American Association for Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality, Baltimore, Md. GENTLEMEN : In compliance with the request of your Executive Committee, we have made an audit of the accounts of the American Association for Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality for the year ending November 15, 1916, and find them correct as stated in the Treasurer's report. Very truly yours, ALEXANDER BROWN & SONS Jan. 4, 1917 In the annual address of the President of the Association, it was suggested that the contributions to the various sections of the Association be reviewed and summarized after each meeting with the view to extracting from them the practical points which they contain, formulating them in such way as to make them of actual working value to private agencies, public health departments and individuals. In compliance with this suggestion, a Committee was appointed at the final meeting of the Board of Directors, to be known as the Committee on Final Review, whose duties were outlined in the following resolution: "That the Committees in charge of the section programs of the Association be requested to review the transactions of their sections within a month following each annual meeting, with a view to extracting from them whatever material may, in their judgment, be of special value and that such material be submitted to a committee of final review for the formulation of workable plans of action on the various subjects that have been discussed, to be published in the Transactions and in whatever form that, in their judgment, may seem desirable." Upon the request of this Committee, summaries of the sections of the last meeting were submitted by the various chairmen. After a careful review of these summaries and the original papers, it was determined that they did not lend themselves to satisfactory presentation in the form that was intended by the Association when it created the Committee on Review. The Committee has therefore reached the conclusion that it would be inadvisable to attempt a publication of any summary for the present year. In order that the same difficulty may not obtain another year, the Committee suggests: 1. That in arranging section meetings, only such subjects be selected for discussion as will be of practical value from the standpoint of lowering infant mortality. 2. That the author of each paper be requested to present with his paper a summary which, if carrying recommendations, shall embody methods of procedure. 3. That the Chairman of each section prepare a summary of the transactions of his section, based upon the summaries of the individual papers. 4. That each Chairman present to the Committee on Review within sixty days after the Annual Meeting, not only his final summary, but also the summary of the individual papers, together with a workable method of carrying into effect any suggestions derived from the summary of his section. S. MCC. HAMILL, M. D., Chairman BORDEN S. VEEDER, M. D. THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS DR. S. McC. HAMILL, Philadelphia When any great calamity happens, resulting in loss of human life such as the sinking of the Titanic-the entire world is shocked; the newspapers record the fact in glaring headlines and discuss its various features extensively for days or weeks. The individuals responsible for its occurrence are bitterly condemned and held legally accountable. The occurrence of an equally large number of preventable deaths of infants every day in the year makes no impression upon the minds of men. The great army of individuals responsible for this stupendous calamity are not even thought of, much less brought to justice. You know the glory that attaches to the individual who chances to rescue a helpless child from impending death. Did you ever hear any one glorify the institution that contributes annually to the saving of hundreds of infants' lives? Neither the wanton destruction of human life revealed in the figures reciting the preventable deaths in infants, nor the saving of infants' lives makes more than a passing impression upon the mind of the average man, while the spectacular sinking of a great ocean liner with its load of human freight, or the daring rescue of a single life rivets his attention and appeals to his imagination. The dying child and the prevention and cure of disease are a part of the unheralded proceedings of every day; the sinking ship and the rescue of the little child are unusual, striking, and easily visualized. Were it possible to place the facts regarding the preventable infant death rate or the methods by which these deaths may be prevented, before the public, in the same spectacular way that it is given the news of a great disaster, there might be some hope of centering the attention of the public upon the crime and its cure. Unfortunately this seems impossible, at least there has not developed up to the present time any way of visualizing this subject which has proven effective to this end. It is a tragedy that there should live at the present day men who believe that organizations such as ours are running counter to the interests of mankind in attempting to save the lives of helpless infants, or, as they express it, to save the weak and decrepit to become a burden to the family and the state. Such individuals are ignorant of the facts. They do not realize that for every child that dies there are probably four that sicken but survive and bear with them through months and years, or even life, the effects of their sufferings-who in reality do become a burden to their families and to the state; they do not understand that to prevent death means to prevent disease; they do not appreciate the economic value of these lives to the state, a fact which is receiving the earnest consideration of nearly all of the great nations of the earth; the moral aspect of the question does not interest them; and they are immune to the appeal of the helpless bit of humanity suffering not as a result of any inherent weakness or any fault of its own, but rather as a result of the ignorance, avarice and selfishness of adult man. I have often wondered what would be the act of a man who holds such views if, standing on the banks of a raging river, he should see the most helpless specimen of infant life on the verge of falling in to certain death. Would he with folded arms and a satisfied conscience stand idly by and watch that infant drown? The chances are that he would risk-if need be, sacrifice-his life to save that single soul. Fortunately for the good of the world there are relatively few who are definitely opposed to saving the lives of babies, but there is a vast number whose interest in this subject has yet to be aroused. Indeed, as compared with the population of any large city, the total number of individuals contributing either of their means or service to the reduction of infant mortality or any other health or social problem is pathetically small. If one studies the subscription lists of the various private charitable agencies, or the lists of the officers and directors of these institutions, it will be seen that the financial support and the direction of their work fall upon the shoulders of a very few. If one still further dissects them and inquires into the spirit that prompts the support that is given, it will be found that the number of those who are contributing with knowledge of the aims and methods of these organizations or directing them actively and intelligently, is exceedingly small. It is unreasonable to assume that the great number of uninterested fail to do their share because of any lack of desire to render a service to humanity. There must be some other reason and in all likelihood the reasons are many. The very remarkable commercial prosperity which has prevailed in this country in recent years, the keen competition in money getting, the rapid accumulation of wealth, the falling of fortunes into the hands of those unaccustomed by education or association to the use of money, and the influence of these things upon the masses, have led to extravagant methods of living, and to a love of pleasure and a passion for the money to attain it. These results have had a very detrimental effect upon the development of the intellectual and spiritual side of men. Men have come to think in terms of business and pleasure. They have developed a spirit of selfishness and have in large part lost sight of their relationship and duty to their fellow men. Hidden in the inner consciousness of every apparently indifferent individual there is a sympathetic chord, which, if intelligently touched, will respond. The task that is before us is the attuning of these individuals, for our success depends upon our ability to harmonize the public with our cause. The American Association for Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality has accomplished much in the seven years of its existence. Its meetings have been held in different centers of population, its contributions have covered every field of endeavor along the lines of saving infant life. Its published Transactions, which, as Dr. Holt has aptly said, constitute the most valuable year book of infant welfare work, have been distributed throughout the length and breadth of the land. All of this has been splendid work and very helpful, but has it accomplished what it should in the way of awakening the public conscience? Has it carried a message to the great mass of the indifferent and unenlightened? Has it provided them with definite evidence that we are really accomplishing something in the prevention of infant mortality and the reduction of disease? It would seem that the answer to these questions is given in the figures representing the membership of the Association. The Transactions for the year 1915 show that in the first six years of our |