E. E. SCRIBNER, of Michigan: I move that the report of the Secretary be received and printed in the volume of Proceedings. Motion was carried, and it was so ordered. PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: Next is unfinished business, and the first item under this heading is a report to the Board of Directors by the Board of Trustees on the act of incorporation, and the action of the Board of Directors on said report. The Board of Trustees were instructed by the active members and the Board of Directors at the Asbury Park meeting in 1905 to secure if possible the passage by Congress of a proposed bill granting the Association a national charter of incorporation. As you have been officially informed by the Secretary the act incorporating the Association was passed by Congress and approved by the president of the United States, June 30, 1906. We will hear the report of the Board of Trustees to the Board of Directors concerning this matter. Secretary Shepard read the report and the recommendations of the Board of Directors as follows: To the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association: Gentlemen: The Board of Trustees respectfully report that pursuant to a resolution adopted at the annual business meeting of the Association, held on July 6, 1905, the Board made application to Congress for a special act in the form approved by the Association at said meeting, to incorporate an association to be known as the "National Education Association of the United States" to succeed and continue the National Educational Association. The Board further report that said act was passed by both houses of Congress with some technical amendments, not affecting the substance, and was approved by the President and became a law on June 30, 1906. The act provides that it shall take effect when the charter thereby granted is accepted and when by-laws are adopted by the members of the present Association. The Board is of the opinion that the new charter, a copy of which is attached, offers the Association great advantages in assuring to it perpetuity of existence and a national character, in safeguarding its funds, and generally by increasing its powers and influence, and therefore unanimously recommends that the charter be accepted and that by-laws be adopted in accordance with the provisions of this act. Respectfully submitted, NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, Chairman, Trustees. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS HELD AT LOS ANGELES, CAL., JULY 8, 1907 Resolved, That the Board of Directors accept the report of the Board of Trustees and unanimously approve the recommendations therein contained; Resolved, That the Board of Directors recommend the adoption by the Association of the following resolutions: 1. Resolved, That the National Educational Association hereby accepts the charter granted by an act of Congress entitled "An Act to Incorporate the National Education Association of the United States," passed June 30, 1906, and that the President and Secretary of this meeting be authorized and directed to execute and file with the recorder of deeds of the District of Columbia a verified certificate showing the acceptance by the Association of the charter granted by said act. 2. Resolved, That the proposed by-laws, of which notice was given at the annual meeting of the Association held on July 6, 1905, which are printed in full in the journal of said meeting, be and the same are hereby adopted to take effect immediately. 3. Resolved, That the Association adopt as its corporate seal a circle containing the title "National Education Association of the United States," and the dates "1857-1907." 4. Resolved, That the Association do now proceed to elect officers, and to organize under the charter granted by the act of Congress. (Copies of the Report, of the Act of Incorporation and of other papers relating thereto were distributed to the members.) O. J. CRAIG, of Montana: I move that this report of the Board of Trustees and the recommendations of the Board of Directors be received. The motion was carried without an opposing vote. CHARLES H. KEYES, of Connecticut: I move the adoption of the report of the Board of Trustees and of the resolutions thereon, passed by the Board of Directors. The motion was seconded. MR. BLACK, of California: I propose that we consider these resolutions separately and, with Mr. Keyes's permission, I move the adoption of resolution No. 1. The division of the question was agreed to by Mr. Keyes. PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: It has been moved and seconded that resolution No. 1 be adopted. Are you ready for the question? MISS ELIZABETH SHIRLEY, of California: Mr. President, I rise to take exceptions to section seven of the Act of Incorporation so far as it refers to the finances of the Association. I see that the permanent funds of the Association are by this section placed in the hands of the trustees. Now, of course, the money belongs to us; it is the teachers' money. I see that the trustees alone can make recommendations for the expenditure of these funds; that such recommendation can be referred to the active members for approval and if it is carried by a three-fourths vote of active members it is to be returned to the directors and they have the power to strike out and nullify the action of the members. That is, we leave the initiative and the referendum in the hands of committees. Now, I stand for democracy. I stand for this National Educational Association as an association of the teachers, and for the teachers, and by the teachers, and I think that the provision referred to in section seven would be unsafe. I think that it would be unbusiness-like, and I think it would be undemocratic. We call the United States a democratic government, yet we would put our finances into the hands of a committee who will dictate to us what we shall do with them. Now, men, they say, are masters of their fortunes. You pass this motion accepting the act of Congress and the members of the National Educational Association of the United States will not be masters of their fortunes, so far as their finances are concerned. We shall have erected an oligarchy from under whose dominion we may peer about and find ourselves dishonored. It is unsafe, because it puts the power all in the hands of a few trustees and we, the people, have nothing whatever to say about what shall be done with our own money. It is true, and "pity 'tis, 'tis true" that graft, as you know, is stalking through the American cities. Not in California alone; California is a kindergarten to what some of the cities in the east are. Go into the great cities; go into Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha, New York, and Philadelphia, Mr. President, and you will find the grafter there with his money bags debauching the trustees and the school boards; buying special privileges. You will see the great American concern, with its thirty pieces of silver, buying the superintendents and forcing them up into high places. Now, are we safe in running the risk of putting our property, our money, into the hands of people who may be bought and sold? Voice from the audience: You elect your committees, trust them. PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: The lady has the floor. MISS SHIRLEY: I say that it is undemocratic, and even if we were assured that every dollar of our money would be righteously administered, it is unbusiness-like. We profess to teach the pupils of America business principles. When they pick up this constitution they will see that the teachers are not capable of directing their own business, but have to put it into the hands of committees who will do the work for them. Now, if you can find in the confines of this great American country, any business man who will conduct his business on the principles of that section, I shall be surprised. Shall the teachers tie their hands and give their money into the hands of a committee? Shall they have no voice whatever in the administration of their money, or say what shall be done with it? Now, we are to go out and teach business principles. If we are unable to take care of our own business, how can we stand up before the youth of America and talk to them about business principles? How can we face these pupils and talk of democracy when we put the initiative and the referendum into the hands of a committee? Let us vote down this resolution, so that we can look the youth of America in the face when we talk of democracy. It is a fact that we need to guard the teachers of America in every way, and we should never, in our own business, adopt a measure that is so undemocratic. Mr. President, I thank you. The "question" was called for by many members. PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: Are there further remarks? All in favor of the adoption of the first resolution read in your hearing say "aye;" (An apparently unanimous response of ayes). Opposed, "no." (No opposing vote was heard.) PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted and the charter granted by act of Congress has been accepted and adopted by a unanimous vote of the active members of the National Educational Association. It was moved and seconded that the second resolution be adopted. The motion was carried without opposing vote and the president declared the proposed by-laws adopted without amendment by unanimous vote. On motion the third and fourth resolutions were successively carried by unanimous vote. On motion of Mr. Greenwood, of Missouri, seconded by Mr. Carr, of Ohio, the four resolutions recommended by the Board of Directors were then adopted as a whole. Joseph Swain, of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Committee on Nominations, being called upon by the chair, presented the report of that Committee as follows: To the Active Members of the National Education Association: Your Committee on Nominations begs leave to report the following nominations for officers of the National Education Association for the ensuing year, viz: President.. First Vice-President.. Alabama.. Arizona.. Arkansas. California. Colorado.. Connecticut. Delaware.. District of Columbia. Florida... Georgia.. Idaho.. Illinois. Indiana. Indiana Territory. Kansas. Kentucky.. Louisiana. Maine. Maryland. EDWIN G. COOLEY.... ELLSWORTH ROBEY.. ARTHUR H. CHAMBERLAIN. DIRECTORS ISAAC W. HILL.. M. BATES STEPHENS. Minnesota. Montana. Nebraska. New Hampshire. Utah. Virginia.. S. L. HEETER.. NEIL C. MACDONALD. JOHN MORROW.. WALTER BALLOU JACOBS. M. A. LANGE.. I. C. MCNEILL.. CHARLES P. CARY. ESTELLE REEL MASON S. STONE.. Respectfully submitted, St. Paul Lidgerwood Madison Washington, D. C. E. T. FAIRCHILD Secretary. JOSEPH SWAIN, Chairman. On motion of Mr. Carr, of Ohio, the report of the Committee on Nominations was received, and the Secretary was instructed to cast the ballot of the members present for the nominations as made. The Secretary reported the ballot cast as directed and the chairman announced the nominees elected as officers for the ensuing year. President-elect Edwin G. Cooley, being called for, was invited to the rostrum and introduced by President Schaeffer. Mr. Cooley spoke briefly, expressing his high appreciation of the honor conferred by election to the office of president of the newly organized National Education Association of the United States and giving assurances that his best efforts would be directed, with the co-operation of the members, to bring about a successful convention in 1908. C. G. PEARSE, of Wisconsin: Mr. Chairman, I move that section two of article five of the by-laws of the National Education Association, adopted this date, be so amended as to read as follows: Section 2. The Council shall consist of 120 members, selected from the membership of the Association. Any member of the Association identified with educational work is eligible to membership in the Council. That section three of article five be amended so as to read as follows: Section 3. The Board of Directors shall annually elect ten members, and the Council shall elect ten members, each member to serve for six years, or until his successor is elected. MR. KEYES, of Connecticut: I rise to a point of order. I think article eight of the by-laws just adopted provides for their amendment. This article reads that these bylaws may be amended at any annual meeting by the unaminous vote of the members present or by a two-thirds vote of the members present, provided that the alteration, or amendment, has been proposed in writing at a previous annual meeting. The motion is evidently not in order since the amendment has not been proposed in advance. I should like to have the opinion of the Counsel of the Board of Trustees on this point. PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: I think the active members will be pleased to hear the opinion of our Counsel, Mr. Pine, of New York, as to whether we should, or can, amend the bylaws before the Certificate of Incorporation has been filed, according to the requirements of the act of Incorporation. MR. PINE, of New York: Mr. President; it is my opinion that under the by-laws, it is possible to adopt the amendment proposed by Mr. Pearse only by unanimous consent. I should think it would be more regular that notice be given at this meeting in order that the proposed amendment might come before the next annual meeting. MR. PEARSE: Mr. Chairman, in view of the opinion of Mr. Pine, I will give the notice, as suggested, and let the matter lie over until the next annual meeting. PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: Notice is given by Mr. Pearse of the proposed amendment which will come up for action at the next year's meeting. MR. BAKER, of Colorado: I rise to speak, representing the National Association of State Universities, preliminary to the introduction of a resolution. As it is important that a preliminary explanation be made, I trust that the Chair will be willing to waive the formality of reading the resolution first. At the meeting of the National Association of State Universities held in Baton Rouge, last November, a report on the question of a national university was made, and the recommendations of the committee on that subject were unanimously adopted. A standing committee was appointed to further the cause, consisting of President Edmund J. James, of the State University of Illinois, President W. O. Thompson, of the State University of Ohio, and President Brown Ayres, of the University of Tennessee. This committee was instructed to ask the National Educational Association to appoint a committee to further the cause of a national university, or of some kind of organization which would enable the students of this country to use the many facilities in Washington which are extremely valuable in original research. We understand that the Association has for a long time been committed to the idea of some kind of an organization at Washington that would facilitate the use of the valuable and extensive government collections. We are not asking that a committee of investigation be appointed, but a committee to appeal to Congress to take up the matter and investigate it, and in doing so, to co-operate with the movement that has been organized by the Association of State Universities. The last investigation shows two things: first, that the facilities there available for the scholars of this country, and of the world, can be enumerated under some seventy distinct heads, with many subdivisions under some of these heads, and that here is an opportunity to promote one of America's greatest educational interests. With this explanation, I will give way to President W. O. Thompson, the only member of that standing committee present, who will offer the resolution. PRESIDENT SCHAEFFER: President Thompson has the floor. MR. THOMPSON, of Ohio: Mr. Chairman, the explanation which has been made by President Baker is a sufficient introduction of the resolution which I shall now offer and which has been drawn up in accordance with the instructions of the Association of State Universities as follows: WHEREAS, The National Association of State Universities in session November, 1906, took action looking toward the establishment of a graduate university owned and controlled by the federal government, and appointed a permanent committee to aid the cause and to present the matter to the National Educational Association, and to urge the naming of a committee instructed to co-operate in securing a national university; therefore be it Resolved, That we, the active members of the National Educational Association reaffirm the previous declarations of this Association concerning the establishment of a graduate university at Washington, D. C., and express our belief in the wisdom of such a university, or some form of organization that shall utilize for research the facilities assembled in Washington, to be owned and controlled by the federal government; that a committee of three be appointed to promote the cause; and that an appropriation not to |