Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics
Minutes of Meeting
Present: George R. Harrison (Chairman), Paul E. Klopsteg, George B. Pegram, Wallace Waterfall
Absent: E. U. Condon
Special Adviser: R. C. Gibbs
Guests: David Delo, G. P. Harnwell, Elmer Hutchisson
AIP Staff: Henry A. Barton, Cleveland Norcross, Ruth F. Bryans, Betty Hofstadter, David A. Katcher, Theodore Vorburger
The Executive Committee met at 9:50 a.m. on September 16, 1948 at Convention Hall, Philadelphia. The afternoon session was held in the offices of the American Society for Testing Materials.
1. Minutes:
On motion made, seconded, and unanimously carried, the minutes of the meeting of July 16, 1948 were approved as circulated.
2. Organization Chart and Report on Move:
In accordance with action taken at the last meeting, Mr. Norcross presented an organization chart showing the reorganization of the Institute staff. He requested approval of the creation of the new position of Office Manager and explained the difference between the functions of that position and those of the Business Manager. The chart as drawn showed both administrative positions and functions and it was the consensus that it should be redrawn so as to show administrative positions only with explanatory notes below giving the functions of the different positions. The Executive Committee requested that this be done and that the chart be submitted at the next meeting for final approval.
Mr. Barton reported that the rearrangement of the offices as discussed at the last meeting had been completed. His own office has been moved to the front of the third floor and the large office which he formerly occupied is now being used by Mr. Norcross and five other staff members. Certain other changes are being completed on the first floor which should make for a more efficient setup. The cost of the rearrangement including construction should be less than the $1000 appropriated for the purpose.
A question was raised about progress on the Donors' Plaque and the Style Guide. It was the consensus that an effort should be made to complete these projects and the Chairman indicated his intention of following up the matter with the committees.
3. Report on Work of the Institute:
Mr. Barton presented a report on the work of the Institute which he suggested be circulated as a report from the Executive Committee to the Governing Board and to the Member Societies covering the activities of the Institute on behalf of the Member Societies and physicists generally. He indicated that this was a preliminary rough draft and should be modified and edited if the Executive Committee approved of the proposed circulation of the report. After some discussion, the following motion was made, seconded, and unanimously carried:
MOVED that the Executive Committee approve preparation of a report on general Institute activities in line with the suggestion of Mr. Barton and that the Chairman and the Secretary be appointed a committee to edit and approve such a report after the draft has been completed by the Director.
4. Interim Financial Report:
The Director submitted a statement of the financial position of the Institute operations as of June 30, 1948 and a projected picture for the rest of the calendar year. Since the budget for the current year was adopted, additional expenditures have been authorized by the Executive Committee for certain items. Also, the income, principally from advertising, appears to be considerably more favorable than had been anticipated. In view of these changes, it was considered desirable to amend the 1948 budget and accordingly the following motion was made, seconded, and unanimously carried:
MOVED that in view of the additional expenditures authorized by the Executive Committee and in view of the present state of general operations, the attached amended budget be adopted.
5. PHYSICS TODAY:
The Director presented the current financial picture of PHYSICS TODAY as per copy attached. There was considerable discussion, particularly of the prospects of increasing revenue from advertising and subscriptions. Whereas it appears that the operating deficit by the end of the year may be less than anticipated in the budget, this has been largely due to the fact that less money than anticipated has been spent on promoting advertising and circulation. This lead to a detailed discussion of what may be expected in 1949. The Committee and staff expressed ideas on this subject which will be further discussed at the next meeting when a suggested budget for all Institute activities including PHYSICS TODAY is to be presented.
6. Report on Sales Efforts of Rimbach Associates:
Mr. Norcross reported that the Rimbach organization by means of telephone and personal calls has reviewed all but about 200 of the 2000 names on the original AIP advertising prospect list. The result is a revised, up-to-date, and evaluated list of some 1500 prospects. In addition, the Rimbach organization has completed about 150 preliminary sales calls as the ground work for further effort. During the month of August, eight new accounts were lined up to use one or more of the AIP publications.
7. Publication Charge:
Mr. Barton reported that in line with the action taken at the last meeting he had made a further study of the desirability of increasing the publication charge and he recommended that no increase should be put into effect until there is more widespread understanding of the need for such action. There was general agreement with this recommendation.
8. Cooperation with Department of the Army:
Mr. David Delo, Chief of the Scientific Manpower Section, Research and Development Group, Logistics Division, G.S.U.S.A., was introduced to the Executive Committee by the Director. Mr. Delo discussed at some length the work being done by his group and others to effect a better utilization of scientific manpower than in World War II in the event of another national emergency. He requested that the Institute consider appointing one or more advisory committees to work with him on this problem. There was considerable discussion of the subject and questions were raised about the relationship of Mr. Delo's activities to other branches of the armed services. It was the consensus that the Institute is interested in the problem and that it is obligated to do whatever it can toward better utilization of scientific manpower. Exactly what can or should be done is not too clear and therefore the following motion was made, seconded, and unanimously carried:
MOVED that the Institute should interest itself in the best utilization of scientific manpower in the event of a national emergency and that the Chairman be empowered to appoint a committee to study the problem and make recommendations to the Executive Committee.
9. Presentation of Award:
With appropriate comments, the Chairman presented to Mr. Paul E. Klopsteg a leather folder containing an inscribed copy of the resolution of the Governing Board of March 24, 1948, expressing appreciation of Mr. Klopsteg’s services to the Institute over many years and in various capacities.
10. Cooperation with Sigma Pi Sigma:
In accordance with action at the Governing Board meeting of March 25, 1948, a committee consisting of Messrs. Barton, Fletcher, Pegram, and Gibbs has been working with a committee of Sigma Pi Sigma to study the possibility of cooperation between Sigma Pi Sigma and the Institute in setting up local student groups. Commentson the results of a meeting of the joint committee were made by Messrs. Barton, Pegram, and Gibbs. Sigma Pi Sigma desires to haveits local chapters officially recognized as local student chapters of the Institute and also would like to have same arrangement whereby group subscriptions to PHYSICS TODAY could be handled by local chaptersat some saving to them. It was the consensus of the Executive Committee that the Institute should not exclusively recognize Sigma Pi Sigma chapters as student chapters of the Institute andthe opinion was expressed that the present provision in the AIP By-Laws for affiliated societies could apply to Sigma Pi Sigmanationally or to any of its local chapters or to other localphysics groups. It was agreed, however, that some special arrangementfor undergraduate student associate membership, wherein the distribution of PHYSICS TODAY would be handled on a bulk basis,is justifiable. Accordingly, the following motions were made, seconded, and unanimously carried:
MOVED that the Director be authorized to enter into an agreement whereby Sigma Pi Sigma can solicit undergraduate associate memberships in the Institute and distribute PHYSICS TODAY on a bulk basis, such agreement to provide for a reasonable rebate to Sigma Pi Sigma in line with the savings which the Institute will realize under such an arrangement.
MOVED that the Director and the Secretary be instructed to make a further study of the provisions of the By-Laws and Sigma Pi Sigma's requests to see if modifications in the By-Laws may be desirable.
11. Change in Page Size of Journals Carrying Advertising:
Editors Elmer Hutchisson, G. P. Harnwell, and David Katcher and Publication Manager, Ruth Bryans, joined the meeting and were invited to discuss increasing the page size of PHYSICS TODAY, THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, and JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS from 7 7/8" x 10 1/2" to 8 1/4" x 11 1/4" as recommended by Rimbach Associates and frequently suggested by prospective advertisers. Messrs. Hutchisson and Harnwell both indicated a willingness to go along with the larger page size if absolutely necessary but they preferred to keep the page size as it is at present. Mr. Katcher thought it would be a very undesirable move to change the size of PHYSICS TODAY when it was just getting started as any major change might be interpreted as an indication of weakness. The discussion which followed brought forth many complexities about advertising and printing, and it was evident that to attempt a change to be effective as early as January 1949 would be very difficult. It was the consensus that a change in page size would not be welcomed by the majority of subscribers and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. It was concluded that the page size should not be changed at present and that further efforts should be made to get the printer to use standard size plates on our present page size without the extra charges which to date have resulted in extra cost to advertisers. The staff was instructed to continue studying the problem and bring the matter to the Executive Committee again if and when more conclusive evidence is found for increasing the page size.
12. Accounting Procedure:
The Director pointed out that some changes in accounting procedure are desirable in order to spread certain Institute overhead items more equitably over the various Institute operations. These overhead items are principally the salaries of the Director and the General Manager and charges for space in the Institute building. After some discussion of details, it was agreed that the suggested changes were justified and the Director was authorized to include these changes in preparing the proposed budget for next year.
13. Promotion of Associate Membership:
Mr. Gibbs raised a question about activity in the promotion of Associate Membership. This question has frequently been discussed and it has been pointed out that Associate Memberships do not benefit the Institute financially at the present dues rate. This brought up the possibility of increasing the dues rate and also of greater promotion of subscriptions to PHYSICS TODAY. In view of this discussion, the following motion was made, seconded, and unanimously carried:
MOVED that the Chairman appoint a committee of three to study ways and means of increasing Associate Membership and subscriptions to PHYSICS TODAY so that both can be a source of greater revenue to the Institute.
The Chairman appointed Mr. Gibbs as Chairman of the committee and authorized him to select his other two committee members.
14. Saturday Schedule:
At the last meeting the Executive Committee voted to close the Institute office on Saturday mornings for the summer and requested a report at this meeting regarding the desirability of continuing this practice indefinitely. On recommendation of Mr. Norcross, the following motion was made, seconded, and unanimously carried:
MOVED that the Institute office be closed on Saturday mornings until further notice.
15. Authorization to Sign Checks:
At the last meeting Mr. Norcross was authorized to sign checks for the Institute and in order to comply with bank regulations the following resolution was unanimously adopted:
RESOLVED, that Bankers Trust Company of the City of New York is designated a depository of this corporation; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, that all drafts, checks, and other instruments or orders for the payment of money drawn against the account or accounts of this corporation with said depositary shall be signed by any one of the following:
- George B. Pegram, Treasurer
- Henry A. Barton, Director
- Theodore Vorburger, Assistant Treasurer
- Cleveland Norcross, General Manager; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, that said depositary is authorized to place to the credit of the account, or any of the accounts, of this corporation, funds, drafts, checks or other property by whomever delivered to said depositary for deposit for account of this corporation, indorsed with the name of this corporation by rubber stamp, facsimile, mechanical, manual or other signature (and any such indorsement by whomever affixed shall be the indorsement of this corporation), or otherwise endorsed, or unendorsed, provided that if any such item shall bear, or be accompanied by, directions (by whomever made) for deposit to a specific account, then such deposit shall be to the credit of such specific account; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, that said depository is hereby directed to accept, and/or pay and/or apply any draft, check, instrument or order for the payment of money, or any proceeds thereof, drawn on such account or accounts when signed as required by these resolutions without limit as to amount, without inquiry, and without regard to the disposition of any such item or any proceeds thereof, and said depositary shall not be liable in connection therewith notwithstanding that such item may be payable to the order of a person whose signature appears thereon or of any other officer or officers, agent or agents of this corporation, or such item or any proceeds thereof may be used or disposed of for the personal credit or account of any such person or persons, officer or officers, agent or agents with the depositary or otherwise or in payment of the individual obligation of any such person or persons, officer or officers, agent or agents to the depositary or otherwise.
16. Next Meeting:
The date for the next meeting was set tentatively for November 17, 1948. The Secretary was instructed to poll the Committee to confirm that date.
17. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m.