agreed upon should be made only on the approval of the President of the association. An examination of any convention program will readily disclose the importance of such advance regulation of department plans.

The association should, doubtless, pay the expenses of such a meeting, but, I believe, no more profitable expenditure could be made, since the results would certainly tend to the improvement of the programs, the elimination of conflicts and repetitions, and the probable restriction of the matter to be printed.

The cost of printing the volume has been steadily decreased, notwithstanding the occasional increase in size and the use to a larger extent of smaller type, with the consequent increased cost of composition. The recent increase in the number of volumes printed has helped to decrease the average cost per volume.

For several years previous to 1894 the volume was printed in New York city, by J. B. Little & Co.; the volumes for 1894 and 1895 were printed by the Pioneer Press Co. of St. Paul, Minn.; the volumes for 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, and 1900, by the University of Chicago Press.

TABLE SHOWING COST OF PUBLICATION OF VOLUME OF PROCEEDINGS SINCE 1893

A recent tabulation and analysis of the receipts and expenditures shows that the Denver meeting in 1895 introduced a new era in the financial history of the association, and that the receipts and additions to the permanent fund for the five years from 1895 to 1899, inclusive, were almost identical with the eleven years from 1884 to 1894, inclusive, as follows:

COMPARATIVE SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL STATISTICS COMPILED FROM THE TREASURER'S REPORTS

1 Proceedings of International Congresses of Education; cost of plates for volume included.

I

2 Owing to the advance in cost of paper and labor, the contract price was advanced 12 per cent, over that

of the four previous years.

3 Includes proceedings of Department of Superintendence for years 1893 and 1894.

4 Includes report of Committee of Fifteen, 110 pages.

5 Includes report of Committee of Twelve, 198 pages.

6 Includes reports of Committee on College-Entrance Requirements, Committee on Normal Schools, and Committee on Public Libraries, 277 pages.

It is worthy of note that during the latter five years certain salaries have been paid; the expenses of state managers and department officers have been more liberally provided for; several committees of investigation have received appropriations for expenses; their reports have been published and distributed; and in many ways the work of the association has been enlarged and its total annual expenses largely increased, tho it appears that, owing to restriction of expenses in other directions, the proportion of expenses to receipts has increased only 2 per cent.

In the above recapitulation the receipts and expenses for the year of the Charleston meeting have not been included, on account of the exceptional circumstances, which are not likely to recur. It is gratifying to note that even in the year of the Charleston meeting the net revenue exceeded the expenses by several hundred dollars. This was made possible by the $3,883.03 revenue from the invested fund, with the $5,089.19 cash collections of the Secretary's office, which together constitute a practically fixed revenue of nearly $9,000 not dependent upon receipts from the annual meeting.

RELATIONS WITH TRANSPORTATION COMPANIES

Among the most important responsibilities of the office are the negotiations with transportation companies for rates and ticket conditions for the annual conventions, and the settlement with these companies for the membership revenue collected by them.

The plan of incorporating the membership coupon in the railroad ticket, and the membership fee in the purchase price of the ticket, with an agreement to report the same to the Treasurer of the association, has obtained since adopted at the Chicago meeting in 1887. This plan was for a time strenuously opposed by certain lines, especially in the East, and has never been officially approved by the New England Passenger Association. Opposition has now quite generally ceased, and since 1896 the roads have, with unimportant exceptions, gone farther and settled with the association on the "basis of sales," rather than on the former "basis of collections." This secures to the association the membership revenue on all tickets sold, whether the coupons are collected at the convention registration desks or not.

The friendliness and confidence of the transportation lines have been won by an established and consistent policy of fair dealing and the recognition of the rights of the roads to protection against ticket scalping and other convention abuses, such as “official routes," which are designed to divert business from the lines to which it belongs to certain routes chosen by convention officials.

The work of the association in its public service to education appeals strongly to railroad officials to the extent that they now, almost without exception, willingly grant the usual concessions of rates and ticket conditions, and join in protecting the interests of the association by collecting and reporting, thru the terminal lines, to the Treasurer of the association the membership revenue by the same methods and forms which they use in reporting the divisions of ticket revenue to connecting lines. These reports are in detail, giving place of sale with form and number of each ticket. They are checked out at the Secretary's office from month to month, as received, and claim for revenue made on all coupons not included in the final reports. No line has, at least within recent years, refused to honor any rightful claim for membership revenue; nor has any disposition been shown, except in rare instances, to withhold revenue until claim is made.

THE OFFICE

The office of the Secretary has been provided for since 1895, without charge to the association, in rooms of my residence at Winona. The necessary desks, filing cases, and other appliances have so far overrun the available space that the question of larger and better-equipped rooms will soon claim attention.

The work of the office has increased very rapidly during the past three or four years. The correspondence has reached a magnitude difficult to be handled with the aid of a

single clerk. In this connection it may be appropriate to call attention to the fact that the postage account of the office last year was $749.65, while the expense for all clerical services was but $563.70—a proportion which, I believe, does not usually obtain in correspondence offices.

The outgoing mail last year amounted approximately to 10,000 pieces of letter mail and 50,000 pieces of third-class matter - bulletins, pamphlets, and reports. Letter mail received approximated 10,000 pieces, of which 2,500 contained money remittances.

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE BULLETIN

Since the discontinuance, in 1896, of the Official Bulletin as a publication of the city inviting the association, the work of issuing the bulletins of the Executive Committee, containing all information as to railroad rates, ticket conditions, programs, and other details of arrangements for the annual convention, has devolved upon the Secretary. At first these bulletins were issued only to the educational press and the active members; but the demand has so increased that last year 20,000 copies of Bulletin No. 1 and 30,000 copies of Bulletin No. 2 were issued. About two thirds of these were sent to individual addresses, and the balance to state directors and managers, and to school superintendents who requested them for personal distribution.

THE EDUCATIONAL PRESS

The educational journals have continued and extended their support of the association in all its various lines of work. Special circulars of information are sent to them monthly, and are quite generally quoted from or reprinted entire. Several journals issue annually an association number, in which, in addition to illustrated articles on the place of meeting, the Executive Committee Bulletin, containing convention arrangements and programs, is printed entire from plates furnished from this office. In this manner the circulation of the most important bulletin is extended by forty or fifty thousand copies without cost to the association, except for the plates. The value of this gratuitous support of the educational press cannot be overestimated, and is highly appreciated by all members, and especially by the executive officers of the association.

This report has already overrun the limits intended. There are other phases of the work of the office that might be mentioned; but, as reports are to be made annually hereafter, I trust that the statements included in the foregoing will appear reasonably full and satisfactory for the initial report.

Respectfully submitted,

(Signed) IRWIN SHEPARD, Secretary.

GENERAL SESSIONS OF THE ASSOCIATION

ADDRESSES OF WELCOME

HON. A. T. BLISS, GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN

Mr. President and Members of the National Educational Association, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is with both pleasure and pride that I welcome to the metropolis of Michigan today this great association, and congratulate you upon the auspicious opening of this conference so important to the cause of education.

Michigan today throws open the doors of her very best front parlor, the beautiful city of Detroit, with just as complete satisfaction as is possible on the part of any New England housewife.

I am ready to believe you will all agree with me that your association has never met with a warmer welcome anywhere in this union of ours than in Detroit, and if you are not convinced of it by this time, you will be when you have heard all the welcoming speeches.

There is no language spoken on earth wherein the word "welcome" has a more pleasant sound than in English, and in the truest and best sense of the word, speaking as the chief executive of this grand old peninsular state, I greet you with a welcome to this city and to the commonwealth.

It is a fact that wherever this association has met, large benefits have been reaped thru increased interest in and for the teaching profession, to the great good of the vast army of children who year by year seek the schoolroom. Here in Michigan, where the schools are closer to the hearts of the people than almost anything else in the world, something more than passing attention will be given to the doings and sayings of the cultured men and women who will speak on educational themes from the platforms of the general sessions and the eighteen departments into which the association is divided.

The people of Michigan are very proud of the work along educational lines carried on in their state, annually expending in its support a sum estimated at from eight to ten millions of dollars. The "little red schoolhouse," intrenched behind a wisely devised primary-school fund, is as sacred to the people as the glorious star-spangled banner waving over it.

I have no desire to weary you with figures showing the vastness of the effort put forth in this state in behalf of education. Instead I call to the minds of those of you who have journeyed over the commonwealth how

from the bustling city to the quiet village the schoolhouse has always been the most conspicuous structure. Everywhere the school tax is paid without grumbling, and it is not the lightest of our burdens. The people are proud of the rank of their state, of her material progress and her prosperity, her wonderful natural resources - proud of the past and gloriously confident of the future; but above all are they proud of her educational system, from the foundations of the district and graded schools to her world-renowned university.

The demand of the age is for a practical education, and I am glad to note that Michigan educators are bending all their energies in that direction. The trained men and women who are coming annually into the working world are potent factors in the increased progress we are making. This is the best age in all the world's history for young men and women with a practical education. The disciplined mind rules the world today, and it is your proud distinction, men and women of this association, that into your hands is committed the training of this mighty force.

You come among us with blessings to bestow, and we are grateful for your presence. Our hands are extended in welcome, and as a patriotic people greet their armed defenders, so do we offer you our greeting.

Fully realizing the honor of entertaining this vast assembly of the teachers of this country for the second time in her history, Michigan bids me again to welcome you.

HON. DELOS FALL, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION Mr. President, Fellow- Teachers, Ladies and Gentlemen:

The state has been ably and eloquently represented by her chief magistrate, the governor, and you have been told of the glories of our commonwealth from the standpoint of its material wealth, its business life, and its commercial prosperity. All these are of great significance, and entirely worthy and proper to be mentioned in this presence, but at the same time all who are thoughtful concerning the highest and best interests of the state will admit that it is my happy privilege to represent that which constitutes the real pride and hope, the glory and perpetuity, of the nation, namely, the people themselves, their intelligence, morality, and virtue. Still more significant is the fact that I am to voice a welcome from a class whose life-work is not simply to estimate and utilize the forces of society as they now exist, but rather, in the light of the many apparent existing imperfections in the world at large, theirs is the duty to mold the rising generation so that, when these who are now pupils come upon the stage of action, the general level of society, the character and stability. of its citizens, will be raised.

I therefore bring to you greetings and extend a welcome from 16,000 teachers and 720,000 pupils who have been going in and out from