108 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



to have been on his feet some twenty-five times, not how- 

 ever to make a speech, but to make a brief explanation of 

 the action of the executive committee, to call attention to 

 pending business, or to suggest new business prepared by 

 the committee. It is said that a new member, then present, 

 asked, with perhaps pardonable irreverence, "Who is that 

 little cuss who seems to run the whole business?" 



From the nature of the case it is difficult to get a clear 

 idea of the work of the executive committee, but this at 

 least is certain, it must have been very onerous. 1 A single 

 item will throw a little light on the subject. President Good- 

 ell in one of his reports incidentally notes the fact that the 

 committee had written 383 letters during the year in the in- 

 terest of the association. They prepared the business to be 

 submitted, made reports of what they had done, and re- 

 commended measures that would be of advantage to the 

 colleges and experiment stations, which often required the 

 accumulation of a good many data and much hard thinking. 

 They also kept a sharp watch on the national legislation. 

 This brought them into close connection with almost every 

 department of the national government, and called upon 

 them to appear before many committees and joint commit- 

 tees of the House and the Senate. 



A single illustration will give some idea of their work, at 

 least so far as legislation is concerned. For some years after 

 the passage of the first Morrill Act in 1862, the public lands 

 were a subject of great anxiety to the executive committee, 



1 As an illustration of the nature of the business that came before the 

 executive committee and of the chairman's way of presenting it, the re- 

 port of the committee to the twelfth convention, 1898, is given in this 

 volume. 



