THE PRESIDENT:-You have heard the report of the Committee. What is your pleasure?

MR. F. H. SHELTON (Philadelphia):-It is very evident from the fullness and thoroughness of the report of the Committee that a very long step has been made towards that most desirable goal, a uniform system of gas accounts, which we have all wanted in the past, but which none of us have had-especially for purposes of comparison. I believe the subject is open for discussion, and the Committee have asked that the various side-lights be thrown upon it, so that they may have all the help they need in their work. I want to particularly emphasize one point which the Committee has not in the least overlooked, but has called attention to, and which to my mind can not be too strongly emphasized, and that is the proper boiling down of the accounts, as is proposed, for the use of the smaller companies. The Committee has pointed out the senior and junior, or the major and minor classifications, so to speak, and the forms of procedure which will be necessary; and it has further pointed out that if the smaller companies should themselves cut out, or leave out such portions as any of them may see fit, or think unnecessary, the results would be a hodge-podge, because no two of the smaller companies would retain or drop the same matters. There are probably twenty of the so-called smaller companies as compared with one of the larger ones; and it seems to me very desirable to make the report applicable to the smaller plants so clear, so condensed and so simple, if possible, that it will naturally be acceptable to the smaller companies, instead of being antagonistic to them. Many of the smaller companies are disposed, according to my observation and experience, to avoid as much bookkeeping as possible; and I think therefore it is very desirable that the system of accounts proposed should be made so complete, and at the same time so simple and clear, that no small company can fail to see the simplicity, desirability and practicability of the plan proposed; so that the reports can be taken. up by them as well as by the larger companies, to whom what is proposed will be comparatively clear and comparatively easy to adopt. I move that the report of the Committee be received, and that such recommendations as are contained in it be adopted and authorized by the Association, and that the Committee be continued, to report next year on the lines proposed.

Carried.

THE SECRETARY:-I would like to remind the Association that by this vote the members have adopted the recommendations of the Committee, one of which is that the members send in before a certain time, such criticisms to the report as they may have to make. I have seen a good many of those resolutions adopted, and usually it has been pretty hard to get the members generally to respond to the request. I hope in this case it will not turn out so.

MR. C. H. NETTLETON (Derby, Conn.):-It seems to me that this report ought not to be dropped in this way, with so little or no praise. Speaking for myself, I would be very glad to see brought about uniform methods in accounting, and particularly such a complete method as has been reported by the Committee.

Those of you who are at all familiar with Mr. Humphreys' work know that he is and has been connected with a great many gas companies, and that he brings to this matter a tremendous amount of experience compared with the average man in our business. He has given to this and other associations the benefit of that experience freely and willingly, and it does seem to me that we are under very great obligations to him for his kindness, and also to the other members of the Committee for the part that they have taken in the preparation of the report, and for the free and liberal way that they have given of their also large experience.

Those of you who are connected with the larger combinations know about accounts kept by this or similar methods, but for those who, like myself, are connected with individual companies, and who have not kept their accounts along the lines proposed by the Committee, I think I can say that we have often wished it were possible for us to do so, and especially so when we have seen the elaborate and apparently very complete monthly and yearly reports which are the natural result of these methods.

I understand that the one thing which might almost be called the key note of the system, is the keeping of a "Store Account." Personally I have disliked that account, for the reason that it seemed to involve an enormous amount of work and consequent expense.

Only recently one company with which I am connected adopted it, acting on the advice of an expert whom many of you know, and in justice to the expert, I ought to say that I consented to its adoption certainly against my prejudices, and almost against my

judgment. After having used it for several months, I would like to say for the benefit of those who have never tried it, and who now feel about it as I did a few months ago, that while it does involve considerable work, yet it is not so much as I had supposed, and the expense is not so great, and that the results obtained by reason of keeping the "store account" and everything that naturally goes with it, are extremely satisfactory.

MR. E. E. WITHERBY (New York City):-I would like to ask if the subject of accounting in Massachusetts has been taken up for consideration. There are probably more companies, large and small, to the square mile of territory in New England than in any other place; and the laws of Massachusetts particularly are very rigid in reference to accounts. Have the Massachusetts Commission been seen? Have they considered changing from their present plan to the standard accounts adopted by the Association? MR. A. C. HUMPHREYS (New York City):-We have, of course, had this problem brought before us, and have given the matter a little consideration. I think we are forced to see that it is our duty to report to this Association what in our opinion is a complete and proper system. Then we had to do either one of two things-either report the Massachusetts rules back to the Association as our recommendation, or to report without regard to any such restriction. I think that the members of that commission will not misunderstand me, but will receive the statement kindly if I state that they probably credit us with knowing in detail more about gas accounts than the Commission. We have had the necessary experience; we have passed our lives in the business; it is our calling; and it did not seem to us that we could for a moment think of blindly adopting those or any other rules. We did study them, but found that we could not accept them and so report to this Association. It is not necessary at this time to point out our reasons for this position. As to what you are going to do if you adopt our final report and put the seal of this Association upon it, and what you will do in Massachusetts, is another problem. I do not know what you are going to do—or whether the door is open in Massachusetts to have any change authorized. It does seem to me that if we can have our system adopted we would then stand the best chance of getting a uniform system of accounts for Massachusetts. At the worst the Massachusetts reports could be readily made up from our proposed system.

I would like to say, before sitting down, that it would be very unjust for me to accept without some protest all the credit for the work so far done. I have had in the Committee the most active co-operation of Mr. Lillie who, as Treasurer of The United Gas Improvement Company, is now connected with many more companies than I am, and who necessarily has had very wide experience; who is a professional accountant trained in this particular business, and who has done a large part of the work of this Committee. In this he has been assisted by his auditing staff. The third member of the Committee, Mr. Lathrop, has done everything that he could do by mail; and he has also had an unusually wide experience, and is a man of most excellent judgment in these matters. So I may say that this report is not the work, as is often the case, of the chairman alone, but is the work of the Committee as a whole; and I may say I have never been on a committee where this was more the case than in the present instance.

MR. F. EGNER (Norfolk, Va.):-I think it quite proper to move a vote of thanks to the Committee for presenting this report. I think the work which has been done has been enormous. I tried to bring out something similar to that before the Western Gas Association, some years ago, but it was voted down because the President of one of the Associations said that he did not want to have his accounts so simplified that anybody could go over them and find out all about them. I am very glad the American Association has brought this matter up. I have had some experience in such accounts and I know that it is far more simple than it sounds, when you hear the explanation. It is a step in the direction of simplifying accounts. I move a hearty vote of thanks be extended the Committee for its services.

Carried.

THE PRESIDENT:-An innovation has been made in this meeting to which I desire to call your attention. You have probably observed somewhere in this room, or in the corridor of the hotel, a gentleman decorated with a badge. He is the Sergeant-at-Arms. This Association has never had one before, but there have been times and circumstances when it has been almost necessary to have such an official. It is not the desire of the Association, nor the desire of the Council to coerce anyone; but the appointment of this gentleman has been made for the purpose of assisting the Association, and assisting the President in keeping quiet and order in

the room, and to remind gentlemen when it is time for the Association to convene. That is the real object of the appointment. I can assure you that the only weapon which he carries about with him is the badge.

The Association took a recess until 2 P. M.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

The Association met at 2 P. M.

THE PRESIDENT:-The first business in order this afternoon will be the presentation of regrets from absent members.

The Secretary read letters and telegrams expressing regret at inability to be present at this meeting, from Mr. W. H. Baxter, Mr. Doty, Mr. Lathrop, Mr. John Young and Mr. George McLean.

THE PRESIDENT:--The next business in order will be the report of the Research Committee. Is that Committee ready to report? MR. A. S. MILLER (New York City):-Your Committee has individually been very busy this year on other work, and has not been able to devote to Research work the amount of time that the work deserves. At the same time they have tried to accomplish something. They have had for some years a number of set subjects; and bearing on one of those subjects a paper is to be produced at this meeting which will be discussed in its turn. The special work that the Committee has been doing this year has been on the standards for flanges and street main specials, and street main hubs. A number of experiments have been undertaken, and it was expected that the results of these would be given to this meeting; but they open up what seem to be very important leads; and it was decided that it would be better to postpone a report until the experiments are completed. Mr. Walton Forstall will present a short topic, in which he compares the standards that he is using with the Association standards. I wish to say that the members of the Association seem to feel that when this subject has been referred to the Committee, it has been disposed of for all time; and that henceforth they are relieved from all responsibility in connection with it. This Association has a set of standards which are either right or wrong. If they are right, they ought to be used; if they are wrong, it is the duty of the members of this Association to communicate with the Committee which has them