71 



the progress the Association has made within the last few 

 years, merely between 1908 and 1913. 



Perhaps I had better explain that ordinarily the Secre- 

 tary has something to do with making out the program. 

 The program this evening was made out by the local com- 

 mittee here and the Secretary saw it for the first time prac- 

 tically after it was in the printer's hands, so that the Secre- 

 tary had no chance to get after it in the first place. If he had, 

 you may be very sure that his name would not have ap- 

 peared on the program. The Secretary has always consid- 

 ered that the proper place for him was down behind the 

 scenes, working, rather than appearing in public, and I 

 trust that the representatives of the City and Western 

 Massachusetts will excuse me if I do not come up to the 

 expectations they might have in responding to their wel- 

 come. 



I am sure that the Association very heartily appreciates 

 it, not only the words, but the acts. Some times an organiz- 

 ation may be invited to hold a session, and then the invita- 

 tion may be forgotten and nothing futher done officially, 

 but from the very first the invitation which we have had has 

 been sincere and the welcome has' been continual and still 

 continues, and we have had help from all the organizations, 

 not only from the City and the Board of Trade and the 

 Hampden County Improvement League, but everybody in 

 this part of the state, and I am very sure that, so far as the 

 organization is concerned, we will be very glad to come 

 again. I thank you. (Applause) 



PROF. SEARS. Speaking merely as a resident of the 

 western end of the state, I am glad that our Secretary is 

 being educated as to the possibilities and general conditions 

 out here in the west. 



We are next to have another musical number. 



(Music by Quartette) 



PROF. SEARS. We are rather accustomed to feel, T 

 think, that most of the big stories, the stories that have to be 

 taken with a grain of salt, come from the West. I found it 

 very interesting, in visiting the West recently, to discover 

 that we could tell some stories from our end of the line that 

 they found difficult to swallow, and the story that even I, 



