It is a privilege to join you in this annual meeting of the Modern Language Association, and to take a modest part in the discussions of certain problems connected with the teaching of modern foreign languages. This Association has for years been concerned with many academic activities and research in various fields of knowledge which have a very important contribution to make at this point in our national life. Though your organization is not concerned with the entire range of subjects or disciplines commonly included under the term “humane letters,” many of the fields represented here are at the very core of our liberal learning in the United States. It is of the utmost importance that the ideas and the ideals embodied in Western European culture should be reemphasized and revitalized in this day of materialism and confusion. At no time in our history has it been more necessary that concepts such as the dignity of the individual, the basic rights of free men, and the rational consideration of human problems be inculcated in the minds of American youth. You are the members of a large company of scholars and teachers who have much of the responsibility for passing on this liberal heritage to this and succeeding generations.