[Footnote 1: An address to the graduating class, Stevens
Institute, Hoboken, N.J., 1887.]
By CHARLES E. EMERY.
_Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen:_ It has not been considered
the duty of the speaker, in addressing the graduating class, to dwell
on the triumphs of science or the advantage of a liberal education.
These subjects have already been discussed, in connection with the
regular courses of study, better, and more at length, than he could
do. We propose rather to try and prepare the minds of the graduates
for the practical problems before them.
All young men are impressed with the consciousness of higher powers as
they increase their stores of knowledge, and this feeling perhaps
reaches its maximum with those who have made a specialty of the
investigation and application of physical laws. Young men who have
learned how to harness the powers of nature and guide them to do their
will are apt to belittle the difficulties they have yet to overcome,
and have a false impression of the problems of life. This feeling is
shown to a minimum extent by graduates of the Stevens Institute, on
account of their careful practical training, in connection with the
thorough study of principles; but it has been thought best for one
from the outside world to supplement such teaching by calling to mind
instances which may have a useful counteracting effect, and, like
parables, serve the purpose of illustrative instruction.
_Gentlemen of the Class of '87_: It was the pleasure of the speaker to
address the class of '79, under the title of "How to Succeed," some
words of counsel and warning, which, if they left an impression of
severity at the time, were apparently so well received afterward that
he has been tempted to continue the general subject, with the title of
"Your Future Problems." The notation of your future problems will not
be found at once among the known quantities, but with _x_, _y_, and
_z_, at the other end of the alphabet. Often word symbols will be
applicable, expressing at times disappointment and pain, at other
times renewed effort, and finally the active phases of individual
thought and exertion.
The first serious problem with many of you will be to secure
satisfactory engagements. This problem cannot be illustrated by
parables. It needs, in general, patient, unremitting, and frequently
long continued effort. It may be that the fame of some of you, that
have already acquired the happy faculty of making yourselves
immediately useful, has already gone abroad and the coveted positions
been already assured. To be frank, we cannot promise you even a bed of
roses. We have in mind an instance where a superior authority in a
large business enterprise who had great respect, as he should have,
for the attainments of young gentlemen who have had the opportunities
of a technical education, deliberately ordered out a competent
mechanical engineer, familiar with the designs required in a large
repair shop, and sent in his place a young gentleman fresh from school
and flushed with hope, but who from the very nature of the case could
know little or nothing of his duties at that particular place. He was
practically alone in the drawing room, and did not know where to find
such drawings as were required, and candor requires it to be said that
he desired to ask many questions about those he did find. The
superintendent unfortunately had nothing to do with his appointment,
and rather resented it. So he did not trust any of his work, and the
new comer was obliged to learn his practical experience at that
establishment, where he was known as the mechanical engineer, by
having all his work done over by the pattern maker or others, under
the eye of the superintendent or master mechanic, and be subjected all
the time to the jealousies and annoyances incident to such a method of
introduction.
His practical experience was certainly learned under difficulties
which I trust none of you may experience. This statement is made that
those of you who have not yet obtained positions may not envy those
who have, and that each and all of you may be careful not to take a
position so far above your experience, if not your capacity, as to
become unpleasantly situated in the beginning. The educational
facilities you have enjoyed are of such great value in some
exceptional cases that the parties thus benefited may do you an injury
by leading others to expect that you will be equally valuable in
performing duties which require much more practical experience and
knowledge of detail than it is possible that you could have obtained
in the time you have been here.
The incident is ripe with suggestions. No matter how humble a position
you may take in the beginning, you will be embarrassed in much the
same way as the young gentleman in question, though it is hoped in a
less degree. Your course of action should be first to learn to do as
you are told, no matter what you think of it. And above everything
keep your eyes and ears open to obtain practical knowledge of all that
is going on about you. Let nothing escape you of an engineering
nature, though it has connection with the business in hand. It may be
your business the next day, and if you have taken advantage of the
various opportunities to know all about that particular matter in
every detail, you can intelligently act in relation to it, without
embarrassment to yourself and with satisfaction to your superior.
Above all, avoid conflict with the practical force of the
establishment into which you are introduced. It is better, as we have
at another time advised, to establish friendly relations with the
workmen and practical men with whom you have to do.
You are to be spared this evening any direct references to the
"conceit of learning," but you are asked and advised to bear with the
_conceit of ignorance_. You will find that practical men will be
jealous of you on account of your opportunities, and at the same time
jealous of their own practical information and experience, and that
they may take some pains to hinder rather than aid you in your
attempts to actively learn the practical details of the business. The
most disagreeable man about the establishment to persons like you, who
perhaps goes out of his way to insult you, and yet should be respected
for his age, may be one who can be of greatest use to you. Cultivate
his acquaintance. A kind word will generally be the best response to
an offensive remark, though gentlemanly words of resentment may be
necessary when others are present. Sometimes it will be sufficient to
say, "I wish a little talk with you by yourself," which will put the
bystanders at a distance and enable you to mature your plans.
Ascertain as soon as possible that man's tastes; what he reads and
what he delights in. Approach him as if you had no resentment and talk
on his favorite topic. If rebuffed, tell a pleasant story, and persist
from time to time in the attempt to please, until his hardened nature
relaxes and he begins to feel and perhaps speaks to others favorably
of you. St. Paul has said: "For though I be free from all men, yet
have I made myself servant of all that I might gain the more." This is
the keynote of policy, and though in humbling yourself you control and
hide your true feelings, recollect that all your faculties are given
you for proper use.
We have referred to some who have acquired the happy faculty of making
themselves immediately useful. This is a much more difficult matter
than the words imply. If one of you should be so fortunate as to be
ordered to make certain tests almost like those you have already
conducted here, or to tabulate the results of tests as you have done
it here, or to make inspections akin to those which have been fully
explained here, there is every probability the work would be done
satisfactorily in the first instance. But let a much _simpler_ case
arise, for instance, if a superior hand one of you a letter with the
simple instructions, "Get me the facts on that," you may be very much
puzzled to know what is to be done and how to do it. It may be that
the letter is a request for information in regard to certain work that
was carried on in the past, in which case it will be necessary for you
to hunt through old records, copy books, engineering notes, drawings,
and the like, and get a list of all referring to the subject; to make
an abstract of the letters and notes if they are at all complicated;
and finally to lay the whole before the overworked superior in a
business manner, that he largely from recollection, aided by the
references and notes, can write an intelligent answer in a very brief
period. The way not to do it would be to say, "Yes, sir," very
promptly, go off and not more than half read the letter, do something
and be back in five minutes with some question or ill-digested answer;
then upon receiving a polite hint as to the method to be employed, go
off and repeat the operation the next five minutes; then on receiving
a short reply, in what appeared to be an unnecessary tone of voice,
get a little flurried perhaps, do worse next time, and in the end feel
very unpleasant without having accomplished much, and make the
gentleman seeking assistance lament the difficulty in teaching young
men practical work.
It is possible, on the contrary, for a young man to exceed his
instructions and volunteer advice that has not been asked. If he has
unfortunately gone too far for some time and been sharply spoken to,
he may fail the next in not fully doing the work intended. Simply
putting down a column of figures would not necessarily mean tabulating
facts. The arrangement and rearrangement of the columns aid in
classifying such facts, so that the results shown by them will be
readily seen and a great deal of labor saved in examination. A good
rule in a case of this kind is to try and find some work done by other
parties of a similar nature, and thereby ascertain what is needed and
expected. Reasonable questions to ascertain, where records are to be
found and the kind of records accessible, are always proper if made at
the proper time without interrupting an immediate train of thought;
and with such information as a start, if a young man will endeavor to
imagine himself in a place like that of the one who has finally to
decide, and try to ascertain just what information will probably be
required, then patiently go to work to find and present it in
condensed shape, he from that moment really begins to be useful and
his services will be rapidly appreciated. It is a good rule always to
keep the memoranda obtained in accomplishing a result of this kind; so
that if further information is required, the whole investigation need
not be made over.
This remark suggests another line of thought. Some young men with
quick perceptions get in the way at school of trusting their memories,
and omit making complete notes of lectures or of the various tests
illustrating their studies. This carelessness follows them into after
life, and there are instances where young men, who can make certain
kinds of investigations much better than their fellows, and promptly
give a statement of the general nature of the results, have, when
called on afterward for the details, forgotten then entirely, and
their notes and memoranda, if preserved, being of little use, the
labor is entirely lost. Such men necessarily have to learn more
careful ways in after life. It is a good rule in this, as in the
previous case, to make and copy complete records of everything in such
shape that they may be convenient for reference and criticism
afterward.
One of the important problems with which you will have to deal in the
future is the labor question, and it is probable that your very first
experience with it may be in direct antagonism with the opinions of
many with whom you have heretofore been associated. It is an honor to
the feelings of those who stand outside and witness this so-called
struggle now in progress between capital and labor, that they believe
the whole question can be settled by kindly treatment and reasonable
argument. There are some cases that will yield to such treatment, and
one's whole duty is not performed till all possible, reasonable, and
humanitarian methods are adopted. There has been an excuse for the
organization of labor, and it, to some small extent, still exists.
Time was that the surplus of unskilled labor was used on a mercantile
basis to reduce wages to such an extent that it was almost impossible
to rear a well nurtured, much less a well educated and well dressed
family, and, moreover, the hours of labor in some branches of business
were so long as to shorten the lives of operatives and make
self-improvement impossible. The natural progress of civilizing
influence did much to abate many of these evils, but the organization
of labor removed sores that had not and perhaps could not have been
reached in other ways. Having then an excuse for organization, and
supported by the success made in directions where public sympathy was
with them, is it to be wondered that they have gone too far in very
many cases, and that the leadership of such organization has in many
instances been captured by designing men, who control the masses to
accomplish selfish ends? Whatever may have been the method of
evolution, it is certain that the manufacturing operations of the
present day have to meet with elements entirely antagonistic to their
interests, and in very many ways antagonistic to the interests of the
workingman. The members of many organizations, even of intelligent
men, are blindly led by chiefs of various titles, of which perhaps the
walking delegate is the most offensive one to reasonable people. This
class of men claim the right to intrude themselves into the
establishments owned by others, and on the most trivial grounds make
demands more or less unreasonable, and order strikes and otherwise
interfere with the work of manufacturers, much in the way that we have
an idea that the agents of the barbarbous chieftains, feudal lords,
and semi-civilized rulers collected taxes and laid burdens in earlier
historical times. Necessarily these men must use their power so as to
insure its permanency. If strikes are popular, strikes must be
ordered. If funds run low, excuses for strikes, it is believed, in
many cases are sought, so as to stir the pulses of those who
sympathize with the labor cause.
Co-operation has been suggested as a cure for the evil, and there are
cases where it has apparently succeeded, in connection with the
earlier forms of labor organization. The ambition of later labor
leaders almost prevents this remedy being of effect. It may be
possible still with very intelligent workmen, isolated from the large
mass of workmen in the country towns, to feel an interest in
co-operation; but such inducements, or the higher ones of personal
kindness to employes or their families, are not of much effect in
large manufacturing centers. As soon as dissatisfaction exists in one
mill or manufactory, all similar employes are ordered out. The final
result will be that combinations of employers must follow the
combination of employes, and those who have always been strong in the
past will be stronger in the future, as has appeared to be the case in
many contests that have already taken place. If there are any real
abuses of power by the employers, such as requiring work for unusual
hours or at less than living rates, the first thing to do is to
correct these abuses, so that complaints will not be upon a sound
foundation. Some men, when the labor epidemic strikes their places,
have sufficient force of character and influence with their men to
avert the blow for some time. Others find it is policy to compromise
with the representatives until a plan of action, conciliatory,
offensive, or defensive, can be determined upon. The whole matter must
be considered one of policy rather than of principles. The class of
men to be dealt with do not talk principles except as an excuse to
secure their ends.
In spite of everything, there will be times when no compromise is
possible and you will be called upon to take part in defending your
employers' interests against what is called a "strike." You can do so
with heart when you know the employes are all well paid, and
particularly, as is frequently the case, when the labor organizers and
walking delegates claim that some old, tried foreman shall be
dismissed because they do like him, really because he has not been a
tool in carrying out their plans, and they defiantly acknowledge that
their war is against non-union labor, and that they have organized
your men and forced a strike to require your establishment to become
as it is called a "union shop." If your deluded employes were
permitted simply to go away and let you alone, and you were permitted
to employ others at the reasonable wages you were paying, the problem
would be a simple one. The principal labor organizations claim that
everything they do is by peaceable methods, but this, like many things
said, is simply to deceive, for if you attempt to employ other
assistants and carry on your business independently, you will surely
find that well known roughs are assembled who never do anything
without they are paid for it by somebody, that your men are assaulted
by such persons, and while the labor organizers talk about peaceable
methods and urge them aloud in public, in case one of the roughs is
arrested, the loud talkers are the first to go bail for the defender,
and you will feel morally sure that the sympathizing crowd with the
roughs who make the assaults are all part of or tools of the
organization.
At such times, you will find your old employes standing around the
street corners, persuading other men not to go to work and thus
interfere with what are called the true interests of labor. Any new
employe who has to go in the street will be first met with inducements
of other employment, with offers of money, afterward with threats,
and, if opportunity occurs, with direct assault. All the features of
persuasion, intimidation, and violence will be carried out as
demanded, and strangers to everybody in the vicinity, but well known
as experienced leaders in this kind of work in other places, be
brought in to endeavor to make the strike a success. Then, young men,
is the time to show your pluck, and our experience is that educated
young men will do so every time. They can be depended upon to go
straight ahead with duty through every danger, bearing patiently
everything that may be said, defending themselves with nature's
weapons as long as possible, and without fear using reserve weapons in
case real danger of life is imminent.
In carrying through a very important strike against a mere desire to
control and not to correct abuses, your speaker desires to pay the
highest tribute to a number of educated young men, mostly from the
technical schools, who fearlessly faced every danger, and by their
example stimulated others to do their duty, and all participated in
the results obtained by a great success.
We would not by such references fire your hearts to a desire to
participate in such an unpleasant contest. It is the duty of all to
study this problem intelligently and earnestly, with a view of
overcoming the difficulties and permitting the prosperity of the
country to go on. While conciliation may be best at some times, policy
at another, and resistance at another, we must also be thinking of the
best means to prevent further outbreaks. It would seem to be true
policy not to interfere with organization, but to try and direct it
into higher channels. Those of the humanitarians who claim that the
disease will be rooted out eventually by a more general and better
education are undoubtedly largely in the right, notwithstanding that
some fairly educated men have acted against their best interests in
affiliating with the labor organizations. It seems to the speaker that
enough instances can be collected to show the utter folly of the
present selfish system, based, as it is, entirely on getting all that
is possible, independent of right in the matter, and by demanding
equal wages for all men, tending to lower all to one common
degradation, instead of rewarding industry and ability and advancing
the cause of civilization.
Labor should not be organized for selfish ends, but for its own good,
_so as to secure steady and permanent employment_, rather than prevent
it by impracticable schemes and unwise methods, which will cripple
manufacturers and all kinds of industry. The men should organize under
the general laws of the State, so that their leaders will be
responsible to the laws and can be indicted, tried, and punished in
case they misappropriate funds or commit any breach of trust; and such
laws should be amended if necessary, so that wise, responsible leaders
of the organizations can contract to furnish labor for a certain time
at a fixed price, when manufacturers can make calculations ahead as to
the cost of labor the same as for the cost of material, and have such
confidence that they will use all their energies to do a larger amount
of business and benefit the workingman as well as themselves by
furnishing steady employment. Such a plan as is here outlined can
readily be carried into effect by selecting better men as leaders. It
is well known how well the organization known as the locomotive
brotherhood is conducted, and it should be an example to others. It
has had its day of dissensions, when the best counsels did not
prevail, which shows that any organization of the kind, no matter how
well conducted, may be diverted by its leaders into improper channels.
When organized under the laws of the State and under by-laws designed
to secure steady employment, rather than any artificial condition of
things in regard to pay hours, and continuance of labor, the true
interests of the workman will be advanced. It may be that some one of
you will develop a talent in the direction of organization and be the
means of aiding in the solution of this great problem. Please think of
the matter seriously, watch the law of evolution while you are
advancing your professional knowledge, and if the opportunity offers,
do all you can to aid in a cause so important and beneficent.
One writer has criticised the technical schools because they do not
teach mechanical intuition. The schools have enough to do in the time
available if they teach principles and sufficient practice to enable
the principles to be understood. The aptitude to design, which must be
what is meant by mechanical intuition, requires very considerable
practical experience, which you will readily learn if you do not keep
yourself above it. If you have used your leisure hours to study why a
certain piece of mechanism was made in a certain way rather than in
another; if you have wondered why one part is thick in one place
rather than in another, apparently in defiance of all rules of the
strength of material; if you have endeavored to ascertain why a
particular device is used rather than another more evident one; if you
have thought and studied why a boss is thrown in here and there in
designs to receive bolts or to lengthen a journal, and if you have in
your mind, by repeated observation, a fair idea of how work is
designed by other people, the so-called _mechanical intuition_ will be
learned and found to be the _combination of common sense and good
practice_.
You will observe that some details have been copied for years and
years, although thoughtful men would say they are not the best, simply
because they are adapted to a large amount of work already done. This
is particularly true of the rolling stock on railroads. The cost of a
change in starting in a new country might be warranted, but it
practically cannot be done when the parts must interchange with so
much work done in other parts of the country. You will find in other
cases that the direct strain to which a piece of mechanism is
subjected is only one of the strains which occur in practice. A piece
of metal may have been thickened where it customarily broke, and you
may possibly surmise that certain jars took place that caused such
breakages, or that particular point was where the abuse of the
attendant was customarily applied.
Wherever you go you will find matters of this kind affecting designs
staring you in the face, and you will soon see why a man who has
learned his trade in the shop, and from there worked into the drawing
room with much less technical information than you have, can get along
as well as he does. Reserve your strength, however. Your time will
come. Whenever there is a new departure to be taken, and matters to be
worked out from the solid which require close computation of strains
or the application of any principles, your education will put you far
ahead, and if you have, during the period of what may be called your
post-graduate course, which occurs during your early introduction into
practical life, been careful to keep your eyes and ears open so as to
learn all that a man in practical life has done, you will soon stand
far ahead.
Reference was made to the use of leisure hours. Leisure hours can be
spent in various ways. For instance, in studying the composition and
resolution of forces and the laws of elasticity in a billiard room,
the poetry of motion, etc., in a ball room, and the chemical
properties of various malt and vinous extracts in another room; but
the philosophical reason why certain engineering work is done in the
way it is, and the proper way in which new work shall be done of a
similar character and original work of any kind carried on, can only
be learned by cultivating your powers of observation and ruminating on
the facts collected in the privacy of one's own room, away from the
allurements provided for those who have nothing to do. No one would
recommend you to so separate yourself from the world as to sacrifice
health and strength, or to become a recluse, even if you did learn all
about a certain thing.
Remember, however, that the men who have accomplished most in this
world worked the longest hours, and any one with a regular occupation
must utilize his leisure hours to obtain prestige. The difference
between one man and another of the same natural ability lies entirely
in the amount of his information and the facility with which he can
use it. Life is short, and you must realize that now is your
opportunity. If any diversion in the way of pleasure or even certain
kinds of congenial work is offered, consider it in connection with the
question, "Will this be conducive to my higher aim?" This implies that
you have a higher aim; and if you have it, and weigh everything in
this way, you will find that every moment of exertion adds something
to your storehouse of information and brings you nearer to the
accomplishment of that higher aim.
In closing, we thank the ladies and gentlemen present for their close
attention to details of special interest only to those engaged in
technical study or practice.
We congratulate you, young gentlemen of the class of '87, for the
success you have thus far obtained, and trust that you will persevere
in well doing and win greater success in the future. We need hardly
state that all that has been said was in a spirit of kindness, and we
feel assured that much of it has been seconded by your parents, to
whom no less than to all parents here present off or on the stage, the
speaker not excepted, a serious, thoughtful problem has been, still
is, and will continue to be to many, "What shall we do with our
boys."--_Stevens Indicator._
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