Back to Founding of AATS
FINANCES
As evidenced in the financial report attached to the
minutes, the fledgling Organization was by no means affluent. Subsequent
reports were equally brief and simple - year-end balances for the first four
years never exceeded $150. By 1922, a large deficit appeared, due primarily to
mounting costs resulting from efforts to achieve systematic publication of
papers given at meetings. Deficits mounted yearly, requiring progressive
assessments against members which in turn entailed a large number of
resignations. It finally became necessary to borrow from individual members the
money required to tide over the Association. Not until 1929, with dues and
initiation fees at fifteen dollars each, did the Organization's finances show a
favorable balance, and from then on, they improved steadily.
PUBLICATIONS
In the early years, publication of papers delivered at Association
meetings was quite disorganized. Each author was at liberty to publish his
remarks in the journal of his choosing. Many papers never achieved publication.
Abstracts or discussions were frequently published in a journal other than that
in which the original article appeared. This confusion persisted until 1922
when Dean Lewis agreed to publish both papers and incidental discussions in a
supplement to the January issue of Archives of Surgery. A direct result was the
aforementioned difficult financial situation, but relations between the
Archives of Surgery - through the American Medical Association - and The American
Association for Thoracic Surgery remained cordial until establishment of an
independent Journal in 1931. In that year, Dr. Evarts Graham became editor of
The Journal of Thoracic Surgery, published by the C. V. Mosby Company of St.
Louis. Under his leadership, this Journal, later retitled The Journal of
Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, has attained an enviable position in
today's world of medical publications.
CONSTITUTION AND
BY-LAWS
Shortly after the AATS organization meeting in June
1917, a committee responsible for writing a Constitution and setting up By-Laws
was appointed. After consultation with The American Surgical Association and
other groups, the first Constitution was drawn up. It was submitted and adopted
at the Second Annual Meeting on June 9, 1919, at Atlantic City, New Jersey.
EARLY DAYS
In the final analysis, continuation of the AATS must
be credited to a nucleus of enthusiastic and faithful participants in the
scientific programs. Constant recurrence of the names Willy Meyer, Howard Lilienthal
and Rudolph Matas justifies the fact that Dr. Evarts Graham subsequently
labeled them "the Triumvirate that kept the Association alive".
