W.S.E. (by letter) : As a representative of the Western Society of Engineers on the Conference Committee, organized for the purpose of assisting in the fuel testing work of the Illi, nois Engineering Experiment Station, I wish to extend my hearty congratulations to Prof. Breckenridge, and to join with the rest of his friends in wishing him the fullest measure of good fortune and success in his new position, and to say that his genial presence will be missed. The Engineering Experiment Stations are quite a new institution, something with which we have not had much experience, and it has occurred to me that it would probably be appropriate to offer some suggestions having a bearing on their usefulness. I think it would be desirable to have some form of organization among different stations, so that each may know what character of
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