Electrical standardization

The subject of procedure and policy in the formulation of industrial electrical standards was brought to the attention of the Winter Convention in a forceful address of President Chesney, which is printed elsewhere in this issue of the JOURNAL. Briefly stated, the question at issue is whether the Institute should continue as in the past 28 years to be the final authority on electrical standards in this country, or should renounce part of its responsibilities in this connection and permit the final authority for a large part of the work of standardization to fall into the hands of various groups of manufactures and trade organizations. President Chesney stated in discussing the subject that the time has come for the A. I. E. E. either to take decidedly more responsibility and put more vigor back of its system of procedure in establishing electrical standards, or it must step aside and give some other body an opportunity to continue the work in a vigorous way. The Institute cannot stand in the same position it is today for any great length of time, he believes, without doing injury to the electrical industry.