National Geographic Society 



167 



Annowncements. 



The annual reception of the Society 

 will be held on Friday evening, April 12, in 

 the parlors of tVie Arlington hotel. Mr. Paul 

 Du Chaillu will be the guest of honor of the 

 Society and will give some reminiscences of 

 his travels. 



A REGULAR MEETING OF THE SOCIETY 

 will be held in the large hall of the Cosmos 

 Club at eight o'clock Friday evening, April 

 19. All members resident in Washington 

 are urged to attend, as impoitant proposed 

 changes in the by-laws, submitted and recom- 

 mended by the Board of Managers, will be 

 acted upon. 



Object of Proposed Change in By-laws. 



The Board of Managers submits and recom- 

 mends to the Societ)^ important amendments 

 to the by-laws. The proposed changes are so 

 numerous that, for the sake of simplicity, the 

 Board offers an entire set of revised by-laws 

 to replace the existing by-laws. Members who 

 wish to note in detail the modilications pro- 

 posed can do so by comparing the draft which 

 follows with the existing by-laws as printed 

 in the Magazine, Vol. IX, pages 414-416. 

 The general tenor of the changes is set forth 

 in the following paragraphs : 



In an address read to the Board of Managers 

 June I, 1900, and printed in the Magazine for 

 October (Vol. XI, pages 401-408), President 

 Bell advocated various changes in the policy 

 of the Societ}', for the purpose of making its 

 character more truly national. The revised 

 by-laws now offered embody one of the more 

 radical of these changes. 



At the present time the Societ}- has active 

 members, residing chiefly in the District of Co- 

 lumbia, and corresponding members, residing 

 chiefly in other parts of the United States. 

 The dues of active members are five dollars, 

 of corresponding members two dollars. Both 

 classes receive the Magazine ; active members 

 have in addition various other privileges, in- 

 cluding that of attending lectures. Thus con- 

 stituted the Society is not national in its active 

 membership, but onl}' through its correspond- 

 ing membership. It is now proposed (i) to 

 merge the grades of corresponding member 

 and active member into the single grade of 

 inentber, (2) to fix the dues for all at two dol- 

 lars, (3) to treat lecture courses, whether in 

 Washington or elsewhere, as local privileges, 

 to be paid for by those who are benefited. 



The proposed bj^-laws include many minor 

 changes which seem to the Board desirable if 

 the general change in organization be adopted. 

 The more important of these are (i) the en- 

 largement of the Board of Managers by the 



addition of members not residing in the Dis- 

 trict ; (2) the creation of an Executive Com- 

 mittee for the transaction of current business ; 



(3) the restoration of the fiscal year to coinci- 

 dence with the calendar year ; (4) the omis- 

 sion of section 8 of article IV, with reference 

 to Managers who are continuousl}? absent from 

 meetings of the Board. 



They include also a number of changes not 

 specially related to the general change in or- 

 ganization. The more important of these are 

 (i) the substitution of the single office of Sec- 

 retar}^ for the two offices of Recording Secre- 

 tary and Corresponding Secretary; (2) the 

 omission of the requirement that the Secre- 

 tary and Trea.surer be selected from the Board 

 of Managers; (3) the making more stringent 

 the rules with re.spect to arrearage of dues; 



(4) the reduction of the quorum of the Societj' 

 from 25 to 20 ; (5) the provision that official 

 notice of proposed amendments to the by-laws 

 may be given through the Magazine. 



The amendments will come up for action at 

 the regular meetiug to be held April 19. 



A. J. Henry. Secretary. 



Proposed By-laws. 



Article I. — Name. 

 Tlie name of this Society is The National 

 Geographic Society. 



Article II. — Object. 



The object of the Society is the increase 

 and diffusion of geographic knowledge. 



Article III. — Membership. 



Section i. The Society shall consist of 

 members and honorary members. 



Sec. 3. Members shall be persons interested 

 in geographic science. 



Sec 3. Honorary members shall he persons 

 who have attained eminence by the promotion 

 of geographic science. The}^ shall not be 

 members of the corporation, nor shall they 

 vote or hold office. 



Sec. 4. The election of members and hon- 

 orary members shall be entrusted to the Board 

 of Managers. 



Article Y^.— Officers. 



Section i. — The administration of the So- 

 ciety shall be entrusted to a Board of Mana- 

 gers composed of twenty-four members, eight 

 of whom shall be elected by the Society at 

 each annual meeting, to serve for three years, 

 or until theii; successors are elected. Of the 

 eight members elected at each annual meet- 

 insf , not less than four nor more than six shall 



