Now that the old year is drawing to a close, it would be well for the members of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society to review in their minds all that has been accomplished, and all that we have proposed to accomplish, during the outgoing year. The contrast is indeed great. However, it would be unjust to blame any one individual member or any group of members of this organization for any shortcomings which may have prevented the full realization of our plans for this year.

At this time, we are more interested in the future than in the past. Every member of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society no doubt knows that at the end of the year all branches of this organization hold annual meetings and elect their executive committees for the coming year. Members of every branch should exercise the greatest care in selecting their executive committee. Because a member of the branch happens to be your friend or your relative does 2not mean that you must elect him to the executive committee. He may have no qualifications whatsoever for managing and guiding the affairs of your society in difficult and critical moments. The men aspiring to executive positions in your branches should have honesty, energy, and ability; they should be devoted to their organization, and they should be able and willing to regard the constitution of this organization as their best friend, to whom they may turn for support and advice. These are the people who should be entrusted with the responsible task of managing the affairs of this organization and of every branch affiliated with it. When the executive committee of a branch is energetic, when it is intent upon increasing the welfare of the branch, it will always meet with the full support and co-operation of the majority of the members of the branch.

New types of insurance will be sold by the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society beginning January 1, 1935. This will mean more work for the executive committee of each branch, and especially for its secretary. These new types 3of insurance will appeal especially to young people. Therefore, it is only natural to expect that each branch will quickly expand its youth department, thereby increasing its membership.

Branch Number 1, the largest branch of the entire organization, with over six hundred members, probably will lead all other branches in getting young people into the Society as members and as owners of the new insurance policies. It would not be expecting too much to hope that Branch Number 1 of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society will be able to get one thousand new young members in the year 1935. If each present member of this branch brings in only two new members during the entire year, this will mean twelve hundred new members in one year. There are many members of Branch Number 1 and of other branches whose children are not yet members of their fathers' organization. Because Branch Number 1 is in reality the foundation stone and main support of the entire organization, let us hope that this branch will gather all its strength and will forge to the front, ahead of all the other 4branches, in the drive for new members. During the last two years, Branch Number 1 fell behind other branches in the work for the organization, and in the number of new members obtained for the Society. Now, however, with the new types of insurance as "door openers" and most convincing arguments, Branch Number 1, as well as all remaining branches of this organization, will most assuredly make a supreme effort to justify the hope and expectation placed in them by the supreme council of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society.

This organization continues to get ahead in a modest way. It never boasts of its achievements, and it does not expect to catch up with or to overtake other American organizations of a similar kind. Unlike comrade Stalin in Moscow, who boasts that Russia will soon surpass America in every respect, this Society always prefers to remember that "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".

There are no dictators in the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society. All members are equal, irrespective of the position they may hold in the organization. And if, in some of the branches, there are little quarrels now and then, this only proves that freedom rules in the ranks of the organization. Moreover, a little disagreement helps to bring out the truth.

For all these reasons, every Russian man, woman, and child should become a member of the Russian Independent Mutual Aid Society.