found the solution of the world's difficulties. It will
not be a perfect solution, because humanity is not perfect. It will not
abolish war, because war is the expression of a natural human tendency.
But it will at least produce an approximate stability of social and
political conditions, and prevent the menace of the entire world by the
greed of any one of its constituent parts.

REPORTS OF OFFICERS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Fellow-Amateurs:--

The conclusion of an administrative year is naturally a time for
retrospection rather than for announcement and planning, and seldom may
we derive more satisfaction from such a backward glance than at the
present period.

The United has just completed a twelvemonth which, though not notable
for numerousness of publications or expansion of the membership list,
will nevertheless be long remembered for the tone and quality of its
literature, and the uniformly smooth maintenance of its executive
programme. The virtual extirpation of petty politics, and the
elimination of all considerations save development of literary taste and
encouragement of literary talent, have raised our Association to a new
level of poise, harmony, dignity, and usefulness to the serious
aspirant.

Prime honours must be awarded to our Official Editor and Official
Publisher, who have given us an official organ unequalled and
unapproached in the history of amateur journalism. The somewhat altered
nature of contents, and radically elevated standard of editorship, mark
an era in the progress of the Association; since the UNITED AMATEUR is
really the nucleus of our activity and a reflection of the best in our
current thought and ideals. We have this year helped to shatter the
foolish fetichism which restricts the average official organ to a
boresome and needless display of facts and figures, relating to the
political mechanism of amateurdom. The organ has been a literary one, as
befits a literary association; and has been conducted with a sounder
sense of relative values than in times when amateurs seemed to place
elections and annual banquets above art, taste, and rhetoric.

The publications of the year have been distinguished for their merit,
general polish, and scholarly editorship. The percentage of crude matter
appearing in print has been reduced to a minimum through the careful and
conscientious critical service rendered both by the official bureau and
by private individuals. The artistic standard of t