would allow it to be called hog skin. Some of the manufacturers wanted to call it that, but I would not permit it. It would be a case of living on the reputation of its ancient relatives. This pig skin was sent from Chicago, but it was never used generally. At any rate, it was used more largely for library purposes than anything else. And the leather never was allowed to be treated as sheep and these other leathers which show signs of deterioration. I don't believe pig skin is as good a leather as sheep. Pig skin has really been kept out of the competitive market and the result is very good. The CHAIRMAN: The subject is an interesting one, but there is hardly time to pursue it further, and we will now proceed to the regular business of the day and hear the report of the Committee to confer with the publishers of newspapers on the deterioration of newspaper paper, Mr. Frank P. Hill, of the Brooklyn public library, Chairman. Mr. HILL: Mr. President, the Committee appointed to confer with the publishers on the deterioration of newspaper paper, consists of Messrs. Wadlin, of Boston, Chivers and Hill of Brooklyn. Notice of the appointment of this Committee was received by the members so late as to make it impossible to present a satisfactory report at this meeting. Mr. Chivers has made a large number of experiments with newspaper paper and the Committee has made arrangements with a number of the publishers in New York to meet in conference some time in the fall. Therefore, all I can do now is to make a report of progress and request a continuance of the Committee. Mr. ANDREWS: Mr. Chairman, perhaps Mr. Hill could say if they have made any further experiments in the strengthening of paper. Mr. Chivers alluded to the use of cellit. Is that the same as the German solution which we heard about at Bretton Woods? Mr. HILL: Mr. President, it is similar, but the members of the Committee feel they would prefer not to make a partial report at this time, because it would be more satisfactory to complete the experiments which Mr. Chivers has already begun, rather than make the report piecemeal. The CHAIRMAN: The report will be received. I suppose that the Executive Board will continue the Committee. I am sure that you do not wish me to introduce President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, of the University of California, in a long speech. That is not necessary. You all know him and I am sure it is your wish that he should proceed as soon as possible to the address. I therefore have pleasure in introducing President BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER, of the University of California. (President Wheeler spoke on the attitude librarians should hold toward the work of their profession, but as his remarks were entirely extempore he has requested that they be not published.) The CHAIRMAN: We thank President Wheeler for his charming address, which I am very certain will help many of us to realize that we are emerging. I would venture the assertion that some of us had gotten our heads above water and stretched out our arms and were preparing to strike out vigorously for the professional shore. Some one said yesterday that California seemed to be a composite photograph of the United States. We meet people from all sections of the country and we find the conditions of many sections reproduced here. Especially is this true of the educational institutions of California, not only of the state university, of which Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler is president, but also of Leland Stanford University. We have here in Pasadena a most admirable institution, the Throop Polytechnic Institute, and the head and guiding soul of that institution is President J. A. B. SCHERER, whom we are to have the pleasure of hearing now. BOOKS AND THE EFFICIENT LIFE Efficiency is the ability to get profitable results with a minimum of friction and waste. Everybody is in favor of efficiency In spite of Mr. Chesterton, the slogan of modern educational theory is efficiency. The latest and very good word on the subject points out that "predigested educaLon and printer's ink will not produce successful and virile men. In the school of to-morrow it will be boys more than books, and living more than letters." The new school "will make for the health of the body-fresh air, wholesome food, adequate exercise, and manly work; it will make for the health of the mind-sanity, alertness and reliability; it will make for the health of the spirit-habits of social justice and expressions of divine truth. Furthermore, it will direct its youth into the paths of industrial efficiency and world service." I suppose that half of the reason why this particular subject was assigned to me is the fact that I happen to be president of one of those schools that confessedly stand for industrial efficiency-"one of those schools," as Mr. Roosevelt said when he spoke for us on the twenty-first of March, "the development of which has meant more for the permanent efficiency of Germany in the modern European world than any other one thing." And I suppose that the other half of the reason why I am asked to discuss the subject, "Books and the Efficient Life," is because the trustees of this new technical college, being resolved that it should not be too technical, called to its presidency a man who knows no more of technical engineering than the traditional pig (who was probably a college president among the pigs) knew about holiday. It is a part of our creed and curriculum, our preachment and practice, at Throop Polytechnic Institute, that books and the efficient life should go together-the boys are getting it drilled into them, I hope, every day. Of course I do not mean text-booksthese are but tools for the teacher; but the great books, of the stuff that make verities; books of the sort that charmed Gilbert de la Porrée in the twelfth century into his now famous rhapsody: "I sit here with no company but books, dipping into dainty honeycombs of literature. All minds in the world's history find their focus in a library. . . Never was such an army mustered as I have here. No general ever had such soldiers as I have. No kingdom ever had such illustrious subjects as mine, or half as well governed. I can put my haughtiest subjects up or down, as it pleases me. I call 'Plato,' and he answers 'Here'-a noble and sturdy soldier. 'Aristotle,' 'Here'-a host in himself. 'Demosthenes,' 'Cicero,' 'Cæsar,' "Tacitus,' 'Pliny'-'Here!' they answer, and they smile at me in their immortality of youth." The supreme example and illustration of the influence of a few great books on an efficient life is of course the modern instance of Lincoln-doubly impressive because his life was so singularly efficient and the books that moulded him were so great and so few. Mr. Herbert Croly, in "The Promise of American Life," says: "With the sound instinct of a well-balanced intelligence, Lincoln seized upon the three available books, the earnest study of which might best help to develop harmoniously a strong and many-sided intelligence. He seized, that is, upon the Bible, Shakespeare, and Euclid." The assiduous study of Euclid made Lin. coln an intellectual rail-splitter. He used to lie abed at nights in the inns on his law circuit and split Euclid's rails by the light of a tallow dip. Shakespeare, that "priest to us all of the wonder and bloom of the world," broadened and deepened his very human sensibilities; while "the grand simplicities of the Bible" nourished and directed his will. His life was supremely efficient because it was harmonious and |