| Show SWEDISH CITIZENS OF CHICAGO 1 E ERECT MONUMENT TO 11 M to john ericsson and abraham lin cola coin was given the greatest meed ot of 4 e praise tor for the success of the union cause in the civil war at a banquet at chicago in celebration of ericsson s hundredth birthday anniversary the swedish inventor was lauded as the greatest engineer who ever lived and his name wis applauded every time it was uttered the dinner which was given by the th scandinavian tech society ended in a swedish american love feast the american and swedish speakers toasting each other and one another s country gen william sooy smith declared that ericsson Er lessons s success was largely due to ta his lack of training in a tech oleal institution and his consequent thought acquired by too close atten tion to the rules laid down by minds he made his way by ex peri ence and the deepest possible per bonal study of the subject in all its practical aspects to the greatest fame you may laud to the skies the ad vantages to the youth of america of the purely and absolutely theoretical study in the technical schools of the land but the best technical education coupled with scientific study will not make an engineer you must combine with daily tice the theories and the science or only half an engineer will result I 1 have an admiration that amounts al most to worship for the genius of ericsson and he was an entirely ot 1 14 V DAL in N 47 1 14 all C freedom from the authority of tons of th orests the inventor him self was quoted to substantiate this assertion and as gen smith knew film personally his remarks narks ler were ac copied as authoritative ericsson was once commiserated upon the fact that he had not had the advantages of a school training said gen smith he ile replied that he re carded himself fortunate in not being j hampered with such an education free rree from the authority of theorists untrammeled by the of genius he had the ability to perceive what were the requirements of the age the greater ability to dis cover and develop what would meet those requirements and then greatest of all after planning he provided the means of applying his discoveries the confederate fleet at hampton coads roads were put to flight the union army saved from destruction the at lantic alantic coast freed from the danger of confederate guns the federal cause saved and all the world made to know that we could preserve our eions through the genius of this son of a swedish mine foreman the boy who used to lie at the top of a mining shaft ani watch the machinery that he might learn the principles of me chanice the 41 kine rican navy was clumsy weak and unwieldy before ericsson came the screw propeller the re evolving turret the most perfect guns and many other inventions are the product of his genius in the broader sense he was a humanitarian for he made war more dangerous and there fore more lively likely to be avoided in the ages that follow him to ericsson who was laughed at by the naval experts who sat in office chairs in washington and to abraham W ap s zv APIA L lincoln who brought his mighty fist down and said Eries sons invention should be tried in spite of the bureau experts is afe due more than to any others the salvation of the union the monument shown above was presented to chicago by the swedish residents of that city |
