Mat 23, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



487 



H. L. Payne, secretary, 223 West First St., Los 



Angeles. 

 E. O. Slater, E. E. Chandler, councilors. 



A meeting' of the afiBliated sections of the 

 American Chemical Society will be held Sat- 

 urday evening, Jime 21. 



WESTERN SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS 



T. C. Frye, president, University of Washington, 

 Seattle, Washington. 



Forrest Shreve, vice-president. Desert Laboratory, 

 Tucson, Arizona. 



Tracy I. Storer, (acting) secretary-treasurer. Mu- 

 seum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, Calif. 



The Western Society of Natiiralists will 

 hold sessions for the presentation of papers 

 on biological subjects on Thursday and Fri- 

 day, June 19 and 20, at 9 a.m. One of 

 these will be a joint session with the Eco- 

 logical Society of America. On the after- 

 noons of these two days the society will meet 

 with other organizations in the two symposia 

 under the Pacific Division. On the evening 

 of Friday, June 20, a dinner for members of 

 the society will be held at one of the local 

 hotels. Luncheon will be provided at Throop 

 College of Technology on Thursday and Fri- 

 day for all in attendance at the scientific 

 meetings. On Saturday, June 21, there will 

 be a field excursion up Mount Wilson Via 

 Sierra Madre and Little Santa Anita Canyon. 

 This trip affords excellent opportunity to see 

 the fauna and flora of the region from the dry 

 washes at the southern base of the San Ga- 

 briel Mountains to the Transition Zone forest 

 on the top. At the observatory opportunity 

 will be afforded to see the astronomical equip- 

 ment. Luncheon will be provided for all 

 visitors. Those who do not care to walk may 

 arrange for transportation up and down the 

 mountain. Other trips to Rancho La Brea 

 and Catalina Island. 



PACinC nSHEBIES SOCIETY 



Barton Warren Evermann, president, California 

 Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 



C. McLean Fraser, vice-president, Nanimo, British 

 Columbia. 



G. E. Hofifses, vice-president, Seattle, Wash. 



Willis H. Rich, secretary, Stanford University, 



Calif. 

 E. Victor Smith, treasurer, Seattle, Wash. 



The Pacific Fisheries will hold sessions on 

 Thursday and Friday. 



A UNION OF SCIENTIFIC FEDERAL 

 EMPLOYEES 



The recent formation of a union of scien- 

 tific employees of the federal government is 

 an event of more than local importance, as is 

 also the work of the Congressional Joint Com- 

 mission on Reclassification of Salaries of fed- 

 eral employees. The work of this commission 

 was the immediate cause of the formation of 

 tlie union, which took place at a mass meet- 

 ing at the New National Museum in Wash- 

 ington, May 8. 1919. 



In the call for the mass meeting the ad- 

 vantages of organization which had been 

 urged were summarized as follows: improve- 

 ment of conditions and facilities for more 

 effective scientific and technical work; ade- 

 quate presentation of the needs and results of 

 such work to the public and to legislative and 

 administrative officers (the Reclassification 

 Commission wishes to deal with employees 

 through organizations, and not as individ- 

 uals) ; greater freedom in both official and 

 non-official activities; just and reasonable sal- 

 aries based on service performed and the eco- 

 nomic and social conditions which prevail; 

 greater public recognition of the aims and 

 purposes of research; advancement of science 

 and technology as an essential element of na- 

 tional life. 



^Vhile the advantages of forming a national 

 scientific union had been the subject of co»- 

 siderable discussion it was felt by the com- 

 mittee that such an organization could not 

 possibly be formed in time for the work of 

 the Reclassification Commission, and only the 

 following plans were suggested for considera- 

 tion at the mass meeting : 

 Plan No. 1. — To work only through existing 



scientific organizations. 

 Plan No. 2. — To form an independent organi- 

 ization of those federal employees doing 

 scientific or technical work. 



