American College of Surgeons - Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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4 American College of Surgeons Some further account of the endowment fund and of the finan- cial side of the College is here given. In order to provide means for the organization of the College an initial Fellowship fee of $50 from each Fellow was voted at the first meeting of the College. This sum was payable, $25 on admission, and five dollars annually thereafter for five years. Realizing that the income to be derived in this way was but temporary, and desiring to place the College on a safe, independent, and financially adequate basis, the Fellows in June, 1914, voted to raise an Endowment for the College of one million dollars. This plan provided that the Endowment should be invested in perpetuity, the income only to be used for the budget of the College. It provided, further, that each Fellow be asked for a subscription of five hundred dollars on condition that all subscriptions should be contingent on the raising of five hundred thousand dollars by December i, 1914, the first payment on the subscription to be made January i, 191 5. Subscriptions to the amount of $113,000 were pledged at the first meeting, and it was the intention to push the plan among those Fellows who were absent from that meeting after the summer vacations. But because of the outbreak of war, the Regents de- cided to ask those who had made subscriptions to give their consent to extend the time for obtaining the subscription one year. This extension was, with few exceptions, agreed to. As already stated, the first half milHon dollars in due time were more than subscribed. Those who subscribed five hundred dol- lars to this fund are life members of the College and are not sub- ject to the payment of any further dues whatsoever. But, in the meantime, the work of the College called for expenditures beyond the income provided by the interest of the Endowment Fund, and the Fellows of the College, in annual meeting held in Phil- adelphia on October 27, 1916, voted that those who had not sub- scribed $500 to the Endowment should be assessed by annual dues of $25 each under provisions as above stated. At any time a Fellow of the College may become a life member by subscribing $500 to the permanent Endowment Fund of the College. Subscription cards used for this purpose are of the form given on the following page.

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The Endowment Fund 3 vice; in a word, they embody those ideals which have stood the test of centuries. Upon these the Fellows are united. These are the ideals which each Fellow, single-handed, has endeavored to foster, and the expression of them to-day through the College comes as a sort of mass-consciousness of the whole body of Fellows. THE ENDOWMENT FUND At the outset, after organization, the Regents of the College turned their attention to two factors essential in its success: First, to appoint strong authoritative Credentials Committees in each state of the Union and in each province of Canada; second, to secure for the College a sound financial basis. Because of the interest and sincerity of the Fellows, the first task was quickly accomplished and, as the years have gone by, the willingness of leading surgeons to serve on the various Creden- tials Committees has even increased. By December i, 1915, an endowment fund of $526,000 was subscribed; and in the following year annual dues of $25, payable by those who did not subscribe to the endowment fund, were voted by the Fellows. An initial Fellowship fee of $100 was also voted, the full resolution providing: 1. That the initial Fellowship fee of the College is $100, pay- able upon notification of election to Fellowship. The initial Fellowship fee of candidates whose applications were filed at the executive offices of the College before November i, 1914, is $50. 2. That annual dues of the College are provided as follows: 1. That the annual dues of the Fellows of the College be $25, payable January i. 2. That all Fellows who have subscribed $500 to the Endowment Fund of the College be exempt from annual dues. jf. That the total amount required of any Fellow in annual dues or other fees shall not exceed $500. 4. That the Board of Regents cancel the indebtedness of any Fellow of the College, without publicity, to whom, in its judgment, such dues are a hardship. 5. That no Fellow of the College be asked to contribute any fee whatever to the College, either after 65 years of age, or after he has retired from the active practice of surgery.

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Hospital Standardization In case of death all unpaid balances are canceled. ENDOWMENT FUND hereby subscribe Five Hundred {$500) Dollars to the Endowment Fund of the American College of Surgeons, the amount to be paid in installments as follows : Date Amount Date Amount Date Amount $ $ J $ $ $ further agree to pay interest on unpaid balances of this pledge at the rate of 5 per cent per annum. SipnfiA Date - The Regents propose to bring the Endowment Fund up to one miUion dollars as rapidly as may be. To this end they earnestly request Fellows of the College who have not already done so, and who can do so without hardship to themselves, to subscribe to the fund rather than to pay annual dues. From time to time unexpended balances in the treasury of the College are transferred by the Regents to this fund. Subscription cards may be had on application from the Secretary General of the College. HOSPITAL STANDARDIZATION The College published in March, 191 8, a bulletin entitled Stand- ard of EflBiciency for the First Hospital Survey of the College (Vol. Ill, No. 3). The title states the purpose of the bulletin. Following this pubHcation, and with the cooperation of the hospitals themselves, the College began an inspection of hospitals in accordance with the plan stated in the bulletin. Special inspec- tors were employed for this purpose for all or for part of their time. The results of the inspection, restating the problem of stand- ardization and recording the findings in the hospitals, will be pub- lished early in 1919. As an outgrowth of the first survey of the College, also, two additional bulletins will be published, the first