seen a good deal of the life on the other side of the ocean-life in cities and they like it.

The only way to get sufficient labor on our farms, where potentially the great prosperity of the country exists, is to make living conditions on the farm and in the rural communities at least approach in attractiveness such conditions in the cities, and I do not know of any industry, unless it be that of the construction of good roads, which will do more to bring the people on the farms of our country in close touch with the cities and within the reach of their attractions, both from the standpoint of recreation and education, than our industry. But in order to get results in this direction we will want the help of the Government. Those of you who have attempted to serve farm communities know how difficult it is to do so, but some way must be found by which we can serve them, and do it with a proper return on the investment required, and in a way which will make the service thereby rendered to the farmer possible at a reasonable price.

I take great pleasure in seconding Mr. Freeman's motion of thanks. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. Is there any discussion?

(Motion was put and carried by a rising vote amid applause.) Meeting then adjourned.

COMPANY SECTIONS DINNER

Wednesday evening, May 21, 1919

During the dinner, Mr. Frank A. Birch, Chairman of the Committee on Company Sections, called the meeting to order and said:

Gentlemen, allow me to extend courteous greetings to all of you from the Committee on Company Sections. I have the pleasure of knowing many of the gentlemen personally, and before the evening is over I am quite sure we all shall become well acquainted. Perhaps some of the gentlemen present are not familar with the reason for the appointment of the Committee on Company Sections, since it is only five years old. Like our industry, the National Electric Light Association has grown to very great proportions in the last ten or fifteen years. During its growth and the growth of the central stations, a special phase of its work has been the organization of the employees of many of the companies into Company Sections of the Association. At the Philadelphia Convention, in 1914, those who had been particularly interested in Company Sections became aware of the fact that there was no standing committee of the Association to look after their welfare and development. There was a large number of Sections in the organization at that time, but after a Section had been given permission to organize, it was, in a way, forgotten and allowed to drift along in its own individual fashion, and no effort was made toward coordinating their activities or promoting their development, or even increasing their number. As the result of an informal meeting held at that Convention, the Executive Committee of the Association was requested to appoint a Committee on Company Sections, which it did in the fall of that year.

This, therefore, is the fifth year of this Committee's existence. They have been pleasant years. We have learned lots of things, have encountered many difficulties and feel that we have surmounted most of them. The war, unfortunately, affected the Company Sections to a great extent. Many of the young men were taken for military service, and, as a result,

many of the Company Sections were forced to disband. We still have a goodly number of Company Sections, however, and we feel sure that the time is not distant when all of the former Sections will reorganize and resume their former useful activities. We also feel sure that we shall, in the next year, largely increase the number of Sections.

We have a number of distinguished guests with us tonight. Mr. Doherty kindly consented to meet with us and favor us with an address. Mr. Wells, our president, and Mr. W. C. L. Eglin, one of our past-presidents, are here. I think we all know Mr. Doherty and Mr Eglin as the fathers of the Company Section. Due to these gentlemen and their foresight, we have been privileged to organize useful adjuncts in a great many central stations. Mr. Wells and Mr. Eglin are obliged to leave in a few minutes, and I have asked Mr. Wells, our president, if he will say a few words at this time. I have pleasure in introducing Mr. Wells.

PRESIDENT WELLS: Although I have an engagement for another dinner downstairs at which I am now due, I could not resist the temptation of coming in for a moment with Mr. Eglin to wish you all success in the reconstruction of the Company Sections.

I wish to congratulate you on the excellent work that your committee is doing. If Mr. Doherty and Mr. Eglin are the fathers of the Company Section movement, I think that Mr. Birch might be termed the sponsor, as he has done more than anyone else in carrying the work along. Two or three years ago he presented plans for the modification of Company Section work. The Executive Committee did not think it desirable at that time to make the modifications suggested, but Mr. Birch was not daunted and continued working faithfully. The result is that this morning at the meeting the amendments to the constitution were adopted so that the Company Section work may be modified to meet the needs as outlined.

This dinner will give you an opportunity to hear Mr. Doherty and then to discuss plans for the coming year, and I feel a lot of good work will be done for the Class B members and the employees of the Class A members. The Company Section

is one way of bringing the educational facilities of the National Electric Light Association to the Class B members, and I know of no one better qualified to further this work than your good chairman, Mr. Birch.

THE CHAIRMAN: I am sure that we all appreciate the greetings of our President, and we are sorry that he has not the time to say more to us, because I know he could, and I know his heart is in this subject, because it has been my privilege to be in consultation with him frequently during the last few months, and to him belongs the credit for the reorganization of the Company Section work this year.

No meeting which pertains to the Company Section movement would seem complete without Past-President Eglin. He also is in a hurry to get away, but before he goes I want to ask him if he will not kindly give us one of his characteristic messages of encouragement and optimism.

REMARKS OF MR. W. C. L. EGLIN

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I am not in a hurry to get away; I should like to stay here the balance of the evening, but a previous engagement compels me to leave shortly. The point I want to bring up, and I am going to be very brief, because those of you who know me best, know that if I have anything to say, I say it right to the point, and sometimes it is said I say it a little too sharply. There is one thing I can state without any idea of flattery: Mr. Doherty is not only the father of the Company Section movement, he is very nearly the father of the whole Association. The Association, of course, was born when he was a very young man, but he has progressed in our industry until he is recognized as one of our leaders-not only here but abroad. I had the good fortune to follow Mr. Doherty as President of the Association, and he made certain radical suggestions regarding its organization and its work. He made a few remarks about my silk stocking ability, etc., and he rather stirred me up a little bit. He said: “I have laid out quite a job for you, young fellow, and you have got to go some to carry it out" and I proceeded to go.

The one important thing I want to say about this Associa

tion is, if I could get every man in the Association to have the feeling for it that Mr. Doherty has, if every man could have his vision of what the Association means to the industry, what it means to the individual, then there would be no trouble about this Company Section proposition.

Now, of course, in carrying out any movement, in carrying out any good thing, there are always difficulties, and one of the first difficulties we ran into was the so-called "company club" of various kinds. Philadelphia had such a club, Boston had one, New York had one-and many of the other companies had one and consequently, in the first year of the Company Section movement we had great difficulties. They said, "This is a fine idea, but we have this Company Club now, and we are not quite ready to change." That was one of the first difficulties we had in the early years of the Company Section movement.

The value of the Company Section idea has been shown, and with the modifications we have now, which your Committee has recommended in the Constitution, there is no reason any longer for the existence of any club or company organization except the Company Section of the National Electric Light Association.

Mr. Doherty will undoubtedly tell you what it means to be a member of the National organization. That is the only thing that counts. I mean that you do not want to be merely a local individual. You want to be a national personage, and if you are ever going to progress, you must keep these high ideals before you. You must make your ideals as high as possible and endeavor to reach them. This is the starting point, it is true, but who wants to stop and be provincial? You must aim high, or you will never get anywhere. The Company Section is the place where the presidents and the other officials of the National Electric Light Association are going to be born, and that is the thing you must appreciate. The N.E.L.A. as an organization has a tremendous work to do. It is true it has done great work, and the ability to continue this great work must come from the proper training of the men who are going to follow you and follow me

I feel more strongly today than I ever felt that the most important work the N.E.L.A. is doing is in the fostering of this