70 INTRODUCTORY PROCEEDINGS. 



in the world at the present time, and the shipbuilding profession is not at the head of active 

 industrial pursuits. I think, however, in this great country of ours, we can always afford 

 to be optimistic, and if, temporarily, the shipbuilder and the ship operator are not enjoying 

 a high degree of prosperity, they can well afford to remember that possibly it is for the best 

 good of the greatest number, and that their day will surely come in the future. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Twice during the past three years, the Annual Meeting of our Society has been coin- 

 cident with events which are epochal in the world's history. These events must necessarily 

 have a profound effect upon the "promotion of the art of shipbuilding, commercial and 

 naval," the object, as stated in our Constitution, for which this Society of Naval Archi- 

 tects and Marine Engineers was foimded. 



On November 11, 1918, was concluded an armistice which virtually ended a war greater 

 in magnitude and in world significance than pre-war historians would have dared imagine. 



This gigantic struggle had dislocated practically all industrial effort, over-expanding 

 in some directions, ruinously contracting in others. The shipbuilder and the ship operator 

 were no exceptions in this general upheaval. They were both subjected to unusual de- 

 mands. They both responded in a manner too well known and of too recent occurrence to 

 require extended comment. Suffice it to say that the tonnage for the transportation of mil- 

 lions of men and many million tons of supplies was forthcoming in sufficient quantity, 

 and the menace of the submarine, which at one time threatened disastrous results to the 

 Allied cause, was overcome by the efficiency and gallantry of the Allied and Associated Na- 

 vies and Merchant Marine, the gallantry of the personnel being fairly matched by the effi- 

 ciency of the materiel. 



But, in those desperate efforts to combat enemy operations and to replace the tonnage 

 sent to the bottom by enemy submarines, shipbuilding, both naval and commercial, was stim- 

 ulated to an abnormal degree. The result is known to all. The world's naval and commer- 

 cial tonnage today, despite the World War's losses, are both far greater than they were in 

 1914, while the world's trade, reacting from the stimulus of war and the months succeed- 

 ing the armistice, has been decreasing. 



There is nothing abnormal in the comparative confusion and lack of stability in indus- 

 trial and trade conditions now confronting the world. History is in reality repeating itself. 

 Conditions which prevailed at the end of the Napoleonic wars, as well as those which have 

 developed at the conclusion of other great conflicts, are being paralleled at the present time, 

 although on a vastly greater scale. 



Great as has been the industrial upheaval due to the World War, serious as may now 

 appear the conditions which prevail in that industry which is the especial concern of the 

 members of this Society, it is hoped and believed that the return to normal conditions will 

 be much more rapid at this time than at the conclusion of any of the other great world crises. 



While it is always difficult for those directly affected to keep in true perspective develop- 

 ments which so vitally concern their interests, there is little doubt that the history now being 

 made in the capital of our country will be epochal in character, and, in the final analysis, 

 the decisions now being formulated will be beneficial to all mankind. 



While it would not be appropriate at this time and in this place to do more than refer 

 to the possible effect of these decisions, it would not seem out of place to note the tre- 



