V-
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN.
Houston Eloctrlc Company ns engineer
and manager of the St. Louis office of
that company. Two years later ho wns
made consulting engineer of the Chi
cago office, and retained this position
after tho consolidation of tho Thomson-Houston
and Edison General com
panies Into the General Eloctrlc Com
pany. While hero Mr. Arnold did
much important work, and nmong oth
er things dofllgned and built tho power
plant at Llttlo Rock, Ark., which was
one of tho most advanced of Its time.
descriptions of It having heon pub- hfi waB thp recipient of many courto
llshed In almost all civilized countries. ( fiiPH nml mnrH nf respect from his
Mis last worn witn tms company was
as consulting engineer and dcalgnor of
tho Intramural railway plnnt at tho
World's Columbian exposition.
Slnco 1893 Mr. Arnold has main
talned an Independent popltlon ns r
consulting onglneer. having built
many lnrgo properties throughout f
United Stntefl and Mexico, and his ln-
come has been such that he has been J
anlo to allv himself In a financial wnv
with a number of kindred Interests :
Ho is president and technical director nR K(1nrntlnn. a member of the board
of tho Arnold Electric Power Statin- , of goVPrnorH nf (hp Chicago Automo
Companv, which hns been especlallv , ,,,lo Cuh nml ,q R mPmnpr of tl,
successful In designing and construct- Transportation Club of New York.
Ing largo electric railway and power In mfi Mr Arnold was hannll
plants throughout tho country under ( nmrr,P(1 to Mlss stplln r?prrv 0f Roni
Mr. Arnold's patents. He Is also pros ' InR Michigan. They have bee"
Ident of tho Kenosha (Wisconsin hlpq,Pfl w!th thrPP children Maude
Street Rnllway Company, vlco-prosl- TjllHllp nRPr1 fnrtPPn years; Stanley
dont of tho Kentucky Western Rail-i T,prrv aRP(1 twPlvn yPars nml Robert
road Company, and has acted ns enn- j Melville, now almost a year and a half
suiting electrical engineer for the Chi- i of ng0
cago board of trade, the Chicngo. Rur
llngton & Qulncy rnilroad, the Chicago
& Great Western and several other
steam railroads.
Mr. Arnold was among the first to
advocato nnd manufacture the storage
battery as an auxiliary on a large
scale commercially He nlso was a plo
neer advocate of the direct connected nr' indents hnve specialized In elec
olectrlc generating unit nnd Invented r1rnl engineering in the University of
t rwoTvomn ita 1 1 ml t n t Innq n nvstnm Nebraska. This does not include the
of power station construction which
benrs his name The "Arnold" mag- '
notlc clutch came ns a further develop '
mont along this lino, and has been
made In sizes up to 3,000 horse power.
All tho above Ideas have been wldelv
and geenrally adopted, although at the
outset there was much opposition to be
overcome. Another of Mr. Arnold's
notable Innovations was his lntroduc
tlon of tho sub-station rotary-converter
storago battery Bystem for lntorurban
eloctrlc railways. He recommended ' namelv. Mr. James Warren McCrosky.
the plan to tho Chicago & Milwaukee Mr. McCrosky has devoted his atten
Electrlc Railway Company, and ln or- ' tlon to tho development of a number of
der to demonstrate tho merits of the , largo electrical power transmission
syBtom and OVercomo tno onjecuoiis
raised against It he took tho contract
for building and equipping tho entire
road on tho lines he had laid down ns
advising engineer, guaranteeing the
efficiency and operation of tho com
pleted system. Tho system was, a"
had held, a great improvement over
any then In voguo, nnd It has slnco
been generally adopted by lntorurban
lines. High-speed eloctrlc railways
are now occupying Mr. Arnold's at
tention, and ho seems destined to add
to his reputation with new develop
ments. Mr. Arnold haB been ln demand as a
special lecturer on electrical onglneer-
Ing topics at technical colleges, having
lectured before the engineering stu-
dents of the University of Michigan,
tne university of Illlnlls, Purduo Unl-
vorslty, and tho University of Nobras-
ka whore he formorjy attended as a
student and where ho received tho do
B.c u. .i. xur u course oi um mo- lowing year. This gentleman is at
ture8reHvered-ln-189'T7-oirElcctrtcr)rPseilt wlth the Honolulu Rapid Tran-
Powor Station Design." Theso lee
tures are being published ln book
form, and are considered a valuable extonslvo electric railway and light
contribution to modern engineering I ,ng experience In the States.
literature. For a personal exhibit at
tho TranB-MIsslaslppl Exposition ln
1898 at Omaha,' Mr. Arnold was award-
ed n gold modnl. Ho showed Bomo of
his hoyhood efforts alongside of some
of his later-day triumphs In tho engi
neering line. During the summer of
1900 ho was one of tho six representa
tives of tho American Institute of
Electrical Engineers, tho foremost body
of his profession, at tho International
Electrical Congress nt Paris. When
tho congress was over ho spent the
reBt of tho Bummer In traveling
through Europo studying tho principal
engineering works. During this trip
),rothor engineers
Mr. Arnold Is a member of the
Union League Club of Chicago; one of
the organizers and a member of the
first board of directors of the Tech
nlcol Club of Chicago; Is an honored
member and for Bovoral terms has
been a trustee of tho Western Society
of Engineers; Is a member of the
American Association for the Advance
mont of SHpnrPi of thp American So
Hptv for tnP promotnn of Engineer
GEiiw.n Caui.kton.
What the Flectrlcnl F-nerineeHnjt
(Irnduntcs arc Dolnjr
As nearly as can be ascertained, dur-'
Ing the venrs 1991 to 1901 Inclusive, !
lnrgo number of o'hor students who
havo received Instruction In the
department, but only those who have
taken up the work with the Intention
of adopting olectrlcal engineering as
a profession.
That they left tho University fairly
equipped to begin tholr professional
career Is evinced by tho Important
works upon which many of them have '
I already been engaged.
In 1891 there was but ono graduate. ,
i aim ciiic runway cuierpribes i
which have been promoted by English
flnnnclers ln and about Buenos Aires.
Thoso vnrlons Interests are controlled
by "La Capital Traction and Electric
Co., London. England, and Buenos
Aires." Among the outlvlng Installa
tlons belonging to this company, mav
bo mentioned that at Cordoba, 460
miles northwest of Buenos Aires,
where thero is a hydraulic plant and
16 mile transmission of 2.300 kilowatt
capacity. As chief engineer for the
abovo company Mr. McCrosky has.
with his corps of assistants, designed
and built the extensive street railway
system of Buenos Aires. The Income
onjoyed by this engineer Is too large
to ho considered commensurate with
tn0B0 plotte(i n tho accompnnylng dia-
granii an(1 honcp haa boen neglected.
Hnrdly less notable has been tho
' career of Mr Jameg A Darkloy who
j wa8 ono of two to graduatG tho fol.
sit and Land Company ns a highly
paid expert, having previously had an
As further evidence of tlie esteem
ln which our young engineers are held
abroad may bo cited the Nebraska col-
ony In Havana, and since ho has mod
estly refrained from mentioning It. tho
responsible work done by Mr. Fred
eric 13. Ryons In tho construction and
operation of the Havana street rail
way. At homo wo find many of tho elec
trical graduates holding excellent po
sitions, especially with tho largest and
most progressive electrical concorns.
In New York City, In spite of close
competition with Cornell. Colnmbln
and Stephens Institute, there are at
present six electrical graduates from
tho University of Nebraska.
A circular letter recently Issued bv
tho department has brought full par
tlculars concerning present occupation
of 47 of tho above mentioned gentle
men, tho remuneration received being
in all cases definitely stated. Reliable
information Is alRO at hand concerning
the whereabouts of 14 of the others
leaving only 4 unaccounted for. Of
thn 61 men thus accounted for 49 are
engaged In electrical pursuits. 1 Is a
nrofossor of phvslcs. 1 Is a lieutenant
In the regular nrmv. 4 arc mining en
gineers. 2 civil enclneers In the field
2 mechanical drouchtsmen with steam
railroads, 1 an Instructor In meehn"
leal engineering, and 1 In tho legal
profession.
In regard to salaries, theso have
been plotted In the accompanying flu
ure, arranged In decreasing order. In
tho figure each horizontal Bpace
stands for one person, the salaries be
Ing represented bv vertical distance
The heavy vertical line on the right
serves to separate graduates of
the past three years from those
who have been longer In nrac-
tlce. No grnduatos earlier than
,hoRO of isnt) nvG found In the
portion to the right of this line, while
only 5 later than 1898 are Included In
the left hand division.
Tho following deductions havo been
awn from a careful survey of the
(1ata ln nanl- ),'t from the nature or
, " """Joel, can only bo relied upon to
, ' usn .uen 01 me concuuons
I """ "" '" ihulii;w.
3000
2000
lOOO
j 1. Tho electrical graduate of aver-
j age ability should expect to bo able to
command at tho least ?780 per annum
ufter three years of practical experi
ence. 2. Among graduates who have had
I more than throe and less than ten
years of practical experience, natural
ability and accidents of opportunity
appear to bo the principal factor, al
though tho branch of electrical work
undertaken has some Influence, as ap
pears from the following: For In-
stance we havo among the higher sal
arles, men of '96, '97, and '98 lndls
crlmlnately mixed with men of '93,
94, and '95.
3. Several heads may bo chosen rep
resenting different branches of elec
trical work, tho salaries under each
head Bhowing enough equality to con
stltuto a real typical class for which
an average value may bo found, thus:
Average
Salary.
(a) Successful olectrlcal sales
men 1,570
(b) Young engineers of ability,
with largo manufacturing con
cerns, who are given some
real responsibility ln con
struction of plants or devel
opment of new line of appa
ratus 1,387
(c) Young engineers with sim
ilar concern, ln draughting
or testing department as fix
tures 862
(d) Chief electricians of eloc
trlc railways of moderate slzo 1,470
(e) Telephone electricians or In
spectors with largo or small
companies (does not lncludo
chief electricians of large
companies 680
(f) Graduates taken into large
factory to be given a general
experience before they become
of real utility 405
(g) Electric light, chief electri
cian in town of 7,000 to 10,000
inhabitants or ono of several
electricians in company serv
ing population of 50,000 or
more 828
Note In the reports several In
stances were noted where expenses
wero paid In addition to salary. In
such cases $500 was added to cover
same.)
It should bo remembered that those
figures are averages only, which ap
ply specifically to tho 46 men who
wero fully reported, henco they can
not be very generally applied. Tho
number of salaries considered were
Case (a) 4; case (b) 7; case (c) 9;
case (d) 2; case (e) 6; case (f) 2, and
case (g) 5.
One thing is rcasonublj certain, and
that is that class (b) are destined In
later life to become the representative
men of the profession and to enjoy the
largest rate of pay for their services
F.LH
It Is this class from whom will nltl
mately develop the Independent con
sulting engineer, and It Is also very,
likely that they will bo represented In
tho managerial departments. Also
classes (c) and (f) are ln lino of
promotion to class (b), dependent up-
I on tholr ability and capacity for
work.
Doubtless class (d) will become
master mechanics or superintendents
of electric railways, quite on an equal-
lty, as to jalarjL aniL professional
status, with the samo officials connect
ed with steam roads. Various causes
will operate to make class (a), though
best paid at present, to advance very
slowly, so that in the long run the
professional men of equal ability will
probably surpass thom.
Puof. Geobqb- H. Mouse.
fc
1
s-y-jammmtjujiftmira
