and the means of making such examinations have been taken up by the Board of Government, and it is hoped that in the near future there will be a solution of these points to the extent of furnishing a commercial basis of specifications which will be generally recognized by the trade and furnish a means for transactions on an equitable basis. It is inevitable that in buying these fibres, whether in the raw or manufactured condition, the purchaser should buy some water, which, however, is not objectionable so long as the quantity is known and the price modified accordingly.

The committees appointed at the conference held at Washington to consider various questions of ginning and baling, rules for buying cotton and other similar questions, have had these matters under consideration and the reports, when received, will be submitted to the Association.

The Association has received many invitations to join with other organizations, either directly or by delegates, but has felt obliged to decline all excepting those which were directly connected with the manufacturing or merchandising of cotton goods. Mr. WILLIAM E. HOOPER, of Baltimore, Maryland, was a delegate to the Pan-American Commercial Congress held at Washington.

The Committee on Standard Specifications of Yarn have received valuable co-operation from the Bureau of Standards, Dr. S. W. STRATTON, Director, Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, and on the other hand, the members of this Association have supplied to that Bureau a large number of samples of yarn for critical examination to determine what should be considered the commercial limitations.

A joint meeting, to consider the question of standards of cotton, was held at the New York Cotton Exchange, New York City, October 23, 1911, and a resolution drawn by the Secretary of this Association, asking the United States Department of Agriculture to prepare a standard set of samples from Upland cotton, to conform to the present standards, was adopted and sent to the Honorable Secretary of Agriculture,

who informed the Association that the status of the present standards, being made from New Orleans, Gulf and Texas cottons, having been legally adopted, the new standards would have no legal weight. It was, however, the desire of all the cotton dealing and cotton manufacturing associations represented that such a set should be made for examination, in order to ascertain if the alleged objections to the present standards by those dealing in Upland cotton were valid, believing that the only way to overcome such objections was by an exhibit such as was desired, which would render the adoption of the standards unanimous by all cotton merchants in this country, without any necessity for further legislation, which some had advocated.

The Acting Secretary of State and the Department of Commerce and Labor have called a conference of commercial organizations, to be held at Washington, April 23, to organize the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, and in that connection the Association has received the following communication from President TAFT, setting forth the purposes of the organization.

THE WHITE HOUSE.

WASHINGTON, March 1, 1912.

"In a message on foreign relations communicated to Congress on December 7th last, I expressed my belief that it would be of great value to have some central organization in touch with the associations and chambers of commerce throughout the country, and able to keep purely American interests closely in touch with commercial affairs. This statement was prompted by suggestions that have been made from time to time by the representatives of various commercial and industrial interests in all parts of the country. These suggestions were fully confirmed by the experience of those executive branches of the Government which are more especially charged with measures calculated to develop domestic and foreign commerce. In the past, several attempts have been made to organize commercial bodies upon a natural basis, but for one reason or another these efforts have not met with success.

One of the great difficulties arose from the fact that none of these general organizations was of a character to make it possible or proper for the Government to recognize it as representative of the commercial and industrial interests of the country. The plan of a broadly representative national organization so proposed by me has met with such response from commercial and industrial organizations in every part of the country that I believe that time is ripe to put it to a test of practical experiment, and I have concluded to take the initiative so as to create the opportunity for full discussion and decision by the delegates of representative organizations.

It is not my intention to define the purposes of such an organization, or indeed in any manner to anticipate the scope of the discussion upon which such delegates may conclude to enter; but it appears to me to be obvious that such an organization must be instrumental in a very large field to aid and assist the executive and legislative branches of government in the intelligent and impartial development of domestic and foreign trade. For illustration, such an organization properly represented at the seat of government could be of incalculable assistance in advising the executive branch of government with respect to the methods and rules to be adopted in the administration of existing law. It could be of like assistance in giving advice in regard to proposed new legislation and in counseling representatives of the executive branch. when asked to submit recommendations upon bills introduced and pending before committees. Such an organization would be in the best possible position to suggest fields for new inquiry at home and abroad, the methods by which such inquiries should be pursued, and the means by which the results can be most advantageously brought to the attention of our merchants and manufacturers, and it is safe to assume that if such an organization is created its chief activities will be developed in the light of our own experience. It may not be necessary that we adopt a course in all respects patterned upon the system of any other commercial or industrial country, but it is obvious that by some means immediate relation between the government activities and the commercial and industrial forces of our country must be established if we propose to enjoy the full advantage of our opportunity in domestic and foreign trade.

I have, accordingly, instructed the secretary of commerce and labor to take the necessary steps to initiate as soon as practicable at Washington a conference of delegates from organizations which are engaged

in the promotion and development of commerce and industry in their respective districts, such conference to consider the establishment of a representative national organization for commercial development, and to outline the principles by which it should be governed. The development of the plan will be left entirely with the accredited representatives of such commercial organizations, the essential principles being that the national association shall be broadly representative of the commercial interests of the whole country, and that its organization shall be such that those in control of the association shall be readily responsive to the will of the majority of the constituent members."

(Signed) WM. H. TAFT.

On account of the obvious importance of the movement, the president of this Association appointed Messrs. FREDERICK A. FLATHER, ALBERT F. BEMIS, JAMES R. MACCOLL and GEORGE H. HILLS, delegates.

The Association was invited to send delegates to the National Conservation Congress, held in Kansas City, Mo., September 25 and 27, but the distance and also the interference with the fall meeting prevented the Association from taking any action in the matter.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers have, during the last year, organized committees of specialists to consider the merits of papers submitted to that organization, and the secretary of this Association, who is a member of that organization, was requested to nominate such a committee, which nominations were confirmed, and at the December, 1911 meeting, Mr. FRANK W. REYNOLDS, on the part of the committee and as the representative of the cotton manufacturers, presented a paper upon the engineering elements in the cotton manufacture.

As time goes on, the standing of this Association imposes obligations upon it to deal with questions of legislation, trade usages and manufacturing matters which must be met and cannot be avoided, and it is probable that in the future this line of its work will increase and not diminish. The Association is meeting these responsibilities to the best of its ability, and the

result has been indicated, not merely by its own knowledge, but from the fact of the repeated requests from the same quarters.

THE ASSOCIATION MEDAL.

The Association medal for 1911 was awarded to CHARLES T. MAIN, Boston, Mass., for his paper on Choice of Power for Textile Mills and in recognition of his valuable contribution to mill engineering. The committee awarding this medal were J. HERBERT SAWYER, Chairman; CHARLES B. BURLEIGH, C. H. FRISBIE, R. H. I. GODDARD, Jr., HARRY D. LORD and HENRY F. MANSFIELD.

The recipients of this medal have been CHARLES H. FISH, 1901; SIDNEY B. PAINE, 1902; WILLIAM D. HARTSHORNE, 1903; DANIEL MOORE BATES, 1904; HENRY G. KITTREDGE, 1905; WILLIAM D. HARTSHORNE, 1906; CHARLES B. BURLEIGH, 1907; CHARLES H. FISH, 1908; JAMES R. MACCOLL, 1909; C. J. H. WOODBURY, 1910; CHARLES T. MAIN, 1911.

The committee for this year, Messrs. CHARLES B. BURLEIGH, Chairman; STUART W. CRAMER, ARTHUR O. DAWSON, JOHN ECCLES, WILLIAM E. HOOPER, ARTHUR KUFFLER, CHARLES R. MAKEPEACE, CHARLES H. MANNING and EDWARD D. MEIER, will report their decision at this meeting.

THE STUDENT'S MEDAL.

The Student's Medal for the encouragement of textile education, which is supported by a fund donated for that purpose by the late MOSES PIERCE of Norwich, Conn., in commemoration of his ninety-second birthday, July 3, 1900, have been awarded during the year to JOHN ALDEN MILLER, Jr., Middleboro, Mass., a graduate of the Bradford Durfee Textile School, Fall River, Mass.; DURWARD CUTHBERT COLLIER, Barnesville, Ga., a graduate of the Georgia School of Technology, Atlanta, Ga.; FREDERICK PATERSON KELLER, Allentown, Pa., a graduate of the Philadelphia Textile School; DAVID RAYMOND HINKLE, Lexington, N. C., a graduate of the North