THIRTY-THIRD BIENNIAL, SESSION 
267 
it has been our good fortune to perform the task acceptably to you, and 
with a modicum of the efficiency with which he would have performed 
the service, then may we not be pardoned for the assumption of! ventur- 
ing to detail a little information as to the work of the office; offer a few 
suggestions for its future development; and incidentally exhibit an outlook 
for the future service of the society as we see it from the viewpoint of a 
rapidly broadening field of activities, without an adequate central organiza- 
tion. 
The Official Record. 
During the past year, if we may judge from the archives of the society, 
the correspondence has more than quadrupled over any previous biennial 
period. There is a possible source of error in this estimate, due to a doubt 
as to whether or not all the previous correspondence of the society has been 
permanently filed. Assuming that it is quite possible that some non-essential 
correspondence (so held in previous years) has been cast out may we not 
Inquire, at this stage of our career, how shall a present officer determine 
just what is non-essential to the future interests of the organization? 
How shall this correspondence be filed, segregated and preserved? 
Were the records of the office to accumulate in the next decade as they 
have in the past year it would be necessary for the secretary to provide a 
good sized room to house them; and this would be exclusive of the ex- 
changes and complimentary copies of various more or less valuable docu- 
ments that are constantly reaching the office. 
Will, or should, we expect an officer on the present basis of organization 
to be willing to assume the responsibility of keeping such property at his 
home. 
Of course much of this increased correspondence and mail material is 
the direct result of the advertising of the society through the publication 
of the quarterly. As to the value of such service to the society there may 
be at present some question. 
Of the bulletin it may be said there were printed and distributed 1,000 
copies of Nos. 1, 2, 3; 2,000 copies of No. 4 and 3,000 copies of No. 5. 
Of printed circular letters the office has sent out 300. 
Of individual typewritten letters dealing with the same subjects “cir- 
cularized letters,” there have been sent out something over 125, besides 
1,000 invitations to prospective members. 
While of personal letters there have been something like 700 type 
written ones, and an hundred or more “by hand.” Total pieces of mail: 
letters 1,225; bulletins, 8,000. 
During the busy time for three months just preceding this meeting 
it was not an infrequent mail that carried out from twenty to thirty letters 
and fifteen to thirty or more bulletins. 
One of the weak features of the publicity work of the offfice has been 
the limited number of personal letters to “the press.” There is not a ques- 
tion about the value of such a service, but there is a question as to the 
capacity of a secretary during his “evenings and Sundays.” 
One of the troublesome problems arising during the past year has been 
the common request for complimentary copies of the report of our pro- 
