REFLECTIONS OF A LIFE DIRECTOR 453 



remained to hear the result or to attend to the business of passing the 

 by-laws, while practically all of the opposition did so remain for 

 three to four hours until the vote was announced. 



At the Washington meeting, on February 25, 157 people appeared 

 at the routine meeting, a very large proportion of them women, and 

 many of so youthful an appearance that a reporter present remarked 

 that it was a surprise to him to note that most of the members of the 

 American Forestry Association were girls of high-school age. One 

 of these young ladies was overheard in the elevator to remark to her 

 companions. "Well, I don't know what all this is about, but Mr. Rids- 

 dale wanted us to come over and vote, so we'll do as he says.'' 



After the first vote of 157 to 15 in favor of the Directors' slat«, 

 about 25 persons left the hall, and there was a marked impatience 

 among the rest to have it over' with, and constant defections, so that 

 on two or three occasions Mr. Pack loudly beseeched those who were 

 escaping to remain just a little while longer as it would be soon over. 

 It took a three-fourths vote to pass the by-laws, and with the experi- 

 ence of the preceding year in his mind, his anxiety was of course 

 justified. But this atmosphere was not conducive to a calm and im- 

 partial discussion of these by-laws. Each of these voters signed a 

 card at the door. No question has ever been raised by the members 

 who voted in opposition as to the membership status of those in attend- 

 ance, though in the close vote at New York the year before, the 

 Secretary carefully preserved and attempted to check the status of 

 the opposition voters, with the result previously mentioned in these 

 columns. 



The Secretary in his statement, issued on March 1, 1921, says, 

 "Members are now (since the adoption of the new by-laws) entitled 

 to vote by mail or in person (for eight out of fifteen directors, nom- 

 inated by the board). This permits all to have a direct voice in the 

 afifairs of the Association, a much more democratic arrangement than 

 that previously in effect, of allowing only those present at the annual 

 meetings to vote." One of the delegates who traveled from Massa- 

 chusetts to Washington to protest against the new by-laws expressed 

 it differently but effectively, "What got my goat was that my vote that 

 I came clear down to cast was offset by a young woman not over 

 sixteen years old who was chewing gum." 



