Dr. Colby, I believe, came in. Do you want to say something about Illinois as a meeting place for next year. Dr. Colby of the University of Illinois.
DR. COLBY: I don't know whether there was any malice aforethought in that committee nomination! Before I left Urbana a few weeks ago, Dean H. P. Rusk of our College of Agriculture asked me to invite you people to come to Urbana, Illinois for your meeting next year. So that, Mr. President, is an official invitation. We hope that you can all come. I see some of our Illinois friends here, and we are all working together to provide an interesting meeting at that time.
Now, as to the date, that will have to be settled a little later.
DR. MacDANIELS: Thanks very much, Dr. Colby. That makes it official.
MR. WEBER: Mr. President, I move we accept the invitation.
DR. MacDANIELS: Moved and seconded we go to Illinois, the time to be arranged by the committee. Any remarks? (No response.)
(Whereupon, a vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)
DR. MacDANIELS: That fixes that, and the time will depend somewhat on the availability of dormitories. If the meeting is held the last week in August, the dormitories would be available, would they not?
Mr. Weber: Get away from the Labor Day problem, too.
DR. MacDANIELS: Any other business? Has anyone else come in in the meantime who has a report?
If not, we will go ahead with the next item, which is the President's Address, and I will ask Mr. Weber of Cincinnati to read this. I am much pleased to do this because of Mr. Weber's friendship for the president.
I have been a member of this organization for a good many years, and I have always had a deep interest in its success. Our members are in a position to encourage the planting of good varieties of nut trees which may some day be appreciated even more for food and other uses as our population increases than we as a nation appreciate them today. Tree crops are a means of conserving our soils, both from the point of erosion and moisture holding content. I like the opportunity we have to be far-sighted in encouraging the planting of nut trees which will play a large part in the future well-being of our country.
Our N.N.G.A., as it is today, has been built on the unselfish efforts of a number of far-sighted men who had an ideal and a will to see that ideal accomplished. I think I was fortunate to know a number of the early founders of the organization either through their visits to my home where my father and they would talk their favorite subject of nut varieties known, just found, or the ideal variety they hoped they'd locate--perhaps in the next nut contest. In lighter mood--usually around the dinner table--they would sometimes reminisce about this joke or that which some member played on another. Altogether our early founders and officers were really great men, bringing experiences from various walks of life. Today we have a still wider variety of occupations listed among our membership, and an even greater opportunity to make acquaintances and friends. I hope every member will make full use of his leisure time here at this convention to make new acquaintances and to renew old ones. Knowing the members as I do, I know you will treasure these acquaintances during your entire lifetime.