New York Insurance Journal; F. L. Miner, Underwriter's Review; Laurence Flitcraft, Life Insurance Courant; Charles I. Simonson, Insurance Herald; Robert R. Dearden, Jr., United States Review; Israel C. Pierson, The American Underwriter.

President Dolph then read the following address:

To the Members and Friends of the National Association: It is my privilege as well as my very great pleasure to welcome you to this-your sixteenth annual con

vention. We meet in Hartford, affectionately called "The Cradle of American Insurance, where have been mothered the men and the ideas which have so generously and so rightly contributed to the growth, the stability and the virtue of our great work. Our all too brief visit will be an inspiration none will forget, for, to the insurance man Hartford is more a "condition of mind" than a place; more a shrine than a city; it is an influence beneficial and uplifting. You must realize this for in the matter of attendance you have broken all records. Let us hope that so auspicious a beginning is a portend of the most successful convention of our National Association.

You have come in discharge of obligations voluntarily assumed as the representatives of the brethren with whom you are associated in your respective local organizations, and for whom you are pledged to stand for the highest ideals in our great business, or, as I prefer to say, great profession. That to the work of this convention each will give his undivided attention goes without saying, to the end that "the best interests of the cause of true life insurance throughout the country" may be materially advanced.

The results of the work of the year will be presented to you in detail by the various officers and committees having them in charge, and who have contributed much time and labor, not to mention the money expended, to their respective duties. They are entitled to the liberal gratitude which I know you will ungrudgingly give, and

I bespeak for their reports your most thoughtful consideration.

I am very glad to report that during the year every one of the thirty-one associations which affiliated last year, has renewed its membership. Four associations were reinstated, and ten new associations were enlisted under our banner. This makes a total membership of forty-five, a net gain of fourteen or 45 per cent.

I find much satisfaction in calling your attention to the excellent work of the officers of some of the local associations. In the matter of membership New York alone made an increase of forty-one, New Jersey thirty-seven, and Philadelphia thirty-four. The thirty-one associations made a net gain of one hundred and fifty-six. Added to these are three hundred and eighteen new members in the fourteen associations which have affiliated, or been reinstated during the year, making a total net gain of four hundred and seventy-four. This gives us a membership of two thousand and thirty-two. These figures not only represent high water mark but they also indicate the largest gain in membership, as well as the largest number of local associations in good standing that has ever been reported. I congratulate you heartily upon the splendid progress you have made. New associations have been organized in Lansing, Syracuse, Binghamton, Evansville, Birmingham, Springfield, Ill., San Antonio and Canton. Four of these associations submitted applications for membership which were approved.

It has been my one ambition throughout the year to faithfully keep the pledge made to you at Indianapolis, and I am here to say I have done my best. Association workers know where I have been and what I have endeavored to accomplish. It is my duty and my very great pleasure to record the fact that the results for the year were made possible because of the loyal and unstinted support of the other officers. Every association must have felt the influence of the business-like methods of your secretary, Mr. Clark. He has taken a most active interest in his work throughout the year, with the result that his records are most complete, and you will find much evidence of his handiwork in every feature of this convention. If you have not had the pleasure to meet

Second Vice-President Van Sickle during the year, or heard him tell of his experience, you have missed much. His personality and enthusiasm form a combination that has been invaluable to the present administration. He has not only responded to every call that was made upon him, but he has also mapped out his own campaign, and permitted nothing to stand in the way of his success. He has communicated with most of the general agents in thirty-one cities. In addition to sending out about one thousand letters, he has visited thirteen cities in the interest of the National Association. The experience and good judgment of Chairman Plummer, of the executive committee, have been an inspiration throughout the year. His report bears much evidence of his devotion to the work. These officers have freely given of their time and money to the cause. They have permitted nothing to stand in the way of faithful service. They have earned the personal and official esteem of your president, and on behalf of the National Association, I extend to them, and to all who have contributed in any way to the progress of the year, my most grateful acknowledgments.

I visited twenty-seven active local associations during the year, and this report would not be complete if I did not make some reference to the cordial receptions always extended to me by them. For the encouragement of my successor I must record the fact that in many places I was met by reception committees, who furnished the finest possible hotel accommodations, insisted on my indulgence in much hospitality, and in liquidation of my indebtedness nothing short of a promise to return in the near future was acceptable. In addition to all this, one association paid my railroad fare both ways. My friends, you must believe me when I say that the time I have devoted to the work has been most pleasant and profitable in my experience, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for it.

What shall I say about the press? What can I say that would be adequate? Our organization has always made it very plain to the gentlemen of the insurance press that their interest in our work is greatly appreciated. These gentlemen have developed a faculty of doing things; they are without question our strongest allies,

and I wish to personally thank them for their interest in our present administration.

An effort, of greater or less success, was made during the year to establish an information bureau. I am convinced that the idea is pregnant with opportunity, and should have further consideration.

Following my election it was very apparent your officers were obligated to devote a large portion of their energies to extension work. Much has been said on the subject in recent years, resulting in the appointment last year of a committee with power to raise funds to be used in that work. The report of this committee will be presented to you for your consideration. With a view to carrying out your expressed wishes each vice-president was assigned certain territory and urged to make an aggressive campaign.

From a careful review of the records I found that less than 35 per cent. of the local associations which at various times had affiliated with the National body were in good standing and represented by delegates at the Indianapolis convention. These conditions made a deep impression upon my mind. They were given serious consideration with the result that I became convinced that this great organization in which we all take so much pride needs a closer relation with the local associations. I am sure that none of you will debate that in order to secure one additional permanent local association it is necessary to organize five or six, and yet that is the record. To organize an association in any given locality is a comparatively simple problem, notwithstanding it takes time and labor, and, generally, a liberal expenditure.

With your permission let me emphasize the condition I have in mind that I may the more strongly point out what I believe is the urgent burden of effort now laid upon this association. By reference to the official report of our last convention you will find on our executive committee the representatives of several associations which went out of existence more than a year ago. The older members of this association will remember that your annual conventions were held in 1896 and 1897 in important insurance centers, and that you were splendidly entertained by apparently flourishing associations,

which associations, I am very sorry to relate, have long since passed out of existence. Is it necessary to make any special reference to the forty odd local associations which have, at one time or another, kept step to the music of the National Association? Their history will interest any student of the work. Many of them will never be forgotten. I particularly recall one which marched up to the highest pinnacle of success, apparently, at Baltimore, where, midst the plaudits of the fraternity, it received not only your congratulations, but was presented with a beautiful flag. Then it marched down again-to its grave. An experience of that kind does not benefit conditions in any community. Many of the associations which have gone out of existence never survived the year of their birth. Let me refer to another class. I have in mind one of the associations which took an active part in the organization of the National Association. It was represented by five delegates at the Boston convention. It was also represented at the two following conventions, but it was not heard from again for eight years. In 1900 it affiliated as a state organization. The following year it reorganized on social lines, but it has not been successful. Who will point out the real obstacle here, and with whom rests the responsibility?

I personally visited Harrisburg and Columbus, and the second vice-president accompanied me to Providence and Albany for the purpose of reorganizing the local associations in those places if possible. We not only held meetings but visited many of the general agents in their offices. We were not successful.

It is my fixed opinion that no good reason can be given by any defunct organization for its failure; and I refer to the subject simply because some of the onus of their decease must rest upon this body, and because, further, I believe that in the organization and maintenance of these local associations lies at present the greatest opportunity of our National body.

We must reverse our thought and our action; we must no longer look upon the National Association as merely the flower and fruit of association work, to be plucked and admired on annual occasions. To state it in another form: we must no longer look upon the National body