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mittee who was also Secretary of the National Association, in whose office we were supposed to meet. At my insistence he phoned members nearby, but without result. "Blewey" again.
On the way home that afternoon I fidgeted in my chair, fussed over conditions which made for such fruitless efforts, and determined I would put my personal standing in the industry to the risky test of inviting engineers to come to Washington for the purpose of organizing a Society of Motion Picture Engineers, on my own responsibility. I am terrified even now every time I think of the chagrin I would have felt had the call gone unacknowledged.
But a most gratifying response rewarded my anxious wait on the fateful day, for Mr. Don J. Bell came down from Chicago, Messrs. Willett and Westcott from Boston; Cromelin, Cannock, Gillett and Miles from New York. These gentlemen with Mr. Brockett and myself formed a very substantial nucleus indeed. We adopted a constitution and by-laws, and adjourned to meet in New York in October after incorporation should be completed.
And right here was where our little bark first struck rough water. Twenty-four hours before this New York meeting our Secretary sent out unauthorized notices that the meeting was adjourned three months to meet in Atlantic City. Happily this calamity was averted when a considerable number of telegrams, hastily dispatched, collected a very substantial gathering, and permanent officers and directors were elected. This was indeed a critical time. I remember that a gentleman met me in the lobby when the future of the Society was trembling in the balance, and introducing himself, said he came from Pittsburgh with another gentleman both of whom would like to join the Society if it was going to amount to anything. I told him it was going to amount to a-plenty even if I had to knock down and drag out all obstructionists. These two gentlemen, Mr. Wible and Mr. Campe, have proved stalwart workers, and have added materially indeed to the stability of our organization, as you all know.
Our next meeting, Atlantic City, marked the beginning of our real purpose — namely, the dissemination of specialized data relating to our art; and the next meeting held in Chicago, added a set of unanimouslyadopted standards. This data and these standards have already been in considerable and growing demand. Each copy of our Transactions is valuable, but I think all of us will agree that our last printed volume is not only a very valuable publication but one of the finest pieces of printed matter ever publicly distributed.
Our Society is now a well-knit body, and certainly the time has come when much of the arduous work which necessarily during the heading months of such a body devolved upon the office of the President, can to advantage be delegated, as is demonstrated by the excellent work of the Papers Committee.
If you will permit me to speak from this experience as your Presiding Officer I should like to make a few recommendations, two at least, that I think worthy to be adopted at once. First, that the officers who pass on expense vouchers and sign checks therefor, whether the treasurer and president, or a vice-president, should, for convenience and efficiency, reside in the same city. Second, that to the duties of the