Rural electrification engineering and electroagricultural engineering

THE great interest shown recently by electrical engineers in rural electrification engineering and electroagricultural engineering is demonstrated by the fact that in the October 1942 issue of Electrical Engineering there appeared a paper which was entitled “New Engineering and a New Industry,” presented in December 1941 before the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. The statement made therein that “before 1935 there was no rural electrification engineering,” which was misinterpreted by some readers, was not made to discredit the work of anyone in electrifying farms, but referred to the fact that there was no specific branch of engineering that could be called “rural electrification engineering.” In fact, we all consider rural electrification engineering as a part of distribution engineering in general, and the latter is likewise a very young branch of engineering. As a matter of fact, very few spoke of “rural electrification.” In most of the literature prior to 1935 you will find only the term, “rural line extension.” The following statement is from the National Resources Committee report in “Technological Trends and National Policy,” 1937, page 284: