1931 - Annual Convention

              72 A L B E R T A W O M E N ' S I N S T I T U T ES
that they are challenges thrown in the face of generous youth to test their
worth. It is by surmounting them that strength is gained and that the ability
to achieve great things is acquired.
Who will then dare set a limit to the excellence to which any young man
may aspire? If it is his ambition " to be," there is nothing that can prevent
h im from becoming a greater man than has ever yet existed. W i t h the wealth
of human intelligence and the thought of master minds for well- nigh sixty
centuries laid open for his instruction, and all the modern means of a c q u i r i ng
and of attaining perfection at his disposal, the boy of today may reasonably
aspire to an excellence surpassing that achieved by any of the great men
whose names are recorded on the pages of history. Elementary education is
provided for him by the State and is placed at his very door. Seats of learn­i
n g where the greatest minds of the nation congregate to devote their energy
and time to the imparting of knowledge, dot the land with their i n s p i r i ng
structures.
A few hundred dollars w i l l provide h im w i t h a l i b r a r y where the masters
of all ages w i l l speak to h im of the best they have thought and stand ever
ready to be consulted and enjoyed.
Inspired by the ambition to excel, the youth may grow to manhood with
a well developed, healthy, vigorous body, fit abode for a noble mind and a
l o v i n g heart. By assiduous stud}- he may store his mind w i t h useful know­ledge
and train his intellectual faculties to almost incredible perfection. More
than all else, he may fill his heart with a love of his Creator and of his
fellowmen to the extent of becoming, if that be possible, like unto the A l l -
l o v i n g God, whose fatherly heart knows no distinction of race, creed, color,
social position, or any of the many distinctions which little minds create as
boundaries to their interest and their love. Was not this the program set
by Christ our Saviour when He told H i s Apostles, poor illiterate fishermen of
Galilee, that they should aspire to the perfection of the Heavenly F a t h e r , the
a l l - k n o w i n g , the all- wise, the a l l - l o v i n g God. There is then no excellence to
which a young man of today may not aspire. There is no young man of
whom his parents have any right to feel despondent when they picture to
themselves his future career. There is no young man who may not make
himself worthy of the admiration of his fellowmen and fit himself by patient
t o i l tor some divinely appointed task.
CHILD W E L F A R E AND M A T E R N A L W E L F A R E IN 1931
Doctor Helen MacMurchy, Chief Child Welfare Division, Department of
Pensions and National - Health, Ottawa.
Sunny A l b e r t a is a dear and pleasant place and it has had a proud history
before and since it was established on September 1st, 1905, as one of the
Provinces of Canada. Your noble rivers and sublime mountains, your
magnificent open spaces and splendid ranches— above all, y o u r brave and k i nd
people have always had a great place in the heart of every Canadian.
Public Health— Alberta was one of the first Provinces in Canada to realize
the importance of Public Health. Your first P r o v i n c i a l Health Officer was
appointed in 1906. Your first Public H e a l t h Act was passed in 1907. This
P r o v i n c e was almost the first to establish a Department of H e a l t h in the
Government and to appoint a M i n i s t e r of H e a l t h . The A c t establishing the
P r o v i n c i a l Department of Public H e a l t h was assented to by His H o n o u r the