XXVi INTRODUCTORY PROCEEDINGS. 
SECRETARY-TREASURER Cox:—Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, the report, as usual, 
is distributed throughout the room. On the first page the membership of the Society 
is set forth. You will notice that last year we added to our membership by approxi- 
mately 200. From the applications received this year, it looks as if we will get a larger 
increase at the present meeting than we secured last year. 
With respect to the financial statement, which is shown on the following pages, as 
well as other information, the salient points are shown in the balance between receipts 
and disbursements, and also the statement of net worth. In this connection there is one 
matter which I desire to call attention to, and that is with the present rate of printing, 
office expenses and expenses of all kinds, the Society cannot continue, as it always has 
done, to publish its proceedings in a high-grade manner, good illustrations on good paper, 
and give the service that it always has given, without running behind in the operating 
expenses, unless there is an increase in the dues. 
Later in the day the matter of a slight increase in the dues will be taken up, but this 
report shows very conclusively that unless there is such an increase, we cannot continue 
to give the service we have given. The report which is before you now is, of course, for 
the expenditures of the preceding year, and in that year the volume of proceedings was 
quite large, as there were fourteen or fifteen papers presented at the annual meeting. 
This year, knowing that the Society was running behind during the past year on account 
of the increased cost of printing, the Papers Committee very wisely reduced the number 
of papers to be presented at this meeting to ten, and therefore the expense of printing 
these papers will not be so great as in previous years, thus enabling us to make a certain 
retrenchment. I am sure, however, that all the members will agree that it is essential 
that the Society should not be placed in the position of having to refuse a good paper 
because some of the members may object to paying five dollars additional dues. 
The endowment fund has now reached appreciable proportions. Last year it was 
$33,161.09. This year, by the increment of the initiation fees and the addition of one 
life membership, that of Mr. Andrew Fletcher, the fund stands at $36,379.00. 
This endowment fund is to be automatically increased every year by all entrance 
fees, life membership fees, contributions of all kinds, and by the interest on its own in- 
vestments, so that the fund is steadily increasing. The purpose of it is to place the Society 
in a position where it may, as the other societies do, from time to time do more than simply 
hold meetings and have papers printed, but that it may be able to give prizes for valuable 
papers and stimulate interest in the Society and, in a general way, participate in the 
undertakings which are common to the other engineering societies, which we are estopped 
from doing at the present time by reason of our very meager financial budget. 
During the early part of the year it became evident to the Council and Executive 
Committee, on account of the large increase in our membership, that certain changes 
would have to be made in the method of conducting the affairs of the Society. You 
must realize that the year before last our membership increased enormously, and last 
year there was also a large increase. This year we also expect a large addition, so that 
our membership at the present time is twice what it was a few years ago. 
In the old days the routine work of the Society, the writing of the necessary form 
letters and carrying on such work as had to be carried on was done at odd times in the 
evening by Mr. Kain; but it was found, on account of the large increase in membership, 
that all of these duties had multiplied enormously and that it was impossible to carry 
them on properly without having someone constantly in charge. It was further evident 
