It is my great privilege to make the centennial toast as we gather here to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Western Surgical Association, which is almost half as old as the republic itself. This is obviously a very happy occasion, a unique surgical Thanksgiving with many of the family gathered. The life spans of great organizations and bodies of thought such as parliaments, churches, and philosophies, unlike those of people, are measured in centuries. By this yardstick, we are just leaving our lusty adolescence to enter great years of strength and vigor. It is with gratitude we pause to give thanks to our forebears who nurtured this association so well.
Our forebears worked in a land where life was hard and their dreams were as large as the horizons. Their breadth of vision and generosity of spirit matched the great plains and magnificent mountains of their new land. They