with the details of such exhibitions and could secure the co-operation of exhibitors, if we were to make the exhibition a success. After a large amount of correspondence and telegraphing, I was fortunate enough to secure Hon. L. B. Clore of Franklin, Ind., who proved to be ideally fitted for his task. Subsequently I added a publicity man to the working force, Charles H. Willoby; this Board furnished the corporation with office-room, and in addition your Secretary acted as chairman of the local managing committee besides attending to his other duties. The Exposition when held attracted a great deal of attention from all over New England, and its ultimate benefits to this section are incalculable.

It is not too much to say that this Exposition owes its very life to this Board, and the pleasurable feeling that we have made as an organization a real contribution to human welfare is heightened by the knowledge that the Corn Show paid every one of its bills, amounting, including premiums, to several thousand dollars, and still has a cash balance in its treasury of nearly $500. I understand that this is the only corn show ever held in this country that made a profit. Particular credit to Worcester concerns and individuals instrumental in making this show a success should be awarded to Mr. George F. Booth, publisher of the Worcester Gazette, who made the first large individual gift; to the Worcester Agricultural Society; to the Worcester County Horticultural Society; Mr. Henry C. Page, general manager of the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway; the Adams Express Company, and the American Express Company; Mr. J. Lewis Ellsworth, chairman of our Committee on Agriculture, who acted as Treasurer of the company; Mr. Theodore C. Bates; Mr. Walter D. Ross, and Mr. Burt H. Greenwood.

The full list of contributors to the guaranty fund raised by the Secretary is as follows: E. A. Buck & Co., Besse-Bryant Co., J. B. Garland & Son, W. N. Gleason Co., Putnam & Thurston, Hon. James Logan, Mr. Arthur O. Young, Mr. Albert H. Inman, S. S. Kresge, Denholm & McKay Co., Richardson Mfg. Co., F. W. Woolworth, Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Co., American Express Co., John C. MacInnes Co., Duncan & Goodell Co., Warren Hotel Co., A. B. F. Kinney, H. M. Waite Hardware Co., Mr. David E. Sherin, Adams Express Co., Ames Plow Co., Mr. H. C. Page (general manager Worcester Consolidated), Mr. Elliott Moore, Ware-Pratt Co., Mr. Richard Healy, Mr. Charles N. Prouty, Mr. George A. Stevens, Mr. George F. Booth of the Gazette, Worcester County Horticultural Society, W. D. Ross (treasurer Ross Bros. Co.), Čol. George A. Keeler of the Bay State Hotel Co., the Market Gardeners' Association, Mr. Elwood Adams, Mr. E. E. Dodge, McGillicuddy & McKenna, and the Board of Trade. The total amount raised was $1095, out of which sum I paid bills amounting to $81.50, for which I hold receipts, making $1013.50 which I turned over to the Association.

A large part of the time available for any purpose during the year 1911 was employed, and profitably too, in the consideration of matters connected with the railroads. The great transportation interests of New England vitally act and react upon Worcester. It is absolutely necessary that we should act with them when possible, and only oppose them when we are satisfied that their policies are wrong and calculated to work material hardship upon us. I want to take this opportunity to express my personal appreciation of the many courtesies shown me by the various officials of the New York, New Haven & Hartford, the Boston & Albany and New York Central and Boston & Maine railroads. So far as I have been able to discover, the gentlemen at the head of all these railroads are sincerely interested in Worcester's development, and I believe they can be relied upon to do whatever is in their power to enable this city to continue its wonderful industrial pre-eminence. Both the New York Central and the Boston & Maine railroads now have industrial commissioners whose principal business it is to develop the business life of the communities through which these lines pass. Mr. W. T. Billings, the representative of the Boston & Maine Railroad, was one of the most enthusiastic factors towards the success of the Corn Show, and Messrs. F. A. Curry and W. M. McCarty of the New York Central have visited this city and have assured this Board that anything that road can properly do in the direction of adding to our sidetrack facilities or otherwise, they would be glad to do. Mr. A. S. Hanson, general agent of the Boston & Albany, has also been here and has expressed a like interest in Worcester's welfare and a desire to co-operate with us in every way possible. All the employes of this division of the Boston & Albany Railroad, the district passenger agent, Mr. Sweeney, and Messis. Barrows and Sands of the freight department, have been exceedingly kind in their efforts to meet our requests.

The first of June last year the Boston & Maine, as a result of our request, added a parlor car on the 8 o'clock morning train over the Worcester, Nashua & Portland Division to Portland. This proved a great convenience to our people, as many of them have been in the habit of going to Boston to get suitable accommodations on trains going east.

Since this year came in, the Committee on Transportation has secured similar concessions from the Boston & Albany Railroad, in the shape of more modern and up-to-date sleepers on the midnight train out of this city for New York, and the 11 o'clock train out of New York for Worcester. These sleepers have caused universal complaint in the past by their apparent fitness for a nook in the archives of the American Antiquarian Society, and this improvement has been perhaps one of the most popular moves recently made by the New York Central Railroad. Beginning with summer travel, it is understood that two brand new Pullmans are to be put on these two important trains.

In freight matters we have been even more active. Mr. Tatman has told you the story of our connection with the freight-rate case, and I know you realize how vital to all our industries and to our future growth was the decision by the Interstate Commerce Commission in this case. Your Secretary raised, as Worcester's contribution to the fund necessary to carry this case on, from the shippers of this city $363, and the Board of Trade itself paid bills for traveling expenses, etc., sufficient to raise the total amount given by us to over $500. No other city of like size in official classification territory, although they were all equally concerned in keeping the freightrates down, gave any more money than Worcester, and 95 per cent. of them did not contribute a dollar. Personally I can not see what a board of trade is for if it is not for the purpose of protecting the industries that furnish the very life-blood of the community in which it exists. It is highly desirable to get new industries in all our cities, but it seems to me that it is equally desirable to protect those we already have.

Another matter in connection with the freight situation in which we have taken an active part is the contention over the new demurrage rules. This Board protested against any reduction in the free time, and particularly against the reduction from ninety-six to fortyeight hours in this section, as did almost all New England commercial organizations; but without avail. A. G. Thomason has been appointed demurrage commissioner, with offices in Boston, to adjust all matters that may arise in connection with the application of the new rules, and this office is in very close touch with him. We have just furnished him, at his request, with a complete list of all Worcester shippers shipping in car-load lots, with the amount of their tonnage, and he has undertaken to send them the latest decisions and all information bearing on demurrage that they need to know in order to protect themselves from overcharges.

The system of credits in so general use throughout the country in connection with the loading and unloading of freight-cars has been put in operation here, and Mr. Thomason asserts it will prove satisfactory to the shippers when they become accustomed to its workings.

During the year Mr. George F. Sweeney of Boston, head of the Machinery Shippers' Association, has made this office his headquarters, and the services of his association in arranging shipments of less than car-load lots has proved of great value to all our manufacturers and shippers. His work in this direction has proved an additional element of usefulness on the part of this Board to the Worcester shipper. A recent decision of the United States Supreme Court legalizing the shipment of less than car-load lots of goods of a similar character consigned to different destinations will render Mr. Sweeney's services of more value to Worcester manufacturers than ever before. This subject has been before the courts for some time, but has now been definitely decided in a way to benefit greatly those desiring to make shipments in combined car-lots.

I want to renew, at this time, the suggestion made one year ago as to the value and necessity of the creation here of a traffic bureau, as a part of this Board's work, to specialize in railroad matters. We have an excellent Committee on Transportation, and it does splendid work, but there is a great and insistent demand for a permanent organization that shall do nothing else but handle the thousand and one details and problems that constantly confront our shippers. The larger matters will still continue to be handled by this committee, but minor details of daily routine should be handled by this Bureau.

For a long time there has been a feeling on the part of the public that the charges exacted by the express companies of the country for services rendered have been unduly excessive. Particular objection has been made to the alleged practice of the companies, in so far as they have not only increased the charge for haulage in proportion to distance but have also, it is asserted, exacted a much higher charge for terminal service at one point than they have imposed at another for identical service. In other words while the cost of transportation by rail increases in proportion to distance, the element of distance in no wise enters into the cost of terminal service. The cost of terminal service where the haul is three thousand miles is no greater than if the haul were but fifty miles. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the express companies increase the charge for terminal service in proportion to the distance hauled, so that

in case of a package shipped from Worcester to San Francisco the charge for terminal service is twenty-five times as great as it is for terminal service for the same package shipped from Worcester to Springfield. As a result of these and other practices, it is claimed that the net earnings of the companies now run from more than 40 to 125 per cent. per annum.

Mr. Alfred S. Lowell of this Board has for a long time been interested in securing a reduction of these rates, and at a meeting held in the rooms of the Merchants' Association in New York, Wednesday, May 11, 1910, to consider this topic, he represented this Board as our official delegate.

At that meeting it was voted to petition the Interstate Commerce Commission to exercise the authority vested in it by law, and conduct an exhaustive investigation into the whole question of the rates and practices of the express companies.

Subsequently, viz., on June 17, 1910, at a meeting of the Committee on Mercantile Affairs, to whom the matter had been referred, it was voted, the Directors consenting, that the Secretary be instructed to raise $100 from Worcester manufacturers and merchants, members of this Board, as our contribution towards the legal and other expenses incident to fighting the case. This money the Secretary raised and forwarded to the Merchants' Association of New York, Treasurer of the fund. Later, when the New York organization became fearful that the case would not be tried by the Interstate Commerce Commission promptly, they communicated with this Board in common with others to that effect, and your Secretary took the matter up with the Interstate Commerce Commission, resulting in the receipt of a letter from the late E. A. Moseley, secretary, stating that the commission had ordered an investigation into the rates, rules and practices of all express companies. This announcement was the first received by any commercial organization in this country stating the commissioners' purpose. Committee on Mercantile Affairs of this Board watches very closely over the business interests of the merchants of this city, and in this one specific case it proved again, as it has so frequently before, its great value.

The

The Secretary has acted as one of the committee of three charged with preparing the case for the protestants against the demolition of the South Worcester station. This station has been legally abolished in connection with the abolition of the southern and western grade crossings. The manufacturers and residents of South Worcester are of the opinion that great hardship will result if this station is abolished, and at a meeting held some months since at the office of the Wright Wire Co., it was decided to petition the Legislature to legalize the retaining of the station. A special committee, consisting of George M. Wright, Atty. George H. Mirick and the Secretary, was appointed to take this matter up, gather the necessary data and petitions and present the case to the Legislature. The committee was extremely fortunate in having a man of Mr. Mirick's zeal and ability identified with it. He prepared the case for the people with great thoroughness and presented it admirably. In case the Legislature refuses us the relief asked, it will probably be necessary to take this matter to the courts. The removal of this station will materially curtail the railroad facilities enjoyed by Worcester people as well as being, as we claim, in direct violation of the law guaranteeing perpetuity to stations in common use for more than five years.

The Vice-president and Secretary attended the very important conference at Providence, at the close of August, of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association and were royally entertained. This Board is a member of this association, and has recently endorsed the proposition to build the first link in an intra-costal waterway from Boston to the Rio Grande, said link extending from Narragansett Bay to Fisher's Island Sound back of Point Judith.

In October the Secretary was delegated by this Board to attend the annual convention of the American Association of Commercial Executives held at Grand Rapids, Mich. This is the largest organization of the kind in this country, embracing 115 of our leading commercial bodies. Its principal business is two-fold: to unite the various commercial clubs, merchants' associations, chambers of commerce and boards of trade into one harmonious body, working together for the common good of the nation, and the other is so to standardize and unify our methods and aims, as commercial bodies, that we shall work for and not against each other. Up to the present time the work of city building has been largely a go-as-youplease function, each city striving by every means, both fair and foul, to get ahead of the other. Instead of being a shameful business, it has been apparently a matter of supreme satisfaction to know that one city has been smart enough to steal away from some other city some fine going industry upon which the losing town, perhaps, was dependent for its very life. If it is wrong for one individual to steal the goods of another, it certainly cannot be right for a collection of individuals to do so, and no amount of sophistry can make it so. To eliminate, therefore, all the factitious agencies in city growth is one of the principal businesses of this organization.

Such agencies include the offering of bonuses, the granting of exemption from taxation for a period of years, and the financing of new and untried concerns by the sale of stocks of problematic value. The national organization is also committed to a definite program along constructive lines, and every bit of information relative to civic improvement, anywhere, is available to its members and to this Board. The result of our connection with this organization can not but be most beneficial to us, for not only are we confronted and inspired by the achievements of the most progressive of the American cities, but we have immediate access to the men responsible for this progress. No commercial body in this country can afford to remain outside the ranks of such a national organization, and the commercial bodies that do remain outside can look forward to dwindling influence both at home and abroad. To-day the commercial organization that confines its whole efforts to the small, narrow and selfish aggrandizement of its own members, caring not a whit for the welfare of the rest of the community, to say nothing of the country at large, is an anachronism, and is foredoomed to

failure.

At the Grand Rapids session your Secretary was elected a director of the organization for three years, and subsequently was appointed chairman of the Committee on Constitution and By-laws, which has been created to put into permanent form the rules governing the association in carrying out the modern theory of city building. He has also worked very closely in connection with the President in the organization of the various New England commercial bodies into one compact working force. All the other sections of the country are thus organized, and New England has suffered severely in the past from its disorganized state. There are no less than 175 commercial organizations in New England, and if they will work together, there is nothing that we desire as a section that we cannot hope to obtain. It will probably take some time to set fire to this dormant New England spirit, but thanks to the Boston Chamber of Commerce and this Board, the flame is being coaxed into life, and inside of five years we expect to be able to say that there is not a town in this section of the country in which civic enthusiasm is not ablaze. The phrase "decadent New England" hurts Worcester. It actually prevents capital coming here, and anything that can transform the public mind, the country over, so that it will begin thinking and talking about New England as alive will be a positive benefit in a financial way to this city. New England is not dead, and never has been. We are conservative and we ought to continue so, but we ought not to be ultramodest about our achievements and our advantages. Man for man and industry for industry, New England is the peer of every other section of this Union, and when our other advantages are taken into consideration we lead them all.

The Secretary, as a director in the Playground Association, did his share towards the raising of the fund of $10,000 so handsomely contributed by the people of this city last year for the inauguration of this most important work here. He had special charge of the benefit entertainment at Poli's Theatre, which netted $250 for the fund. In this connection it may not be amiss to reiterate the debt that the whole playground movement in this city is under to this Board. Some effort has been made to attribute the initiation of this work to other organizations. The facts are that Mr. W. Francis Hyde, a member of this Board, is the father of the playground movement as finally carried to success in this city, and that Mr. George F. Booth, an ex-president of this Board, is its step-father, if such a phrase is permissible. The plan upon which the Playground Association was finally worked out was formulated by a special committee of which Mr. Louis H. Buckley, one of our directors, was chairman, and while it is true that other influences might have brought the playground as Worcester knows it into being, it is quite as true that no other influence did; and it is a simple statement of the facts that to the Worcester Board of Trade, and the Worcester Board of Trade alone, is due the credit for launching this most important enterprise.

Two other organizations that are going to have a powerful effect upon the Worcester of the future have been launched this year. One is the Worcester Publicity Association and the other is the Worcester Real Estate Exchange. The Worcester Publicity Association was created for the purpose of specializing in publicity in order that Worcester merchants and manufacturers, individuals and corporations might compete on fair and even terms with their energetic and enterprising competitors in other cities. Its announced objects are to assist in the advancement of Worcester by studying and improving the methods of promoting business through advertising, to serve as a publicity bureau for all Worcester business associations which may desire expert assistance on questions relating to advertising and general publicity, to promote among Worcester merchants a thorough understanding of the power of advertising when applied to the building up of business for individuals, corporations, the city as a section, and in general to assist the commercial development of the city along publicity lines. It has and is doing good work

along the same line as the Pilgrim Publicity Association and other organizations of a similar type elsewhere.

The other organization is the Worcester Real Estate Exchange. For many years there has been a desire on the part of the reputable and leading real-estate dealers of this city to get together in some organization possessing character and dignity for the purpose of eliminating unfair competition, preserving commissions and in general placing the real-estate business on the same plane as that enjoyed by the doctor, the lawyer and the builder and other representative men in the community. Tentative attempts to do this in the past have uniformly resulted in failure because of the lack of harmony that has for many years permeated the real-estate business in this city, but this year, thanks to the Worcester Board of Trade, the larger dealers have been brought together and have formed an organization which promises to be one of the most valuable factors the city possesses in its future development. The members of this organization have bound themselves to observe the ethics of their business, and have agreed one with another that they will not engage in a shady transaction themselves nor will they tolerate it in anybody else. A strong Committee on Arbitration has been appointed, and in the event of any contention arising over the sale of a piece of real estate the members have obligated themselves to submit the difficulty to this committee and to abide by its decision. It was a great gain for Worcester when her leading real-estate men took this step, and the business of selling and buying real estate in this city is in better odor to-day, for all parties concerned, than ever before in our history.

The officers of the new organization are honorable, high-minded men, and they look forward to a history that shall be as creditable, when written, as that boasted by the Builders' Exchange, the National Metal Trades or any other of our great trade organizations.

The Board during the summer months of 1910, in answer to the request of property owners at Lake Quinsigamond, exerted itself to secure improved conditions in the policing of the Lake. The Secretary took the matter up with the Mayor and the chief of police, at the direction of the Directors, and there was a noticeable improvement in the situation as a result. The Lake can never be properly patrolled or controlled, however, as long as part of the shore front is within jurisdiction of Worcester and a large part outside that jurisdiction. A movement has been started by Representative Mahoney of this city to have the entire shore set aside as a State reservation, and a bill calling for the appointment of a commission to investigate the subject is now before the Legislature. A representative committee from this Board has been appointed by the President which has this very important subject in charge, and this committee and the Secretary have co-operated with Mr. Mahoney in advancing the proposition so far as lay in their power. It would seem that the Board of Trade could do no more useful work than to help conserve and safeguard this beautiful summer resort. Furthermore, the enormous tide of travel that passes daily over the causeway, particularly in the summer-time, renders it absolutely imperative that something should be done at that point at once to increase the element of safety. Good fortune alone has prevented a terrible accident and loss of life there ere this. Inasmuch as the State highway enters Worcester at this point and the road is used by thousands of people outside Worcester and Worcester County, it would seem as if a portion of the burden of erecting a new wide modern bridge at this point ought to be borne by the Commonwealth. The thanks of the Board and the special committee on Lake Quinsigamond are due Messrs. Mahoney and Washburn, and in fact the whole Worcester delegation, for their co-operation in getting this matter before the State authorities.

During the month of August, the Pilgrim Publicity Association, of Boston, came here 300 strong and were entertained at Lake Quinsigamond, the Secretary and his assistant having charge of the reception tendered them. The visitors declared the event to be the most successful field-day in their history.

Late in the fall the Secretary, by direction of the officers, procured a set of plans of the proposed northern grade crossings, and one of the most spirited and interesting public meetings of the winter was held in Board of Trade Hall when these plans were exhibited and discussed. Notices were sent to all the abutters, and although the night was most inclement the hall was thronged with people. The majority of those present, although vitally concerned in the changes, had never before seen a plan of what was proposed, and the meeting was voted one of the most useful the organization ever held. This incident affords an excellent illustration of the paramount value of a Board of Trade. Although the several hearings on these plans had been held in this city and in Boston, not a fraction of the people interested had ever attended them or knew anything about what was going on. It proved a monumental task to secure even the names of the abutters, and if they had not been notified by this Board, 90 per cent. of the people along the route would never have known what was contemplated until it was too late to protest, supposing that they had cared to.

At the opening of the Legislative session of 1911 the Secretary, at the suggestion of Hon. Daniel E. Denny, a director of this Board, and a member of the upper branch, from the Second Worcester district, asked the Worcester delegation to meet at our rooms informally, and as a result of the gathering a permanent organization was formed with an executive committee composed of Senators Denny, Hunt, and the Secretary. Two meetings have been held in our rooms and one in Boston, attended by practically every member. I take pardonable pride in the fact that this Legislative organization has thus been created. So far as I can learn, this is the first time in the history of the city that the entire delegation from Worcester has acted together in hearty co-operation and sympathy with the Board of Trade. Every measure that we have asked them to support they have supported zealously and whole-heartedly, and our thanks as an organization are due these gentlemen, Republicans and Democrats alike, for their courtesy. If this policy of getting together as one man can only be continued, we look forward to making Worcester's influence profoundly felt at the State House. As the Worcester Board of Trade has no friends to reward and no enemies to punish, and is absolutely out of politics, laboring wholly for the benefit of all, it is entirely fitting that it should ask our delegation to organize thus and work together for the common good. The delegation appreciates that fact and has responded splendidly throughout the session to every request that we have made upon it.

In the month of February the Secretary, in co-operation with the President, organized a special delegation from this city to the Pan-American Conference at Washington. A special car was engaged to transport the party, and this organization has the distinguished honor of having had the largest delegation from any commercial organization in this country at that conference. The enterprise of this Board elicited a great deal of favorable comment, and the trip, as far as I could ascertain, was thoroughly enjoyed by all who made it.

Of course the principal business of the session was to develop additional interest in United States participation in South American trade. It is believed that the Worcester men at Washington got thoroughly inoculated with this fever, and your Committee on Foreign Trade is even now at work on a plan to introduce Worcester-made goods in some practical and general way into the Argentines. This city is peculiarly favorably situated to do business with the east coast of South America, and the splendid possibilities of the Argentine market are worthy of our utmost attention and immediate cultivation. It is doubtless true that not everything made in Worcester can be sold to-day in Buenos Ayres, but it is equally true, if we go about it right, that hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of our manufactured goods can be sold there by us in the next ten years.

Our distance from raw materials, and particularly our steadily increasing competition in the middle West, make it extremely necessary for the manufacturers of Worcester to study the possibilities and the probabilities of the foreign market as they have never done before, whether that market be located in South America or in Europe.

One of the problems confronting this organization and growing mote serious daily is the utter inadequacy of our quarters. Rooms that were none too ample for the Board when it had 550 members are absolutely out of the question now that we have over 850. Furthermore, when we had but 550 members we occupied these quarters alone. Now the Merchants' Association has its headquarters here, and as it is an active, growing body, the problem of providing room for two flourishing organizations where there was never room enough for one, is rapidly becoming acute. The grocers and provision dealers have now an organization of their own which desires to meet here from time to time, and it has been found frequently necessary to throw the Directors' room open to accommodate organizations that could not be cared for in our main hall. The hall itself is in use practically every night in the week, and of late once, and part of the time twice, on Sunday.

There have been times when there have been three different meetings going on here at once: one in the hall, one in the Directors' room and one in the Secretary's office, the latter being occupied at the time by the Secretary of the Board of Trade, the Secretary of the Merchants' Association, the editor of the Worcester Magazine, the stenographer, clerk and advertising solicitor. In addition to the above for several months last year we furnished desk-room for the general manager of the Corn Show.

Impaired efficiency is a natural corollary of such overcrowding. The work of this office cannot be dispatched with anything like the celerity that would be the case if the Secretary and his office force had suitable quarters and the organization possessed sufficient committee rooms to accommodate its own members.

More and more the people of Worcester are coming to look upon the Board of Trade as their great civic centre, the place where men of all creeds and no creed, of all parties and no party, can gather.

We want to encourage that sentiment, and we ought to move at once in the matter of providing a suitable reading-room and statistical-room, for example, comfortably furnished, where men could digest the special information, both written and printed, in the possession of this organization. As a matter of fact, we have constantly on file in this office the finest and most complete list of publications devoted to the commercial world in the shape of magazines, consular reports, government reports, commercial organization reports, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, catalogues, etc., that there is in central Massachusetts.

The trouble is that our members do not know this, and they have no fit place to investigate this mass of material, even if they knew we possessed it.

In this connection it has been suggested that this Board might take over this entire floor, sublet what it desires to the Merchants' Association and retain the rest for our own purposes. I think that this should be done and that negotiations should be entered into at once with the Worcester National Bank to ensure the necessary alterations and improvements being made to render these quarters attractive and satisfactory before our fall activities begin. I am aware that the enhanced rental resulting will somewhat increase our fixed charges, but I believe that the possession of an adequate reading-room, additional committee-rooms and new modern Directors' rooms will be sufficient improvement over existing conditions to draw in new members more than enough to make up the additional rental.

It will probably cost about $1000 to furnish this Board with quarters such as it deserves, but I believe the money can be much more profitably used in this way by the membership than it can lying in the bank drawing 4 per cent. interest.

The value of this organization, like any similar body, is always measured by its usefulness to the community, and it is my belief that suitable up-to-date quarters here containing every convenience, handsomely furnished, and wired for electricity, will constitute a business man's headquarters that will be appreciated by every merchant and manufacturer in this city and will be utilized, as soon as it is thrown open, by hundreds of our members who only come here now occasionally or not at all.

The achievements of the Worcester Magazine during the past year are a matter of common knowledge to you all and do not need repetition here. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, and I notice that every one of these commercial journals that spring into being— and apparently a new one is born every month is modelled on our own. The satisfaction about this thing is that while they all copy, none excel, and few approach us.

In this connection I want to pay a high but deserved tribute to the editor, Mr. Willard E. Freeland. The work he is called upon to do in connection with this Magazine, particularly in the technical department with its treatment of industrial subjects, is perhaps the most difficult that ever confronts a writer. To portray in plain, easily understood English the involved mass of detail characterizing many of our machines and all of our great industrial plants is a science all its own and is never appreciated by the layman until he undertakes it. In this field as well as in every other department of the work of this Magazine and of this Board, Mr. Freeland has shown himself equal to every task that has been laid upon him and has discharged every obligation imposed with a fidelity, an intelligence and a zeal worthy of the highest praise. That he has done all this at a positive sacrifice in a financial way from the return he might have obtained in the walks of private life for similar effort, renders his action yet more remarkable and luminous. I believe that the value of such services should be substantially recognized, for they are not frequently encountered.

The remainder of the office force have been as heretofore most diligent, reliable and conscientious and are entitled to my thanks for their co-operation, sympathy and forbearance.

Late in the fiscal year Edmund N. Huyck, of Albany, came here and delivered an extremely practical address on the subject of 'Housing," a theme of great moment in a city embracing as much tenement property as does Worcester. I hope that a special committee of this Board will be appointed this year to examine into the merits of this question, and see if the plans so successfully worked out in Kalamazoo, Mich., in Albany and in Philadelphia cannot be worked out here. I do not believe, personally, that the modern three-decker is the last word in house-building. I do not deny that these structures may be profitable from the builder's or landlord's standpoint, but I do deny that they are in any real sense a home. If we are to retain our skilled labor here, we must provide them permanent dwelling-places. Such homes, including both land and dwellings, are being erected in many cities at from $1500 to $2000, and I believe if a lot of land of suitable size can be secured at a low figure and the houses can be built in sufficiently large groups, we can duplicate that feat here. I have been informed by one of our members that he stands ready to furnish the necessary land at a price less than five cents a foot. I believe that we have men enough in this

Board who have interest enough in the development of the city of Worcester to work out the financial detail and provide the backing necessary to erect these low-cost houses.

The ordinary member of this Board has no conception of the amount of purely clerical work performed in the Secretary's office in the course of a year. It is no slight task to gather together each month the material necessary to publish a sixty-page magazine, and to make that material readable, to say nothing of making the publication a financial success. I know of no other Board of Trade magazine in this country that makes a profit besides ours, and several of them are operated at a considerable loss. Yet the work in connection with this magazine is only one feature of our task. Independent of this item of business this office, during the thirty days from March 18th to April 18th-26 actual working dayssent out 3040 letters and received 610; the Secretary made or received 135 calls; we forwarded 35 and received 316 packages, made 270 and received 342 telephone calls. During this time this office received $1315.68 and disbursed $1301.78; the Secretary attended one Directors' meeting, and twelve committee meetings and conferences. When you come to multiply these figures by twelve, you get some faint conception of the amount of work now being done by this organization. As a matter of fact, the collection and disbursement of approximately $20,000 per annum is no slight responsibility of itself. In this connection I want to take this opportunity of congratulating this Board upon the fact that it has to-day, as a result of the progressive methods pursued during the last few years, the largest membership in its history, and its funds are also at the highest point they have ever reached.

In addition to the ordinary revenues of this organization, the Secretary has been instrumental in raising this year for extraordinary purposes entirely outside the customary demands on our membership $2908.50. This money has been divided as follows:

The Secretary also was instrumental in securing one specific contribution of $250 for the Corn Show outside of Worcester, making the total raised by him outside of usual channels, $2908.50. This is actually more money than the entire revenue at the command of a majority of the commercial organizations of this country, albeit its collection and disbursal is merely an incident of our year's work. I should be untrue to myself if I closed this report without expressing in this public way my appreciation and gratitude for the loyal support, wise counsel and inspiring leadership of our retiring President. It has not only been a pleasure but a delight to work with and for him. He has given himself unstintedly and unreservedly to the work of this Board for two years, and during the last year in particular he has repeatedly sacrificed his own interests to the interests and advancement of this organization. A Secretary's work in such an organization as this bristles with difficulties, like a hedge. He is to a very large degree dependent upon the President for any success he may achieve. It is said that responsibility comes to him who can take it, but no Secretary can assume responsibilities, or cares to, when he has not back of him a wise and loyal chief. I account myself extremely fortunate inasmuch as I have had the privilege of serving with the man whose broad vision, level head and unceasing activity have brought this organization through two of the most critical years in its history and made it a model among the commercial bodies of this hemisphere. The Worcester Board of Trade has always been fortunate in its presidents, but never more so than during the administration of the gentleman who to-night relinquishes control of its destinies and escapes from its responsibilities and burdens into private life.

The report of the Treasurer, Albert L. Stratton, was read by the Secretary, and shows that the Board continues to improve its financial strength, notwithstanding the fact that its increased activities require large expenditures each year. It amounts to a mathematical demonstration of the loyalty of the members and the growth of their interest in the Board. The report follows:

FROM APRIL 15, 1910, TO APRIL 15, 1911