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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS
Cleveland, October 21, 1918. Gentlemen:
This meeting of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers is an anniversary of two successful years, and begins a third which holds a promise of still greater usefulness and solidity.
We have preserved our identity and individuality on the sound theory that we are strong enough to go it alone, and have steered our little craft so far in safety, and to a position of credit and respect in the industry.
Unselfish service has been our watchword from the first, and if this source of inherent power is guarded with unceasing jealousy, I believe we may confidently look forward to a stable future of still greater usefulness, and an enlargement of our Society into an international organization. Such an attainment is perfectly feasible, for the basis of our industry, the picture ribbon, is standard the world over.
The papers read before this Society represent an accumulation of specialized knowledge, prepared by men expert on the particular subject of the discourse, and with selfish interest left out. And printing these papers puts them into convenient form to be consulted and studied at leisure, and they are already much in demand.
The preparation of these papers, the unselfish contribution of busy men of affairs and always at a personal sacrifice, is particularly a notable labor of love in these strenuous war times, and it seems therefore particularly opportune at this time that I should express the appreciation of the Society for their contribution of these valuable papers.
I think all the Transactions should be collated and bound into a single volume, for these papers are invaluable. The information contained therein can be found in no other book anywhere. Not only will our own members want these bound copies, but I believe others will also, and provision for making them readily available should be arranged.
As we go on, this wealth of specialized information will be augmented and be more and more attractive to those who seek answers to their motion picture problems. And there are many subjects which have not yet received our attention because of lack of time or opportunity for full consideration of the subjects. For example, a standard unit screen surface by which we can compare picture screen surfaces. That proposed at one of our meetings, namely, oxide of magnesia, was laid over for action later. I think we might profitably take it up at this meeting.
A troublesome subject badly needing standardization is film tinting for the different colors. The present haphazard practice leaves the lighting engineer and the machine designer nothing but a compromise course, and the projectionist can do but little more than ignore the subject entirely.
Red should not cut off 79% of the light, orange 62% and blue 40% as is now very, very frequently the case. Tinting for color does not need to be dense, but as long as some studios tint heavy and some light