February, '19] DISCUSSION of presidential address 57 



President D. E. Ball: I believe that Dr. Headlee's plan is 

 better than the one I offered. A committee with each member serving 

 five years will give opportunity for the maturing of a policy and its 

 adoption by the association ; and still leave time enough for carrying it 

 into effect by the men who had the vision to plan it. 



The present executive committee made up of the officers of the 

 society changes practically its entire membership each year. It is 

 impossible for a group of men to take up fundamental problems and 

 accomplish anything in a single year. 



The executive committee of the American Association of Agricul- 

 tural Colleges and Experiment Stations is a practically permanent 

 committee with a permanent chairman. The valuable work accom- 

 plished by that committee in obtaining support for work in agriculture, 

 as well as coordinating and strengthening the agencies engaged in its 

 development, is a striking example of the efficiency of that type of an 

 organization. 



This committee of ten can be organized into smaller committees 

 to take up different lines of policy. A sub-committee might, for 

 example, take up the standardization of courses of study for the train- 

 ing of entomologists. A statement of the fundamental requirements 

 of such a course endorsed by this association would be very helpful to 

 those of us trying to establish the right sort of training in our respective 

 institutions. Such a committee could take up the problems of re- 

 search, of publication, or any other factor of importance to our science. 

 No such results can be secured from our present type of organization. 

 I looked over the situation at the beginning of the year and did not 

 consider it worth while to attempt anything. We are coming to a 

 point where we must have a strong organization and now is the time 

 to start the movement. 



One of our sister societies is already putting an international organ- 

 ization in the field. The Economic Entomologists have done more to 

 internationalize their science, than any other organization. Would 

 it not be a good idea for this meeting to formulate a plan for an inter- 

 allied federation of entomological workers? 



In conclusion, I wish to urge strongly the adoption of Dr. Headlee's 

 motion. Let us have a practically permanent committee on Entomo- 

 logical Policy. 



Mr. E. p. Felt: I believe there is a field for this sort of a com- 

 mittee. I have a feeling, however, that if we are going to have a 

 strong organization, that eventually it should not be as a special com- 

 mittee on policy, but it should be an executive committee, with a term 

 of years in office. The defect as Dr. Ball has pointed out is this: 

 That the officers responsible for the conduct of the association are 



