Two important steps were taken by the new Association immediately upon its consolidation in 1897. The first was the appointment of a General Secretary to devote his whole time to furthering the interests of the alumni organization. Ralph H. McAllister, a former member of the law class of '89, was first elected to this position, but was succeeded in January, 1898, by James H. Prentiss, '96, who was followed three years later by Shirley W. Smith, '97, at present Secretary of the University. The present Alumni Secretary, Wilfred B. Shaw, '04, was appointed in October, 1904. The purchase of the graduate journal, _The Michigan Alumnus_, established in 1894 by Alvick A. Pearson, '94, was another significant step. The _Alumnus_ is one of the oldest graduate publications in the country, with the _Yale Alumni Weekly_, established in 1891, and the _Harvard Graduates' Magazine_, a quarterly, which appeared a year later, its only predecessors. Both of these journals are published by private corporations, as was the _Alumnus_ at first. In thus creating an officer whose sole responsibility was to the alumni body and in maintaining an official alumni publication, Michigan became a pioneer among Western universities, and was only preceded in the East by Pennsylvania, whose alumni organization had established her _Alumni Register_ and appointed an alumni secretary in 1895. The plan of organization of the Alumni Association at Michigan is very simple. The entire responsibility for the affairs of the Association rests with a board of seven directors (originally but five), who elect the officers of the Association from among their own number. Two directors are ordinarily elected every year at the annual alumni meeting, held during the Commencement season, at which any alumnus is entitled to a vote. The income of the Association, except for a grant of $600 a year from the University for advertising, arises entirely from the _Alumnus_, which at present has a list of over 7,000 subscribers, who are considered as constituting the official membership of the Association. This membership is in two forms, annual members and some 1,500 life members, whose thirty-five dollar fees have resulted in an endowment fund at present amounting to over $38,000, the income from which is used for current expenses. Since its establishment the _Alumnus_ has grown steadily in influence, and may now be regarded, in some measure at least, as the official University publication. Limited as it is by the necessity of pleasing a constituency widely varied in age and interests, it nevertheless makes it possible for a large proportion of Michigan's graduates to maintain an effective and intelligent interest in the University.