2IO 



TH1-: IJEIMvEErERS' RFA'IEW. 



seemed as though the monej^ might pos- 

 sible have been spent to better advantage, 

 but I can now see that the measure of ni}' 

 success has been vastly increased by the 

 literature that I have read. Better wear 

 plain clothes, and eat plain food, if nec- 

 essary to be able to buv the best litera- 

 ture that is needed. On the other hand, 

 don't get it into your head that the read- 

 ing of good literature will, alone, lead you 

 to success. Although an important fac- 

 tor, it is not the only one. 



^«U»«^»»kT»» 



THE GENERAI, MANAGER-DIREC- 

 TOR-MUDDLE. 

 Last month the Review published a 

 short statement from E. R. Root, former 

 Acting Chairman of the Board of Direc- 

 tors of the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, in which he set forth the reasons 

 why Mr. Secor was still General Manager 

 of the Association. To this, Mr. Abbott 

 has made a reply, setting forth his view 

 of the matter. This rejjly reads as 

 follows: — 



Dear Sir: — The notice of acting Chair- 

 man Root with regard to the General 

 Manager of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association seems to call for a statement 

 from me. First, the board has or has 

 not a right to receive Mr. Secor 's resigna- 

 tion and elect his successor. If it has a 

 right to do tliis, then one was elected some 

 time ago, for eight members of the Board 

 voted to elect his successor, and seven of 

 them voted for one man. The three New 

 York directors and myself refrained from 

 voting. The vote was declared, and Mr. 

 Secor was duly notified by the acting 

 Chairman as to the result, and was re- 

 quested to turn the funds over to the 

 newly elected General Manager, and he 

 wrote that he would do so. However, 

 later, at the solicitation of a disgruntled 

 member of the Board in New York, he 

 refused to do so. If the Board has any 

 authority to act in a case like this, then 

 every member of it who voted to elect a 

 successor to Mr. Secor formaly voted at 

 the same time to receive his resignation. 

 As a majority of the Board so voted, of 

 course he is out, and it is all nonsense to 

 talk about reviewing a vote which has 

 been canvassed and the returns announc- 

 ed. Therefore Mr. Secor is not General 

 Manager, and has not been since the day 



the vote was announced. Mr. Abbott 

 was not "supposed" to be elected; he 

 was legally and clearly elected by a ma- 

 jority of the members voting, and is the 

 only legal General Manager in existence 

 to-day, if the Board has any authcrily to 

 act on the question. If it does not, and 

 I am inclined to doubt if it has, then Mr. 

 Secor's resignation is before the member- 

 ship, and the}' should be given an oppor- 

 tunity to elect his successor at once. As 

 soon as the membership selects another 

 General Manager, the funds in my hands 

 will l)e turned over to him, but they will 

 not be turned over to Mr. Secor unless 

 he is elected 1)3' the membership. The 

 majority of those voting elects a General 

 Manager, according to the Constitution. 

 The Buffalo amendment, in my opinion, 

 only gives the Board authority to remove 

 a General Manager for cause, and then to 

 fill his place; but it does not give them 

 authority to fill his place in any other 

 case. If it does, then all of the meml>ers 

 of the Board having received notice of 

 his resignation, and eight of them hav- 

 ing voted for his successor — in fact, nine 

 of the twelve, if my vote should be count- 

 ed — that ended the matter so far as the 

 Board was concerned. A deliberative 

 body may review a vote; but any sane 

 man knows that a vote by ballot is final, 

 if any one receives a majority of the voles 

 cast. It seems from the statement of the 

 acting Chairman, that the Board has 

 decided that it has a right to act on Mr. 

 Secor's resignation. If so, then I am 

 General Manager. This is all I care to 

 say at present. 



EMER.SON T. Abbott. 

 St. Joseph, Mo. 



The foregoing from Mr. Abbott leads 

 Mr. Root to make further explanations 

 which read as follows: — 



In the statement made by Mr. Abbot to 

 the public there are two propositions: 

 First, the Board of Directors of the Nat- 

 ional Bee-Keepers' Association has the 

 right to receive the resignation of Mr. 

 Secor and elect his successor; or, second, 

 it does not have such right. Let us con- 

 sider the first proposition. I was appoint- 

 ed acting Chairman of the Board of Di- 

 rectors by Mr. E. T. Abbott, who was 

 then Chairman, to put the vote on the se- 

 lection of a new General Manager, Mr. 

 Secor, the old Manager, having sent in 

 his resignation to Mr. Hutchin.son. I did 

 so, and the result of that vote on the part 

 of the Board showed six votes for E. T. 

 Abbot, one vote for E. M. Abbott, and 

 one for W. Z. Hutchiuson. 



