The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-02-10

and readily made use of retired
murderer to &C.
amedEngineer complish a DIES.
Used Murderer perately impor-
To Atfo;n End tant end, re-
- CARELESS of the
lack of engineering precedent. He
is now SO, one of the greatest of
American engineers, the first engi-
neer in charge of planning and
building the Panama canal, recently
awarded the Hoover medal by the
American Society of Civil Engineers
at its eighty-sixth annual meeting in
New York.
The murderer who came in
handy was Montana Blackfoot In
dian. Jim Hills new railroad, west
bound from st. Paul, was rather
impulsively started. It ran slap
bang into the impenetrable wall of
the Rocky mountains. There was
an Indian legend that there was a
pass over the divide, along the
course of the Marias river. Mr..
Stevens, a young engineer for the
railroad, talked to the Blackfeet
about it. There was such a pass.
They knew all about it. But not all
Of Jim Hills wampum could bride
them even to point in that direc-
ton. This Marias pass was the
dwelling place of evil spirits, of
sorcerers, of dreadful demons, and
all who went that way lost either
their lives or their reason.
Mr.. Stevens mushed over the
mountains with the thermome-
ter at so degrees below zero and
found no pass. But, by chance,
he found a wanderer in the will
derness, a Blackf0ot driven out
by his tribe because he had
killed a man. The Indian had
been having a difficult time. A
few devils and monsters, more
or less, meant little to him.
They made a deal. The story of
their days-on-end scramble to
the roof of the continent through
five feet of snow and bitter cold,
with MIR. Stevens sleepless as he
kept an eye on his h0micidal
guide, is one Of the classics of
the conquest of the wilderness.
They found the pass, and their
return was another desperate
adventure. But soon the scream
of locomotives was crying down
the demons, who, presumably,
moved ON. M
When the Panama canal was pro-
jected, John F. Stevens fought
through, against weighty opposition,
the lock principle against the sea-
level plan.s The engineer in charge,
from 1905 until he was succeeded
by General Cocktails, he fattened
all the demons Of disease and dis
order which had licked De Lesseps.
General Goethals rated his work as
among the greatest Of engineering
achievements. He was minister
plenipotentiary to the Sovietsl in
1917, remaining six years and re-
organizing and rebuilding their rail-
roads.
nR. vANNEvAR BUSH, testify
- ing on the patent system before
the national economy committee at
Washington, is the inventor of
Scientist's Brain brain" or
Machine DosDns thinking ma
Hunaon Thinker chine" It is as
80 big as sawmill
that solves problems "too difficult
for the human brain" It works NICE
ly, and Franklin institute awarded
him aiamedai for it.
One can think offhand Of lot of
vexing problems that might be
tossed into its hopper these days.
Set up0in congress, dealing the an
swers on war and peace, national
defense, relief and a balanced budg-
ct, it ought to save lot of money.
DR.. Bush, former vice presi-
dent Of Massachusetts Institute
Of Technology, became presi-
dent Of the Carnegie institution
ON January l Of this year. He is
one Of the most distinguished
mathematical physicists in
America. A tail, genial, bespec-
tacled scientist, with a slightly
stopped and somewhat stringy
figure, with untamed hair, he
leads reporters quite out of their
depth. His metallic cerebration
was just one of many Of his in
teresting devices and discover
les, including, particularly, re-
search In the transmission Of
electric power, to which he has
made notable contributions.
The son Of distinguished Boston
clergyman, he rornped through
Tufts, Harvard and M. I. T., picking
up three degrees in three and one
half years, thereafter teaching at
M. L 7.
On February 10, 1886, addressing
the New York Patent Lawyers as
sociation, he was severely critical
Of the American patent system, for
its s'appalling .fxity and lack of
adaptability.p At the current COM
mittee hearing, he commends it, but
both meager news reports are out