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It was a brilliant idea that suggested the formation of Local Sections of the Institute. The results in increase of membership and attendance at, annual meetings of the Institute have been very gratifying. Many different plans have been followed by the various Local Sections to interest members in the local meetings. It has been found to be almost necessary that the meetings be preceded by luncheon or dinner at some club or hotel where a suitable assembly room is available for the after meeting. Each Local Section has to work out its own type of meeting to suit its conditions. Like all human affairs, a great deal depends on the leader. Special attention should be paid to the qualifications of the Chairman and Secretary as these two officers have to shoulder most of the responsibility for the success or failure of the Section. They should be chosen, not so much on account of prominence in the profession as for their push and popularity with the local membership. It has been developed that in most Local Sections the meetings should not be more frequent than once a month with a vacation during the summer months.

Jan 7, 1919

Book Review MAN-TO-MAN: THE STORY OF INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. By John Leitch, Phila¬delphia, Pa. The B. C. Forbes Publishing Co., New York, 1919, 2.19 pp., 7 1/2 X 5 in. $2.00. "Man to Man" is a short, well-written, well-printed, easy to read and very interesting hook. It is an account of a method introduced into more than twenty industrial plants to give the workers a share in managing their own troubles. It is not a panacea for labor troubles and strikes, but neither have existed where the new method has been tried. The scheme is, in a word, to organize the working force like the government, having a cabinet composed of the executives, a senate composed of foremen, and a house composed of men elected by fellow workers from all departments. This governing machinery takes up all complaints of workers, investigates, reports, and settles. The increased profits due to economy and increased production from this cooperation are divided 50-50 between the company and the men. Experience has shown that, since inattention, tardiness, irregularity, and inefficiency tend to reduce their profits, all men very quickly, after once convinced of the sincerity of the management in their scheme of cooperation, eliminate them because it is for their personal profit. Astonishing results have been attained, including higher wages, greater output, lower unit costs, great reduction in labor turnover, elimination of waste, an increased loyalty and a waiting list of employees even in periods of labor shortage. Profit sharing as such and stock ownership as a benefit to industrial relations are discussed briefly and illuminatingly, although they are not believed by the author to he the best way to bring about the human relation between those who work,for and those who work with money. The author is not against unions but does not believe the union is the best medium for improving industrial relationship. The look is nowhere dogmatic but is always forceful and convincing and, being well written, is very entertaining. It is doubtful if "Industrial Democracy" is the right expression for the solution of the problem but certainly anything that will place on the shoulders of labor some of the responsibility of industry and will increase production is tine much-to-be-desired desideratum. It is a. contribution to the solution of our biggest problem and should be read by everyone who employs men and who has been worried by the labor turnover. P. E. B.

Jan 7, 1919

H. F. MOORE and W. J. PUTNAM (author's reply to discussion?).-The writers are inclined to question whether it has been experimentally established that steels will endure an indefinite number of repetitions of low range of stress. It is difficult to see how such a conclusion can be reached except by extrapolation from test data,. and such extrapolation always gives results of questionable value. From the viewpoint of the designer and the user of steel the writers believe that the exponential formula, which gives results on the safe side of what test. data we have, for steel subjected to tens or hundreds of millions of repetitions is a safer

Jan 7, 1919

The election of the following officers of the Council for the fiscal year 1919-1920, was confirmed by the Council on June 12th, 1919. President, S. E. Doane; vice-president, Wm. J. Clark; general secretary, Clarence L. Law; treasurer, L. B. Marks; directors, E. C. Crittenden, F. E. Cady, R. B. Ely. The membership of the Council for 1919-1920 will therefore be as follows: S. E. Doane, G. H. Stickney, George A. Hoadley, Wm. J. Clark, H. A. Horror, Otis L. Johnson, H. K. Morrison, Clarence L. Law, L. B. Marks, Adolph Hertz, S. C. Roger, P. S. Young, John C. D. Clark, Evan J. Edwards, James J. Kirk, E. C. Crittenden, F. E. Cady, R. B. Ely.

Jan 7, 1919

By P. D. Merica

ALUMINUM and its alloys have been the subject of much investigation, during recent years, in the course of which the principal features of the constitution of most of the binary alloy systems with aluminum have been determined. Except in the case of a few metals-silicon, bismuth, cadmium, lead, zinc, and tin-an aluminum-rich compound is formed in each binary system, which forms a eutectic with the aluminum or its solid solution with this compound. Thus such compounds as FeAl3, CuAl2, Mg4Al3, and NiAl3 are formed, which are found in aluminum-rich alloys of their respective series as eutectics with the aluminum solid solution. These compounds are, in all cases, hard and brittle and their presence affects profoundly the physical properties of the alloys in which they occur. Within the zinc-aluminum system a compound, Al2Zn3, is formed that decomposes at lower temperatures. Silicon and tin each form a simple eutectiferous series with aluminum; bismuth, lead, and cadmium are only partly miscible in the liquid state with it. The extent of the solubility in aluminum, in solid solution, of these compounds or of the elements themselves, in the case of those series

Jan 7, 1919

The saying that a "prophet" is without honor in his own country does not always hold true, as is shown by the following from one of the local papers, which appeared under the above heading: "Edwin Ludlow, for more than seven-years vice-president of the Le-high Coal.& Navigation Co., with headquarters in Lansford, has resigned, to take effect July 1, when he will take up his residence in New York and engage as a consulting engineer. Mr. Ludlow, during the incumbency of his present position, has demonstrated his efficiency as an engineer and general manager in many directions, notable among which are the almost perfect methods in practice in the inside workings of the several operations under his charge and the erection of the most complete, most practical and most commodious breakers for the preparation of the mine product for market. In addition, his relations with organized labor have been cordial and his dealings with its representatives have been invariably based upon the principle of fair play."

Jan 7, 1919

For his achievement in building the Panama Canal, Major-Gen. George W. Goethals was presented, on May 22, the John Fritz medal, the highest mark of distinction in the engineering profession. In the absence, in Europe, of Clemens Herschel, chairman of the Board of Award, Charles F. Rand presided over the meeting. Col. John J. Carty, who was chairman of the Board of Award at the time the medal was awarded to Gen. Goethals, and who ordinarily would have presented the medal, was detained in Paris by Government work, so the presentation was made by Ambrose Swasey. When calling the assembly to order, the Chairman said: This medal has been awarded by a Board representing four of the National Engineering Societies: American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The medal was established in 1902, in honor of that great American engineer, John Fritz, and has never been awarded except to very distinguished men. In. 1902, the first award was made to John Fritz for scientific and industrial achievement. In 1905, to Lord Kelvin for his work in cable telegraphy and other scientific attainments. In 1906, to George Westinghouse for the invention and development of the air brake. In 1907, to Alexander Graham Bell for the invention and introduction of the telephone. In 1908, to Thomas A. Edison for the invention of the duplex and quadruplex telegraph, the phonograph, the development of a commercially practical incandescent lamp, the development of a complete system of electric lighting, including dynamos, regulating devices, underground system protective devices and meters. In 1909, to Charles T. Porter for his work in advancing the knowledge of steam engineering and in improvements in engine construction. In 1910, to Alfred Noble for notable achievements as a civil engineer. In 1911, to Sir William H. White for notable achievements in naval architecture. In 1912, to Robert W. Hunt for his contributions to the early development of the Bessemer process. In 1914, to Professor John E. Sweet for his achievements in machine design. In 1915, to Dr. James Douglas for notable achievement in mining, metallurgy, education, and industrial welfare. In 1916, to Dr. Elihu Thomson for achievement in electrical invention, in electrical engineering and industrial development, and in scientific research. In. 1917, to Dr. Henry M. Howe for his investigations in metallurgy, especially in the metallography of iron and steel. In 1918, to J. Waldo Smith for achievement as engineer in providing the City of New York with a supply of water. And now to General Goethals for achievement as the builder of the Panama Canal_

Jan 7, 1919

THE RELATION OF THE ENGINEER TO RECONSTRUCTION FIFTY-THIRD MEETING OF BOSTON SECTION The fifty-third meeting of the. Boston Section was held April 28. The speaker of the evening was the new president of the Institute, Mr. Howard V. Winchell, who spoke on "The Relation of the Engineer to Reconstruction." He told of the part engineers had played in the war and paid tribute to Herbert E. Hoover as an example of what engineers can do. He said that engineers are not taking enough interest in politics, although it is badly needed as shown by the evidences of Bolshevism even in America. Conditions have suddenly changed; whereas we formerly borrowed money we are now loaning widely to foreign countries and our investments, abroad have to be protected. A committee is badly needed to investigate and determine the actual conditions. The Government has already been invited to cooperate with the Institute along professional lines and this should lead to closer contact between our Society and the Government. Mr. Winchell then went on to describe some of the mining conditions in Russia. He brought out the point that the rich platinum deposits are exhausted and only the poorer sands remain. The largest copper properties average less than 2 per cent. copper and there are some 4,000,000 tons available in .the Caucasus region near Batum. There are approximately 100,000,000 tons of high-grade manganese ore scattered in small deposits in the eastern Ukraine. There are some copper mines in the East, butt they are almost exhausted. The Baku oil field is the second largest in the world and there is probably oil in Persia. There are also manganese in Siberia and coal veins of enormous thickness.

Jan 7, 1919

Mrs. W. Y. Westervelt, Director of the New York Section, reports an interesting meeting at her house- on May 12. Dr. Cecile Griel, special worker of the division for work among foreign-born women of the National Board of the Y. W. C. A., spoke. As the Americanization Committee under Mrs. Scobey is planning an energetic campaign, Dr. Griel's stirring appeal was timely and suggestive. While Dr. Griel cited the usual avenues of approach to our alien population through the school children, the needs of the baby, sewing classes, English classes, etc., her especial appeal was for correct psychology on the part of the workers. She deplored the condescension, implied or expressed, so often manifest in persons attempting Americanism, work and emphasized many times the importance of an understanding heart and mind. At the close Mrs. Scobey brought forward plans for practical work to be done by the New York women, of which I hope to give some details next month.

Jan 7, 1919

Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, Vol. 12, Part 1, 1919, includes "The Reign of Law," by Dr. J. Murray Clark; "The Northern Interior of British Columbia and its Maps," by Rev. A. G. Morice, 0. M. I., M. A.; "Educational Reform: its Relation to a Solution of the Industrial Deadlock," by C. G. Corless, M. Sc. (McGill); "The Growth of the Scales on Fishes," by A. G. Huntsman, B. A., M. B.; "Intellectual Consequences of the War," by Franklin H. Giddings, Ph. D., LL. D., and "Industrial Research," by F.. B. Jewett, Ph. D."

Jan 7, 1919

All indications point to a most interesting and successful meeting in Chicago on Sept. 22-27. Already 140 papers have been submitted to the Committee on Papers and Publications. Of this number 46 deal with pyrometry, 17 with iron and steel, and 24 with coal. The tentative program is as follows: PROGRAM OF CHICAGO MEETING Monday. Morning-Registration. Oil. Afternoon-Technical Sessions. Coal. Milling, Industrial, and Iron Geology. Evening-Smoker. Tuesday.- Morning and Afternoon-Excursion by boat to Gary and trip through United States Steel Co.'s plant. Technical session on Ferrous Metallurgy on the boat, return trip Evening-Technical Session. Wednesday. Morning-Technical Sessions {Ferrous Metallurgy. Mining. Afternoon-Technical Sessions {Ferrous Metallurgy. Non-ferrous Metallurgy... Evening-Banquet, Congress Hotel.

Jan 7, 1919

To assist the taxpayer of the oil and gas industry in correctly and expeditiously preparing his Federal tax returns, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has prepared a "Manual for the Oil and Gas Industry Under the Revenue Act of 1918." Although the endeavor has been made to anticipate all questions that may be asked, it is recognized that such a manual is only general and cannot cover all cases that may exist. The Manual is based largely upon information gathered during the fall of the year 1918 by a corps of geologists, technologists, and engineers. The investigation was undertaken primarily to furnish a basis for arriving at valuations, and depletion and depreciation deductions in connection with oil and gas properties. All fields in the United States were canvassed. Records of production of thousands of properties were collected and tabulated. These were carefully classified and studied by the most competent and experienced men in the country and the average future production curves and tables of valuation data were produced as a result of this study. Be American! Work and Save. Buy W. S. S.

Jan 7, 1919

T. T. READ, Secretary of the Committee on Industrial Organization, presents the following very interesting monthly ad interim report: Reports from London are to the effect that 750 housing schemes for workers, involving the erection of 128,000 new dwellings, have been submitted to the Local Government Board. Birmingham alone needs 14,000 new houses, and the Housing and Town Planning Committee of the City Council considers that 5000 new houses must be built each year for the next 20 years. Nine hundred acres of land has been acquired, on which to build 10 to 12 houses per acre for the next two years. The town of Dudley, which built 300 modern dwellings in 1915-1916, submitted schemes for another 500 houses. There is a shortage of building materials required, specially brick. Financial assistance has been received for reopening brick yards that were closed during the war. W. E. Dickson, vice president of the Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co., is reported in the daily press as stating that his corporation is planning to spend $8,000,000 in improving its plant and assisting its employees in building their own homes. The company will advance 90 per cent. of the cost of the house and extend payments over a period of 12 years. Methods of work employed in building 256 houses at Quincy, Mass., for the workers of the Fore River shipyards are described, by Joseph Meltzer, in the Engineering News Record for May 29, 1919. The approximate cost was about $3500 per house, not including water supply, sewers, streets, and sidewalks. "Comparative Costs of Tenantry and Home-Owning;" "A Plain Talk on Helping Home-builders;" and "More Plain Talk on Home Building" are the titles of three publications of the Information and Education Service of the Department of Labor. These publications should be' of a good deal of service in convincing employees that it is to their interest to own their homes rather than to live in rented houses. The same Service has issued pamphlets discussing the cost of materials.

Jan 7, 1919

The resolution drafted by J. W. Richards, J. V. N. Dorr, and Allen H. Rogers on the death of J. E. Johnson, Jr., and adopted by the Board of Directors, is as follows: "The Boards of Directors of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers wishes to place on record its great personal loss in the sudden death of Mr. J. E. Johnson, Jr., our fellow Director of the activities of the Institute, a member our Executive Committee, Chairman of the Institute's Committee on Admissions, and Vice-chairman of its Iron and Steel Committee. "A mere recital of these positions of trust and responsibility, which he filled with conscientious efficiency and marked ability, shows how greatly the Institute has lost by his death. No one else of the Institute's officers could have been so illy spared. We, his colleagues, take up his tasks with a sense of our inability to discharge them as well as he, and this with a doubled sense of our loss. "Others have written and spoken of the blow which his death has been to the furtherance of the metallurgy of iron and steel. His pre-eminence in this line is one of the facts of which the Institute is justly proud. Here his personality, originality, courageousness in advocating new principles, clearness of writing and forcible presentation of facts, are irreplaceable. His two great treatises on the blast furnace are his literary and scientific memorial.

Jan 7, 1919

Organization Place Date 1919 American Chemical Society :.... Philadelphia, Pa. Sept. 2-6 National Assn. of Stationary Engineers Huntington, W. Va. Sept. 8 American Peat Society Minneapolis, Minn. Sept. 22-24 American Iron, Steel Electrical Engineers St. Louis, Mo. Sept. 22-26 American Institute of Min. and Met. Engineers. Chicago, Ill. Sept. 22-27 American Steel Treaters' Society, First Annual Convention Chicago, Ill. Sept. 22-27 National Exposition of Chemical Industries.... Chicago, Ill. Sept. 22-27 National Safety Council Cleveland, 0. Sept. 29-Oct. 2

Jan 7, 1919

P. W. SHIMER, Easton, Pa. (written discussion*).-When lump calcium cyanamid is immersed in the melt of mixed chlorides of the alkalies and alkaline earths in the manner described in the paper, the amount of sodium cyanide formed in the melt, as shown by numerous analyses, is but a small fraction of that formed by the reaction referred to by Mr. Johnson. The case-hardening effects in my process are, however, at least as good as when the common cyanide baths are used. Moreover, when compared with the cyanide baths, the gases evolved in the new process are harmless, consisting of nitrogen, carbon monoxide (which burns to carbon dioxide on the surface of the melt), and occasionally a little carbon dioxide. These gases are not irritating or poisonous, whereas the vapors arising from cyanide baths are both irritating and poisonous. The complex chemical reactions that take place in and on the surface of the melt are being investigated by the writer, who hopes, in due time, to communicate the results of his work.

Jan 7, 1919

There were present eight Directors, the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of the Institute, and seventeen guests. Messrs. John V. N. Dorr and George D. Barron were appointed members of the Founder Societies Finance Committee on Joint Activities. A request from the New York members of seventeen societies that the Institute send a delegate to Engineering Congress for the purpose of formulating a code for professional conduct was referred to the Engineering Council. There were elected thirty-four members, twenty associates, and thirty-one junior associates. The status of one member was changed from associate to member; and of one junior associate to associate:

Jan 7, 1919

By Stanley Herold

A FEW notes on the occurrence and significance of mud volcanoes in Colombia may be of interest at the present time, owing to the renewed activity in geological exploration of, the coastal regions bordering the Caribbean Sea. The best-known volcanoes are found a few miles from the seacoast. One is situated to the south of Puerto Colombia; the second, to the east: of Cartagena near the village of Turbaco; and the third, near the village of Puerto Escondido south of the Sinu River. Others. are reported in more inaccessible localities. Usually they stand 2 1/2 or 3 ft. (0.762 or 0.914 m.) above the surrounding ground at the crater, though several craters from 10 to 20 ft. (3.04 to 6.09 m.,) apart will often build up an extensive mound at low gradient. The shallow mound may cover 1/2 or 3/4 acre (0.2 to 0.3 ha.) with an elevation of 12 or 15 ft. (3.65 or 4.57 m.) at the center. The craters are formed of hardened blue clay; the inside diameters vary from 14 to 24 in. (35.56 to 60.96 cm.). The rim is continuous, except on one side where there is usually a cut 3 or 4 in. deep, thus allowing an overflow. The craters are filled to the rim-cut- with a thick mixture of blue clay mud and water, which is kept in agitation by escaping gas. Fig. 1 shows the bubble in the act of bursting and Fig. 2 the appearance of the surface of the viscous fluid a second or so later. The frequency of the explosions is determined by the weight of the column of fluid in the neck of the volcano, consequently, such explosions are not synchronous in a group of craters. Ordinarily, there are two or three explosions in about 3' minutes. The supply of gas is small but steady and sufficient pressure must accumulate before the bubble can enter the column of fluid. The water is derived from the surface and enters the sedimentary strata not` far distant from the volcano. During long dry seasons, as the supply of water fails the volcano dries and geyser action ceases.

Jan 7, 1919

The following letter has been received from Prof. Alfred C. Lane, of Tufts College, who is now in charge of the department, of mining in the College of Engineering, American E. F. University, Beaune, France. My DEAR MR. STOUGHTON: I have had a very interesting time here. We were received fast Saturday with great courtesy by the Schneiders at the Creusot plant, and saw many interesting things, from the mammoth guns clown. In one trip I saw a coal mine, an iron mine, an oilshale mine, a gypsum mine, and a most beautiful fluorspar mine. So you see we were not badly located. A mine like Epinac, which has a washery, a briquetting plant, and great central electric plant where coal that might otherwise be waste is converted into electricity and shipped away at 30,000 volts pressure, is of interest mechanically as well as geologically. Many of the French coal seams are very thick here and have especial mining methods. The Department of Mining has been manned by men with whom it was a pleasure and an honor to be associated, as well as with Dean Reber who was in charge of the College of Engineering as a whole. Names like Captain H. C. Ray, former professor at the University of Pittsburgh, on leave in the army, Captain Archbald of the Colliery Engineer at one time, whose work in the Pennsylvania coal mines is well known, Captain Vail of the Engineering and Mining Journal staff and Captain E. C. Dietrich of the Southwest, are familiar to members of the Institute, and Are guarantees of competent instruction.

Jan 7, 1919

This brief resume of events, transpiring in Mexico, culled from the daily New York newspapers, since the last Bulletin went to press, does not indicate any degree of improvement in the situation. MEXICAN MINISTER TO FRANCE RECOGNIZED A dispatch from Paris quotes Alberto J. Pani, Mexican Minister to France, as saying lie lead received notification that lie might present his credentials at the French Foreign Office on May 13. This notice came at the moment the Mexican press was announcing his departure for Spain because of inability to present his credentials. MORE REVOLUTIONARY TROUBLES SOUTH AND NORTH Revolutionary outbreaks hulked large in advices from Mexico City at the end of May, says the New York Tribune. General Eznesto Danny, a major, four other officers and forty men, composing a train guard on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Railroad, were killed recently in an attack by rebels under Felix Diaz's command. The troubles in the south, coupled with the fact that Villa's activities in the north have necessitated sending troops to campaign against him, have reacted in the capital seriously, it is reported. Military guards hi Mexico City have been doubled and machine guns have been placed on the roofs of the National Palace and the Cathedral. STRIKE AND MARTIAL LAW IN MEXICO CITY Advices from Mexico City, according to the Evening Sun, said that virtually every school teacher in the city was out on strike and that recurrent rioting was being put clown by armed trucks manned by Federal soldiers. The strike of the school teachers was clue to the fact that they had not been paid for months, but the direct incitement is said to have been the contrast between their impoverished position and that of Carranza's generals, who are described as rolling in wealth, and who flaunted their opulence on the streets of Mexico, riding about in high powered automobiles with women bedecked with diamonds and other jewelry. The city is said to be virtually under martial law with no immediate prospect. of a subsidence of the bitter feeling against the military caste.

Jan 7, 1919