beneficiaries, and I believe as a tribute to their memory and the good
that they have done that we should fittingly celebrate our fiftieth
anniversary. At this time I can not suggest how this should be done; I
simply make this suggestion in hopes that it may be worked out.

I was in hopes that a home for this society might have been erected this
year or at least made ready for the 1916 meeting. This would surely have
been an occasion worthy of the anniversary which we hope to celebrate.

The building committee appointed by the last meeting went before the
legislature and tried with all the eloquence at their command to make
the members of the legislature see the necessity of appropriating
sufficient money to build a permanent home for this organization. The
members saw the force of our argument, but we could not convince a
majority of the appropriation committee that they should deviate from
their plan of retrenchment which seemed to permeate their every act.

We were disappointed but not disheartened. We were promised better
success in the 1917 session. So we are living in hopes, and I firmly
believe that if our efforts are renewed at that time that this and the
auxiliary societies may have an opportunity of meeting and transacting
business in a home that, while it will belong to the state, will be for
the use of these organizations, and that we may be able to take up our
abode in it not later than the winter meeting of 1917.

Secretary Latham has prepared an excellent program for you. Many friends
of this society are with us again, full of enthusiasm and vigor, and I
know that we will have one of the most successful meetings ever enjoyed
by this organization.