OPENING SESSION 27 



Letters from the President of the United States and from 

 President Remsen, of the Johns Hopkins University, were read 

 by Dr. John S. Fulton. 



The letters follow : 



THE WHITE HOUSE 

 Washington 



November 2, 1910. 



My dear Dr. Knox: It is a source of real regret to me that I am 

 unable to attend the opening meeting in Baltimore of the American 

 Association for Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality on the 

 evening of November 9, but on that date I shall be leaving for 

 Panama. 



It is not possible to overstate the far-reaching importance of the 

 question of the reduction of infant mortality. Every man and every 

 woman of every civilized country should feel a deep and personal 

 interest in it. It affects not only the happiness of the home, but the 

 welfare of the nation and the future of the race. The learned men 

 and women who will attend these meetings are fitted to take up this 

 vital question by years of study and experience in medicine and sur- 

 gery and nursing, in hygiene and sanitation. I commend them for 

 their unselfish spirit in bringing the results of their years of effort 

 to the study of this question, and I rrope they may receive the uni- 

 versal sympathy and encouragement to which they are entitled. Sin- 

 cerely yours, 



WILLIAM H. TAFT 



Dr. J. H. M. Knox, Jr., President, American Association for Study 

 and Prevention of Infant Mortality, Baltimore, Md. 



THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 

 Baltimore, Md. 



November 6, 1910. 



Dear Dr. Knox: It is with sincere regret that I am obliged to 

 decline your kind invitation to be present at the opening meeting 

 of the American Association for Study and Prevention of Infant 

 Mortality. As I have already informed you, I shall be in St. Louis 

 at that time, attending an important meeting of the National Academy 

 of Sciences, for the conduct of which meeting I shall be largely 

 responsible. 



