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fiat was issued: "Let Adam be," then Adam be'd. (Laughter.) Adam Bede has exploded the current fallacy that Congress is not a body of ideas. With resonant voice and eloquent gesture, he referred to Senators like Burton and Mitchell, and then asked if the Senate, at least, could be fairly called a body without conviction. (Laughter.)

None the less there is especial propriety in speaking simply and justly of the present resident of the White House, to your new and rising profession, for he, more than any other in corresponding position, has recognized your merit, and the practical necessity of enlarging the scope of your activities and of securing trained men of high professional standing in the investigation of departments of State too long allowed to run themselves. He has appreciated your utility, recognized the power of your intellectual disinterestedness, and has helped you place your profession on that high plane of idealism for which you so fondly hope, and for which this body so earnestly strives. (Applause.) Nor do I think there can be two opinions as to the great credit to be awarded him for the correction of departmental abuses, the purification of governmental bureaus, and the substitution of business energy for official sloth and circumlocution. (Applause.)

Nor can his many savage critics fail to recognize the great stimulus he has given to the moral standards of our geeration, alike in personal, in civic, and in commercial life. To the youth of the country he stands as a fearless exponent of right. Born of the love that makes the creation of all human life seem Divine; reared from frailty by the devotion which took his father and mother from a metropolis to a child's playground in God's open air; cultivated by eastern refinement, and broadened in mind and toughened in body by contact with the hard life of the frontier; versed, but not immersed, in literature; not obscured even by service as the police commissioner of a misgoverned city, because he brought light into hundreds of windowless rooms in hopeless tenements and into the deeper darkness of political precincts; made conspicuous as a Governor of the Empire State, who enforced law because it was law, and who sought to base government on equality of sacrifice and not equality of contribution; illuminated by prescient efficiency as assistant secretary of the navy and by picturesque service at El Caney; compelled by popular insistence to sacrifice himself to become vice-president of the United States; and, finally, elevated to the highest place in all the world, by a tragedy unutterable; honored, loved and revered is that man, absolutely honest, absolutely fearless, absolutely earnest, whom we know as the apostle of the " square deal," the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. (Long continued applause.)

Grecian artists once wandering in the shadows of the Parthenon made famous criticism of a massive statue whose lines appeared crude and features coarse. Given the true perspective by the temple which was reared to a stately height, and softened by time, that sculptured marble showed all its symmetry and gleamed in all the beauty of its perfect form. The criticism was forgotten and the world rejoiced in it as the master product of the master art of Phidias. The American man

has vituperated Washington, Lincoln, Grant and Cleveland. Time has cast the mantle of forgetfulness upon the injustice. History has given those men their true perspective. One need not be a prophet nor the son of a prophet to foresee and foretell that when the present has receded far into the past, the current asperities and anger will be forgotten. Time will see President Roosevelt in his proper dimensions; he will be gratefully remembered as of the highest type of the faithful citizen, a brave soldier, a useful reformer, a potent executive, a distinguished statesman and a true man. (Applause.)

The American Association of Public Accountants.

BY HERBERT M. TEMPLE,

St. Paul, Minn.

When the American Association was formed in 1887, the profession of Accountancy in this country was not recognized by statute; nor was it so recognized until 1896, nine years later, and to New York, and this Association, is due the honor of giving us the first "Certified Public Accountant" legislation. With this as a beginning, other States followed, and at the present time, nearly a dozen States recognize our professional standards by legislative enactment. To Illinois and the untiring energy of Mr. George Wilkinson, belong the honor of developing the State or District Societies into a National Organization, and in 1902, there was formed the "Federation of Societies of Public Accountants of the United States."

In 1905, the American Association, by enlarging its scope of usefulness, and absorbing the entire membership of the "Federation" became and is to-day the only National Organization of Public Accountants in the United States.

While it will be observed from the foregoing brief history, that the present enlarged association is still in its infancy, it is a body representative of nearly one thousand public accountants from all portions of the United States.

The American Association of Public Accountants is pledged to the advancement of Accountancy as a profession, and President Sells, in his 1906 inaugural address, properly calls particular attention to three subjects directly contributing to the redemption of this pledge:

First "A continued elevation of the standard of Professional Ethics." Second-" An increasing insistence upon the highest possible excellence of professional work."

Third-"The encouragement and aid which many American educational institutions are now giving our profession in the development of accountancy education."

Much has been accomplished along these lines during the past year, and much remains to be done. While the future of the profession depends on the efforts of its members, I am sure a National institution

like the American Association is helpful and necessary for the unification of the work yet before us.

For our progress, we feel a keen debt of gratitude to the American public, who have appreciated and encouraged us in our work; to our cousins across the water for their experience and kindly coöperation; and last, but not least, to those who have been called from their life work here, for their part in laying a foundation for the present.

Our good friend, Mr. Dickinson, has said: "It is our duty to keep up this great work and for each of us to leave behind some useful thing done for the good of the profession; something to aid those who will follow us in their life work."

If we will memorize and act in accordance with this thought, the results will prove of inestimable value, and productive of a monument to all time.

The West.

BY ALEXANDER E. FOWLIE, C. P. A.

Denver, Codorado,

President Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Few of us really know the country in which we live. Conservatively speaking, the West contains twice the area of the East. Fourteen of the Eastern States can be set within the confines of the State of Texas. With us in the West there is "lots of out of doors." Distances lose their terror. Last year I traveled over twenty-five thousand miles, and visited, among other cities outside of Denver, Leadville, Deadwood and Cheyenne, those towns of western romance.

I am afraid that some of our eastern brothers have the wrong impression regarding these frontier towns, which to-day, with their waterworks, sewers, electric power and lights, are more modern than many an eastern city.

I have seen educated business men from Philadelphia and from Buffalo go into these towns fearful of their lives, carrying revolvers for protection; and what did they find? The cowboy, the miner, the ranchman they met were, in many instances, better dressed than the visitors. The cowboy had been to Yale; the miner, a man of affairs, a respected and honored citizen; the ranchman, rough and generous in his bighearted way, but above all, a man.

The West is untrammeled with old time customs and prejudices. It is prompt to respond to propositions of merit, and to enact laws tending to promote the best interests of state and people. Power and irrigation enterprises calling for the expenditure of several hundred million dollars are being pushed to rapid completion, and will be the means of reclaiming thousands of acres of western lands.

It will be impossible in the brief allotment of time to even intelli

gently enumerate the many and varied industries of this great section. Coming as I do from Colorado I want to call attention to mining, that industry so often brought to your notice in fraudulent stock promoting enterprises, whose stock is offered throughout the land on the alluring promise, "A dollar investment for ten cents."

Mining, when conducted along conservative business lines, is a legitimate undertaking, and all we ask, is to know that money raised will be spent in honest development—not squandered in promotion expense, where ten dollars go for salary and advertising, and one dollar and perhaps less into the working of the property.

And here comes the opportunity of the accountant-to urge upon the investors the necessity of investigating not only the merits of the property itself, but also the management.

The Rocky Mountains have not been scratched, and look at the record of but one of her camps-Leadville-production to date over three hundred and sixty millions of dollars, still producing, and will produce for unnumbered years to come.

The wonderful possibilities of our western land are beyond the boundaries of an Arabian Nights tale, and I doubt not, but that many of us here to-night will live to see and enjoy the magnificent returns of western pluck and enterprise.

The Public Accountant.

ADAM A. Ross, Jr., C. P. A.,

President Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants. In speaking of the public accountant, it may be well to refer very briefly to the origin and rise of the profession.

We have to look to England for the origin of the public accountant. Prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century he seems to have been chiefly a writing master and teacher of bookkeeping, without special recognition as a member of a distinct profession. He does not seem to have attained any real prominence in the business world until about 1840, when the period of great activity in building and speculating in American railways began. The over speculation in these enterprises resulted disastrously, as is well known, and the investigations and reorganizations which followed placed the professional accountancy for the first time on a solid and substantial basis. Soon after this under revised bankruptcy laws, accountants became eligible for appointment as official liquidators and trustees under the court, and the scope of their work became still further enlarged.

In our country the number of public accountants, however, was comparatively small until about fifteen or twenty years ago. Accountancy as a distinct profession was unknown to the public. An accountant was generally spoken of as an “expert," and was looked upon largely as a sort of lightning calculator, as one having special skill in unearthing defalcations.

The public always associated trouble with the visit of any "expert," and he was generally cautioned to disguise himself as much as possible and to step softly for fear of disturbing credit. Nevertheless, a great deal of work of a very important character was being done by these same public

accountants.

The possibilities of accountancy as a constructive and organizing force in business administration became more clear because of the work of these men. It was work of this character rather than the Hawkshaw sort that has brought the American accountant to his well deserved and hard won place in the business community of to-day.

It is true that accountancy as a profession had its origin in Great Britain, but the accountancy which we typify here to-night is peculiarly American in its development. Starting without those advantages of technical education and careful apprenticeship which our English brethren have long enjoyed, the American accountant in characteristic fashion took hold of his work and made good. Realizing, however, in the long run that the prize goes to the trained man, he has made it possible for his successors to have the unquestioned advantage of preliminary technical education. Ten years ago our great universities would have offered nothing to students of accountancy. The men of the profession had to prove that there was a legitimate demand for education of this kind, and now, thanks to them, hundreds of earnest young men to-day in great universities throughout the land are getting not only culture but also technical knowledge that will mean much for the future of the American accountant.

The opportunities thrust upon the accountant by his work and the unusual demands made upon his mental and moral fibre have not been without their effect. The accountant of to-day, if he has stood up to his work, cannot be other than at least a broader if not a better man than the accountant of yesterday. His life has been full of discipline, sometimes of the most rigorous kind. He has made mistakes at times. His foresight has not always been as good as his hindsight-in which respect, however, he is by no means peculiar. All in all, we can well claim that the public accountant merits the confidence that he inspires.

Starting without preliminary advantages, without special recognition from the law, with no legislative favors, he has won for himself a sure place among the men of affairs of this country. All that he has asked of the State has been to provide for him and his successors an official standard, and we regret that in so many instances he has asked in vain. It cannot be denied for long, however. We feel sure that every state in the Union will ere long legally recognize the public accountant, and I sincerely hope that The American Association of Public Accountants will not allow another twenty years to go without changing its name to The American Association of Certified Public Accountants.

And may we not hope that the law will recognize the advisability of placing estates in bankruptcy and other trusts, in part at least, under the administration of members of our profession? Were it not better for all interests to select for such work men of broad training, familiar with the

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