14 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
G. L. JOHNSTON, B. A., PRESIDENT. ean: 
Noy. 10, 1904. E 
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mewabers of the H. S. A.: 
I thank you for electing me to this position, which has hee 
made honorable by a long line of worthy and distinguished pre- 
decessors. I shall endeavor not to allow the idea of the honor to 
dominate my mind, but shall look upon the office rather as an 
opportunity for service, and by doing my best to advance the 
interests of the. Association justify in some measure the trust you 
have reposed in me. 
The topic which I have chosen on which to address you is 
one which has been brought very close to all our minds and 
hearts during recent years and months—the subject of War. 
As this subject is one which directly affects human life, it 
must not be treated lightly. It has, however, been brought 
very closely to our attention’ during the opening years of the 
Twentieth century. During the late Boer war, with which we, as 
a part of the British Empire, were connected, blood was freely 
shed, and lives were freely sacrificed on their country’s altar. 
And during the months of the past year in the Russo-Japanese 
war, the horrors of war have been displayed in an intensity 
seldom seen in our own day—men rushing to their death and 
being slain by thousands, or standing firm amid a murderous 
rain of shot and shell, refusing to surrender, others going by 
hundreds to a watery grave. I shall not attempt to picture the 
agonies of the wounded, the hardships of the campaign, or the 
bereavement and sorrow in far-off homes. Hach of us has had 
these things brought as closely to our attention as the eallous- 
ness of our natures would allow, and some of us perchance 
very closely by the severance of family ties. Enough to say 
and to realize that war brings us face to face with the great 
realities of life and death, face to face with weariness and 
