thence into the exploration of space. The sociological revolution ac-
companying this progress is no less dramatic. A hundred years ago
it was the unusual for children to know their grandparents. Now it
is the usual for children to grow up with great-grandparents. Today
in the United States one of every 11 persons is 65 years old or older.
An examination of census figures over the past century indicates a
strong upward trend in the proportion of older people to the total
population. In 1850, people 65 years old or more represented less than
three per cent of the population of our country. By 1900 this had
risen to four per cent. During the next 50 years it doubled to eight
per cent, and our census experts estimate that by 1975 10 per cent of
our population will be 65 years old or older. In Maryland today, we
have some 250, 000 persons in this age category. This upward trend,
the end of which is not yet in sight, has created some serious economic
and social problems. Chief among these is the task of making these
elderly people independent and self-supporting, sustaining them as
active contributors to the life of the community and, of course, keep-
ing them in good health. It is in this area that you as graduates in
practical nursing will play a vital role in enriching the lives of these
elderly people, and, in doing so, adding strength and vitality to the
society in which we live. You are trained, according to the informa-
tion I have received, to minister to both the physical and the mental
needs of this important and growing segment of our population. And
it goes without saying that you have been trained well and that you
now have the capacity to perform a difficult task effectively. In this
connection, I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to
an outstanding—and in fact truly remarkable—nurse and educator,
Dean Gipe, of this University of Maryland School of Nursing. Since
she came here to take charge of the school, Dean Gipe has labored
indefatigably to increase and to improve the University's program for
the training of nurses. The rating of the school itself and the caliber
of nurses which it graduates each year demonstrate the fulfillment of
her great design—to make the School of Nursing of the University of
Maryland one of the best in this country. The curriculum in which
you have been educated as practical nurses is the creation of her fertile
and inventive mind. It is the product of the sound philosophy which
she espouses—the philosophy that what is needed in the world outside
should be taught in the school.

The demand for practical nurses grows with every passing year, and,
as we have seen from our examination of the statistics on the aging,
these demands will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Dean
Gipe looked out into this community, saw a need and set about

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