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did, if the same explosive material had been present and there had been no vent from the ovens. You would have had the same kind of situation.

At any rate this Committee on Safety was formed. The Consumers' League began giving out statements and the result was that I was immediately caught in a situation where we had to prove our point. We therefore began a series of inspections and investigations before the Committee on Safety was a going concern - when it actually only existed in name.

This was when Mr. H.F.J. Porter came to see me. He was a fire prevention engineer who was regarded as an old crank, but who was greatly respected by Woolson, Stewart and the NFPA in Boston, who said, “Yes, Porter knows more than anyone else about fire prevention, but he always makes everyone else so angry when he comes to meetings that he never is listened to.” I can never forget Porter. He was a middle-sized man with spectacles and a Van Dyke beard - the type of beard that Lord Bryce, the historian and ambassador, used to wear. He dressed very meticulously, as people did in those days if they were persons of professional standing. If you were a member of a profession, stripped trousers and morning coats were still common in American life, topped