Professor Pound’s prophesy

Joseph H. Pound, a native of Hannibal, Mo., Rice Institute yearbook, 1939. Dr. Pound was a 1913 graduate of Hannibal High School, a classmate of Scott Meyer.

The Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Texas, quoted Joseph Horace Pound in its Feb. 25, 1924 edition. Pound, who was born in Hannibal, Mo., in 1890, earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1913, and subsequent master’s and doctorate degrees.

At the time of his lecture, he was assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Rice Institute.

The newspaper reported:

Lecturer says auto may lead to serious world complications.

“While the automobile has and is contributing much in the advancement of civilization, it is leading the United States to a position from which international complications may result,” Professor Pound said.

“We produce two-thirds of the world’s consumption of oil at the expense of depletion in our own reserve of at least 5 percent annually. We have already used up 43 percent of the 15,000,000,000 barrels of crude oil which formed our reserve. The situation is serious and it would not be surprising to see embargoes placed on its export or wars fought for its possession.”