SOCIETV AFI-AIKS 197 



I also suggest a change in the procedure followed in handling mem- 

 bership elections, namely, that a separate ballot and a separate set of 

 credentials be forwarded to each member of the Executive Council, in 

 order that the election may be expedited and also that there may be 

 no possibility of having the credentials mislaid. This will involve ad- 

 ditional stenographic service which the Society should glady meet, 

 because of the greater efficiency which will result. This method has 

 this further advantage, namely, that the individual members of the 

 Executive Council will not be influenced in their decision by the vote 

 of any of the other members. 



• A problem which the Society should consider today is the place at 

 which the annual meetings shall be held. During some of the previous 

 \cars, it has been held in conjunction with the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science — a very satisfactory arrangement for 

 many members who are interested not only in the forestry group but 

 also in some of the other groups. Some of the Western members 

 suggested the desirability of holding the annual meeting in Chicago 

 next week in connection with the above association. They feel that 

 they might have been able to attend the Chicago meeting but that a 

 New York meeting was out of consideration. 



There is a large measure of justice in their claim and every effort 

 should be made to make the meetings equally accessible both to 

 Eastern and Western members. The request for a change to Chicago 

 came too late, since plans had already been made, but I feel that the 

 Society should today take some action with reference to this matter. 



The Committee on Meeting and Program deemed it advisable to 

 hold the meeting in the East this year because of the promise of a 

 relatively large group of Western men who reported their intentions 

 of being in the East at this time to attend a Yale Reunion. 



It may prove advisable and necessary, in order to accommodate our 

 widely scattered membership, to hold a business meeting in some city 

 where a relatively large attendance can be secured and to authorize 

 and encourage another meeting in connection with the A. A. A. S., 

 the program for which shall be in charge of the Section in whose 

 territory the meeting is to be held. A thorough discussion of this 

 question, with such action as you may deem advisable, will save from 

 embarrassment future committees having charge of arrangements for 

 the annual meetings. 



