Presidential address by lieut.-colonel J. stewart ross, V.D.

Mr. Pickles, in referring to my election as your President for this year, remarked on my diffidence in accepting the honour, an honour which I highly appreciate. I now confess that the preparation of a Presidential address worthy of submission to a learned body of members such as this Institute possesses was one of the main causes of my diffidence. Having for more than two-thirds of my life moved in an atmosphere and environment where the belief prevailed that the “sword was mightier than the pen,” and where it was thought that alertness and prompt action yielded better results than profound judgment or exact knowledge, the wielding of the pen became to me a lost art. Therefore, gentlemen, I must crave your indulgence if my address falls far short of the high standard set by my predecessors in the Presidential chair. While the foregoing reasons may account for the doubtful literary quality of my address, they do not justify its parochial nature. That is due to design. I justify the local and parochial aspect of my address because I believe the subject affects our endeavours in this country more than in older countries with established industries, customs, precedents, and because of that modern method which has no thought for posterity and the effect it is going to have upon the future intelligence of the human race, that is, the one-man-one-job method.