Committees at Work

Dr. Maxwell Gitelson presented his report before the Executive Council at the Mid-Winter meetings as follows:

“The Program Committee is pleased to report that there were twenty-two papers submitted for presentation at the current meeting. Of these, eight have been scheduled. It was by no means an easy task to make the selection, and your Committee is therefore glad to say that some of the papers withheld will merit consideration for future programs.

“Your Committee felt that it should be free to select and plan panels on the basis of general membership interest. It is therefore making a canvass by questionnaire to discover the trend of this interest. Future panel programs will be determined, at least in part, by the results of this inquiry.

“The question has been raised regarding the circulation of the program of the Annual Meeting to the members of the American Psychiatric Association. This would mean planning a deadline which would enable us to send our program out together with the program of the American Psychiatric Association. The alternative to this would be to secure its distribution in the A. P. A. Mail Pouch. In either case there would be a very significant additional cost for the number of copies required and for mailing. For the 1951 annual meeting the idea has been dropped. However, the Program Committee would appreciate definitive action by the Executive Council as to the future of the proposal.

“Another problem has arisen in connection with the request by the chairman of one of the panels of the current meeting for funds to cover the cost of recording and transcribing its proceedings. Because of the special circumstances surrounding this request, arrangements have been made by the President to make this possible. However, the Program Committee would appreciate a decision by the Executive Council which would guide it in the matter of extraordinary expenditures above the usual costs of constructing the scientific program. The pr