On motion of Mr. STEPHEN N. BOURNE, the Auditor's report was accepted and ordered placed on file.

On motion of Mr. CHARLES H. FISH the Treasurer's report was accepted and ordered placed on file.

Mr. PRESIDENT. The next item on the programme is the award of the Association medal, and I will call upon Mr. CHARLES B. BURLEIGH, Chairman, to submit the report.

THE REPORT OF THE ASSOCIATION MEDAL COMMITTEE. Mr. CHARLES B. BURLEIGH. The committee appointed to award the Association medal for the year 1907, in accordance with the provisions governing the bestowal of this token of exceptional merit, have attended to the duty assigned them and after carefully reviewing the record of the transactions of the Association for the past year feel that the paper as recorded on page 134 of volume 83, entitled General Questions of Cotton Mill Fires, by Mr. CHARLES H. FISH, stands out so prominently to the advantage of the textile industry as to justly merit the award. [Applause.]

Addressing Mr. FISH:

Mr. FISH, In presenting you this silver medal you have so justly merited, I feel that your associates all join in thanking you for the thought and work you have always devoted, not only to their welfare but to the industry as a whole, and as they have been offered an opportunity for benefiting from your careful study and explicit recommendations in connection with your own misfortune, in the loss of your mill by fire, I trust that this medal may always remind you that some clouds, if not all, have a silver lining. [Applause.]

Mr. CHARLES H. FISH. Mr. President, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Association: I am certainly deeply grateful for this additional honor which you have seen fit to bestow upon me. My long connection with and my interest in the Association lends additional value to this medal. It is as your Chairman says, an ill wind that blows no good, for without the experience of a dreadful fire I certainly never could have aroused sufficient interest in that subject, or I doubt perhaps in any sub

ject, to have warranted a paper which could have brought me this award. I wish that I might express in words exactly how I feel, but it is very difficult for me to do so and I beg to be allowed to simply say that I thank you very much and I trust that you all feel as the committee felt, that the award has been rightly placed. [Applause.]

The PRESIDENT. I think I may speak for the Association in saying that we all agree with the verdict of that committee.

A year ago Dr. PRITCHETT welcomed us to this institution. We have with us today his worthy successor a well known chemist, perhaps even better known abroad than in this countrywho has been long connected with the Institute of Technology, and he will give us the address of welcome. I beg to introduce Dr. ARTHUR A. NOYES, acting president of the Institute of Technology. [Applause.]

ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COTTON MANUFACTURERS.

ARTHUR A. NOYES, Ph.D., Acting President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. President and Members of the Association:

It gives me great pleasure to extend to you a welcome to the halls of this institution, because this Institute, has from its foundation, aimed to keep in closest touch with the industrial interests of this country and this Commonwealth and because we appreciate this opportunity of knitting more closely the bonds which naturally unite a technological school with a society of manufacturers of the progressiveness and vitality which are such obvious characteristics of your Association. In looking over your programme I have been much impressed. with the importance and variety of the questions which are to be discussed at your meetings here, and also with the close relation which exists between many of them and the work of this institution. While it is true that our courses of instruction deal with the scientific principles underlying the various industries rather than the specific knowledge pertaining to any one of them, yet the textile industries are of such importance that we do provide for some specialization in this direction and we use extensively as a means of emphasizing and illustrating general principles the applications that are made of them in the cotton manufacture. Thus the principles of mechanism are. illustrated by their application to cotton machinery and those of mill engineering by their application to cotton-mill construction; while the most important part of our textile coloring course naturally consists in the dyeing and printing of cotton.

We, therefore, perhaps have a more direct connection with the cotton industry than with any other single branch of manufacture.

This reference to general and special training leads me to speak of the important but frequently misunderstood relation of the technological graduate to the work of the manufacturer. I am glad to have the opportunity to do this, for doubtless many of you are employers of such graduates, or, if not, come frequently into close touch with them. The manufacturer has, I fear, too often the feeling that the engineering graduate is unpractical and can therefore be of little use to him. This feeling, perhaps, arises because it is found that the graduate is at first ignorant of many of the technical operations and practices which are familiar to other subordinates who have grown up in the works. It should, I believe, be fully appreciated both by the manufacturer and the graduate that no attempt has been made to give the student this technical knowledge; and, therefore, it must be expected that he will have to go through a practical apprenticeship in the works for some weeks or months, before he can make his knowledge and training fully effective. But it should, on the other hand, be realized that he has a foundation of scientific knowledge and a scientifically trained mind which, after he has had a certain amount of practical experience, can not fail to be of the greatest value to the manufacturer in improving his processes and overcoming his difficulties. The latter, realizing this, will have some patience in waiting for results, and instead of insisting on an immediate economic return for his expenditure, will rather endeavor during the first few months to give the graduate such work as will afford him the practical information which he needs to round out his education. This procedure is already being followed by some of the large electrical and mechanical establishments in their practical courses. for engineering graduates.

I believe, however, there is some danger of exaggerating the lack of practical knowledge and economic instinct which the graduates of engineering schools possess through failure to discriminate between his training and that given to students in the

academic colleges. From the beginning to the end of his Institute course, much of the mechanical engineer's work has been in the mechanic-arts shops and in large testing laboratories where boilers, machines and engineering materials are tested. In his study courses the economic bearing of principles and processes have been emphasized, and he has attended lectures. devoted directly to such subjects as industrial organization and management, labor problems, and the organization of industry. Moreover, most of our students work during the long summer vacations in industrial establishments. So altogether they have at the time of graduation a not inconsiderable fund of practical and industrial experience, which the college graduate almost entirely lacks.

In closing, there is one other matter upon which I would like to say a few words. The function of this Institute is not confined to the training of engineers, but it is constantly carrying on in its laboratories through its instructors and students investigations upon industrial processes and materials; and we desire to extend our activities in this direction in order that we may be of as much service as possible in promoting the industrial development of the country. The close relation of many of the subjects on your program to our work suggests the idea that there may be problems or difficuties connected with your processes of manufacture which require for their solution a careful investigation; and I desire to say that our various departments will be glad to assist in this way as far as possible not only individual manufacturers of the Association, but also any committee of the Association which may at any time be charged with the study of any of your larger industrial problems.

In closing, I desire to express to you the appreciation of our Corporation and Faculty in selecting this institution for the place of your Annual Meeting and again to extend you a cordial welcome not only to this hall, but to any of our laboratories or shops which it may be of interest to you to visit.