not feel qualified to take up work in architecture. Yet, if we could get good courses already prepared for this sort of work, we could engage an instructor to conduct such courses, and in that way, by working together, we could reach a far greater percentage of the classes of people who want instruction in these special lines.

CHAIRMAN TYLER.-I think it would be interesting if Professor Norris would tell us, in regard to that combination of class work and correspondence work, how often the class meets, and what proportion of it is correspondence work.

PROFESSOR NORRIS.-The class meetings are usually once a week, and at each of these meetings the man who has charge of this instruction work will spend about two hours discussing what we call the assignment. The assignment is a unit of correspondence work which experience has shown us to be the best unit to have. It corresponds to from six to eight hours study on the part of the student. It is not desirable to have as short a unit for report from the student to the instructor, as we have in residence work, where the students are being met regularly at more frequent intervals.

On the other hand, we can not have too large a unit for report on the part of the student; otherwise he will be compelled to go over too much material, and it is hard to keep him straight. We must have sufficient, but not too frequent reports from the student. In order to give it a different name than "lesson," because the term "lesson" is more often considered as referring to an assignment of work in residence, we have given it the name of "assignment."

In this class work, meeting once a week, we go over the material of one of these assignments with the students and a discussion is usually given to it, some attention paid to clearing up past difficulties, perhaps, and a reviewing of the preceding assignments.

The idea is that the average student should have about that amount of time available for his work during the week, so that most of them should be able to do the required work of one assignment during the week, and then be ready to go on to the next. Those who are less fortunate will not be able to do the required work that fast. That gives us our reason for having one class meeting to each assignment, meeting once a week.

DEAN RICHTER.-I want to say a few words on the question of extension work, especially correspondence work.

Professor Norris called attention to the fact that very little was said yesterday in connection with correspondence work. I think there is a particular reason for it. We of the west find that since our population is very scattered, and, as Dean Scrugham pointed out yesterday, since we have to create the demand for extension work, we are not very successful with correspondence work.

I think some experiences which we have had in Montana will bear out what Dean Scrugham said yesterday as to the necessity for creating the demand for any kind of extension or correspondence work in sparsely settled states.

Shortly after we decided that we would carry engineering instruction to the people of the state, we corresponded with one of the past presidents of the National Association of Stationary Engineers, thinking that we might obtain some help from him in getting the work started. The answer he gave us was that it was absolutely impossible to do anything in Montana, due to the labor situation; and for some time we found that that view was practically correct.

However, very soon we got in touch with some of the officials of the Northern Pacific Railway, and through them finally had a meeting of the shop men in one of the towns and organized a society among the men.

The men themselves were supposed to carry on the work in their own organization, and, as a matter of fact, that is the only way in which we could accomplish anything with them.

I remember the first announcement that was made in the newspaper of a lecture was to the effect that it was a trial lecture and persons who attended the first lecture need not necessarily come to the second, or join the class. That will give you some idea as to the situation, and the attitude that the people had in connection with this work.

The first meeting was very successful, however, and we were able to organize classes.

The second class was organized by request of employees in the city of Helena. We were very much gratified to find that practically every man in the shop became a member of the class, from general foreman down to the apprentices.

At Livingston we had an experience similar to the first. We found that it would probably be difficult to obtain a hearing from the men. As a consequence, the first lecture was delivered from a bench in the shop, after closing hours, and there again we organized the men, and finally had a very successful class indeed.

I do not believe it would have been possible to have obtained a response in connection with correspondence work as such. We at tempted it in a small way, but we only have had one or two students up to the present time, they were in surveying and of course it has been exceedingly unsatisfactory.

I think Dean Ferris, speaking yesterday, mentioned the fact that they did not have very much money and could do nothing more than to send out a few pamphlets. I want to say that we did not even have that. It was a struggle to secure funds with which to pay our traveling expenses. You can also see that under the conditions under which it was necessary for us to work, it was impossible in the beginning to charge a fee for the work which we attempted to do.

We have since then had several lecture and drawing courses, and the work is developing at the present time into lecture courses to clubs which have been organized along the line of the railroad.

I was very much gratified the other day to receive a letter from the Northern Pacific Railroad, from the men of the shops, requesting that the work be continued. They have now at Livingston a very successful railroad club, which is considered by the Northern Pacific as one of the marvels of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

We have also been able to organize some short course classes at the college, particularly with the people who are engaged in surveying in the state. We have a short course of about one week which is given to surveyors, principally county surveyors, and they come to us to take the work at the institution.

CHAIRMAN TYLER.-Is there further discussion, gentlemen? If there is no further discussion of engineering extension, we will pass to the next item on the program: "The Status of Military Drill." I understand that the executive committee has no formal report to present, but that Dean Orton will make a statement.

DEAN ORTON. - The present status of this matter is as follows: The address was made last year, as you remember, before a joint meeting of this association and the parent association, and the executive committee of that association requested that they should take hold of the matter themselves and obtain a copy of the paper promptly, and they adopted a resolution to the effect that the recommendations of that paper should be sent to all of the colleges represented in the other association, and a canvass should be made as to their probable attitude on the questions involved.

Accordingly the chairman of the executive committee, Dr. Thompson, on his return to Columbus, prepared a copy of the recommendations of the paper and sent it out to some sixty-five institutions, and requested their consideration and reply.

Some twenty-six of them answered, and those replies were in due time collected, and I was permitted to look them over and make a study of the opinions. I did so, made a digest of the answers, and turned it over to Dr. Thompson, who has used it with the executive committee.

This organization is in a rather peculiar situation in the fact that while the work originated here, it has been taken out of our hands, so far as further execution just at this stage is concerned.

Therefore I can not, perhaps, present the results of these conclusions here which go into the matter more in detail. However, when the digest of the conclusions which in the main supported quite strongly the recommendations of the original paper, stronger in some items than in others, but in the main supporting them quite strongly, went to the executive committee of the other association, it was taken up and acted upon in an affirmative manner.

At the same time I took the liberty of making two recommendations to your executive committee, simply as an expression of my own personal opinion as to what the situation warranted at this time.

For the information of this body I might say that during the past year there have been two bills presented in Congress looking towards increasing the quota of army officers available for detail as teachers.

One of these bills places no limit upon the number of officers who may be detailed. The other makes the limit 125, which is an increase of 25 over the present existing law.

In addition to prescribing this limit, the second bill, which is the Senate bill, specifically removes the difficulty which the War Department now finds itself in in the matter of the detail of officers, and says: "One or more officers" may be detailed.

There is a ruling of the Judge Advocate General of the Army to the effect that under the existing law the President can detail but one officer. The Senate bill removes that disability and increases the number of officers available. It is, therefore, a step towards some of the benefits which are indicated in the paper last year as being needed. This bill has passed the Senate and has come to the Military Committee of the House of Representatives. It has been before them for some time. They have not acted upon it, and I think they will not act upon it unless they receive some distinct impetus, during the balance of this session. I think, however, if some impetus could be given to the matter, it would be possible to have the measure go through.

The House bill has not been passed by the House, so that its introduction is not a matter of great moment.

In connection with the Senate bill, there is one phase of the matter which seems to me quite important, namely, that there is nothing in the bill to indicate any relation between the number of officers detailed and the number of students to be taught, and it is conceivable that, the bill being passed, the War Department might detail more than one officer to some small schools and might neglect to give any additional help to some of the larger schools.

It seems desirable, therefore, that the Senate bill, as it now stands, should be amended, if possible, to introduce this idea of relation between the size of the military command and the number of officers detailed for instruction purposes. Accordingly, I drafted such an amendment. I can not recall the exact wording of it, but it provides that in a battalion of 500 students or less, one officer shall be detailed; for more than 500 or less than 1,000, two officers, and so on, on the basis of one officer per 500 or fraction thereof.

I obtained from the War College a digest or statement of the number of institutions and the number of officers now detailed,, edited upon the basis of last year's information, and find by going over the records carefully that there would be nine institutions, which would receive one or more officer each if this bill were to pass with that amendment, and there would be some five or six more institutions which would receive two more officers each, and one institution would receive three more officers, having a regiment in excess of 1,500 men.

The total number of officers required to fill up the various commands, on the basis of one officer per 500 men, would only require 22 more officers than are now detailed. Probably the number would be increased somewhat on this year's registration, but that is what it would have been last year.

The law making 25 more officers available, and 22 being required at once, it would seem that there was a very small margin for growth there; but as a matter of fact, I am informed that the number of officers out of the 100 available appointments has never been full. There is a margin of anywhere from 10 to 15 at the present time.

The executive committee of the other associations will this morning recommend to that association a resolution to this effect: That the executive committee be instructed to use all efforts for the passage of this Senate bill and this resolution, at this session of Congress.

The other five items mentioned in the recommendations of last year, were not so enthusiastically supported as this one point of a further increase in the number of officers was. Therefore, inasmuch as there is no legislation before Congress at this time on any of the other points, and inasmuch as they were not supported as strongly as this point was, it seemed unwise to propose any actual legislation on those five points at this time.

However, the executive committee has agreed to report a resolution to this effect: That a special committee shall be appointed to take this whole subject under consideration, the items of last year's recommendations and the reports of the colleges thereon, and be instructed to frame, during the current year, legislation and bring it back to the association for further discussion next year.

If this is done, therefore, there will be before next year's meeting a more or less complete program of military advance for discussion. In this general connection I might say that our college of engineering at the Ohio State University has taken up for consideration during the year past the question of a general engineering course, the idea being to frame such a course as would provide a solid foundation of the sciences underlying all engineering, and then allow a suitable amount of elective time in which a young man desiring to make an engineer of himself, but not desiring to follow any of the specific courses now offered, would find the place to put in some thirty hours' specialized work along any line he desires to follow. Our committee has been working on that, and has made no final report; but they did do this much: They gave an outline of such a course for the first two years, and in the case of a student who desires to pursue military electives, they made a suggested course show

ing what we could offer to a student who desires to go through college along the line recommended last year, making military matters a rather special study. I have the text of such a course here, and while I shall not take the time to read it in full, I shall perhaps point out to the society the general tenor of it. It is a four year course. Here is the statement of the faculty on it:

"We recommend, therefore, that this faculty now approve this tentative curriculum as what this university is willing to do toward increasing military instruction, and in order that it may be used in conference with members of Congress and representatives of the War Department and others in securing the passage of such laws as will permit the detailing of more assistants to our military departments."

The usual courses drawing, together

Proposed military curriculum in the first year: in mathematics, chemistry, language, English, with gymnasium and drill as now given. In the summer session certain shops are to be taken.

In the second year mathematics, a five hour course during the year; chemistry, a four-hour course during the year; physics, a five-hour course during the year; and engineering drawing, a three-hour course during the year, and in the summer session a six weeks course in the army camp or its equivalent.

In the third year the student takes mechanics, a five-hour course through the year; physics, a four-hour course through the year, and takes up civil engineering, survey and railroad work, five and four hours, respectively, in the two semesters; political science, three hours during the year, and the first of the advanced military instruction, military science and the art of war, three hours; military strategy, two hours. And in this year he will be expected to drill his command as an officer. The first year he is a private, the next year a non-com, and the third year an officer. Again he takes a summer session in the army camp.

In the fourth year he has civil engineering and topographic drawin, geology, civil engineering, topographic surveying, electrical engineering, fundamental courses, and elementary law, three hours; military law, three hours; international law, three hours; military history of the United States, three hours; military science, fortification and entrenchments, two hours; military science, commissary, transportation and sanitation, five hours; last year of drill as an officer. That makes a total of about thirty hours of military work, and about one hundred and ten hours of other work, of which about ninety to ninety-five hours represents fundamental studies in mathematics, chemistry and engineering drawing, and the technical engineering which is given is the fundamental civil engineering of surveying and of calculation of stresses in the framing of bridge work and work of that sort.

That gives the idea of the faculty of our college as to what a course in military engineering should reasonably be. I think you will observe, even from the casual reading of it, that it simply means the creation of no new studies excepting the fact that they are taught in the military line. Every college of engineering has all of those engineering subjects; every college of arts has all of the law subjects. All that would be required to make such a course possible would be military instructors who could give instruction in strategy and the art of war, fortification work and that sort of thing. Every army officer who is in charge of a battalion would presumably be able to do that, if he had time. It is simply a question, then, of getting more officers, so that they may charge themselves with the responsi