43 



EXPERIENCE AND ATTITUDE OF DIRECTORS 



The directors frequently have been criticized for lack of insight 

 into the affairs of the association and for laxity in attendance at 

 meetings. The minutes of the association show that there were over 

 20 of the 25 members present at 27 out of 57 meetings of the board of 

 directors. During the course of four years there was only one meet- 

 ing at which less than 17 members were present. The average num- 

 ber of directors absent at each meeting was less than 4 for the four 

 years. A large number of directors were present at every meeting, 

 and few were absent from more than three meetings each year. At 

 less than one-third of the meetings were more than 3 of the 25 direc- 

 tors absent. 



The three public directors created 61 of the total 219 absences at 

 the 57 meetings. At 13 of the 57 meetings all of the public directors 

 were present. At 31 meetings 1 was absent ; at 9, 2 were absent ; and 

 at 4 (two meetings in succession) all 3 were absent. On the face of 

 this evidence it would appear that the elected directors at least were 

 very conscientious in their attendance. 



A far more likely explanation of the inefficiency of the board lies 

 in the fact that few of the directors had any intimate knowledge of 

 tobacco marketing, nor had they close knowledge of the affairs of the 

 association because of its great size and the technicality and com- 

 plexity of many of the problems which it had to solve. Although 

 many of them were good business men, their experience had thereto- 

 fore been confined to more routine business such as farming, banking, 

 and retail merchandising. From the very nature of things, many of 

 the more complicated and intricate matters arising in the association 

 were left in the hands of a few persons — some of whom unfortunately 

 did not adopt policies that were in the best interests of the association. 



The members of the board of directors were unable to keep closely 

 in touch with the association's problems by meeting one or two days 

 a month and hearing the reports and recommendations of the general 

 manager, the executive committee, or the special committees. The 

 board members, often not having even heard of the report or recom- 

 mendation before and believing that the propounder had sufficient 

 insight into the matter, were prone to affirm or deny the matter as 

 was recommended to them. If a board has implicit faith in its offi- 

 cials, the officers may take advantage of the fact ; if it does not have 

 this faith it may still be passive because of the lack of time or knowl- 

 edge to refute the recommendation offered or to substitute a better 

 one. If the members of a board are informed in advance of the pro- 

 posed motions or recommendations which are to come before the 

 meeting they will have time for thought, consultation, and search 

 into the matters under consideration, and will be able to give them 

 careful and intelligent deliberation. 



At least nine of the directors of the association were salaried offi- 

 cials. (See Table 21.) The salaries of these officials were necessarily 

 fixed by the executive committee and the board of directors. In other 

 words, these two bodies were given the privilege of recommending 

 and indorsing the salaries of some of their own members. 



Outside the members of the executive committee, except under un- 

 usual circumstances, directors of cooperatives should not be employed 

 in salaried positions of their own association, and under no circum- 



