The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-15
BOSTON RAISED MIGHTY CHEERS
 FOR LOCAL ALUMNI
Romance and Mystery Per- vades Entire Programme and Enthusiasm of
 Alumni UnbOunded
By LEON c. BRADLEY

The Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy celebrated her half-century of mar velous achievement last night-achieve- ment inseparably interwoven with the industrial and scientific development of the world. The first and greatest school of technical training in the world, she has for five decades led the way and has kept pace and more with the scientific and technical advancement of the civil ized nations That her claims in this regard were true was vouched for last night by some of the nations greatest inventors, scientists and industrial leaders.
 Three thousand alumni and guests, scattered from Los Angeles to Boston, from Seattle to Atlanta, from Mime apolis to New Orleans, heard the story of M. I. T. and they, heard Alexander Graham Bell and others of equal fame tell how the institution and her men had made possible the transcontinental tele- phone reunion-how the scientific skill and training of M. I. T. had resulted in the perfection of the telephone, so that distance was at last annihilated.
 They heard the cheers of thousands of M. I. T. alumni in symphony hall in
 
 MT. smith, whose donations had made possible the expenditure of the GOO in new buildings, which was the crowning event of the golden jubilee. They heard Orville Wright, who made aviation reality, and whose work has revolution ized modern warfare, as he praised the work the school had done in scientific training.
 B CITIES HEARD FROM
 They heard Americas leading educa- tors, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, extend their compliments to the president and the alumni of Tech. They heard Frank Vanderlip the president of Amer ica's mightiest financial institution, add his word of praise; they heard The Star Spangled Banner sung in Wash ington and they heard "The Stein Song" in Milwaukee They heard the voice of Tech alumni in 35 cities
 Birmingham carried off the honors of the evening, and mighty cheer went up in Symphony hall when F. P. Weiss, secretary of the local M. l. T. alumni, announced that Birmingham had 224l alumni and guests present. No other city in the south approached her, and Philadelphia, with 195, and New York, Wilil loV, were LHG OHly OlIlGTS IGpOTllHS more than 100 The Birmingham reunion was held in the ballroom of the South ern club, and many of the leading men in business, industrial and professional affairs of the district were present. Each had an individual receiver, and every word spoken during the entire evening could be heard as distinctly as could d conversation over local telephone. Not a break occurred in the service and every one of the cities was present each time the roll was called.
 The story of Massachusetts Tech and the story of scientific and technical train ing in the United States was told in the addresses of the various speakers last night. The vision of Dr. William Barton Rogers. Virginian by birth and grad uate of William and Mary college which led him to found the school destined to revolutioniZe education and industrial af- fairs in this country, was recounted hy Dr. H. S Pritchett, himself president of the institution for five years, and now head of the Carnegie foundation. The development of the school the part it had played in inventions and in science and the credit it was due for many of the things which have revolutionized life in recent years were mentioned in the va rious talks. The future of M I. T., the part it is playing and must play in the great movement of industrial prepared ness, the dependence of the safety of the nation in time of war on such in stitutions, was portrayed by Senator Cole man DuPont of Delaware, himself an a of