RESOLUTION CONCERNING FREIGHT RATES 53 



accordance with the provision of the Constitution : "Add to the last line 

 the word ^fift/ after ^one hundred/ and change the figures in the paren- 

 theses accordingly, so that the last clause of the paragraph shall read 

 'but a single prepa3raient of one hundred fifty (150) dollars shall be ac- 

 cepted as a commutation for life/" On motion, the amendment was 

 adopted without dissent. 



The Secretary made sundry announcements with reference to the meet- 

 ings and the provisions for the comfort of the visiting Fellows, and re- 

 garding invitations to visit the testing plant of the United States Bureau 

 of Mines and the steel mills in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. 



RESOLUTION CONCERNING FREIGHT RATES 



By permission from the Society, Mr. W. J. Holland presented the 

 following resolution : 



Whereas the Geological Society of America desires to represent to the 

 Official Classification Committee, through its chairman, Mr. F. S. Hoi brook ; to 

 the Western Classification Committee, through its chairman, Mr. F. O. Becker ; 

 to the Transcontinental Freight Association, through Mr. R. H. Countiss, and 

 to the Southern Classification Committee, through its chairman, Mr. W. R. 

 Poe, that the present classification of fossils in rock as first-class freight is in 

 their judgment unjust and oppressive; and 



Whereas the Society admits that to classify fossils after they have been 

 extracted from the rock and mounted as objects of display in museums as 

 first-class freight is not unreasonable, but to assess first-class rates upon masses 

 of rock weighing from fifty to five thousand pounds, being the raw material 

 from which by modern methods fossils are extracted, is in the judgment of the 

 Society illogical and unjust, and that nine-tenths of such blocks are thrown 

 into the dump, and they are, strictly speaking, "raw material," as much so as 

 are the blocks of marble out of which the sculptor carves an image ; therefore 

 be it 



Resolved, That the Society requests and urges the adoption of the following 

 change in classification : Instead of "fossils in rock, first class," read "fossils 

 extracted from rock and mounted for exhibition, first class ; fossils in rock per 

 hundredweight, third class ; carload lots, fourth class." 



On motion, the resolution was adopted. 



The Secretary then submitted the letters which he had received from 

 the foreign Correspondents elected at the Boston-Cambridge meeting, 

 and they were ordered placed on file. 



On motion, it was voted that the afternoon session of Wednesday 

 should begin with the reading of the presidential address of Dr. John M. 

 Clarke, retiring President of the Paleontological Society. 



