90 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE " 



I had the privilege of representing 

 the Pennsylvania Association of whicn 

 I have been a member for a number 

 of years, and I know the Pennsylvania 

 Association gave me no instructions 

 whatsoever, and I think that was the 

 case with all of the Associations, 

 practically. 



Now I would suggest that you for- 

 mulate a very brief set of resolutions 

 and instructions for your delegate, 

 telling him exactly what the members 

 of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation think about the future plans 

 of the National. Instruct him to vote 

 to support these things which you 

 have passed in your resolutions, and 

 to oppose those things to which you 

 are opposed, and, if you and the other 

 Associations will do that, it will save 

 a great deal of the talk which we 

 wasted at St. Louis last year. 



Also, if you care to do so, you can 

 instruct him definitely for whom or 

 against whom to vote for the various 

 offices which will be filled by the elec- 

 tion of delegate vote at the next meet- 

 ing in Denver next February, and if 

 he has definite instructions he will go 

 there and speak for you. However, 

 if you send him there uninstructed 

 and things do not go as you think they 

 ought to go, the delegate is not to 

 blame. 



I hope sincerely, at the Denver meet- 

 ing, there will be no time wasted on 

 Constitutions. 



I think the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association have had every conceiv- 

 able Constitution anybody ever has 

 had, and why they should have wasted 

 time and made so many mistakes in 

 writing their Constitution, and have 

 not devoted their time to the bee- 

 keeping industry, is a thing I do not 

 understand. 



Some one should outline for the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association some 

 kind of policy. As far as I ever have 

 been able to find out there is no policy 

 for the National Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation. There was originally, in 

 the original organization, a definite 

 policy. It was organized by Mr. New- 

 man and some others for the purpose 

 of protecting bee-keepers in their legal 

 rights. It has been since found that 

 those things are not so urgent as they 

 were at one time. It is not necessary 

 to maintain a National organization 

 for that purpose. 



Having lost that nolicy, the National 

 has assumed no policy up to the pres- 



ent time. They do not need a new 

 Constitution or a lot of new officers, 

 but they do neeu a definite policy for 

 the conducting of their work in the 

 future. That is the way I look at it, 

 and I hope it will be possible for you 

 to tell your delegate, who represents 

 this Association, what you think the 

 policy of the National ought to be, and 

 instruct him to fight for a definite 

 policy, whether they get a new Con- 

 stitution or not. ' 



Mr. Kildow — Just one word: Under 

 existing conditions of the state or- 

 ganizations in almost all the states 

 now — do we really need a National or- 

 ganization ? 



Pres. Baxter — Not the way it is con- 

 ducted and organized. 



Dr. Phillips, it is very well to in- 

 struct your servant what to do, but, 

 before you can instruct the servant 

 as to what he should do, you have got 

 to have the run of your business and 

 know what he ought to do. 



Has any state Association had any 

 opportunity of getting the run of the 

 National Association since its re-or- 

 ganization? 



Has there been any publication of 

 its works, of its finances, receipts and 

 disbursements and all such things as 

 that, so that they could enlighten 

 themselves so as to give definite in- 

 structions to their delegates. If there 

 has been I have failed to see it, and 

 that is one reason why our delegate 

 went uninstructed. ' 



As to policy — you know very well 

 I was appointed Chairman of a Com- 

 mittee on Policy and Scope of the Na- 

 tional last February, and I brought in 

 a policy. What was the result? It 

 conflicted with the interests of cer- 

 tain delegates, certain Trustees or 

 Directors, and they voted down the 

 Committee on Policy. 



Dr. Phillips — And left the National 

 without a policy. 



Pres. Baxter — Because they didn't 

 want a policy. 



Dr. Phillips — They ought to have 

 one. 



Pres. Baxter — Now, then, in view of 

 what has taken place within the past 

 two years in the National, and the 

 way the Directors have conducted 

 things — are you ready to join them 

 again another year, pay yoiir money 

 over and let things go on the way they 

 are going — or would it jnot be better 

 to save that money, use it here at 

 home, and get some bpnefit from it 



