Vol. 20, No. 1
JANUARY 1, 1928
work of the American Society for Testing Materials. He did his collegiate work a t Illinois, Cornell, Berlin, and Zurich. H E Council of the SOCIETY has been confronted with the His home is in Urbana, Ill., and according to the record he difficult problem of choosing from among four outstand- was born January 21, 1857. President Parr has been a loyal member of our SOCIETY for the year 1928. ing men one to be President of the SOCIETY The election just closed shows Samuel Wilson Parr to have been since 1894 and has served it in nearly all capacities. Active the choice. Elections as conducted by the AMERICAN CHEMI- as an individual, he has been identified with local section CAL SOCIETY are a model for such organizations. Our local work and the development of divisions of the SOCIETY, sections suggest names to the SOCIETY, but this does not pre- notably Industrial and Engineering Chemistry and Gas and clude the nomination of others by our membership. The whole Fuel Chemistry. He has served many years upon the CounSOCIETY is privileged to vote in the primary and four candi- cil, has been a member of the Executive Committee, and one of our D i r e c t o r s . dates receiving t i e He has contributed highest number of largely of his time votes are presented w h e n e v e r called t o t h e Council, upon and in whatnow a body of some ever capacity. He t w o h u n d r e d and knows a l l a b o u t s e v e n men, whose cooperation, and we b a l l o t s elect. As a r e c o n f i d e n t the councilors represent SOCIETY will follow the local s e c t i o n s with enthusiasm the and the membership leadership which his a t large, we believe a c t i v e administraour elections obtain tion will supply. for the SOCIETY the Our out-going men desired by the P r e s i d e n t , George m a j o r i t y . The D. Rosengarten, has choice, however, is served the SOCIETY a l w a y s difficult to faithfully and well make and no chemand is a n o t h e r of ist is ever embarthose men who hold r as s e d because anthemselves in readiother happens to be ness to perform such chosen. George D. Rosengarten Samuel W. Parr We have k n o w n services for the SoNewly Elected President Retiring President CIETY as it may dePresident Parr for mand. Hehas nearly a quarter of a century; received given u s a strong in a kihdly manner when a salesman, those first im- business administration of SOCIETY affairs and now, a t his pressions have endured. Those who have not come under own request, returns to the ranks of the privates, from which the influence of his genial personality and do not know he may be drafted a t any time to bring again to SOCIETY his hearty laugh would do well to turn back to our Ameri- affairs a wealth of experience, soundness of judgment, and can Contemporaries and note page 985 in Volume 17 for a devotion to the welfare of American chemistry which will 1925. be invaluable. President Parr has now retired as professor of industrial chemistry a t the University of Illinois, though he is still most active in consulting work and in the business of the Standard Calorimeter Company, with which he has long been identiHE phrase “profitless prosperity,” coined to describe fied. He is known internationally for his work on the the business of 1927, has its basis in the steady lowering composition, weathering, and spontaneous combustion of of commodity prices which today are 15 per cent below coals, calorimetry of fuels, metallurgical chemistry, boiler those of two years ago. That business has continued in waters, acid-resisting alloys including platinum substitutes, large volume only testifies to the economies instituted, the work upon the potash shales of Illinois, and more recently standardization practiced, the waste eliminated, and the extensive experiments and semicommercial work on low- utility made of statistical and scientific data now availtemperature carbonization of coals. He is a member of able in generous measure. Competition may have been a several scientific societies and has been prominent in the factor in forcing adaptation of such procedures which will
Our Presidents
Nineteen Twenty-Eight
