plants than with
the human race? Should benevolent creation _fail at its highest point_?
Certainly it should not. Nevertheless it certainly will fail there so
long as so large a body of the race is undernourished, ill-born,
hopelessly submerged--dragging downward rather than lifting upward.

Who knows the total answer? Education, of course, is a part of it--in
industry, in eugenics, in moral responsibility. But you can't preach
education effectively to a starving or half-starved man or child. The
multiplication of population, the better distribution of goods
throughout the world (which means in the end the avoidance of extremes
of over and under-production)--these are the world's next greatest
problems. I personally have the feeling that we are on the verge of an
almost unthinkable increase in food productiveness through chemurgy's
better and more complete use of plant life. We shall yet learn to gauge
population to food supplies and food to population. Both are essential.

We need more plant breeders and more organic chemists at work on food
supply all over the world. We need more people of good will and long
vision, fewer political and social parasites; more producers.

Singularly, at the very moment of writing these words, a letter from a
well known plant breeder is dropped upon my desk. In it he turns down
the idea of an hypothetical executive position which most people would
regard as promotion. The importance and interest of his work is so great
_in its own right_ that he would not think of changing.

That is what I mean. We need more of his kind in the world. It is hoped
that in this Association such men may find the kindredship and
comradeship they so richly earn.

This was the spirit with which our Association was organized by Dr.
Robert Morris, Dr. Deming, and a few far-sighted men in the early days
of this century and carried on by them, by Mr. Reed, Dr. Zimmerman,
Professor Neilson and their kind since. We salute them all. Their works
follow and honor them by their multiplied fruits.

I shall not take the time in this full program to review the events of
the past year. Some of our speakers will do this far better than I. But
I wish to greet our visitors and the new members who may not have been
with us before. We hope you will feel very much at home in our family of
kindred minds.

Also, these remarks would not be complete without recognition of the
efforts of those who unselfishly and unstintingly h