The session of Friday evening was devoted to the Annual Address, which was delivered by the Honorable Martin A. Knapp, Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Professor Emory R. Johnson, of the University of Pennsylvania and member of the Isthmian Canal Commission, presided at the meeting.
Prior to the Annual Address the President of the Academy, Professor L. S. Rowe, of the University of Pennsylvania, presented a review of the work of the year.
Professor Johnson, in introducing Professor Rowe, said:
The Annual Meeting of the Academy has come to be a permanent and important part of the Society’s activity. The four sessions lasting two days, enable the Academy to discuss with some measure of detail several phases of the general subject which seems, at the time of the meeting, to be of greatest public interest. The most important of the four sessions of the Academy is the one at which the President of the Academy reviews the work of the organization and at which the Annual Address is delivered by some distinguished scholar.
The work involved in arranging for this Annual Meeting is far greater than one would suppose who has not undertaken such a task. In order to make these meetings a success, thought and labor must be given to the subject for many weeks. Success always seems easy until one undergoes the labor by which success is achieved; but onerous as is the work of arranging for the Annual Meeting, that constitutes but a part, and indeed a small part, of the administrative duties which devolve upon the President of the Academy. We are an organization of two thousand members, about one-fourth of whom live in or near the city of Philadelphia. The activities of the organization are national rather than local. To keep up this membership and to cause it to increase rather than to decline, to manage successfully the finances of a scientific body such as ours, and to pass upon the many questions of polity which arise in the administration of the Society, require the exercise of sound judgment and a devotion to detail. If the Society were to pay its officers for their work, the Board of Directors would not think of suggesting a remuneration for the President of less than $2,000 a year; but, as you all know, none of the officers of the Academy or editors of its publications receives any pay whatever. The work is entirely gratuitous on their part.
The American Academy has been most fortunate in its Presidents. During the first eight of the thirteen years of its existence, the President and directing mind was the honored founder of the Academy, Dr. Edmund J. James. When his academic duties called him to the University of Chicago, Professor Lindsay succeeded him as the administrative head. Those who know Professor Lindsay personally realize that he possesses in a very marked degree the ability to organize and administer. He has most exceptional powers of initiation and execution.
A few months ago, when President Roosevelt requested Professor Lindsay to take charge of the important work of administering the educational system of Porto Rico, the Board of Directors knew exactly whom to ask to succeed Professor Lindsay as President of the Academy. As First Vice-President of the Academy and for many years a member of its editorial board, Professor Rowe had manifested his zeal for the Academy and had in many ways aided the growth of the organization. Like his predecessors, Professor Rowe always thinks towards action, and this natural trait of mind has been strengthened by the training which he has received, not only in academic life, but in the execution of responsible public duties. When President McKinley selected the Commission which was provided for under the Foraker Act, to revise and codify the laws of Porto Rico, Professor Rowe was made one of the body of three men to whom that task was entrusted. The Commission appointed by President McKinley was succeeded the following year by one provided for by the laws of Porto Rico and appointed by Governor Allen. Of this second Commission, Professor Rowe was made the President, and in that position he has carried to successful completion a thorough codification of the laws of the island, has worked out a scheme of local government, and what is perhaps most important of all, his work has been so practical that the Porto Rican Legislature has adopted, with but slight changes, the recommendations of the Commission.
At the beginning of this calendar year, Professor Rowe returned to his duties at the University of Pennsylvania. He will now tell you of the work which the Academy has done during the past year, and I am sure we all feel that what he has already accomplished in the brief period of his presidency of the Academy is an earnest of a large and most gratifying growth of our organization during the coming year.
Dr. Rowe then presented the following review of the work of the Academy for the year: