Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Transportation Building Dedication Addresses [PAGE 94]

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mechanical turn of mind, which combined with the education which you are here acquiring, should make giant builders of the industrial pursuits of this country, which has been blest so abundantly in being provided with raw materials of all kinds to produce the manufactured articles necessary to the welfare and happiness of us as a people. Your Dean and Director, Dr. Goes, has assigned to me the subject of "The Changing Character of the Problems of the Railroad*, but for what reason i do not know, as I have never been called upon before to deliver an which address when the subject/has been assigned, and it is considerable of a task for a man not accustomed to such occasions to concentrate his thought along such lines as will be interesting and instructive, so that I can only speak to you of the progress that has been made in the science of railroads, especially along the car lines in which I have been specially employed for the past quarter of a century. A quarter of a century ago, the freight equipment cars of the country were constructed small in size, light in weight, carrying from 28,000 to 40,000 pounds each. Pew, if any safety appliances were provided for the protection of those handling oars in the yard and train service. Hand brakes were the only means of controlling cars in motion. Trucks were of light construction, having axles with 5-1/2* x 6" Journals, and the wheels were small in diameter and light in weight. At that period, oars were made up in trains whose tonnage was from 400 to 600 tons, and speed was