Abstract :
To Hoover Gold Medal, instituted to commemorate the civic and humanitarian achievement of Herbert Hoover, and tq be subsequently periodically awarded by the engineers “to a fallow engineer for distinguished public service,” was, in its first award at the A. S. M. E. Anniversary Dinner on the evening of April 9, in Washington, D. C, bestowed upon President Hoover. The ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel, in which the dinner was served, was effectively decorated with a profusion of flags, flowers, and the A. S. M. E. emblem. The United States Marine Band supplied the music and President and Mrs. Hoover, escorted by the officers of the Society, were seated at a centrally located table. Doctor Durand, as toastmaster, introduced Doctor Millikan, who took for his subject “The History of Fire” and won from his audience the usual degree of enthusiasm. Dean Kimball then took the chair, calling upon J. V. W. Reynders, Past-President of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, who gave a brief exposé of President Hoover´s personal achievements in civic and humanitarian fields; he also outlined the detail of the founding of the Hoover Gold Medal, which, in its first presentation, would be bestowed upon President Hoover, himself. The trust fund by which this award is established was created by the gift of Conrad N. Lauer; it is to be held by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and administered through a Board of Award comprised of representatives of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. President Hoover in his response to the award expressed his appreciation of this honor conferred upon him by the combined engineering societies, the beneficence of Mr. Lauer in establishing this new distinction among engineers, the application of the national tools devel- ped by science, and the discoveries and inventions which had brought so much of blessing to mankind. “Every county government,” he asserted, “every municipal government, every state government, and the Federal Government itself, is engaged in a constant attempt to solve the multitude of public relations which these tools which the engineers, by their genius and their industry, constantly force upon the very doorstep of the Government.” He closed by saying, “I am not advocating that all public service be turned over to the engineers; I have a high appreciation of the contributions of the other professions; but the engineers, I do insist, have a contribution to make to public service, and they have obligations to give that contribution.”
