SOCIETY AFFAIRS 



Concerning Fellows 



In view of the nominations which have resulted, in part at least, 

 from the action of a self-appointed committee consisting of Frothing- 

 ham, Tillotson, Preston, and Wolfe, that committee feels called upon 

 to make a statement of its position. 



The Constitution of the Society permits the annual election of ten 

 Senior Members to the grade of Fellow. Election can be secured only 

 by a three-fourths vote of the members voting. Nomination is by 

 either the Executive Council or by petition of twenty-five Senior 

 Members (or Fellows). The Society has hitherto held only one elec- 

 tion of Fellows. This was in 1918, when the present six Fellows were 

 elected. 



The situation which faced the Society in the fall of 1920 was that 

 one man had been nominated for Fellow by petition, and none- by the 

 Executive Council. We believed there were other Senior Members 

 equally deserving of consideration and that it was hardly fair to the 

 electorate to submit only one name for acceptance or rejection. Ac- 

 cordingly, this committee of four made a selection of some fifteen 

 names from the membership roll from which the Executive Council 

 was asked to make additional nominations. This action was taken 

 because we preferred to have the Executive Council make the nom- 

 inations rather than resort to the alternative plan of securing twenty- 

 five indorsements by petition. As a result of this request, the Executive 

 Council nominated only one man. In other words, it failed to select 

 from our large membership enough candidates to provide a reasonable 

 choice by the Society at large. While conservatism in the election 

 of Fellows should be insured, we do not believe that failure to nom- 

 inate is a desirable way of accomplishing the object of the Constitu- 

 tion as at present worded. The democratic principle of choice by the 

 whole membership is clearly indicated, though not sufficiently provided 

 for. The failure of the Executive Council during the past few years 

 to act in any systematic manner in regard to the election of Fellows 

 in effect imposes an undue influence upon their selection. Under 

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