Decembee 26, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



587 



of school work in the respective subject. Turther- 

 more, these societies have frequently been recog- 

 nized as of public utility by the government. The 

 Department of Agriculture, for example, grants 

 special leave to its employees in order that they 

 may attend the meetings of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science. The War 

 Department, to cite another instance, has detailed 

 oiScers to attend the meetings of the American 

 Historical Association and of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. 

 The assistant director of railroads vsrites: 

 In view of the arguments presented by you for 

 favorable action it seems appropriate to set before 

 you the considerations that prompted the govern- 

 ment to grant reduced rates for conventions. It 

 was a very serious question whether the government 

 would be juSftified in putting them into effect at 

 all. Past experience has shown that as a whole 

 such reduced fares have operated to reduce rail- 

 road revenues and to increase the cost of transpor- 

 tation because the giving of them encouraged 

 people who were planning to make business trips to 

 adjust their trips so as to take advantage of the 

 reduction. This resulted in diminishing the amount 

 of travel, and consequently increasing its cost, 

 prior to the time such reduced fares were put into 

 effect, and in congesting the travel during the time 

 such reduced fares were in effect, thereby increas- 

 ing the cost during that period also. In the pres- 

 ent time, when railroad costs just as all other in- 

 dustrial costs are exceedingly high, it seemed clear 

 that the government would not be justified in put- 

 ting into effect reduced rates which would result in 

 an important diminution in the net earnings re- 

 ceived from the business. On the other hand, it 

 was deemed desirable to encourage the attendance 

 at certain conventions and to afford to persons who 

 wished to attend them and who would be unable to 

 go except for reduced rates the opportunity to do 

 so. The classes of conventions decided upon were 

 religious, charitable, fraternal, military and educa- 

 tional. This classification was adopted with a full 

 realization of the difficulties which would result 

 and that the action might be considered an arbi- 

 trary one. It was felt, however, that it was based 

 upon sound grounds and, under all the circum- 

 stances, is consistent and defensible. It was plain 

 that the term "educational" taken in its broad 

 sense could be construed to cover a very large 

 number of conventions. For example, those of 

 doctors, lawyers, dentists, business colleges, etc. 

 It was, therefore, necessary to restrict its defini- 

 tion, and this was done by confining it to those con- 



ventions having to do with elementary education, 

 such as meetings of school teachers, and among 

 these meetings was included the National Educa- 

 tional Association. 



THE ST. LOUIS MEETINGS OF THE AMERICAN 



ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 



SCIENCE 



The announcement sent out from the office 

 of the permanent secretary of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science 



says: 



I The American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science and many national scientific societies 

 affiliated with it will hold its seventy-second meet- 

 ing in St Louis, from December 29, 1919, to Jan- 

 uary 3, 1920, under the auspices of the educa- 

 tional institutions of the city. All meetings wiU 

 'be held in the Soldan High School, corner Union 

 Boulevard and Kensington Avenue. Dr. Simon 

 Flexner, of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical 

 Research, will preside. The address of the retir- 

 ing president will be given by Dr. John Merle 

 Coulter, of the University of Chicago, at the open- 

 ing general session of the association, and will be 

 'followed by an informal recepltiou to members of 

 the association and of the affiliated societies. 

 ■ This seventy-second meeting of the American 

 Association, which was established in 1848, will be 

 ■marked by the importance of its program and by 

 (the increased interest manifested in all branches 

 of the natural and the applied sciences. It will 

 ■embrace a program devoted very largely to definite 

 •working problems of reconstruction. When the 

 association last met in St. Louis, fifteen years ago, 

 the membership of the association was only 4,000. 

 The membership of the association at present num- 

 'bers nearly 15,000 and the coming meeting will be 

 one of the most important gatherings of scientific 

 men hitherto held in this country or elsewhere. 



The occasion should be taken to strengthen the 

 association and its work in the central states, which 

 have in recent years assumed such leadership in 

 scientific research. We may be sure that the sci- 

 entific men of Washington University and the city 

 of St. Louis will do their part. It would be well 

 if the meetings might be celebrated by aflUiation 

 with the association of the strong state and city 

 academies of the central states and the organiza- 

 tion of a central branch of the association on the 

 lines that have proved so successful on the Pacific 

 coast. 



