Impressed with the very great step in advance which has been inaugurated
here this evening, I feel crowding upon me so many thoughts that I
cannot make sure that, in selecting from them, I may not leave unsaid
much that I should say, and say some things that I had better omit. Some
years ago, when asked by a wealthy gentleman to what machine-shop he had
best send his son, who was to become a mechanical engineer, I advised
him not to send him to any, but to fit up a shop for him where he could
go and work at what he pleased without the drudgery of apprenticeship,
to put him in the way of receiving such information as he needed, and
especially to let him go where he could see things break. Great, indeed,
are the advantages of those who have the opportunity of seeing things
break, of witnessing failures and profiting by them. When men have
enumerated the achievements of those most eminent in our profession the
thought has often struck me, "Ah! if we could only see that man's scrap
heap."
There are many who are able to construct a machine for a given purpose
so that it will work, but to do this so that it will not cost too much
is an entirely different problem. To know what to omit is a rare talent.
I once found a young man who could tell students what to store up in
their minds for immediate use, and what to skim over or omit; but I
could not keep him long, for more lucrative positions are always waiting
for such men.
The advice I gave my wealthy friend was given before the Stevens
Institute had developed in the direction it has now. The foundation of
this advice, namely, to combine a certain amount of judicious practice
with theory, is now in a fair way to be carried out, and although
things will probably not be permitted to break here, the students will
doubtless have opportunities for looking around them and supplementing
their systematic instruction here by observation abroad.
* * * * *