REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1913. 9 



meetings of the Board of Trustees held up to the present time he 

 missed attending only one, when under surgical treatment in 1906; 

 andof ninety-nine meetings of the Executive Committee, he attended 

 all but thirteen. He was singularly alert, not only in his knowledge 

 of the salient features of the Institution's work, but also in his 

 acquaintance with most matters of detail. He brought to this work 

 a breadth of learning and experience happily supplemented by an 

 uncommon readiness in their effective application. Although he 

 rarely manifested that sort of enthusiasm which springs from impul- 

 sive optimism, he had unlimited confidence in the ultimate efficacy 

 of persistent efforts patiently and unostentatiously applied. He had 

 no hesitancy in undertaking difficult enterprises and he shirked no 

 labors they might entail. He was a man of few words, but these 

 were in general peculiarly direct and cogent. He was at times 

 severely destructive in his criticism of men and measures, but such 

 criticism was usually justified, and although sometimes unfounded 

 it has almost always been useful to the Institution. He was impatient 

 v/ith the verbosity and with the circuitous methods of obvious impos- 

 tors, of whom the Institution has encountered not a few; but on the 

 other hand, he was wont to show great consideration to sincere but 

 deluded enthusiasts, with whom the Institution has also had to deal 

 in no inconsiderable numbers. 



The period during which Dr. Billings served the Institution has 

 been one of swift growth, not unattended by difficulties and even 

 dangers of a formidable character. It has been a period during 

 vrhich the Institution has evolved out of a chaos of conflicting 

 opinions by aid of an unparalleled wealth of advice and suggestion and 

 in the face of opportunities vastly greater than any single organiza- 

 tion could possibly embrace. Among the essential qualifications of 

 those charged with responsibilities under these conditions are a sense 

 of humor and a sense of proportion. These Dr. Billings possessed 

 in high degree. He was able to see readily that, while the Institution 

 might develop in any one of innumerable ways, it would be impos- 

 sible to develop in all of these ways simultaneouslj^ His grim humor, 

 supplemented by his wide knowledge of men, led him quickl}^ also to 

 appreciate the inevitable impracticability, if not futilit}-, of a large 

 majority of the projects suggested to the Institution for applications 

 of its income ; and the same qualifications prevented him from 

 entertaining any illusions as to the capacity of that income. He saw 

 plainly that most of the worthj^ enterprises commended to the Insti- 

 tution not only may be more advantageously left for other agencies 

 to develop, but that, by reason of the necessarily limited scope and 



