The Coolidge examiner., 1933-04-28


partment to a division of public works in an
other executive department, there was an i'm
mediate protest from those who had the best
reason to know how valuable were the services
OF the army engineers in this work and what
the result of such transfer might be upon
those very factors of efficiency economy and
honesty.
To many Americans rivers and harbors work"
is Synonymous with pork barrel legislation"
by congress. What they do not realize Is that
for more than quarter of century the corp@
OF engineers of the United States army has
been the watchdog which has kept rivers and
harbors projects from being just that. Its
board of engineers on rivers and harbors func-
tions a sort of supreme court in waterway
matters submitted to them by congress. From
June 13, 1902 to March 81, 1925 this board of
engineers has reported 2.3T7 waterway prof.
ects. OF these only sos reports were favorable
as compared to 1872 that were unfavorable
In other words, these army engineers turned
down two out of every three projects submit
ted to them. And the degree of confidence which
congress has in the integrity and judgment of
the army engineers is shown by the fact that
during the last 10 years In less than half a
dozen cases has congress authorized the prof.
ects upon which the board of engineers on rivers
and harbors had presented an adverse report.
Perhaps one reason why the corps of engi-
neers stands so high in the estimation of both
government officials and the public lies in the
fact that the efficiency and the honesty of the
army engineer has become proverhal Millions
and millions of dollars of public money have
been expended under their direction without the
slightest breath of scandal or quest on as to
their ability. And perhaps another reason for
this confidence lies in the close association of
the corps of engineers with the United States
Military academy at West Point where the mot
70 is DUTY Honor Country"-Duty-the bed
rock upon which their character is founded and
their careers are built; Honor--the barrier, in
visible but invincible, which sets the bounds
10 their activities: Country-that august god
like mistress to whose service their lives are
dedicated and for whose safety they would lay
down their lives in case of need
The academy at West Point was founded in
1902 as a school for engineers of the United
States army. it being the first engineering school
in this country. And from the beginning it has
been those who have won honorS, 1.-The cream
of the crop of new officers, who have been
given the privilege of entering the corps of
engineers in the army. So there has grown up
q set of traditions and an esprit du corps that
is difficult TO duplicate anywhere in the world.
OF the corps il has been said zone of the most
wonderful records in the history of the human
race is that out of all the thousands of men
who have served in the corps of engineers dur
ing its century of existence, only one man has
ever broken through that invisible barrier of
honor"
The contribution of the corps to public serv-
ice covers a multiplicity of things: Mapping, ex-
plorations and surveys; public buildings and citv
engineering; roads; railways; bridges; siege
works; explosives camoufage and decorative
arts; chemical engineering; mechanical and elec-