Editorial debating the proposed memorial to John Rankine

Engelman, Helmuth W.

KnowledgeBank at OSU

 The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University Ohio State Engineer Title:  Two Cents from the Editor Creators:  Engelman, Helmuth W. Issue Date:  Oct-1939 Publisher:  Ohio State University, College of Engineering Citation:  Ohio State Engineer, vol. 23, no. 1 (October, 1939), 3. URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1811/35647 Appears in Collections: Ohio State Engineer: Volume 23, no. 1 (October, 1939)  TWO CENTS fromthe EditorWe Hope You Liked Our Jokes . . .It's always so hard to make a good selection. Allthe other articles are similar problems. We neverknow what to put into a first issue. Later in the year,when the "grapevine" system gets going, we can getsome idea of what you like and don't like.But this year's staff considers the grapevine en-tirely inadequate. We want you readers to expressyourselves in writing. You can drop us a postcardexpressing your ideas on subjects to be covered. Weintend to explain the fluid clutch, for one thing. Thereare certainly numerous other mechanisms whose oper-ation you would like to know about. Drop us a line!You see, we DON'T w?nt you to FEEL that this isyour magazine: We want you to KNOW it. So youfellows who feel the "Engineer" doesn't have in it thethings it should, say so.And if your roommate is always reading your copy,arrange for some word to get to the circulation man-ager. We regret he is not clairvoyant, for then hewouldn't need to be told. We have trouble with ad-dresses every year. The only way we can know thatyou haven't gotten your "Engineer" is by your sayingso. So please, say so!To The Freshmen: . • .We've included a list of activities engineering stu-dents can join. Make use of it. If you get into a fewthings around the Engineering Quadrangle, you'llmake your school life more complete. If you joinup now, your chances of being a B(ig) M(an) O(n)C(ampus) are greater than if you try to get on thebandwagon as an upperclassman. Not only that, butprofessors will know you, you will know them, andyou'll get a better insight into what's going on.Needless to say, you will also get numerous keys todangle on your chest.The staff has a few recommendations to make: Keepyour health up, get plenty of sleep, and remember,if you aren't paying for your present privilege of work-ing, your Dad is, and there's no sense in trying to"beat" the professors. You are here to learn. If youralgebra or trigonometry instructor doesn't catch upwith you, your calculus professor will. If you cheatthrough mechanics, they'll get you in machine design.You can coast on a glorious freshman year, but youcan only "muddle through" after a bad one. Justask any upperclassman.Build your life in school around the fact that youare in school. Make it the center of your interests.There is no reason why you can't. There are enoughthings going on around a university like this thateveryone can fill his time and brain with agreeablethings to do. Here there is an opportunity to becomea big fish in a big pond, and acquire the right to holdone's head up. There are responsibilities to be assumed,and many things to be learned.If you need advice, go to your instructors. Most ofthem are quite happy to be considered human beings.They want to help you—in fact, that is the funda-mental idea behind their being here. If you needhelp, there are math instructors always ready to helpin that department, chemistry maintains remedial sec-tions, your physics instructor is charged by the depart-ment to help you. You see, it's all up to you. Theopportunity is there.Remember also that no instructor is against youuntil YOU turn him against you, but remember, youcan turn him against you. Instructors are human, andtherefore subject to human emotions. Defiance ofthat fact is beneath reproach.We do not recommend "apple polishing". Thereis a difference between that and making things alittle easier for your instructor by listening to what hesays in class, staying awake, and handing in homeworkregularly. Legible writing helps on midterms, too.You can get credit on a problem where the grader cansee that you got part of it right, where you might notget any if he can see only that you got the wronganswer.This has been a bit of a sermon, but it is based onexperience. Again we say, ask your upperclassman.Just one parting shot—about the Makio. People aregenerally vociferous in their denunciation of Makiopolicies, when it is a simple case of people not givinga darn until the Makio is published, and then findingeverything wrong.We personally feel that the Makio is a good invest-ment. The three dollars it costs now is very littlefor the value received. No other publication evenhopes to cover the activities of the school as the Makiosucceeds in doing. It is a MUST for every senior, cer-tainly, and every freshman who gets one will havea beautiful, complete, and lasting record of the schoolyear. So buy your Makio now.Helmuth Engelman.October, 1939 Page 3

Two Cents from the Editor

 The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University Ohio State Engineer Title:  Two Cents from the Editor Creators:  Engelman, Helmuth W. Issue Date:  Dec-1939 Publisher:  Ohio State University, College of Engineering Citation:  Ohio State Engineer, vol. 23, no. 2 (December, 1939), 24. URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1811/35666 Appears in Collections: Ohio State Engineer: Volume 23, no. 2 (December, 1939)  TWO CENTS fromthe EditorIn the Mail . . .Letters are funny things. Sometimes, like when theycome from your best girl, or from an old friend, theymake you feel good. And sometimes, as in the case ofseveral received recently, they make you think all kindsof nasty things.Now, John Rankine was a good man, and brilliant inhis service to humanity. He deserves a memorial. Butwe can't help disliking the way these letters suggestedgoing about it.Every student of engineering in the United Statespays about two bits. When said money has been col-lected, the #15,000 or so is used to erect a fitting me-morial to Rankine in Glasgow. He was professor atthe University there. Boss of operations is to be theIntercollegiate Rankine Memorial Movement. StatedObject is "not only to honor Rankine but also andchiefly to make young American engineers more con-scious of their and our great indebtedness to him.'Can't his alma mater or alumni or something raisethe money or don't they think enough of him? Thisbusiness of American indebtedness sounds funny, too.You know, we had some boys that were pretty tough,too.They say that "every single machine, bridge, steam-ship, or dam that has been scientifically designed in thelast sixty years has owed something of value to the greatRankine." He was good, true enough, but it soundsas though the press agents have Einstein playing three-dimensional chess for relaxation again.H o n o r , P r e s t i g e , a n d P r i c e . . . .Now under "Why It Is," we find:"4. The . . . . memorial . . . . would bring greathonor to and materially increase the prestige of theengineering colleges and the profession of engineeringin the United States." and worse yet,"5. For the college engineering students of the Uni-ted States to do this fine thing would appreciably in-crease the prestige of the whole nation."As far as we are concerned, it seems that the onenation which has prestige is ours. The "Allies" hopewe'll join quick, and Hitler is hoping to Hades we atleast stay out. Finland has paid her war debts, anddeserves an equal footing with us, but no one else. Theidea of prestige to be added to our Nation's is insulting.Point number six tells you how noble you're mak-ing yourself by these efforts, but for interest, beat this:"7. The memorial would have valuable and timelyinternational repercussions."OH BOY, AND HOW! And save democracy, too,maybe.Somehow, that just makes us doubt the sincerity ofthe whole thing.Memories and MemorialsJohn Rankine needs no memorial from us in the waythat has been proposed. As it was stated once, why putup a mole hill to show where the mountain is? If some-one really wanted to honor his name, how about aRankine Memorial Scholarship Fund, run like theRhodes Scholarships, except perhaps that completechoice of schools be available.The questions raised concerning the twenty cents perman for a statue in Glasgow combine to one thought,of distrust. It's only twenty cents, but it will travelfar, through many lands, and many hands, and mayhap many pockets, too. And the statue, too, is so faraway. How many of us, the contributors, will eversee it? How many of us will worship at the shrine?A scholarship would at least be a little more tangible inits value.The greatest tribute to John Rankine is the mentionmade of him in textbooks on thermodynamics, not somestatue. If his alma mater cannot raise the money ex-pected from us for a statue, what is wrong? We atOhio State have been able to erect statues to our greats.If we really wanted to, we could within a decade get#15,000 together for a real scholarship fund, but twentycents for a statue in Scotland, hardly. —H. W. E.24 "Please Patronize Our Advertisers" THE OHIO STATE ENGINEER

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/1811/35647/4/OS_ENG_v23_i01_003.pdf

Two Cents from the Editor

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

KnowledgeBank at OSU

KnowledgeBank at OSU