Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1903-06-06

NIf. W. 'lItie Jones. tnp WtIl-knOWll
Chicago lawyer. delivered the follow.
ing eloquent address on the occasion oi
the d dication Of Engineering Hall at
the Iowa state College. May -. 1903:
We gather to-day to dedicate Il mon.
umen;: II monument not to the dead.
hut 10 the living: not u monument ia
he silcnt ns the tomb. but one which
shall he quick with the pulse of indus.
try: not II monument pointing Ia tn"
skies will, hope for the dead, hut u
monument pointing to the horizon with
hope for the living.
Westward the star of empire takes
It's course"
Significant II is that we meet to-day
far out on the Western plains. beyond
the music of Mississipprs waves. In
the land Of the bowling yellow grain
and the rushing tnsscllated corn. the
home of Agriculture, to dedicate II
monument to her hand companion. the
Mechanic Arts-twO institutions which
have taken the crude dust of the fields
and wrought II into wondrous growths
and forms for the utility of mankind.
During the first half century of our
nations life Virginia. one of the orig
inal thirteen States. gave to the nation
It's greatest men and its presidents:
during the second half century the
pendulum swung to the West. until II
had passed beyond the westernnDst
boundary of the thirteen States and
hung above the great Northwest Ter.
rltory. and Ohio gave To the nation
during this second half century It's
greatest men and It's Presidents. We
have now entered upon the third half
century Of our national life; the pen
dulum has swung yet farther to the
West AMI IL now poised over the land
Of the Louisiana Purchase. and Iowa,
fair Iowa. the land of fertile acres. the
central State Of the Mississippi group,
bids fair tn furnish to the nation dur.
ing It's third half century Its greatest
men and. perhaps. Its Presidents.
Likewise there was Il time when for
engineering education one must needs
20 to the Atlantic seaboaIsl, and the
Western plains sung of naught hut
agriculture. There We're Mnssachu-
sets and stevens and Troy. Hut the
pendulum of engineering ANA tiucn'
tlon has also beeh SWINGING To the
West. and there came Lehlgh, and then
Cornell and Ann ArbOr ana Madison.
ana now Ames; ana yet farther to the
West. IN the lnid or the SETTING sam,
beneath the shadows OF the Rockies
and thn SiarruS tina nantlullu cnntin.
ues to swing.
We stand to-day on the plains OF the
central state OF the great group OF the
MISSISSIPPI valley, ANA Ames Hes NJ
the very center OF that ceht1''i state.
what group! Like II great flower OF
the valley, Iowa rs the heart ana ctul-
ter. win hnlf dozen states radiatlng
Ike as many petals or gigantic sun
flower, their tips touched by the blights
OF nature: there are Kansas ana Ne
hraska ana the Dak0tas, their west
eln plains swept by desert sands;
Minnesota ANA wisconsin, with vast
impehetrnble forests upon their north
ern borders; Illinois, with her swnihps
upon the south; ANA MISSOURI WIN her
barren mountain range across her
southern lands, their tips all bitteh ny
natures frosts: while, nesting ut the
center, the heart to the great flower,
untouched ana nnscathed by Natures
crueitles, Hes iowa--not an unfertile
acre IN her broad anu imperial do
mains.
1t Is fitting that at the center OF
such State this monument should he
erected to the men ana the Institution
that have so benefited mankind Iowa,