Littlefield introduction Ladies and gentlemen: The devil tempts us in many ways. He has, however, a special temptation for those of us who accept the honor of introducing prominent speakers. He leads us into the dangerous delusion that we have come, not so much to praise Caesar, but to bury him--to bury him under a mound of vital statistics and statistics not so vital. We are tempted, also, to dig the ground out from under his speech by using his best anecdotes, and by anticipating his most salient points. We then bury the oration's mangled remains alongside the speaker's. Get thee behind me, Satan! Our honored guest today comes to us from Alaska--a territory whose purchased from the Russians in 1867 for $7,200,000just about enough today to buy a couple of major league ball clubswas known as Seward's Folly. It has turned out to be about the only decent thing Russia ever did for us, Our speaker, as president of Alaska's greatest bank, will, I am sure, have much to say about that territory's economic history and its importance to our Nation. I shall resist the temptation to steal his statistical stuffbut I'll toss just one crumb to the great Tempter. I'll reveal to you here and now the fact that Alaska's official bird is the willow ptarmigan. As to our speaker personally, his name is _Rasmussen. (here briefly relate the pertinent facts) I said that the devil tempts us introducers into coming here not to praise Caesar. I shall refrain from extravagant praise of Mr. Rasmussennot because of Satan's bidding, nor because I don't think Mr. Rasmussen deserves high praise. He does. No, I shall refrain because long ago I learned the wisdom of Thomas Puller's admonition: "Be not extravagantly high in expression of thy commendation of men thou likest; it may make the hearer's stomach rise." I likest Mr. Rasmussen. But I also want you to enjoy without any digestive disturbance a talk I know is going to be richly rewarding to all of us. Mr. Rasmussen.