THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



21 



name of only one candidate appeared 

 upon the ballot, and because the 

 amendments proposed at the Denver 

 convention were not presented for a 

 vote upon their adoption. I wrote to 

 Mr. Secor in regard to the matter and 

 here is his reply: 



Forest City, Iowa, Jan. 5, 1902. 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, Pres. Nat. Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, Flint, Mich. 

 My Dear Sir:— I have your recent 

 letter in which you state that there is 

 some dissatisfaction among some of 

 the members of the Association in re- 

 gard to the form of the ballot recently 

 sent out, and because there were no 

 constitutional amendments submitted. 

 I am sure that any fair-minded 

 member, when he learns the facts in 

 the case, will exonerate the General 

 Manager from blame in both cases. 



The reason why Mr. France's name 

 was mentioned on the voting blank 

 was that he was the only person nom- 

 inated in a proper manner. His name 

 had been regularly presented to the 

 chairman of the board and seconded 

 by at least half a dozen members. It 

 therefore came to me officially, and 1 

 was obliged to notice it. 



It may be said that other names 

 were mentioned through the bee jour- 

 nals. 



Granted. I now think I remember 

 one person who nominated three or 

 four members for the same office in 

 this manner. By what constitutional 

 provision is the board of directors, or 

 the General Manager required to take 

 cognizance of every suggestion that 

 every person may write to periodicals 

 published in the United States? 



"Why were not these nominations 

 made to the proper officials of the As- 

 sociation? 



Unless these matters are brought to 

 me officially, I cannot take the respon- 

 sibility of endorsing them. 



Now, as to the constitutional amend- 

 ment offered at the Denver convention. 

 How could I submit so important a 

 matter as that to a vote without a 

 word from the Secretary? In fact, I 

 never saw a copy of them until after 

 the voting blanks had been sent out, 

 and then only a stenographer's report 

 of them. 



Dr. Mason wrote me, just before his 

 death, that he had no copy of the pro- 

 posed amendments, that they had nev- 

 er been turned over to him. If the 

 Secretary of the Association could not 

 certify what the pi'oposed amendments 

 were, how could I be expected to take 

 the responsibility of interpreting 

 them? 



I said before, and now repeat, that 

 I did not see even a purported copy of 

 the amendments till after the voting 

 blanks had been printed and mailed. 



If we do not wish to be governed 

 by constitutional authority, why have 

 a constitution? 



If we do not practice business meth- 

 ods, and follow parliamentary usages, 

 our Association is but a rope of sand 

 and not worth saving. 



I hope soon to turn over to my suc- 

 cessor the records and funds of the 

 largest and most prosperous Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association in the world; and if 

 we will stop our quibbling about un- 

 important matters, and put our should- 

 ers to the wheel in the spirit of fra- 

 ternal helpfulness, the future of the 

 Association will be brighter than ever, 

 but if factionalism and love of office 

 prevail, it will be rent in twain and die 

 a premature death. 



Sincerely yours, 



EUGENE SECOR, 

 General Manager." 

 Mr. Secor advises me that a copy 

 of the foregoing has been sent to the 

 members of the board of directors. He 

 also authorized me to give it out for 

 publication if I thought best. 



