124 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



members and the needs of the chapter than others" and 

 again "For the present it would seem to be sufficient 

 to place the power of nomination of candidates for of- 

 fice in its hands." The intention of the person offering 

 this amendment is thus clearly shown, and the amend- 

 ment itself, backs up this idea and clinches matters by 

 adding, after the duties of the Advisory Council have 

 been outlined, a section (Sec. 7) which says "Any part 

 of the Constitution riot agreeing with this article is 

 hereby repealed." The original Constitution allowed 

 independent nominations but this section put an end 

 to the practice because the growth of the Society made 

 it no longer possible for all the members to know one 

 another and by the old method there was now danger 

 of designing persons obtaining office and using it to 

 further their own ends. Had it been desired to re- 

 turn to the plan of independent nominations, this could 

 have been done by changing the constitution, but no 

 members had the hardihood to suggest such a change. 

 The 117 members who did not vote for an independent 

 candidate, have been somewhat amazed to see an elec- 

 tion caried by disregarding the constitution. 



* * * 



It is to be regretted that anything having the 

 semblance of wire-pulling should enter into the affairs 

 of the Fern Society, but conservative members find it 

 hard to reconcile certain acts of those in authority with 

 the facts in any other way. During the year the re- 

 puted constitution was reprinted but with the repealed 

 clause regarding independent nominations retained, 

 and the clause repealing it omitted ; when attention was 

 called to this fact the interested persons issued a cir- 

 cular in which the president declared the defective 

 document to be "the authorized constitution." No one 



