higher salary for myself. I want that clearly understood so that you will not think that I am interested, from a financial point of view, in what I am saying.

In discussing the subject covered by Mr. Humphreys' paper I propose to treat of the possibilities of the work carried on by the Trustees Gas Educational Fund rather than of what has been accomplished in the past, because, no matter what the past, unless there is good prospect of usefulness in the future there is no argument to urge for a continuance of the Practical Class.

While it is not at all necessary to prove to the members of this Association the dollars and cents value of education, it may not be out of the way to remind you of it. Let us look at the subject of generator firing of retort benches as an instance. There is no question that, properly handled, generator furnaces, and especially generator furnaces to which are added efficient recuperators, are a great economic advance over direct fire furnaces, and yet several of the earlier installations were condemned simply because by reason of ignorance in the retort house they were not properly handled, and even now the same ignorance often prevents the obtaining of the best results. No man can make a success of generator firing unless he understands clearly what are the principles underlying it. These principles and their application are simple and can be easily taught to the retort house foreman, but until he learns them, he cannot be expected to know that, within certain limits, the cooler the fire in the furnace the hotter the setting and that increasing the draft may decrease the heat of the retorts and will certainly increase the fuel consumption. The difference between a knowledge of the theory of generator firing on the part of the man in charge of the retort house and no such knowledge, may easily be a difference of 20% in the make per retort and of 25% in the amount of fuel used, and you can figure for yourselves what this means in good, hard cash.

In addition to the advantages to be gained from the practical application to specific operations of imparted knowledge of underlying principles, there are also great advantages to be derived from the training of an employee to think about

his work and the things he sees around him every day, and in this way to bring the knowledge that he already possesses to bear upon his daily task. As long as existing conditions are accepted as a matter of course and no thought is given to the reasons for them, there can be no improvement, but can there be any question as to the improved practical and economic results that would follow the asking and correct answering of the question "Why do I do this in this way?" by every employee of a gas company, from the president down, every time he performed any duty. Everyone of us is inclined to accept things as we find them, simply because we have not been thoroughly trained to make certain that we really understand what we are doing and why we are doing it in a particular manner. Frequently, however, only a little thought is necessary to make us see that there are better ways of going to work, or possibly, that there is absolutely nothing to be gained by what we are doing. The cash value to the employer of an education that promotes a laudable inquisitiveness on the part of the employee can easily be appreciated by a little consideration.

With so much by way of a reminder that the proper education of employees will represent value received to the employer, the question "Can the Practical Class give such an education? is now to be taken up.

The ideal education is unquestionably that- derived by a very small number of students from an instructor who knows each of them thoroughly, through intimate association, and can thus suit his instruction to the individual needs. The ideal is, however, proverbially difficult of attainment, and in technical education is practically never reached. In the gas business, ideal education is only possible in the comparatively. rare positions where the subordinate with the desire to learn has a superior with the ability and the willingness to teach. The nearest approach to this would be a class with the freedom of all departments of a gas company's business under an instructor fully qualified by a combined theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject. Membership in such a class is, however, necessarily limited to residents of the particular locality or its immediate vicinity, or to those who can

afford to live away from home and devote all their energies for a given time to the acquirement of their education. The Practical Class was started and is carried on to meet the wants of those who, though anxious to learn, could only do so while earning their living by work in positions such that it would be impossible for them to take vacations of any length without loss of income and even of position.

Such men cannot come to the instructor and are too widely scattered to make it possible for the instructor to go to them, and nothing remains but instruction by correspondence. In teaching by correspondence it is not a matter of any great difficulty to set forth clearly the principles and facts that should be learned, but it is hard to make certain that they are learned in such a way that the student can at any time give a reason for the faith that is in him and still more, difficult to establish habits of inquisitiveness in the members of the Class. With some these objects can never be obtained, just as some never derive any great benefit from even individual instruction, but in many other cases the student can be made a wellinformed and reasoning gas man.

This is done to a certain extent in the Practical Class by the character of many of the questions given, which, following a suggestion made by Mr. Alex. C. Humphreys when the Educational Committee was first organized, are designed to make the students think about the things that they see about them every day. But the process can be completed only by the meeting by the instructor of the individual wants of each man. To enable these to be known it is necessary that the instructor have time to study the requirements of each individual, and that the answers and letters of the students be such as to show their several needs. The man who puts something of himself into his answers and asks questions, in addition to answering those sent him, gives to the instructor a knowledge of his requirements that enables them to be fully met, and such a man derives the greatest possible benefit from the course. But if every member of the Class were to do this, no one person could take care of a class of its present size even though devoting all his time and energies to the task, and still less could it be done under the present conditions of

income which do not permit of securing the full time of an instructor qualified for the position.

The experience of the past five years seems to show that the average number in the Class will be about 100. Four sets of twelve questions are sent to each of the three sections each year, making a total of 144 questions per year. The preparation of the answer to each new question will require on an average one day, even when no drawings are required. If half the questions are new, seventy-two days will be required for the preparation of answers to them, leaving, with no allowance for vacation, only 228 working days in which to study and attempt to meet the requirements of 100 separate individuals, or an average of 2 1/4 days per man per year or only a little over one-half day per man per set of questions. As a matter of fact, the correspondence connected with the handling of the subscriptions and the enrollment of new members, and the general work of carrying on the Class will cut off more than the odd 28 days, leaving less than one-half day per man per set of questions. That is surely not an exorbitant amount of time to be devoted to each student if the best results are to be obtained.

To secure the full benefit that may be derived by the gas industry of this country from the Educational Fund, the annual income should be increased to an amount that will make it possible to pay to the instructor the salary that the position is worth and to also pay all office rent and for all the clerical assistance that is required to carry on the work of the Class. This would call for an income at least $1,000 per year greater than it has been during the period just ended.

In my position I have been able to observe the eagerness and gratefulness with which the opportunity afforded by the Practical Class is grasped, the earnestness with which the work is carried on, and the amount of benefit derived from it by those who take full advantage of its opportunities. As an example of the benefit derived I may instance the case of one of the students who in 1899 was a boy-of-all-work in a gas works, and is now in charge of the works and the laying of street mains for a company selling fully 30,000,000 cubic feet per year, and that of another boy who, starting as store-room

boy, has also become a works' manager.

These cases occur to me because I knew the boys and put them in the Class, and not because they are the only ones of the kind. Having seen the good that has been done even under the part time arrangement existing at present, I can realize the greater good that might be done under improved conditions, and I most earnestly hope that the members of this Association and all interested in the gas business will by their subscriptions make it possible for the work to be carried forward to its full development.

MR. CHARLES H. NETTLETON (Derby, Conn.) :-Mr. President and Gentlemen: I cannot say very much, but I do want to express my obligation to Mr. Humphreys for preparing this paper. He has expressed in detail, and very completely, the thoughts which have been running through my mind in connection with this matter. I have believed in this educational class work from the very beginning, and in a modest way have contributed to it, my only regret being that I could not contribute more. It seems to me that it does much for us who have charge of gas companies, and a great deal more for the men who take the course. As Mr. Humphreys says, the work of the School is practical and gets directly to the subject. If you stop to think for a moment, particularly the older men in the room who were in the gas business twenty-five and thirty years ago, and notice the tremendous change in our Association-its meetings, papers, methods, I think you will agree that the change is for the better, and that it is due largely-not entirely-but largely to our technical schools. Our Correspondence School does not take the place of the technical schools, but it is giving some of our young men a training they can get in no other way, and, consequently, must help our business along the same lines that it has been helped by the scientific schools. As Mr. Clark so nicely expressed it years ago when doing this educational work, largely alone, simply as a labor of love, he said, "I want to give the boys a chance," that is the thing that has appealed to many of us in supporting this School. We are doing, so far as I know, that which no other association of