Edwin F. Gay, my predecessor, in the inaugural presidential address of this Association described the continuity of the history of economic history from Europe to North America as illustrated in his own work. As your second president I represent a later stage of this continuity, a student of Chester W. Wright who in turn was a student of Edwin Gay. I am in a sense one of Edwin Gay's grandsons. This, particularly as it appeals to my strong Scottish interest in genealogy, provides the only satisfactory explanation I have been able to find of the honor you have done me in appointing me his successor. For the same reason it is a source of satisfaction to me that my successor can be said to fill the intervening gap as one of Edwin Gay's sons.