w 30 Loss of Head. The loss of head for the integrating gate is (HAC), where HA and C are the depths of water above and below the gate, respectively. C is measured below the back wave. H is the head required for a suppressed weir discharging the same quantity per foot of crest as the gate per foot of channel width. This was determined from a log diagram of discharge per foot of crest given on page 213 of Hughes and Safford's Hydraulics, from which the head due to the velocity of approach was subtracted. F is the loss of head in a venturi flume of 1 ft. throat, having the same discharge per foot of its 3-ft. channel as the integrating gate. Q/1.77 is the quantity per foot of channel width flowing through the gate. Table 3 gives values of (HAC)/Hw, the ratio of loss of head in the gate to that in a suppressed weir, and of (HAC)/F, the ratio of loss of head in the gate to that in a venturi flume. The values of F were taken from Fig. 4, page 18 of Bulletin 265, Feb., 1921, of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the Colorado Agricultural College. Fig. 11 shows (HAC)/Hw and (HAC)/F plotted against Q per foot of channel width. STANDARD CONDITIONS 31 For agreement of results, settings should be standardized. The following standard conditions are suggested from a study of the various settings. 32 Downstream Conditions. A velocity should be maintained under the gate sufficient to prevent the back wave coming closer than about 0.2 ft. to the bottom edge of the gate. 33 Upstream Conditions. The channel floor should be maintained smooth and level at least 2.5 ft. above and below the gate axis, by using a-in. metal plate for the floor of the channel. Use no baffle board. Channel intake should be at least 15 ft. above gate. Channel slope should be determined, and rating curve for that slope used. 34 Gate Design and Setting. The gate should be made sufficiently stiff to prevent warping or buckling, should have square edges and a smooth plane surface on the upstream face, which should be parallel to a plane passing through the gate axis and its center of gravity. Thickness at bottom edge, (27) = 1 in.; side clearance, (D– d) = 0.01 ft.; bottom clearance, (H — L1) = 0.01 ft. Values of H and the bottom clearance should be measured to the nearest 0.0005 ft. Adjustment of H and the bottom clearance should be provided by a slow-motion worm under the bolts holding the pivot pins, which should be of tool steel. The axis should be level and perpendicular to the center line of the channel. Standard values for H and d should be adopted. The correct values of these dimensions for gates of different capacities can be determined only by further experiment. No. 1900 THE ENGINEER: HIS ABILITIES AND HIS PUBLIC OBLIGATIONS BY JOHN LYLE HARRINGTON, KANSAS CITY, MO. ENGINEERS have existed in all ages and civilizations as their works abundantly disclose, but until very recent times engineering was an art rather than a science, and engineers were considered superior artizans, rarely deemed worthy of note by the writers of history. They belonged to a class inferior to the warrior king and his nobles, the priest, the lawyer and the physician, all of whom figure materially in the records. In considerable measure engineers are still looked upon and still regard themselves as glorified mechanics. Many still rise by self-education from the ranks of the artizans to high place in the profession. In a recent address to The Institution of Civil Engineers one of its eminent members said: "Engineers . . . have, most of them, owing to the very wise system of their training, had experience in manual work, have worked side by side with men who are now merely wage earners." Though for more than fifty years engineers in increasing numbers have been graduated by schools of the highest standing, though their scholastic training is quite as long and severe as that required for the other learned professions, something of the old view of the profession still remains in the public mind. It requires centuries to change a commonly held view, to break down longestablished prejudices, but sometimes a cataclysm hastens the process. The great war was such a cataclysm, for it brought home to the public in spectacular manner the fact that modern warfare rests squarely upon industry, and both upon engineering; therefore it materially raised the profession in public esteem. Yet there is something lacking. Engineers find it necessary to insist upon the fundamental character of their profession, to point out and to discuss its essential qualities, to call attention to the sound training required in preparation for it; then, to deplore its lack of recognition, its inadequate rewards in money, place, and honor, and to argue the means of obtaining them. Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting, New York, December 3 to 6, 1923, of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. They resent the views so often expressed or implied that the engineer is hardly a scientist, is at most a technician, useful in a narrow sphere but of small value in the important fields of business, finance, and government. In the public mind he is still commonly pictured in khaki, high boots, and a broadbrimmed hat, bossing the job, a worker rather than a thinker. He has secured a foothold in the management of engineering enterprises, but grudgingly and not so generally as he believes to be his due. And while there are abundant examples, cited with pride, of engineers at the head of railroads and constructing and manufacturing enterprises, the number is still comparatively small. In general, the public does not feel certain of the engineer in such positions, does not quite expect to find him there. The financier rarely relies upon him in business, except as an officer of a corporation, where he is guided and supported by business men. It is believed that his knowledge of business and finance is inadequate for safety, that he is something of an optimist and a dreamer, unable to see the pitfalls in a project, unable to evaluate the business element of it, and therefore an unsafe guide for the investor of money. In government the engineer is entrusted with technical matters only, leaving business matters to business men and the dominating political matters to politicians, who hear and sometimes heed the voice of the people, who consider the requirements and determine what is best from the broad, political point of view, untrammeled by the idealism, directness, and honesty of the engineer. THE NEED OF THE ENGINEER IN GOVERNMENT Our country is still governed by the military and legal professions, influenced somewhat by the business man. Every president, except Harding, has been a general or a lawyer, while the latter not only occupies his peculiar field, the judiciary, but dominates in the legislatures and in the executive branches of the Government. These facts have materially retarded the progress of political development, for the lawyer lives by precedent. His eyes are always upon the past. It results that we progress slowly, that order and rule are deemed more important than service and progress. The engineer with his constructive, creative, scientific mind is sorely needed. His preparation should be broadened so that he may deserve and receive the same public confidence in his human qualities and in his understanding of business and economic and political matters that is now given to his honesty of purpose and to his scientific knowledge. His ideals should be turned more away from himself and his immediate interests and should include appreciation of his obligations to give liberally of his talents, his time, and his energies to the broad service of his community and his country. He should come to understand that by coöperating unselfishly with his fellows, individually and through his technical societies, he is doing his most to advance the interests of his profession and of his country; that he is developing the high professional consciousness which will give his profession cohesion, weight, and influence in proportion to its potential deserts. SHORTCOMINGS OF THE PRESENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Engineers owe their profession and the country thorough consideration of the essentials of that education which will bring engineers to their fullest development; to education in the collateral subjects so essential to their broadest usefulness. They are fully aware that the future position of the engineer will be determined largely by the plan of engineering education; that the present technical education does not meet all requirements; and the investigation into the matter now about to be made should solve the problem and serve as an example for other investigations of far-reaching character. But engineers cannot stop there; since they play an increasingly important part in industry, since the welfare of the workers is largely in their keeping, it is their obligation to determine and to bring into use the type of education for workers most conducive to their usefulness to society and to themselves, and consequently to their greatest happiness and highest development. Our education was initially planned to be cultural only; the individual secured his vocational training by apprenticeship or by chance, and we continue, with trivial exception, to train all youth culturally but to leave to fortune training for their economic place in life. We glorify mental labor and train away from work with the hands till Americans consider it degrading, socially inferior, and suitable only for the ignorant, the immigrant, or those of low mentality. The trade unions restrict apprenticeships and the schools offer little education in the trades. Apparently it is expected that the native American, with his superior cultural education, will make his way by his wits without soiling his hands. He is barred by his false social ideals and by his lack of training from those profitable and honorable fields of industry which involve manual labor. Girls are so taught that they look down upon the man who works with his hands. Engineers know these conditions and know their detrimental effect upon men and upon the economic welfare of the country. It is their obligation to present the truth and to press for the reform of our educational system to conform to it. They are not, in general, educators, but they know the need for educating men for industry and they should lead in the endeavor to secure it. The employer is not to be blamed if he demands that the door be opened to foreign labor when he finds it impossible to satisfy his requirements at home. We have seen the building trades throttled, our housing needs un satisfied, by the extravagant labor costs resulting from restrictions in training and apprenticeship so severe that these crafts will almost die out with the present generation of workmen. Engineers are applied scientists, but they have been leaving to private interest or individual initiative the research work in their field. In very recent years they have set up some agencies which have begun to function, but their efforts have not always been so successful that the ability of engineers in this line may be considered brilliant; neither have they demonstrated their ability to coöperate with other research organizations not strictly engineering in character. It is all very well to assume that the engineer fully understands just how engineering research should be conducted, that he can do it better than any one else, but the correctness of these views is yet to be determined. The evidences are not all in the engineer's favor. THE ENGINEER'S AID NEEDED BY THE ECONOMIST The engineer has created modern industry, has been responsible for a production of goods that in this country is substantially sufficient, if other factors were in accord, to establish the universal comfort and well-being that the race has sought since the beginning. But the engineer has been so intent upon devising means for production, upon improving quality of product, and upon managing the men and tools of production to secure the maximum results that he has failed to develop his ability and to establish his position in the other leading factors of life, to which he is entitled by virtue of his part in production and the resulting welfare. One of the greatest causes of unrest on the part of the worker lies in his lack of understanding of the value of the other factors necessary between the basic raw materials and the consumer of goods. The engineer, in his present position of impartial technician, ought to be the agency to determine what should be the difference between the cost of production and the cost to the consumer, of exposing the truth and righting the errors and abuses now existing, then of showing labor what is its just portion. The whole business of the country may be likened to a sea on which there are extremely high and low tides at rare intervals; regular and moderate tides at frequent, definite intervals; long ground swells coming from distant disturbances; small waves often violent and destructive, resulting from local causes; but all clouded in mystery to any but the seawise. Capital and men flow from the less to the more profitable branches of industry until the rush coming in from all sides brings overproduction, stagnation, loss, and finally readjustment to the studied and understood needs. These shifts go on in every industry, consequently the balance is never complete, and some |