Bridgeport Paper - Connecticut Work and Workmen

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Institute of Mining Engineers: . Unofficially representing the people of the vicinage, it is my pleasant duty to welcome you to the city of Bridgeport, to the valley of the Naugatuck, to the State of Connecticut. The importance and wide-reaching influences of the investigations for which your Institute is organized, the beneficial results which have directly and indirectly blessed mankind from your and kindred studies, the distinguished position which has been achieved in the scientific world by the Institute as a society, and the personal reputation which is the proper recognition of the ability and knowledge of its individual members, assure all that in attempting to honor you we are ourselves honored. In the republic of knowledge no fictitious rewards dignify the incompetent and the ignorant—the attested success of inventions and discoveries in the workshop of nature differentiates her real citizenship. Your present place of meeting is wisely selected ; for this senti-