At least another year seems to be required, in which the
various members may gain a closer knowledge of each other through the
wider diffusion of their printed efforts. However, the need for a more
uniformly educated membership is pressing, and the undersigned will
welcome aid or advice of any kind from those willing to assist him in
establishing some sort of scholastic Department.

Another idea which has received undeserved neglect and discouraging
opposition is the Authors' Placing Bureau or "United Literary Service",
as outlined by the Second Vice-President. The normal goal of the amateur
writer is the outside world of letters, and the United should certainly
be able to provide improved facilities for the progress of its members
into the professional field. The objections offered to this plan are
apparently less vital than those affecting the Department of
Instruction, and it is to be hoped that the mistaken zeal of our
non-professional sticklers may not serve to prevent a step so sorely
needed.

Passing on to the details of Departmental work, the undersigned is
pleased to report a remarkable increase in the literary value of the
compositions brought forth in the United this year; an increase which
may be fairly declared to constitute a true elevation of our
intellectual standard, and which undoubtedly compensates for the present
regrettable paucity of amateur publishing media. In verse, particularly,
is the advance notable. Some of our poets are securing recognition in
the outside world of letters, whilst many lesser bards show a steady
upward trend in their amateur efforts. Prose continues to suffer because
of the seemingly unavoidable brevity of the average amateur journal. It
is impossible to crowd any really well developed piece of prose within
the limits generally assigned, hence our best authors seem almost to be
driven into verse as a medium of expression. Financial prosperity of
sufficient extent to ensure the publication of larger papers is
obviously the only remedy for this deplorable condition.

Of our poets, the Laureate Rheinhart Kleiner (also Laureate of the
National for 1916-1917) continues as the foremost technician and
harmonist. His accurate and tasteful lines satisfy the ear and the
understanding with equal completeness, and he shows no sign of yielding
to the corrupting influences of decadent modern standards. In his own
journal, =The Piper=, he reveals a versatile and phenomenally well
stock