Report of the National Committee for 1904 59 



way adequate, every executive officer of an Audubon Society knows only 

 too well. Early in the year a large number of letters regarding the 

 incorporation of the National Committee were sent to contributors, and 

 the officers of the several societies. It was the consensus of opinion that 

 incorporation was desirable and important. 



There are large numbers of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to 

 Children and Animals in the country, which in almost every instance are 

 incorporated, and some of them are endowed with large sums, and are the 

 owners of a considerable amount of income-producing property. None of 

 these societies has objects of greater economic importance than the one we 

 represent, for the preservation of the birds of the country has a direct bear- 

 ing on the greatest of all the industries of the United States — its agriculture. 

 As the Committee is now constituted, it is without legal form and cannot 

 accept bequests, should any be ofifered. The popular character of bird 

 protection, which appeals, as it does, to all persons who, in the slightest 

 degree, love nature and her beautiful creatures, is sure to attract the notice 

 of persons who are looking for desirable channels in which to dispose of 

 surplus wealth. During the past year the New York Audubon Society 

 found it necessary to incorporate in haste. A letter was received by the 

 secretary in which the writer said that she was about to have a will made 

 and, if the Society were in a legal position to accept a bequest, that one- 

 half of her estate would be devised to it. 



Again, the chairman of the National Committee was visited recently 

 by a friend of the movement, who, after listening to a detailed statement of 

 the plans and scope of work carried on and also seeing the evidences of 

 actual results obtained from the small fund annually received, stated that 

 just as soon as the National Committee was legally constituted he would 

 add a codicil to his will devising to the National Committee the sum of 

 one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), which, on its receipt, was to be 

 securely invested, the interest of the same only to be used. The only con- 

 dition he made was that the scope of the work of the National Committee 

 was to be broadened enough to embrace wild animals as well as birds. He 

 added, on the occasion of a second visit, "if, after seeing the names on 

 your board of trustees, I find that they are of a class that will faithfully 

 carry out the present purposes and plans of your society, I may not limit 

 the sum to $100,000." 



The above is only one of the many cogent reasons why the National 

 Committee should be incorporated at once, and the same reasons apply 

 equally to all of the State Societies that are not already incorporated. We 

 are warranted in looking forward to the time when the central body shall 

 have the means at its disposal from interest and rents alone, to send out 

 trained lecturers and organizers to all parts of the country, to publish for 

 gratuitous distribution necessary educational matter and to conduct earnestly 



