The Project Gutenberg EBook of Transactions of the American Society of
Civil Engineers, Vol. LXX, Dec. 1910, by John A. Bensel

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Title: Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXX, Dec. 1910
Address at the 42d Annual Convention, Chicago, Illinois,
June 21st, 1910, Paper No. 1178

Author: John A. Bensel

Release Date: July 8, 2006 [EBook #18795]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

INSTITUTED 1852

TRANSACTIONS

Paper No. 1178

ADDRESS AT THE 42D ANNUAL CONVENTION,
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, JUNE 21ST, 1910.

BY JOHN A. BENSEL, PRESIDENT, AM. SOC. C. E.

I know that to some of my audience a satisfactory address at a summer
convention would be like that which many people regard as a satisfactory
sermon--something soothing and convincing, to the effect that you are
not as other men are, but better. While I appreciate very fully,
however, the honor of being able to address you, I am going to look
trouble in the face in an effort to convince you that, in spite of great
individual achievements, engineers are behind other professional men in
professional spirit, and particularly in collective effort.

Whether this, if true, is due to our extreme youth as a profession, or
our extreme age, is dependent upon the point of view; but I think it is
a fact that will be admitted by all that engineers have not as yet done
much for their profession, even if they have done considerable for the
world at large.

Looking backward, our calling may properly be considered the oldest in
the world. It is older, in fact, than history itself, for man did not
begin to separate from the main part of animal creation, until he began
to direct the sources of power in Nature for the benefit, if not always
for the improvement, of his particular kind. In Bible history, we find
early mention of the first builder of a pontoon. This creditable
performance is especially noted, and the name of the party