As we come to the close of another year in the history of our society , it is natural and fitting that we should pause to consider how much we have accomplished of what we set out to do and the means to achieve those things we have left undone. In approaching such an appraisal it is tempting, particularly for one of my age, to become reminiscent or to dwell at length on the future. Let me assure you this is not my intention. Many years age Sir William Osler advised that man’s life span should be contained in three lock boxes, one labeled “The Past,” the second, “The Present,” the third, “The Future,” and that only the one labeled “The Present” was ever to be opened, on the theory that if one concern himself diligently with the present, the past and future will take care of themselves. It is this pattern, the present, the immediate present, which concerns us.

It is apparent that times have changed since the organization of our society in 1899. The placid days when we had time to work out our own salvation are gone.