Mr. PUTNAM: The Committee on Resolutions has suffered the usual
embarrassments of committees on resolutions. It has been compelled to
abstain from expressions which might seem hyperbole, and from
designating by name many services that prefer to remain anonymous.
It is the custom of certain associations to make acknowledgment to those
speakers on the program not members of the conference. That is not
customary with the A. L. A. Had it been, I should have had a special
pleasure in proposing an acknowledgment to Professor Ely for his
presence and paper yesterday. It is no slight compliment to the
Association when a thinker and writer so eminent as Dr. Ely is willing
to lay his views before it. It is, in a sense, a greater compliment when
his views prove unfavorable to some undertaking which the Association is
inclined to approve. It implies that our action may be important, and
therefore our judgment worth convincing. Could the Association convince
Dr. Ely, great advantage indeed might result. For should a selected list
of books in economics be undertaken with helpful notes--I will not say
"evaluations," or "appraisals"--but helpful _notes_, Dr. Ely's aid would
be one of those first sought.
The resolutions follow: