EDITORIAL
The President's Message The year 1960 was a very active and important one for the American Chemical Society. The fine new headquarters building, made possible by the contributions of individual members and friends, local sections, and the chemical industry, was completed and occupied. This indeed was one of the high points in the Society's history. A history-making step also was taken in the Society's operations when the new Division of Public, Professional, and Member Relations became a working unit. More active communication to and from the members through the work of this division will build a better informed body of chemists and chemical engineers, rendering the service which is the responsibility of the profession. More communication and participation from the members will make the Society more promptly responsive to their views. Advancements were made in 1960 toward better dissemination of scientific information. The new publications Chemical Titles and the Journal of Chemical Documentation were established. Progress is being made in research directed toward keeping Chemical Abstracts serving as the key to the world's chemical literature, a service fundamental to chemical research. These steps and others during the past year have been designed to build a better base for important work. Chemical science and technology have grown greatly in the recent past and have assumed a position of increasing importance on the national scene. This calls for constantly greater service by the American Chemical Society.
The services to be rendered by the ACS are indicated by the federal charter under which it functions: 1. to encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner the advancement of chemistry in all its branches; 2. the promotion of research in chemical science and industry; 3. the improvement of the qualifications and usefulness of chemists through high standards of professional ethics, education, and attainments; 4. the increase and diffusion of chemical knowledge; and 5. by its meetings, professional contacts, reports, papers, discussions, and publications, to promote scientific interests and inquiry; thereby a. fostering public welfare and education, b. aiding the development of our country's industries, and c. adding to the material prosperity and happiness of our people. Operating with these objectives, the ACS has been developed through the work of its members in the service of the chemical profession to become one of the outstanding scientific and technical societies. To continue to merit such standing we must have the support of the membership in applying thought and energy to finding better ways to accomplish our stated objectives. Such will be our goal in 1961, as it should be constantly.
JAN.
2, 1 9 6 1
C&EN
7
