THE BATTALION.
9
'Therefore there is no serious error in
•considering this earth round. For all
practical purposes .it is so.
We notice that some enterprising news
paper writers have recently been criti
cising the College severely. They want
to know what benefit the farmers receive
for the large amount of money expended
in running the institution. These criti
cisms show how easy it is for some peo
ple to talk a great deal about things they
know nothing about. The College is not
operated “for the benefit of farmers,” but
to educate young men in such branches
as will make them to become successful
farmers and mechanics. And we would
also add that the operating expenses
of the College are chiefly paid by the
pupils W'ho attend it, and not by the
critics who seldom, if ever visit it, and
who show by their writing that they
"know very little about the institution or
its work. If these dissatisfied persons
wish to have a broad basis of observed
facts for their future remarks on the
subject will visit the College, they will
he welcomed by the faculty and afforded
every opportunity to learn just what the
college is doing, and how it is doing it.
Some of them even had the manhood to
publicly acknowledge their former error.
The college courts investigation and fair
criticism, but we claim that those who
really know nothing about its work have
no right to expose their ignorance to the
detriment of a noble institution, and a
faculty, each one of which is doing a grand
work for the State without telling it
through a fog horn.
The Engineering News Publishing
Company offers the following prizes for
the best graduating theses presented by
students graduating in 1891, from any
engineering course of any college in the
United states or Canada: First prize,
$75.00 ; Second, $50.00 ; Third, $25.00.
There is also a special post-graduate
prize of $100.00, which is open to under-
draduate competition. The conditions
of the competition are as follows :
1. Competing theses must be sent in
by the college authorities, not by the
authors. They must be sent in anony
mously, both as to author and college,
indorsed on the outside, “For Engineer
ing News Thesis Competition,” and ad
dressed in care of the Secretary of the
American Society of Civil Engineers,
127 East Twenty-third Street, New
York, whp has kindly consented to re
ceive and open the packages. They
must be accompanied by a sealed en
velope indorsed on the outside with the
title of the theses, and containing within
the name, address and college of the
author, and a certificate from some one
of his professors to the effect that the
thesis has been examined and is i"dors-
ed as in all known respects worthy of
entering such a competition. (Blank
forms of certificates will be sent to any
person on request.) These sealed en
velopes will be retained and opened by
the Secretary after the announcement of
the awards has been made to him. (It
is particularly requested that all marks
or words giving any clue to the origin of
the thesis be erased, so far as possible.)
2. Theses by post-graduates must
have the word “Post-graduate” conspic
uously and permanently attached to the
manuscript.
3. The examinations and awards will
be made by the editors and associate
editors of Engineering News, assisted by
such experts in the several branches of
engineering as they may select to aid
them in reaching a just decision.
4. The basis of selection for premiums
will be the same as that used in selecting