What Lies Ahead
Members of the American Statistical Association arid guests, it is indeed a pleasure to officially welcome you to the 136th annual meeting of the Association. I want to extend special congratulations to those who were honored by being elected as fellows of our Association; I want to extend a special welcome to those who have travelled long distances and from foreign countries to attend these meetings and those of the Biometric Society; finally I want to extend a special thanks to the many people who have worked hard to make these meetings successful. I especially want to thank the people on the various organizing committees and the local arrangements committees. This year the United States of America is celebrating its Bicentennial, the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. During the course of this year many of the people in this nation have been involved in a search for a sense of history, purpose, and destiny for themselves and their institutions. It is also a worthwhile endeavor for a professional society to examine its past, its present, and its goals and objectives for the future. I can well imagine the surprise and amazement of the founding fathers of this nation if they were to look in upon their product today some 200 years later. I also think the five men who met in this city in November, 1839, to organize a statistical society would be very surprised at the present state of their offspring. I wonder if they would be pleased or disappointed. John Fiske closes his account of the American Federal Convention with a story of merit [2, p. 5].