84 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



I have not a copy of the Constitu- 

 tion and By-Laws as we talked them 

 over at that meeting but I think that 

 most of you saw the last number of 

 the Review and saw the proposed 

 Constitution and By-Laws, also the 

 new amendments. In them you will 

 notice this recommendation that our 

 Committee made, that they dispose of 

 the Review at once, which was not 

 carried, but a motion was made and 

 an amendment made to that motion 

 providing that the Board of Directors 

 arrange for three or four purchasing 

 agents, said agents to be subject to 

 the Board of Directors. 



Practically all the business we did 

 during the time was the formulation 

 of this Constitution and By-Law^s. 

 There was an attorney present at some 

 of our delegate meetings, a friend of 

 Mr. Frank Pellett, who gave us some 

 very good information in regard to 

 incorporation and the Board of Direc- 

 tors, not the Board of Directors, but 

 the President, Vice-President and 

 Secretary, were authorized to proceed 

 with the work of incorporation by 

 delegate meeting. 



They have been unable to do this 

 work as the National has no money, as 

 you all probably know; there has been 

 some money derived from the sale of 

 supplies and a small portion of that 

 has been used for the Association; the 

 National Association as a body has no 

 funds. We had no funds to pay a 

 lawyer to draw up incorporation papers 

 or fees or anything of that sort, so 

 nothing can be done with that. 



As you know the proposed Constitu- 

 tution provides for a membership fee 

 of all belonging to the National of 

 $2.00 a year — $1.00 of which to be used 

 as a subscription for the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review; the other to go into the Na- 

 tional Association for expenses. 



The National Association as a body 

 has to have funds. Under the old 

 way of running it could not be a suc- 

 cess. If the National is to continue, 

 we have to have a reorganization and 

 the only way to have that is to adopt 

 a new Constitution and By-Laws, and 

 become incorporated under some state, 

 then we will be in shape to do busi- 

 ness as a lawful body. 



As it is now, you take the buying of 

 the Review, three Directors at the 

 time they took this Review over from 

 Mr. Tyrrell signed this contract, and 



really those three Directors are re- 

 sponsible at the present time for the 

 debt of the Review; but of: course the 

 National Association stands back of it, 

 as a matter of public policy as much as 

 anything. 



The Association is not directly re- 

 sponsible for the Review debt, but in 

 a moral way we have to stdnd back of 

 those Directors. I do not admire the 

 work of the three Directors we have 

 put in nor of our Secretary, and I do 

 not think he is doing right in regard 

 to our Association, to comment upon; 

 one is, we found the conditions of the 

 National in a deplorable state. They 

 have no money, and furthermore the 

 Constitution and the By-Laws were 

 conceived and adopted as a one man 

 rule for certain specific purposes, in 

 my judgment. That is a pretty strong 

 statement and I am ready to stand back 

 of it. Mr. Tyrrell did not do the fair 

 thing by this Association and those 

 three Directors who voted for the pur- 

 chase of the Review did Something that 

 they were not authorized to do, and, 

 as we have not objected to it, therefore 

 we stand responsible for it. There has 

 been a debt created that every mem- 

 ber of the National is responsible for, 

 and whoever holds that debt can not 

 only begin suit against the officers but 

 he can begin suit against any one in- 

 dividual member of the Association that 

 he sees fit to and may get a judgment 

 against them. 



A number of the members present 

 saw it in this light; one was Mr. Hole- 

 kamp of St. Louis, who absolutely re- 

 fused to continue a member of the As- 

 sociation unless they disposed of the 

 Review and the buying of supplies. 



Dr. Bohrer of Kansas wag another 

 one — and Dr. Gates, when he was 

 elected President, said he would not 

 take the Presidency if it continued un- 

 der the conditions then existing. 



Now, then, what are you going to 

 do about it? It is going from bad to 

 worse. 



We went to work and authorized the 

 incorporation of the Association and 

 we formulated a Constitution under 

 which it should be governed and we 

 authorized a committee to go to work 

 and incorporate it but we did not pro- 

 vide the funds; we had no funds and 

 therefore it has not been done, and it 

 has been going on just as it has here- 

 tofore and it probably is. increasing. 



