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<br />O.*'" ...} r, I~' <br />UL.~ .... <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />1jV~ <br />~~ <br /> <br />ADDRESS BY COHMISSImTER OF ~CLA1"~nIOH VI. A. DEXfiETI'illR Bm"ORE 'mE ARIZmrA SOCIETY <br />OF PROF1SSIOHAL El':Gli:EERS AT THE HOTEL VlESTWflRD HO, P}IOEllIX, ARIZONA, 7:,30 ,P.M.., <br />MST, ' 'IHURSDAY, ,FEBRUARY 24, 1955 <br /> <br />For Release 7:.30 P.r1.. MST, TIlL'P.sDAY, FEBRU.-\RY 24, 1955 <br /> <br />THE ENG!N&;t\IS ROLE IN AMERICA <br /> <br />-. <br /> <br />It is a parti~ilar hono~ and a pleasure to be invited to ?~rticipate in your <br />observance of National fulgineer's \Vcelc, <br /> <br />It is a pleasure because it is ah-ays a delight for me to come back to llrizona. <br />There is a lot of beautiful and spectacul~r scenery in the United States and else- <br />, where in fue ~Iorld, but I have never [ounei allYthi,ng to quite equal fue thrill of <br />sitting d01Jn in this Valley of the Sun on a warm ~.'inter day after a night a.cross <br />the snOl';Y and ~1inds'.;ept miles beh'een he~e and Hashington. <br /> <br />It is an honor to oe here beeatlse I r.m prou.d Df the engineering profession and <br />of my association lath it. I am proud of our accOl~plishnents--and tihen I say "our" <br />I am not referring alone to no. own sphere of operations in reclamation but to the <br />whole broad field of enfinee~ing. <br /> <br />t' <br /> <br />f <br /> <br />The contributiolls of the entire eng:treerinf. profession to the advancement of <br />civilization have been SUcll tl:at it is difficult to visualize progress in the world <br />Wi~lout a man ,.;i fu a slipstick j,n his pocl:et up some~Jhere near the front. <br /> <br />Hr. RD.violn, in his letter of in'li ttC.tion, \'lrote thct tlle ;Jrimnry purpose of <br />National ~lgineerls Week is to convey to the hneric&n people an understanding of <br />the function, the ~lork, and the responsibility of the engineering profession and of <br />its ra;:>idly grolling irnportunce in our na t:'.onal life. <br /> <br />Taut shouldn't be too difficult to demonstrate. If anything, I ~lOuld say the <br />profession has already grown to major im~ortance in our national life. Any kind of <br />an anal~'sis mIl show that engineers hEve been ine:ct.ricably linked ~lith the ,mole <br />dynamic histOl'Y of our country almost from its beginnJ.ng. <br /> <br />As a matter of fact, tno course of civilization l:as been pretty well charted <br />by individuals who \;o\ucl be ide:1ti::ied as s:..gineers today. TIlere is that unnamed <br />genius of the stone age Hho chiseled out the first !-.'heel from a block of stone to <br />set us all in motion. Or ~~e deep thirker, possibly from the era of ~~e Neander- <br />thal manj ",ho discovered that ;'y leverage he could move boulders t',rlce as big as <br />those his neighbor HaS pushing around by brute force. <br /> <br />These men were brothers under the skin m tll our profession today, just as were <br />tile great builde~s of Biblical and me~ieval t~~es. Some of tile great ruins of the <br />past wli~~ have been found in various part~ of tile lIorld ~re monuments to these <br />early builciers in our civilization. .Ttey all figured out hOIl to do sometlling and <br />tllen went ahead and did it. <br /> <br />Nevertheless, engineering as a profession cad not obtdn real recognition <br />until the middle of the 13til century, when civil engineering became clearly dis- <br />tinguished from military engineering. The earliest professional engineering <br />society, the Institution of Civil ~gir.eers of r~ndon, tPS not chartered until \ <br />1828, a half century after tllis Nation had la~ched itself a~ +~- ~ <br />pendent United States. TIlUS, I believe we can ~n<'-" <br />